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@pancho wrote:
that tiara wasn’t very large and the angle of the photo shot is steep,
but if you look closely I think you can sorta see the spikes of her regal moment.
I really enjoyed the show, Lu was certainly at ease, it seemed like a living room showYes! I missed it. It can be seen in several of the photos, the top of the tiara. It was a great night, indeed.
Love the photo link. Thanks!
No tiara shot…yet. I wanted to grab the camera and shoot, but I was so close I didn’t want to irritate Lu.
Thanks for the report! Great set list and I saw photos on FB of the crowd. Looked like a terrific turnout.
I wasn’t able to attend. Exhausted beyond words. I did receive a concert call during “For What It’s Worth.” A Mellenhead friend of mine attended but she is not familiar with Lu’s catalog so I knew getting a set list from her would be nil to none. I can’t wait to hear her thoughts on the show.
Apologies if this has been posted. Preview for the Columbia, MO show.
http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2012/jul/19/lucinda-williams/
“Is it too much to demand? / I want a full house / And a rock and roll band”
LUCINDA WILLIAMS
Website: http://www.stephenslakepark.com
That is just one among a number of requests Lucinda Williams posed in the signature song “Passionate Kisses,” recorded on her self-titled 1988 album. Williams will no doubt have “all of this” and more next week when she takes the stage to headline the first high-profile rock concert at Stephens Lake Park. Speaking by phone this week, Williams said she felt honored to play such a special gig. Despite all the acclaim and respect she has earned over five decades in the recording industry, she still finds all the attention a bit surreal.
“I still don’t consider myself famous,” Williams said. “When I think of somebody famous, I think of Bob Dylan.”
Williams attributes her level head to a career that was built slowly and steadily — and not on the shaky foundation of overnight success. Whatever the pace and path has been, it’s clear today that she belongs on any short list of living legends. Writing in the liner notes of that 1988 record, the poet Miller Williams wrote of his daughter’s disposition, borne out even in childhood, for doing her own thing: “She doesn’t fit neatly into any of the established categories. She’s still a genre to herself and she always will be.”
Almost 25 years after those words were penned, time has testified to their truth. The three-time Grammy winner has finely crafted a sound that unites rock, blues, folk, country and Cajun influences in a way that’s seamless, singular, raw and resonant. She was named “America’s best songwriter” by Time magazine a decade ago, yet, like a fine wine, her songwriting has only gotten better with the passing of time.
Williams said she is enjoying one of the most creatively fertile periods of her life, one that has coincided with her 2009 union to industry executive Tom Overby, a true rock ‘n’ roll marriage observed at the famed Minneapolis venue First Avenue. Williams now has “all of this and passionate kisses,” as she sang about — but she has much more than that. Some outsiders openly wondered whether the contentment Williams found in marriage would lead to musical complacency. The result has been exactly the opposite, she said, making it clear that although she has settled down, she’s not settling for anything but the best in her career.
“You read about those romantic, great relationships where one person inspires the other one. That’s what I wanted to find,” Williams said. “It took me a while; it wasn’t until I was in my 50s, but it’s definitely a different kind of thing than I’ve ever experienced before. When you have that, when you’re allowed to be yourself, then creativity can flourish.”
Rather than causing her to give up a part of herself, her marriage has fostered growth as a person and allowed her to take steps she has always wanted to take as a writer.
“It’s really freed me up to explore different subject matter … whereas before I might have been writing about the usual topics of unrequited love … miserable relationships, which is probably the easiest thing to write about,” she said.
Last year’s release, “Blessed,” reads like a road map of her lyrical and personal journey. Williams’ weathered voice has long been a container for both tough-minded resilience and tender aching, yet she explores each more fully on a record that contains meditations on mortality, unlikely pictures of redemption and expressions of vulnerability. Although those themes and colors had always been present in Williams’ work to some degree, she said the tenor of her writing really changed after her mother’s death in 2004, a loss she’s still grieving.
“I don’t think you ever really get over that,” she said.
Articulating her posture toward that loss — as well as expressing the sort of soul-searching that naturally comes with the years — has been a challenging but important step forward.
