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Absolute BRAVO reply to Tom for your comments.
I’ve seen Lucinda 4 times now-the last at the Ottawa Blues Fest in early July and she is the best.
I know her band supports her 1,000%
You are a lucky man to be linked up with a real pro.
Please Toverby. Your comments:
“”As you saw that is very upsetting to her, because she knows it all reflects on her. But it is because she knows that, that she insisted on redoing one of the songs over that had been disrupted– and continued the show right up to curfew -to last the possible minute she could play. Did she redeem herself, as she said at the end of the show- definitely -and she also redeemed the amateur hour conditions of that venue, where we will never ever play again.””Redeemed herself maybe, but to say the gardens did a amateurish job was not fair. Any outdoors set up has the potential for problems. Lu looked like the amature the whole night. IF she comes to Atl again, put her in a recording studio with lots of AC. Then she may be happy! Her time may have passed for live performances. Still love her stuff but it was a bad night for her not the gardens.
her time for live performance has not passed!
i have seen Lu many many times, each time it’s better than the last.Jamatran- There is no real debate here– amateur is amateur. And i’d say it was a very bad night for the gardens, in addition to the fact that we will never play there again I recommended to our promoter to not book acts there any more there. He apologised and agreed. Is that bad enough for you. When they can’t put their own stage together and install lights that were probably meant for growing potsoil five feet from the face of the performer its amateur.
There is nothing unfair about it. Certain professional conditions are expected whether the show is at Staples center or in a cornfield. Those minimum conditions were not only not met but disrupted the show, and ultimately the performer-it doesn’t get more amateur than that. Next time you go up and do karaokee try holding 4 150 watt halogen heat lamps five feet in front of your face. THe comment about the recording studio and AC is whats unfair and only shows you still don’t understand what really happened. She’s played in heat 500 times. If it was about the heat, why did she choose to play the extra 40 minutes that she was not required to -and for which there was no setlist as that extra 40 minutes was not planned. Redeemed or not -she tried.Tom –
I don’t care what anyone else says, Lucinda did more than redeem herself (not that she had to). She dealt with an adverse situation and still put on a show that I thought was great. Like I hope I conveyed when we met later (and if I didn’t, I apologize – I was rather ripped as I said earlier), it was not a problem for her true fans. We loved the show.
I just feel bad that a) you & Lu & the band had such a bad night in a town and a venue I love, and 2) Lu has received such unwarranted criticism for her reaction to a very bad situation. I can only imagine how bad it was for her – having worked myself in front of hot halogen lamps while painting in an inside, air-conditioned space, it must be 10x as bad outside in the heat & humidity of a Southern night.
Some here will undoubtedly accuse me of “kissing butt”, etc., but I don’t give a crap. Lu gave a great performance in a very adverse situation and showed concern for the audience and their perception of her performance. I, for one, had a great night – one I will never forget. I look forward to seeing y’all back in Atlanta soon – at another venue, of course! ;o) Take care & give Lu my & Sarah’s best.
Tom
EDIT: Spelling error fix – y’all know how I am… 😀
Oh, and as a postscript. Sarah & I went back to the Botanical Gardens last night to see KT Tunstall. One week after Lu’s show, and the lights were no longer a problem. I checked them out and, unless my memory fails me, it seemed they were higher above the stage for the show last night than they were for Lu’s show…
Tom
EDIT: P.S. Sarah just told me that, in fact, she noticed last night at KT Tunstall’s show that some of the lights were not even ON – those closest to center stage. That might have been what made me think they were mounted higher…
did you get a chance to check out Michelle Malone open for KT? She’s one of the best live acts in America right now…
@homosacer wrote:
did you get a chance to check out Michelle Malone open for KT? She’s one of the best live acts in America right now…
Yup. It’s the third or fourth time we’ve seen her (we’ve seen her headline at Eddie’s Attic & The Earl). She’s one of our favs…
Tom
TOverby, why do you have to come out and take the apologist view. You’re very defensive when someones view differs from yours. You’re too close to the scene, try some objectivity once in awhile. Lu’s behavior has been unstable for years, but you don’t notice? You’re doing a good job as manager, you’re very hardworking, but there is some propaganda in some of your postings. The new fans may not notice, but long time fans know. Why does Lu complain about how “it’s not easy being up here”, and how difficult it is. She has a great talent that alot of being would almost die for. Why doesn’t she like performing? Also, please make sure that she gets onstage on time so she doesn’t have to complain that “I’d like to keep playing but there’s a curfew here.” I’ve seen Dylan, the Stones, Allman Bros, Neil Young, Clapton many times in my life, not once have any of them mentioned that word! It’s the performers responsiblity to know when there’s a curfew.
Just because of the conditions in Atlanta does not give her the right to act like she did; no need to apologize.Good post Tim. An LW show is a highwire act. Tom can’t blame everything on a hot stage light. Of course he is giving the company line.
It’s too bad she had a rough night. Would have been great if she could push through problems like that and just tough it out instead of having a meltdown.
Let the flaming begin.
