Velvet

How 'bout that Sly Stallone?

Edger, feel free to stop and pick us up at the Stay Inn on your way by...

See y'all in Toronto tomorrow!  Lawns forever!

Got my ticket for the Ottawa play.

Just received this email from Bradm's mother Lois today:

"We brought his ashes back when he died and until yesterday (Sunday) the urn was in my bedroom closet.  To back track, when his Dad died in 2002, Ken was on our condo's Board of Directors and in his honour, a white magnolia bush was planted on our condo property.  Steve and I decided to put Brad's ashes around the base of what has become a BIG tree.  Yesterday here was a bit cloudy and even though there is a walking a path close to the tree  no gardening staff were on duty.  We took a spade, loosened the earth and put the ashes around the tree.  As you may gather the McFarlane's are not outwardly religious. 

Following a late-afternoon wakeup and dragging my Bourbon Street-sized hangover to the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (barely) in time to catch Bruce Springsteen’s amazing set, I found myself some Cajun nourishment and in short order made my way to the Saenger Theatre for a highly anticipated tribute concert dedicated to one of The Big Easy’s biggest heroes (and obvious inspiration for The Electric Mayhem’s hip-happenin’ far out bandleader, Dr. Teeth), the great Dr. John.

The lineup was scheduled to include the likes of Mavis Staples, Jimmie Vaughan, Gregg Allman, Lucinda Williams, The Blind Boys of Alabama, Warren Haynes, and so many more, not to mention the man himself, Dr. John; the anticipation of such a conglomerate of talent was almost exciting enough to cut through the self-imposed physical and mental crunch that I was enduring, though the Springsteen set had been energetic enough to have already propped me up a little, and I’m sure the solid sustenance I was able to get down my throat between events helped to bring me back to life.

But the theatre itself really bolstered my energy.  Merely stepping into the newly renovated space was somewhat exhilarating, the immaculately decorated flooring, the majestic chandeliers glistering overhead, the posh ornamentation of…everything.  Wow (I thought), this is what a theatre is supposed to look like.

Emerging upstairs into the balcony I was thankful for my comfortable seat and was instantly mesmerized by the glinting starry lights embedded into the impossibly wide, blue ceiling.  The upper crust of the theatre is inexplicably lined with Roman statues that lend it a pompousity that somehow remains firmly tasteful.  In short, the room was built to impress.

Just as I was getting settled in nice and comfy-like, the lights went down and the MC’s voice boomed through the PA, shocking the sold-out crowd out of their seats with a surprise opening announcement:

“Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to The Saenger Theatre tonight’s opening act, the king of New Orleans, Dr. John, and the Boss of New Jersey, Mr. Bruce Springsteen!”

The entire crowd leapt to their feet as the curtains went up revealing the evening’s stellar house band and the entire E Street Band backing up the good Doctor and The Boss on Right Place Wrong Time and we all went completely nuts together.  There was never a hint that Bruce Springsteen was going to be involved in the concert whatsoever and then he goes and opens the show!  That curtain drop truly stands out as one of the most exciting concert moments of my life.  My gosh, it was so exciting.

I think it even cured my hangover.

The night progressed with one astounding performance after another, as artists like Jason Isbell, Widespread Panic, Irma Thomas, Cyril Neville and so many more stood onstage and did their thing (or more accurately, Dr. John’s thing in their own style) to a wildly appreciative audience who collectively knew that they were witnessing something special.  Another great surprise addition to the evening was John Fogerty, while it was no big surprise that Gregg Allman sadly couldn’t make it after all, as his deteriorating health in his final years understandably caused cancellation after cancellation.

(I’m pretty sure that Lucinda Williams cancelled too, which is too bad.)

Oh, there was so much good music.  Ryan Bingham was there, and George Porter Jr., and Bill Kreutzmann and Chuck Leavell, Allen Toussaint and Anders Osborne and so many others.  It was a concert for the ages in the classiest room in America’s greatest city.  Not bad for $100.

Oh, and speaking of deals, shortly after getting through the door I noticed two things: 1) a monstrously long line to the merch table, where one of the few things for sale was a nice limited edition poster for the evening’s concert, and 2) a much shorter line where the VIP ticket-holders were picking up their free goody-bags.  A quick glance showed that each goody bag included a poster, so every VIP couple attending the show was getting two posters, AKA at least one more than they needed.

