5 Nights in LA, 5 Nights in NYC – Lucinda Shows

No she can’t. In union buildings where there are hard curfews, going over one minute means paying at least an additional hour for the building an everyone in it on staff. One minute means thousands of dollars, easily enough to instantly take her into the red for the night. So, no she can’t just sail past a curfew if she wants to.

Out of the 60 or 70 shows she has played this year, and I have not seen them all, but I only know of 2 or 3 shows where she has run up to the curfew because of starting late. There have been a few other instances where she just wants to keep playing, but can’t for the reasons I explained above. The shortest show she has played this year is 1:35 minutes. Given that, your characterization that the curfew thing is a major issue- (pretty worn out) is inaccurate and obviously shaded by the angry tone of your post. That being said I agree that it shouldn’t ever happen, but when you’re running on very tight timelines, and something does happen, it will have a big impact on the timing of the evening. In the next few days all of this years set lists will be posted complete with prod. mgr Flappy’s changes and notes etc, so the facts will be out there for all to see. They are being put up because they are interesting to look at, but in this case I guess they will also serve a purpose.

inside job, that would be way cool and if you could post that flappy stuff from the shows. not in pertaining to curfews, i just think there would be
a general interest by most here re all the stuff that goes on.

FAST AND LUCINDA
By BILLY HELLER (NY POST)

September 27, 2007 — “Did you only want me for those three days? Did you only need me for those three days? Did you love me forever just for those three days?”
Typical lyrics from Lucinda Williams, the modern missionary of traditional country (and much more), who laments lost love on her 2003 album “World Without Tears.”

That’s the album Williams will play in its entirety at the opening show of a five-night N.Y.C. stand, which begins Saturday at the Fillmore at Irving Plaza and moves to Town Hall on Tuesday. Each night, she’ll play a different album for the first set.

Williams is known for her stories of soul-scarring relationships, suicidal boys and long-gone wistfulness.

But now she’s engaged to be married, and passionate fans of the “Passionate Kisses” songwriter fear her dark muse will go missing.

Will she start writing happy songs about her guy?

“I’ll let her take that one – because she has,” says the lucky man, Tom Overby, who is also Williams’ manager. But he doesn’t mind that she writes about him, adding, “It’s very sweet.”

“I wrote ‘Honey Bee’ about Tom and me,” says Williams about a song she hasn’t yet recorded. “And it’s funky and sexy and rootsy. It’s all about -” and she breaks into song: “Doin’ my little honey bee/ I’m so glad you stung me . . . Honey bee it’s heaven, 24/7 . . .” You could practically see the smile through the phone line.

“Every song doesn’t have to be about unrequited love,” the Louisiana native says. “It makes it a lot more interesting.

“The bottom line is you either feel like writing or you don’t.” Williams, 54, says she hates the question about her personal happiness adversely affecting her songwriting.

First, she declares: “I’m here to destroy that myth.” But in her next Southern-drawl breath she admits, “I used to think that, too.”

But Williams’ fans needn’t worry. “Now, I’m living with someone who’s the right person, and I’m writing like crazy. But the thing is, I can also still write about other stuff that’s troublesome. It doesn’t have to necessarily be about my personal love life.”

Although Williams can’t claim the most fans of any popular singer, she might claim the most devoted.

“She’s special,” says Rita Houston, the music director of WFUV, a big Lucinda booster. “On a Lucinda tune, you know what the kitchen smells like, what color the car is, what’s playing on the radio. And she does it in 3½ minutes. With that attention to detail, she’s in her own league.”

As intimate as her songs are, she rarely writes about her politics, claiming it’s “easier to write personal.” Although she might talk about Iraq at a show, she leaves topical tunes to masters like Steve Earle and Bob Dylan, who she says is “king of that.”

She proceeds to tell of the time she first met Dylan, in New York in the late 1970s one night when she was playing at Folk City and he was in the bar to hear another artist. The owner introduced the two musicians.

“I was real nervous,” she admits. “When I first met Bob Dylan, I just felt this energy, kind of around him.”

Williams, who was just starting out then, says, “I think there was a little connection there. He was real low-key. He was just sitting at the bar trying to blend in with the crowd. He shook my hand and said, ‘Stay in touch. We’re gonna be going on the road soon.’ “

Later, Williams stood by the door “because I knew he was gonna be leaving,” she laughs. “He gave me a kiss on the cheek as he left.”

Williams and her personal passionate kisser, Overby, first met, fleetingly, in Minnesota in 1991 at a “meet and greet.” Overby was in the music division of Best Buy there. About 15 years later, both had moved to Los Angeles.

“I was at a hair salon in Hollywood; he came in to get his hair cut. It was a guy and a girl place, like one of those hipster hair places,” she explains, setting the scene, as if in a song.

“He walked in. I was single. Then I said, ‘Wow. This guy’s tall and slim. He’s got a nice smile and beautiful eyes.’ So we ended up hanging out that night and, you know, here we are.”

If she had to pick a favorite album of the ones she’s playing during her New York dates, Williams says it would be “Essence” (2001). And if she were a Lucinda fan?

“If I could muster up the money and had the energy, I’d go to all five shows,” she says.

Fillmore: Saturday, “World Without Tears”… Sunday, “Essence”… Town Hall: Oct. 2, “Car Wheels on a Gravel Road”… Oct. 3, “Sweet Old World”… Oct. 4, “Lucinda”