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Fluffy
Administrator
USA
10739 Posts |
 Posted - 05/04/2007 : 03:53:46 AM
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I had to laugh.....after 3 soundchecks the stage looked like the guitar pedal counter at Guitar Center. LOL Wish I had gotten a picture. We all had a good laugh at so many pedals for 3 "ACOUSTIC" performers. In fact myself and one of the house sound guys commented at the same TIMe, "What would Pete Seeger say?" Well actually I said "What would Woody Guthrie say?" but we did say it at the exact same TIMe. LOL Ironically, I pointed out that even though TR's took up the most space it was actually the fewest pedals, only 2, Ring Modulator and Boss DD-5. It was sure funny to see all those pedals sitting out there all alone with no other equipment on stage.
As for the gig it was prolly the best of the run so far. Sadly the turnout was weak and noone could figure out why, but so few people made for a very quiet show in a fantastic sounding room. Those few who were there were treated to great performances by all 3 acts. The venue was fantastic and I hope we get an opportunity to go back. The vibe there is awesome thanx in large part to the fantastic staff who obviously really love MUSIC and bringing it to the people. Professionals all the way around and alot of fun to hang out with. Turns out the soundman, Chris, worked with TR back in his Bearsville daze recording with Dave. TR was excited to see him again. We also had another guy from the TR's Bearsville recording daze in attendance as well. It was Swati's(one of the openers)manager Mark McKenna, who as it happens knew me seperately from my daze with Chris Whitley. He was involved with Messenger Records in the early days and knew me thru CW. Small world eh? I love this business. LOL For TR returning to Woodstock it was like 10 years had not passed. All the faces from when he was here last.
So after arriving at 5:30, 30 minutes before load-in was scheduled, I was quite relaxed, no rushing. So I proceeded into the venue to have a look. I was met with looks of confusion because as it turns out we were late. Apparently a radio interview/promo for the show had been scheduled for their 5 o'clock LIVE segment. Apparently we were expected at 4:45 but noone had notified me of this. DOAH!! So after a few phone calls and many apologies I did some fancy footwork and got the radio interview rescheduled for 6. 5 o'clock LIVE would now be at 6 o'clock. LOL Much to my dismay this all came together around 5:50 and TR had just started his soundcheck and now I had to interupt it to take him across the parking lot to the radio station. This is never good for anyone, TR or the soundcrew. Many apologies and explanations later I was able to extract TR between the 12 string and 6 string check with assurances we would be back to finish the 2nd half of soundcheck as quick as possible. It sucks to keep the house sound crew waiting plus I had 2 openers waiting to soundcheck as well. Now I am holding everyone up. Safe to say that the evening started a little tense. LOL I tend to internalize these situations too much. (c)Rew told me "relax, it's not your fault". He could tell by my body language I was getting tense. Is it that obvious? LOL Anyway, I grabbed TR and we ran over to the station and quickly settled in for the promo for the show. TR chatted for a bit and then played Betrayal, chatted some more and played Indoctrinate, was asked a question about his "bizarre" covers and he started in on "Whole Lotta Love". Unfortunately when he got to slide part of the song he had no slide since it was onstage for soundcheck so he reached down onto the desk and grabbed some scissors and gave them a whirl but found they didn't work so good. Then he grabbed a big fat felt marker and gave that shot but to no avail. WLL was cut short at that point. LOL This was not the only appearance of the scissors in program. For a bit TR was holding them next to the mic while he was talking and opening and closing them and telling people he had scissors for hands. I can only imagine what the folks on the other end of the radio were thanking hearing that noise as TR talked. He then joked that he was getting haircut while doing the interview and then changed it to he was giving himself a haircut during the interview. What a card! His joviality during this experience really helped to lighten my mood. We were all laughing right along with him. I think it was prolly the most relaxed interview that Justin had ever done. I think they ran tape on it so I am hoping to get a copy of that. Dave and Rich Cahill listened to it on the radio in their car out in the parking lot and said it sounded awesome. Oh, I almost forgot to mention that TR was asked about Kucinich and politics and the got a little worked up and said "fuck" during the interview. I chuckled to myself and thought, no worries, 7 second delay. I looked over at Justin and from the look of terror on his face I ascertained that they might not have a 7 second delay. Just then TR let slip with a "fucking" as well. Within the 10 seconds(no exaggeration) the phone light on the wall of the studio was blinking and I knew for sure there was no 7 second delay. It was the station manager calling to inform us NOT to use those words on the air. TR felt really bad about it but pointed out that he just gets worked up on the topic of politics. SORRY! I figure by now these folks are really loving us. We show up late, cuss on the air, what next? I had to ask. LOL