I bypassed the merch line altogether and approached the first couple I saw leaving the VIP table, offering the guy $20 for one of his posters.  You’d think I offered a vampire a pint of blood.  “Sure!” he yelped, handing me one of the posters.  “I was just going to throw the thing away.  Instead I think I’ll buy us a couple of drinks!” and taking his wife by the shoulder he led her off towards the bar.

I hadn’t actually noticed how much the posters were even going for so I doubled back to the merch table and checked.  $25.  Turns out my little brainstorm was pretty smart, fast, and economical.

The poster is framed and hangs in my kitchen.  It’s a daily reminder that no matter how hung over I am, a little bit of excitement and a lot of rock and roll can usually pull me through.

43 minutes ago, DevO said:

Of interest to Velvet, if no one else, there will be an album release show at Lula Lounge in Toronto the day after the Phish show in Toronto.

 

I just imagined myself sitting at the show all by myself.

Well, that was fun!

See you there Dave!

https://writersfestival.org/events/spring-2019/one-on-one

Crazy thread to read through.

The new Trey movie is playing once - July 17th - at a bunch of theatres, including a lot in Canada.  For Ottawa folks, Dan Lyons has extras he's trying to sell.

https://www.betweenmeandmymind.com/tickets/?campaign=USA_BMM_MailChimp_SANSA

Saw him in a small dance bar in Moncton before he was signed; place didn't even have a stage.  There was maybe fifty, sixty people there.

I had never heard of him and was completely utterly blown away by the show.  Unfortunately, when he came out to shill his 7" single (See The Light) I was down to my last $3.  Beer or record...beer or record.  

You know which way I went.  

Damn...wish I still had that beer.

Booche, it's "Fyre".  

I keep thinking that you're talking about a Glenn Frey festival.  Then I remember that Glenn Frey is dead.

I'll take Festival Locations for $200.

I hear the Foreigner cover band only has one original member left.  Kudos.

When they announced the lineup and had the ticket onsale date set for weeks in advance I was suspicious.  When does that happen?!?!

Well, seems like they are having problems down there.  The Black Keys have pulled out, the fest doesn't have the proper permits yet, and now they've postponed the ticket sales.

https://consequenceofsound.net/2019/04/woodstock-50-ticket-postponement/

Ugh.

Yeah, I didn't know that he had stopped talking at shows again.

I agree 100% edger.  That Jack White show last year where no phones were allowed inside was such a breath of fresh air.  I can see it becoming standard for a lot of shows.  Okay, maybe that's more "hope" than anything, but either way yeah, I'm with you on this.

15 hours ago, Booche said:

There are tons of great acts lined up for this one. I am kinda shocked, to be honest. 

...Dawes seems hidden and they are a great band everyone on this board, who I know, would be pleasantly surprised with seeing because ya'll would love'em.

 

Every time I hear of Dawes I mistake them for Foals, probably because I saw them back-to-back at a festival once.  

Foals was so bad at that festival I wanted to beat them up and I wanted to beat up the people that signed them, and the people that produced their records, and I even wanted to beat up their guitar tech.  Having them play at the festival was a horrible, horrible waste of time, not to mention electricity.  I never thought that innocent musical notes could be put together so atrociously.

20 hours ago, Northern Wish said:

If this was the Bluefest lineup, we'd be freaking out!

Loads of good stuff in there but not enough to get me back to The Glen with 60,000 others.

Yep and Yep.

Peace & Love & The Killers.

Oh yeah, unquestionably heavy players.  We'll see if their set conflicts with Phish or not...

Lineup is out.  I'm excited to see Chicago.  Other than that I might be spending most of the festival drinking beers in my backyard for the first time...ever?

https://ottawajazzfestival.com/shows/

1 hour ago, phorbesie said:

The MSG rumours are going around again.... July 17-20. Guess we'll find out fairly soon if it's true or not.

i've already committed to seeing Kim Mitchell that week though . Velvet is super excited about it!

Ahem...that's Kim Mitchell and David Wilcox...on the same bill!  I'm confident that people will be flying in from around the continent for this, if not the world.

It's not like Phish hasn't played at MSG before.