I want to know have you ever heard the rain
And it did : but first a word from our editorial staff.
Good luck today to the men and women of Pittsburgh Rugby. I’d like to say I wish I was there with you, but, well, I’d be lying. You will have a great time and hopefully be victorious. I will be having the time of my life seeing something so amazing it rivals the Ark of the Covenant being opened in Raiders of the Lost Ark (minus the face melting, save for the guy a few rows behind us who I think had some help). So good luck and goodspeed and in the meantime I have maintained a fairly healthy diet out here. [ed note: [inside an apparent ed. note] Actually looking back on the last two/three days…I’ve been a vegetarian again. Wow…accidentally even. ]
Poster was attained yesterday, miraculously, and now I can leisurely make my way to the shows. Speaking of posters, today is A Mock Show (www.amockshow.com), which is, well, an art show of posters with a film screening. Of course, it focuses on Polluck. On that note, may I point out, Mom & Dad, [ed. note: god help me if they ever read this someday...cause I have a feeling some later stuff to come may not be entirely FF (Family Friendly)] that while you chide me for having a more posters than a 12 yr old Brittney Spears fan, and point out that at the ever increasing prices (30-50) they are not only a waste of space but money, that alas there is proof! #mce_temp_url#
Is it the most solid investment? Do I have a few Enrons? Well, time will tell all I’m saying is someday if you have to live in a nursing home one of the puppies might be paying your bills. Cause you mean that much to me, I’d sell a Pollock, really I would. By then I should also be finished remodeling the house so I could probably sell that too.
Also apparently to some of the ladies out there, size does matter. Some seem to think my paragraphs are a little long so I will try to shorten them. It was in paragraphs, really it was. However today I will try and make them a more manageable size. Quizno’s torpedo rather than Center City Mufflelata.
And Cue:
So last night…
First, this place is just unspeakably amazing, last night the sky was clear for about 70% of the show and you could actually see Denver in the background, a sight that only gets better as the night goes on. I showed up at the crack of 3 since they decide to do the posters in a way that is, albeit fair in that, taxing and trying. Show up 5 hours before the show, wait in a queue, and one per person. I need to get back into printmaking. I have all the screenprinting stuff at my house, and I have done the woodblock stuff before. 500 @ 50 a pop thats $2500 in less than 30 minutes [ed. note: yes, I know, I know, and I'm not going there] [ed. note: yes, I also know that not all 500 were released cause a small few are held back for promoter/band/etc.][ed. note: Cannonball Mgmt Da'Lyrical Block print coming to your area 2010] . The good news is that this crowd is pretty much what you’d expect. 500 people salivating for a piece of paper that only 500 people will ever have and that none of them have ever seen. The risk is that sometimes they suck. Star Lake ’09 I’m lookng at you. A lot of times they are amazing. This one is amazing and well worth the $50. These 500 people in line are really about 400 people and 100 of their girlfriends (of boyfriends occaisionally) who they are using to get a second one to trade/sell. So 400 of these people can discuss, dissertate, free associate and extemporaneize (I CREATED A NEW WORD!) on the poster market, artists, values, history…they are basically the same kids that used to write Nintendo Zine’s back in the days of the NES for their neighborhood and now have a lot more expednable income and the same thirst for knowledge and acceptance. This line is where you find that. Met a few people, including my new buddy Kirk, who lives in Denver, soon Colorado Springs, is a lawyer, and is apprently single. Ladies grab him while you can!
Poster accomplished Kirk and I party in the lot, for which I had purchased a Growler earlier in the afternoon at Wynkoop brewing. Oldest brewery in Denver, it is apparently owned by the current mayor, and apparently the mayor knows his stuff because its good. I tried over half of their 15 selections, including a great Milk Stoudt, the B3k (a good Schwarzbier), the amazing Anniversary (a oak aged barleywine) (my favorite but they only made one keg, so no growlers) and the Chili Beer. I can’t remember the full name but I can remember it was delicious. So delicious in fact that I bought a growler of it. Great beer flavor with a definite yet more subtle than youd expect taste of chile peppers and maybe a touch of the heat, but just a slight whiff. Kirk and I pontificate for a hours on past shows, setlists, probability matrixes…the kind of stuff two gentlemen our age with decent jobs and a necessity not to be totally blithering fools do at these sort of things.
Being a local I follow him in as he’s passed the test with his encyclopdic knowledge and he leads me to his spot, which is of course a great one. Having no necessity to head in too early due to already having the poster we only wait a little bit (meaning less than an hour) for the show to start. Anticipation is overwhelming the crowd after last nights event and the shadow is looming large.
Stealing Time
I: Runaway Jim, Chalkdust Torture, Bathtub Gin, Time Turns Elastic, Lawn Boy, Water in the Sky, Stealing Time from the Faulty Plan, Split Open and Melt
II: Drowned > Crosseyed and Painless > Joy, Tweezer > Backwards Down the Number Line > Fluffhead > Piper > A Day in the Life
E: Suzy Greenberg > Tweezer Reprise
First set opens srong with the crowd loving the Runaway Jim. I believe I called Antelope instead but it was one or the other and I bet on the wrong horse. Speaking of which I had also called a Chalkdust opener. Just to spite me they played it second. I get a point for that but not the full points. My phantasy tour points just dropped. You didn’t know they had fantasy leagues for tours? Where have you been. You’ve disavowed all knowledge of me? Really? Will flowers help? Chocolates? I know a great place in Boston… [ed. note: while they do have leagues, he is not currently enrolled in one, more because of the lack of remembering the entry date but, small miracles]. The Jim is solid and then comes my Chalkdust. I think at this point in his life, after giving up cocaine, and oxy, and any other number of substances, Trey has taken this as his new drug. He loves this song like Jon Stewart loves a Bill O’Reilly sex scandal. Probably because he takes it out, rocks it, rips it a new hole, beats it like Tina Turner circa the late 70s [ed. note: Ike love's ya baby. Ike didn't mean to hurt you. Here... Here... Have some flowers baby], lights it on fire, then shoves it back in a box where it will stay until the soonest possible date he can open it up again.