“It’s not always the easiest stuff to write about,” she said. “… It’s a lot easier to write about love gone wrong. Pretty much every Hank Williams song there is” relates to “that subject.”
One of the most deeply felt tracks on the record is “Copenhagen,” a beautiful, snow-kissed elegy about another of what Williams called “those stunning, sad losses that you try to come to terms with.” The song captures the moment in which she learned a close friend and longtime manager had died. Despite not putting the song to paper until a year after her friend’s passing, the song has an immediacy to it, including such universal but painfully specific lines as “And I’m 57 but I could be 7 years old / Cause I will never be able / to comprehend the expansiveness / of what I’ve just learned.”
Pressing more fully into the freedom she feels and the lyrical vein she has been drawn to, Williams wants to write more story songs that take place from another person’s perspective. She values the ability to “take yourself out of yourself. … That’s my challenge now. That’s what I want to start trying to work on,” she said.
If her recent output is any indication, Williams will meet that challenge, and fans will be better off for it, discovering more sides and sounds to an artist who has already revealed a wealth of beauty and worldly wisdom.
Review:
http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20120726/ENT03/307260074/Lucinda-Williams-shows-off-classic-style-Madison?odyssey=nav%7Chead
Beginning with her overlooked 1980 release “Happy Woman Blues” and continuing on through modern-day classics like her 1988 self-titled album, 1992’s “Sweet Old World,” 1998’s “Car Wheels on a Gravel Road” and beyond, Lucinda Williams has amassed a songbook of originals that few songwriters of her generation can match.
Now that songbook actually comes in book form, and she brought it to her show at the Madison Theater in Covington on Wednesday night for a little light reading.
To be accurate, it’s really a binder, not a book. She kept the binder on a music stand to her side and tried to sneak peeks throughout the night without being too obvious, though she knew the crowd could see what she was up to. When she took off her guitar and sang the torch song “Born to Be Loved,” it was just like watching Frank Sinatra sing off a teleprompter, if he had been born a Southern woman with a poet’s heart.
“Sorry about this thing,” said Williams, 59, waving a hand at the binder. “It’s my safety net. There’s too many lyrics now.”
It’s cool, Lucinda, only because your songs – all of them – are that good.
She kicked things off with two oldies: First, “Pineola,” a plainspoken tale about a suicide, setting a Southern Gothic mood present in many of her songs; then, “Crescent City,” a nostalgic tune that after Katrina has taken on another layer of meaning.
Backed by a three-piece band, Williams played more relatively recent songs – including songs that have yet to be released – than tunes from 20 years ago like “Pineola.” There was a new one in a classic country style called “Bitter Memory.” I was thinking Johnny Cash, with its freight-train rhythm and its “Folsom Prison Blues” guitar break. Lucinda had a more esoteric reference point, and she was correct. “Kind of reminds me of Rosie Flores,” she said, referring to the powerhouse Texas rockabilly singer. “She would kill it, wouldn’t she?”
She shared a little background on two newer songs, “Jailhouse Tears” from 2008’s “Little Honey,” and “Buttercup” from last year’s “Blessed.” It was no surprise to learn that each song was about a man in her life, as many tunes in her catalog start from that love-gone-bad place. The surprise was that the songs were about the same man. “Buttercup,” she said, “is kind of the final chapter.”
Three of the highlights were songs she didn’t write. Williams played “Can’t Let Go,” a “Car Wheels” cut written by Austin singer-songwriter Randy Weeks. The band, specifically guitarist Doug Pettibone, let loose on a version of the Allman Brothers Band’s “It’s Not My Cross to Bear,” with Williams leaving her front-and-center spot and assuming Gregg Allman’s stage-right position to give way to Pettibone’s epic solo.
During the encore, Williams noted that she and the band worked up a few new tunes in reaction to the Occupy movement. The one they played for the crowd could be the official song of the movement – the Rolling Stones’ “Salt of the Earth.”
Welcome, chrisinnis, and indeed, it was a great show. Lu mentioned several times, with a big smile on her face, it was probably one of her top five favorite venues.