So we returned to the venue and finished our soundcheck and headed for dinner at The Bear Cafe with Dave, Rich, Jess and Mark in tow. We had a fantastic dinner. I had the Filet bathed in garlic sauce and Stilton Blue Cheese. I ordered it on TR's recommendation as he said it was the best meal he had while he was in Woodstock recording with Dave. I told Lisa, the venue manager, later what I had had for dinner on TR's recommendation and she confirmed that it's one of the few things left on the menu from 10 years ago and they can't take it off because so many people would complain. YES, it's that great! If you have the chance to stop by the Bear Cafe for dinner I highly recommend the Filet Mignon. We had a great TIMe at dinner shooting the shit(ahhhhhh, not on the air!)with everyone. Then it was back to the venue to get ready for the show.
We were back in TIMe to catch all of the openers which was nice since I am a fan of both of them. The first was Swati. I have her new record which is performed with a band so I had never seen her solo live. Let me say, she was amazing. If you get the chance catch her. She was apparently feeling under the weather(which I found out later)but it certainly didn't show in her performance. She played and sang her heart out. After the show her manager gave me a CD for TR and when I gave it to him he commented that he has heard alot of people do the looping thing with the acoustic but she impressed him the most with her usage of it. Quite tasteful, very creative and used it in such a way to compliment her music in a very unique way. Very hard to describe I am finding as I sit here and try to convey it. Suffice it to say, TR was IMPRESSED, which should speak volumes and I was really impressed, but who am I. LOL If you have the chance check her out. Here is a link to her myspace page and website:
http://www.swatilive.com/
http://www.myspace.com/swatilive
I have the album and it is stunning. She even does a cover of Bruce Springsteen that is absolutely amazing and keep in mind this coming from a not very big BOSS fan. She also played a song that I thought was called "Exhausted" during her set. I asked her manager Mark if that was from an earlier album and he informed me it was on her new album which confused me since I didn't remember it. He then informed me that it wasn't on the copy I had since mine was an advance promo and they didn't put it on the promo copy. Turns out the song is called "mf" which doesn't stand for "MotherFinger"(the Peter Prince song TR played on the other nite). Oh hell, we aren't on the radio, it stands for Motherfucker. surprise surprise. So I got a copy of the official release with "mf" on it. I remember something similar happened to Maktub. I saw them live and they played this song with the lyric "motherfucker" in it and after the show I asked them what album the song came from and the singer told me the NEW one. I wrinkled my face and said "I have the new one, I don't remember that song." Then he told me that it was on the independent release. The one I had was the record label release and the label had chosen to take "MotherFucker" off the CD when they released their pressing of it. I know I am off subject a bit now but I thought it was worth mentioning since it struck me quite funny that the almost exact situation would happen to me twice, both with songs called motherfucker. LOL Anyway, back to topic, check out Swati's CD and definitely get yourself to a show if she plays near you. You won't be disappointed.
After a short set break, Dave Cahill took the stage and played his heart out. I think he impressed everyone in the room. I think the audience and staff which consisted of prodominantly older folk like myself were thinking what could this young punk dressed in jeans and a studded belt offer to this show. Well they found out. Dave tore it up even though he said he was also feeling under the weather. I think he opted not to sing because he had lost his voice the nite before but he played the HELL outta his guitar. After the show I told him how good I thought it was and he shrugged and said it wasn't his best show and that he had had problems on one song in particular with his hand not wanting to cooperate. LOL I think he was the only one who noticed. Even though he said it wasn't HIS best show he did tell me that the TR performance tonite was the best he had seen TR play and that is no small amount of TR shows.
