Erie Setlist

This blogger must have gotten 8+ hours slumber the night before; it’s a good recap, though I believe he got Blind Willie Johnson wrong, Pearlie Brown I think it is. Last night’s show disproves a Lu touring cliche which I myself have been guilty of espousing: That she needs a fired-up dance club crowd standing up close to really let it loose. The groove was there from almost start to finish last night–with as sedate a crowd as I’ve ever seen. Yet people were into it, just quiet about it. Lucinda was absolutely superb, grooved.

I myself went on quite a quest to land Blessed, as I still prefer to nab an in-person retail copy of such things day of their release. When in Erie. . . I first trudged to a little joint on the corner of 21st and Parade called Sundance Records, on the strength of [again old school] a yellow pages ad. It looked navigable on foot from my motel, but Erie-ites have mixed success at clearing their sidewalks of sludge and ice. Within a block or so, I knew I was on a fool’s mission, though the place existed and the proprietor was nice to me. “My shipment hasn’t arrived yet” was his response to HER name and the new title, as high school kids got off the bus and swarmed his store for its candy shelves and its general neighborhood gathering place ambiance. At least that was an authentic response on the employee’s part. Not so at south Erie’s Best Buy, where I thought to sojourn in the name of purchasing from a former Tom Overby employer. Two Megans succeeded in producing zero copies–though the 9.99 Best Buy “exclusive” tag was clearly on the shelves. When I asked if a computer figure of zero in store meant they had sold all the stock this one day, whether they never got any in, or whether multiple copies might be in back storage, Megan II was clueless. The “management team,” of the other gender, had the same look of slack-jawed inanition as they stood around, so I left in the name of the fye chain (an outfit which got a fiery letter from me to the Tennessee district manager just last year), but Barnes & Noble’s marquee saved the day; I scored the last of 3 “model” copies in store. The clerk confirmed two people had indeed purchased that day, but I never quite fathomed what “model” meant. So all you online shoppers and pre-shippers: well done, you may convert me to your methods. Still, a copy in hand for headphones on way to venue…

Nice watering hole near campus/venue called The Cornerstone Bar & Grill: thanks security for directions. This place has a way to go in big-time concert prep, though the employees were nice. Clearly missing the opening act and arriving fashionably late baffled everyone, including the patrons of my [third] row. “The artist will not be meeting fans after” said a sign on the merch table, but I set about to circumvent that if I could. Four, count them four, empty seats graced the first row, after all my phone woes in getting a ticket day of opening sales way back when; still, it’s nice that people actually lining up day of this got best seats, though how about those 4 noshows?

Best to all from the road…