Summer's here and the time is right.......to go see a show

[JRL]

Jackie's got the whole band with him, Nate his guitar player posted on facebook from the road to Des Moines.
If you get close tell the fellows 'specially my arch nemesis (j/k), Bruce Spencer, da drummer , that Joe Lev says high.

[laughingwillow]

Interesting evening. Jackie is touring with his drummer and (acoustic) guitar player. I ran into them before the show and asked if they wanted a smoke, but they declined, intent on finding cigarettes instead. hehe

We scored the last table in the back of the room. In front of us was a group of maybe 15 people made up mostly of men in their 60's and women in a little younger age group. And these fookers were (are) smashed. We watched two full face plants right in front of us and had to worry about stumble bums crashing on us the whole time. I finally went behind the bar after the second person face planted into the carpet on her way out the door and told them it was pretty obvious that they were over serving the old folks. Barkeep asked where their table was and I told him it was the idiots sitting RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM. (You know, the one's sitting closest to the bar who have been downing round after round of shots?)

Anyway, jackie's voice sounds good. A couple of his tunes were nice. I liked the dead influenced covers he did best. However, it was pretty clear that the two other fellow are backing jackie. He was the show. Not much volume coming out of his sidekick's ax and the drums were played mostly with brushes and mallets.

My wife and friends were enjoying themselves and weren't ready to call it quits as soon as I did. But two hours was enough for me. We is one lame crowd, here in Des Moines and the alcohol scene just isn't for me. On my way out the door, a guy told me he had just helped one of the drunk women get up after she face planted on the concrete outside of the venue. Hopefully none of them were driving.

My guess is that catching Jackie's act in the presence of a bunch of dirty hippies would make for a better experience.

lw

[AliceTepes]

it's crazy how many people drink and drive. I have seen some crazy shit....people driving down the street with their passenger door open, and swerving all around taking out mail boxes.
not to mention all the drunk fights and black outs.

it always makes me wonder: WHY THE FUCK IS ALCOHOL LEGAL AND SOME PLANTS AREN'T!!!!!!!!!!!
don't get me wrong I love to drink, but it's just beyond absurd.

[laughingwillow]

Right in, Alice.

I have nothing against alcohol consumption, but watching drunks getting legally blasted on booze in public pisses me off a little when ingesting a sacrament in the privacy of my own home can get me arrested.

lw

[JRL]

I have some stories about drunks, let me tell ya. When i stopped drinking 16 years ago I was thrust i nto many situations where I was one of the few sober people around. It's an ugly drug.

[laughingwillow]

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against alcohol. I don't drink very much, but most of my friends do, with little or no problem with behavior in public. Heck, I even had a couple of beers at the show.

The wife finally acknowledged that a big percentage of fans at jackies shows are females of all ages who want to fuck him. I saw a few jam band fans spread through out the crowd and a bunch of women sitting up front or shaking their booties (with other women) in front of jackie.

lw

[laughingwillow]

We caught the Wailers last night at a venue we can walk to from our house. Family Man has a new lead singer and he brought the female back up singers, too. There was plenty of room to groove, good air circulation (Iowa is now non-smoking in all public places except casinos) and packs of children adding their own frequency of jubilation to the reggae vibe. Reminded me of the old days in the City on the pier.

Anyway, it had been a long time since we had caught a show that made me want to move to da groove. In the process, I managed to self-adjust my neck and upper back to a better alignment than I've had in years. So I'm a little stiff this morning, but my history with getting adjusted by a chiropractor leads me to believe I'll be feeling aligned and ready to roll when Carlos shows up in Sioux City for a day of free music in the park. Can't wait to see friends we haven't talked to for a whole year. Every year.

lw

[JRL]

I saw the Wailers some years back, great show!!!

Summer is here and looks like i am gonna be way to busy playing to see many shows I am not on. I do get to hear great music playing festivals. Already did the Crawdad Festival in Red Bluff CA. Lot's of great  CZ(cajun/zydeco). My favorite was the Saint Celeste Brass Band. They marched the grounds and did occasional sets at one or the other of the venues. They tried to be traditional, but since they are made up of top Bay Area jazz musicians, I think they took it somewhere else, a lot like the Dirty Dozen.

Tonight I am reunited with my old employer, the great Frankie Lee. We are doing a club show to warm up for festivals later in the month.

I love summer.

[JRL]

Knee deep in festival season. Did 2 big blues festivals with Frankie Lee in the SF Bay Area, park concerts, farmer's markets, horse races, art's council gigs.

Goin to the big Cowboy fest in Big Bear Lake in August.

[LizJah]

Ya'know...

I think I could make at least a couple more West-Coasters happen...Willow owes me anyway. I got a can of spam that I gave away to give him anyway...

(Uh, think Andy and I...)

Peace?

Lizzy

[laughingwillow]

Phil, Bobby and cohorts are coming to L'Ames Ioway sometime next month. Wife said the tickets came in da mail yesterday. I've been too busy to even think about catching a real show, but fortunately, that rush should be dying down by the end of this month. Anyway, they are playing in a cozy little theater where we'll prolly know about half the freaks on location.

The trick in this joint will be finding a spot to lay me head without security wanting to throw me out for drunken vagrancy or something. Having the wife act as babysitter usually keeps 'em off my back. (if my head is in her lap, she can talk to concerned folks while I continue "snoozing.")

Anyway, this one should be interesting to say the least.  

lw

[JRL]

Lucky you. We had to settle for DSO at the Crest on Nov 28th.

[laughingwillow]

Phil, Bobby and company come to L'Ames tonight. I'm pretty sure its the first time they have played together in Iowa since 7-4-84. (Both mrs lw's and my first show.) Upping my arsenal as we speak........

lw

[judih]

cool. enjoy!

[laughingwillow]

What a ride.

The boys came out with one of the strangest "Strangers" I've heard. Nuance put a whole new spin on one of my favorite openers.  They just plain grew teeth and laid me out quick. Had me down for most of the first set. Straight up wi-fi digital download right between the eyes. The Dr was in...... After enduring the frontal lobotomy,  a bit of cosmic salve was applied to the gaping hole in me cranium in the form of "The Music Never Stopped."  


Well the cool breeze came on Tuesday, And the corn's a bumper crop
And the fields are full of dancin' Full of singin' and romancin'
The music never stopped.

(It WAS a Tuesday show and a local bumper crop of corn was just announced. hehe)

Twenty-six years since the missus and I first stepped on that bus and the music never stopped......

Anyway, if the first set knocked my socks off, the second massaged me tired feet. I remember a nice china/rider, fire and a thunderous other one.

We met some nice folks and saw a bunch of old friends. A couple sitting behind us appeared to maybe be college professors conducting sociological  observations. The missus said they seemed a little baffled/amused by my experience. (I'm guessing they thought I was really fucked up and down for the count.) But the missus said they finally appeared to grasp the fact that my actions were tied to the music, maybe even if they didn't fully understand the mechanics.

lw