I will concur that it was spectacular performance. TR seemed to be in a really swell mood. I am guessing the smallish audience helped because they were so quiet except for at the right TIMes. Everyone, us and the staff, were shocked at the low turnout but agreed that the ones who were there got a great show. The audience had a great NRG that was definitely felt in the room and I know TR felt it as he played with gusto and still found TIMe to goof around and perform some hilarious antics onstage. I will leave the details of that to TR Task Force to fill you in on. Suffice it to say it included a banana and monkey noises among other things. TR was really having fun tonite. TR's setlist looked like this:
I Can Smell Your Brains From Space
Captain Goldfish Ohio
Betrayal
Hidden Variable
This Is The One
Delicate Balance OR Chatterbox
The Truth
Unchained Repressed Monkey Fuck(Where You At?)
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High In The West
Ancestors
Coco
(The Basset Hound Chasing A Jackrabbit, Barking At The Ground Where The Smell Is Fresh.......Go Kramer)
Death Squad TV
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Ink Squirting Octapuss Eye
To The Next
Kundalini Deconstructed
Hotel Fast Horizon
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More Unusual Organs From Amsterdam(Then Sex)
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Revolution
Doom OR White Fuck Denies
Ocean
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Hold On - Brandenburg Variations
So, near as I could tell, corrections are: I don't think Chatterbox was played and WHD was not played either. TR ended the set with a scorching improv slide song/intro to Ocean. TR wasn't sure if it was an intro or not. He said it started as an intro but kinda took on a life of it's own. LOL We had someone screaming during the encore break for Bach(Nick, I'm looking at you LOL)so TR returned to the stage and played Bach Courante into Hold On. When he did this (c)Rew and I looked at each other and commented on how perfect that transition sounded. After the show we told TR he should keep it, the transition seemed seamless and one flowed into the other so smoothly. Sounded GREAT! You can judge for yourself, the show was recorded and I should be getting copies soon. Ironically, after the show I looked over the setlist and noticed the Brandenburg note and asked TR what that was all about since the Bach piece was a last minute request. He said that his plan was to play Hold On tonite with a twist. So I guess that Bach wasn't that out there at that moment. SYNCHRONICITY! Hotel Vast Horizon was mindblowing as usual. Definitley the standout in the set for me tonite and also I think for Dave Cahill. I will let him fill you on his perspective.(Dave? LOL)
So all in all after a semi rough start for me it ended up being a GREAT nite in Woodstock despite the small turnout. 3 GREAT acts, 1 GREAT audience and a venue to die for. TR sounded great in that room. Seems like it was designed for acoustic music.
Thanx to Lisa, Chris, Ben, Nick, Justin and the rest of the staff at the venue for obviously loving what they do and taking such good care of us and treating us like we had sold the place out. Great people, great atmosphere, great food, great FUN. What more could you ask for. Sorry for being late and thanx for being patient during soundcheck, consumate professionals all the way around. I wish I could say the same for us, showing up late and cussing on the radio, jeez! LOL
Special THANX to Dave Cahill and Swati for supporting us tonite and providing the audience with awesome performances. It was alot of fun sharing the stage and the evening with you. I hope we can do it again soon! |
Peace & Keep the Faith
Fluffy         
"THE MUSIC BUSINESS IS A CRUEL AND SHALLOW MONEY TRENCH-- A LONG PLASTIC HALLWAY WHERE THIEVES AND PIMPS RUN FREE AND GOOD MEN DIE LIKE DOGS. THERE'S ALSO A NEGATIVE SIDE..." -Hunter S. Thompson |
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rubylith
Fluffy-Esque
1915 Posts |
Posted - 05/04/2007 : 1:53:29 PM
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Let me just say, of all the performances I have ever seen by anyone, this was one of the best shows I have ever seen. I can barely put into words the emotion that dripped from TR. He was on fire. You could hear a pin drop in the place. I could not even believe what I was seeing and hearing. Now again this was not my first show. I had my jaw on the floor. I can't even think of another artist that I have seen as much doing that to me, making me feel that way.
My girlfriend Jess was blown away as well. She absolutely adored him. TR's new songs are downright unbelievable. Everything he played made everyone in the place feel something I don't think they;ve ever felt before. It was magic.