I really, really don’t understand all the criticism. So, she can be temperamental! Other great artists have been known to be temperamental. What, really, is the big stink? Do you love her music, her artistry? I know I do, and I cannot imagine letting some grousing from stage ruin a show for me. The music is there. The performance is there. What’s the big deal about what she sometimes says between songs? Not everyone is happy-go-lucky all the time – I know I’m not. I get moody, I get depressed. Hell, I get pissed-off. If I were a performer, all that would probably show through. She is an emotional person, with emotional art, and she gets emotional on stage. Big deal. None of us know what it is like to work with her and, even if it is hard, we don’t have to work with her or for her. We just have to enjoy her music enough to look past her flaws. Or not. But if the latter is the case, then the question that begs to be asked is this: if you can’t deal with her behavior on stage, if it ruins the music for you, then why bother? Would you rather her stop touring altogether? (And, come on, how bad has she really been on stage? She hasn’t stormed off of the stage to my knowledge, she hasn’t verbally assaulted the audience or members of the band, she hasn’t thrown things at people – all things other artists have certainly done. And, what happened week before last at the Botanical Gardens was far from what I would call an emotional “meltdown”).
I’m not going to flame anyone for their opinion – I’ve had more than my fill of forum flame wars elsewhere, and I am so over all that. So call me an apologist, call me a “new” fan (it’s true, I’ve only been a fan since 2003), call me whatever, I won’t get into a name-calling session with any one over this. In fact, I’ve said all I’m going to say on the topic.
But I really, truly do not understand how some F-bombs and complaining from the stage can negate the lovely thing that is Lucinda’s art.
Tom
Good post Tom.
The strawman arguments are interesting. Philthy says if you don’t like LW, go see the Eagles. Your two choices are don’t go, or would I rather she stop touring altogether?
I think what I am saying is I wanna go to a show and hear great music. No diva acts. Show up on time and play. Don’t tell the audience to fucking leave. Remember what chord the song is in. I want to go to the show. I do not want her to stop touring.
I know you are a true fan and your milage may vary, as they say.
Also, please make sure that she gets onstage on time so she doesn’t have to complain that “I’d like to keep playing but there’s a curfew here.”
Amen. Let me be clear – I’ve seen Lucinda in concert 7 times and each time I felt that the length of her show was reasonable; all of them were in the 2-hour range, give or take. While I’d love to witness one of her mythical 4-hour shows, I recognize that those kinds of performances are a lot to ask of an artist. I’ll take any reasonable show length if it ends because Lucinda wants to end her performance. However, I find curfews to be annoying, and incredibly so when Lucinda comes onstage late. At several of the shows I’ve attended, it was clear that the show ended only because the curfew had been reached. It’s frustrating as an audience member to know that once the clock strikes 11, the show’s over, regardless of Lucinda’s mood or her own desire; I would imagine it’s equally frustrating to a performer who is “in the zone” to have to curtail a performance so suddenly. Obviously I can’t speak for Lucinda, but I’ve gotten the impression before that she’d have been happy to keep playing if it weren’t for the curfew. Again, this isn’t about the shows being too short or Lucinda being obligated to perform for X amount of time. I just think that curfews are frustratingly arbitrary and it would be to the benefit of all to find a way around them. Either start the show earlier or find venues with later curfews or none at all.
@tonyg2756 wrote:
I think what I am saying is I wanna go to a show and hear great music. No diva acts. Show up on time and play. Don’t tell the audience to fucking leave. Remember what chord the song is in. I want to go to the show. I do not want her to stop touring.
OK, I lied. That’s not all I’m going to say. 😉 In retrospect, it hardly seems fair to throw my opinion out there and say “the discussion is over”. Especially when the discussion is being kept at a high level, without flame bait, like you are doing, Tony.
OK, you want all that out of a Lu show. That would be ideal, I must admit. My point is (and if I misrepresented anyone else’s position in making it, I apologize) that that’s not Lucinda Williams. She is emotional & passionate enough about her music that when something pisses her off such that she feels it is negatively impacting her performance, she says something about it. Like some drunk yelling “Play some Floyd!” (whether it was meant as a joke or not). Or improper light or sound systems. Or whatever. Yet, she still plays her music, and I think we can all agree that she cares a great deal about the product she delivers to the audience. If she didn’t, she would not restart songs, apologize, offer a free show to make up for one she feels didn’t go well (which, improbable as it was that she would / could actually do it, she did here in Atlanta). So, to recap – she’s temperamental, she’s emotional, she cares a great deal about her art. In short, she’s like many, many other creative geniuses.
OK, so given all that, given all that Lucinda is, my point was if you love her music and poetry enough, you can look past all that. At least I can. And, if I was someone that felt that her performances were ruined by these things, I probably would not go to her shows. That was the “why bother” comment – it it makes you so mad, or so upset, that it ruins the experience, why spend the money just to be disappointed?
Finally, my “do you want to see her quit touring altogether” comment was almost a plea to stop all the hand-wringing & criticizing her about this stuff. Again, I accept that this is the way things are (and, to a certain extent, I think I understand where she is coming from – from a “I care a great deal about my art” standpoint). And, it’s not that big a deal to me (i.e., I don’t let it detract from my enjoyment of her shows). So, I don’t want her to get so disgusted with the whole process that she quits touring, or cuts back on the amount of touring. I guess that does make me a selfish apologist, but I just love her shows & music so much, I’d rather have things as they are, than not at all, know what I mean?
Tom
Good stuff, Tom. Anyone who travels to as many shows as you do knows what he is talking about and obviously loves Lucinda as we all do otherwise we wouldn’t be here.
I still expect TO to rip me a few new assholes for my post, though.
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