After that spankfest you need to cool down a bit, so why don’t you sit back, relax, dance you ass off, sing along and have a little Gin. The usual treatment, 2009 is apparently the new Year of the Gin (we couldn’t recall which year that was but this one is definitely going for the title). Great sing/hum/whistle-a-long and the lights are just indescribeable at this point. I don’t know how he’s doing it but to stress the improvement to an already top in the touring world light show is impossible. It’s like going from a 98 Mustang to a ’09 Jetta Bluetech Turbo Diesel. Bigger, better, flashier, and more bada$$. There are literally colors you’ve never seen before and the cameras are totally incapable now of keeping up with the shades. The pictures you take are about 1/2 the greatness of the colors you actually see.
Now its time to slow it down a bit. Time Turns Elastic is a great song, and I’ll stick by my guns. The opening is a lot more mellow, its not a burner right out of the box. It is a breaker not a pacer. Suck it up cupcake. Put up with the slower start for the rage that the ending becomes. You are probably the same person that hates Mexican Cousin. Mexican Cousin’ is just 46 days with tequila and you know you like 46 days on your cheerios every morning.
Then the proof that I still am an idiot: Lawnboy, sung by Page, not Mike. I had a mental lapse, I apologize but his version was good. Might even be my first ever lawnboy! Page strolling front and center for the festivities. Then a Water in the Sky as a nod to the drizzle that was coming down, but nothing major yet. The Stealing Time that followed was when the skies started to open, as evidenced by the men running frantically around stage putting on the light and amp stack condoms. A solid version of a new mainstay, then a really wide open version of Split Open and Melt, with an elongated, roaming jam to finish off the first set. It seemed like they MAY have stopped a little early due to the rain. The ending was amazingly solid, just seemed like the set end was a little abrupt.
Then came the rain delay. By setbreak the rain was coming down, and it continued…I don’t know how long it lasted 45 minutes or more, but by the time the setbreak ended it was well overdue and we were all drenched, which is really just a great reason to by the t-shirt you wanted to buy but needed a reason. Hello heather grey.
Kirk and I both thought Drowned had to come out, but we weren’t prepared for what was about to happen. Coming out with barrels blazing, the keys struck up the intro and the ride was off. [ed note: It is now sunday morning and I'm eating brunch with nick and friend and ] [ed. note: also got to shower for the first time in two days] [ed. note: yep, you read that right] [ed. note: The rest will be much shorter, for there is no 3 hr starbucks stop this AM] The drowned was an even more mind expanding version than expected, great jamming coming out of it and expansive and the Crosseyed and Painless to follow was the same. A lot of great tension and release, a lot of reverb and chattter and echo. A great time was being had by all, two rampaging songs in, both covers and it was already turning into a best of show. Then they whipped out joy, and true to request were happy, cause this was our song too. [ed. note: A lot of fan nodding going on...we want you to be happy cause this is your song too ... wilco will love you baby...][coffe talk note: Wilco (the Song) vs Joy. Talk amongst yourselves. Discuss.]
Then its time to pass the peas and bring the ammunition. Tweezer drops off the edge [ed. note: This is Red Rocks. This is the Edge.] and wails. Great version into a new solid slowly growing fan fav, backwards down the number line. All my friends didn’t go backwards down the number line but instead at this point shed their ponchos and were dancing in the aisles admiring the now completely clear view of Denver again. Oh, and the specific worldwide fruits and herbs being projected on the walls by ck5. Then it was time for a man with a terrible disease. The kids eat this one up like nerds in a blizzard. Loving it and an amazingly well done version. Then it was an Uncle Crappy special, after we had awoken fromt he sound of the storm. How does this stuff happen? Who knows, its Red Rocks, its like Alice in Wonderland on steroids for music. Amazing stuff just happens and keeps on happening and keeps on happening. As evidenced by A Day in the Life. Solid. So lets get this straight. We had The Who, Talking Heads, and the Beatles ALL IN ONE SET! So if your keeping score thats 3 covers and 4 new songs in ONE SHOW! And four of arguably the top 10 covers. And no encore even yet!
Little Suzy came raging out for that, head caved in and all. Speaking of the undertow the energy was still there pulling everyone in, straight through the inevitable Tweezer Reprise. Great solid ending.
Soon afterwards talk began. People were throwing around superlatives. Best post hiatus? Sure, easy argument, few runners up, best since 1.0??? Wow. Not sure on my take yet…I’ll reason it out. I will probably release a best of disc set soon (once I have time to get my current release I’m working on out…which I will also share). Definitely great show. Amazing. Superlative filled. I’ll let you know after sunday.
Joy