People Talkin’
Jackson
Car Wheels On A Gravel Road [relays the Miller Williams story at The Bluebird in Nashville]
Stowaway In My Heart
Ventura
Trying To Get To Heaven (Bob Dylan cover)
Copenhagen (Rescue as alternate)
Born To Be Loved
Drunken Angel [with Blaze Foley and Townes Van Zandt discussion]
Something Wicked This Way Comes [with mention of borrowing line from Ray Bradbury]
Real Live Bleeding Fingers and Broken Guitar Strings (Essence as alternate)
Changed The Locks
It’s Not My Cross To Bear (The Allman Brothers Band cover)
Out of Touch
Joy (with David Garza)
Honey Bee (with David Garza)Encore:
I Ain’t Got No Home In This World Anymore (Woody Guthrie cover) (solo acoustic)
Salt of the Earth (Hard Time Killing Floor Blues as alternate)
Get Right With God (with Amy Cook and David Garza) [Lu puts on tiara given to her by fan]Color commentary to follow.
Updated a few comments in set list. Additional experiences and observations.
I love Stuart’s Opera House – a pristine, restored theater supporting community arts as well – children’s youth camp artwork adorning the walls as well as handmade cigar box “guitars” and some pottery pieces on display. The town is very reminiscent of a “Mayberry RFD”. A notation at the top of the set list may concur with my observations: “Most likely place for a alien or superman citing on tour.” 😀
Lu was in storytelling mode with great comedic timing. Superb actually. Very relaxed as well.
I started taking notes on my phone [forgot ink pen at the will call desk] much to the dismay of the gals sitting next to me. Apparently, the light on my phone was too bright, annoying them and they asked me to stop. I wish I had been sloshing beer on them, maybe the bright light would have been the lesser of two evils. Oh well. It prompted me to covertly turn on my camera in video mode to briefly track the songs and Lu’s storytelling. “Copenhagen” came in at minimum of 2:45 time with much laughter from the audience. I think this has been referenced in the past but she mentioned the fan who approached her after a show at The Continental Club in Austin, informing her she was mispronouncing “Copenhagen.” Lu’s take – oh well, it’s too late now. She proceeded to talk about the video produced for the song and the creator being the driving force behind “Squidbillies.” Lu received an ‘assist’ from moi as she had trouble recalling “Squidbillies.” She heard me, sitting 4 rows back, and proceeded by saying some describe “Squidbillies” as “South Park” on acid.
The theater has old wooden seats with a little a great little space directly in front of the stage. Last year, while purchasing tickets I was told that space was open to patrons, as a GA type area. A few notes into “Real Live Bleeding Fingers and Broken Guitar Strings” had the chair dancing gal in front of me up and on the “dance floor.” I saw this as my opportunity to break free from the stuffy ladies next to me and joined her. Lu looked down and smiled at us. After the song, she encouraged everyone else to come down, she didn’t mind. The floor filled up with dancing bodies and smiling faces. One lady had on this tiara and Lu was smiling at her. She gave it to Lu, who took it and placed it near her drink station, and on “Get Right With God,” hesitant at first, she put it on. It looked great!
It was great meeting you too, metalfirecracker! Hat tip to Stevarino [pointing you out to me], who was standing at the stage when I arrived shortly before 8:00 p.m. I was surprised to see him since THE Stoger informed me there was no Stevarino sighting at the pub next door to the venue.
I’m sure color commentary in regards to set list will be forthcoming from the Stoger but I have to say, last night’s show fired on all cylinders. I’m so happy my flight landed early and I made it to the venue before showtime.
@Lefty wrote:
Here’s my annual JM post, CB:
July 11, 2012
John Mellencamp’s Poetic Tribute to Woody Guthrie
By THE NEW YORK TIMESIn this week’s Arts & Leisure section, Larry Rohter writes about “Woody at 100,” a new collection released on Tuesday. The three-CD set commemorates the centennial of Woody Guthrie’s birth on July 14.