As soon as he buested out the WHitley song, tears gushed into my eyes. I tired very hard to hide it but it torn my heart out and set it into space. I have never felt anything like it, ever....EVER. I felt that he played that special for me, and I maybe wrong, but I will believe that forever. It touched my herat in a way I have never been touched by anything before. I felt like Whitley was in the room there with us, together again.
I feel terrible for anyone who has yet to hear the mysticsism and delight of TR's music, and just overall being as a down to earth, great human being.
Anyway to the beginning of the day. We had a great time, there was a ridiculous amount of pedals on the stage, it was quite, guitarted. We did the soundchecks and proceeded to dinner, together. I had the chicken that TR had, it was quite good, but I have been stricken with a never ending illness and I wasn't able to eat as much as I wanted to. Sickness mixed with opening up for your guitar God can mess with your appetite a bit.
Swati played and she was amazing. She really had a lot of soul and some awesome guitar work!
My set went great, I was very happy with the sound and how I played, except my hand just didn't want to work during "False Flag". I found it funny and I was laughing on stage as I watched my hand not do what my brain was (trying) to tell it to do.
The Bearsville Theatre experience was nothing less of nostalgic. The staff, the food, the sound, the music, it was unreal. The palce was beautiful, and had so much history behind it. They also had some amazing photography in the rooms as well.
Thank you Fluffy, Rew and TR. Thank you Bearsville, thank you Woodstock. I will never for the rest of my life forget this experience. Everyone hear should be excited to see him again, he is really onto something. His message is pure and his music is almighty. I feel so lucky to have seen what I saw last night, and I only wish my video camera didn't crap out on me because I would have stayed up all night transfering it online for all of you.
Thanks again FLuffy, I will not make the show tonight but I will be there in spirit, supporting TR til the end. THanks again, you guys are the best. |
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PJK
Alien Abductee
USA
4159 Posts |
Posted - 05/04/2007 : 3:22:21 PM
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I didn't have TIMe to read your post this morning, Fluffy, so I printed it out and took it to work with me. Sure made for a great read while my kids were taking a quiz. Sounded amazing and very unique.
Dave, I was thinking about you last night and from the sound of it, both Fluffy's and your account, it was a night to remember. Very jealous I couldn't be there. If not for the final, I very well might have been.
The stage full of pedals really made me laugh! I could picture that. The other thing that made me laugh out loud (not a good thing when the kids were taking a quiz, but hey, that's life) was the part about TIM saying fuck on the air. I could just imagine the look on Justin's face!
Glad the night was "perfect" in a weird sense. I am going to check out Swati's websites. Looking forward to adding some spice in my musical life!
Thanks Fluffy and Dave for sharing what sounds like a truly memorable night! See you both tomorrow night! |
"It is hard enough to remember my opinions, without also remembering my reasons for them!"Friedrich Nietzsche |
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rubylith
Fluffy-Esque
1915 Posts |
Posted - 05/04/2007 : 3:40:34 PM
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| The radio interview was FUCKING funny...no pun intended. ANd it was Jess and I that listened to it. We were cracking up. Haha thanks Pam! I'm so pissed I didn't get it video taped...did someone record the sound FLuffy? |
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jsemon2
Yak Addict
USA
920 Posts |
Posted - 05/04/2007 : 3:56:41 PM
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| so how was this recorded? video/audio? |
OUT FOR LUNCH |
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Fluffy
Administrator
USA
10739 Posts |
Posted - 05/05/2007 : 4:42:22 PM
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| I am told audio. Never talked the guy who actually recorded but I am told we will be getting a copy. |
Peace & Keep the Faith
Fluffy
"THE MUSIC BUSINESS IS A CRUEL AND SHALLOW MONEY TRENCH-- A LONG PLASTIC HALLWAY WHERE THIEVES AND PIMPS RUN FREE AND GOOD MEN DIE LIKE DOGS. THERE'S ALSO A NEGATIVE SIDE..." -Hunter S. Thompson |
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rubylith
Fluffy-Esque
1915 Posts |
Posted - 05/07/2007 : 11:25:19 PM
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05/03/07 Woodstock Theatre Woodstock, NY