John Mellencamp, a fan of Guthrie’s since his childhood in Indiana, has recorded Guthrie compositions like “Do Re Mi” and “Johnny Hart.” For the 100th anniversary of Guthrie’s birth Mr. Mellencamp has written this poem as a tribute:
You know there’s a certain kind of individual
Who always takes the rough side
The side that nobody else wants to take
Most folks are content to take the path of least resistance
To sit on the sidelines and watch the world go by
And yell obscenities from the dark
Not this bird
He has no desire to take the easy way out
He sees the world through a long lens
And through that lens he knows
How out of kilter this place really is
He has no desire for riches
For ass-kissing, for fitting in
Or being at the right place at the right time
No, for him it’s just the opposite
Quite the contrary
It seems like he’s always in the wrong place
At the wrong time
He knows the world is full of hypocrisy
And is hyper aware of his own
This bird is not afraid to fight
To love
To get so far out there in the bones
That it would hurt our feet just to walk down his highway
But this bird soars wings on
This bird keeps us on guard
And honest
As the rest of us can be
This bird don’t mind volunteering
Is not afraid to lose
Is too moral to be a whore
And too honest to steal
But cares enough to write it all down in song ….
This bird is Woody Guthrie
And he dares you to fill his footprint
And so do I
A friend posted following YouTube on her facebook page in honor of Woody’s birthday. It’s JM covering “Oklahoma Hills.” I hadn’t seen this footage prior. A little trivia.
John was on a camping trip with his family, traveling around in an RV. He got this idea to start showing up in random parks/public places across the country and playing for free, as a thank you to his fans for supporting him over the years. This was before the advent of social media as we know it, i.e. facebook, twitter, myspace, etc to spread the word. After a few stops, word started getting out through his website & yahoo list as well as some media coverage. JM was doing these free shows, with a few musicians in tow (not part of his studio or stage band), a microphone, an amp, and a couple of speakers. That was it.
Shot in Cincinnati in 2000. Yes, I was there, about 7 rows back.
The footage is considered rare from a fan’s perspective. John disliked having his picture taken during shows (at that time). He had a strict no camera policy. However, at these stops, once the word started getting out, fans were encouraged to shoot video and pictures.
The “tour” was referred to as “The Good Samaritan” tour.
http://articles.cnn.com/2000-08-31/entertainment/wb.mellancamp_1_john-mellencamp-classic-hits-farm-aid?_s=PM:SHOWBIZ
The audio isn’t all that great.
You must have crossed at Detroit/Windsor rather than the Bluewater Bridge at Port Huron, MI to Sarnia. Time to re-calibrate your GPS 😆
That sums it up in a nutshell. Customs agent was really cool. He ended up writing directions for me after the typical border crossing queries which included : Where are you going? Are you traveling by yourself? My Sarnia response prompted him to look at my GPS and he told me it was going to turn me around so he asked if I had paper and he wrote some general directions to take me through the countryside. Bob pulled out a map today and showed me (who travels with a map when you have a GPS? Answer: not me 😆 ) the lay of the land. I understand now and it confirms that the border agent didn’t punk me, as I was beginning to think, the longer I drove.
Great reports and killer set list. I cannot wait to see Doug wailing once again with the band.
Aaaah, the Lake Charles intro has made it back into painting the words and music behind Lake Charles. I can attest that I know nothing about the taste of boudin [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boudin]. Bloody sausage was just not for me. However, Tom and I sure had fun shopping at Jungle Jim’s International Market [http://www.junglejims.com/] for said items. According to the boudin wiki page, perhaps Cajun Boudin would have been a better choice – popular in Lafayette & Lake Charles.
Thanks to all the road warriors. I love show updates.
I was in a hat, lwj, 😀 but I was standing in the “second row.” I may have been hanging on the fence had I not taken the wrong bridge crossing over into Canada and had to drive through countryside to get to Sarnia. A five hour drive turned into seven.
Loved Sarnia and all the locals. Everyone INCREDIBLY nice. I had a really fun time considering I was by myself on this trip.
Thanks, lwj.
JM has shortened his set list from the theater tour – that show is the one I wish you had attended. Spectacular.
You should consider Farm Aid. Unfortunately, the line up has been scaled back considerably, but our trip is booked and tickets have been purchased. There is talk it may be televised.
…and speaking of Mr. M, I’m headed north to Canada to Sarnia, ON on Friday for Sarnia Bayfest, where he’s headlining.
lwj…are you still coming?
You punk’d me on this one, Lefty. I haven’t seen this yet plus another first, as far back as I can recall,that JM wrote a poem.
He truly is a fan of Woody Guthrie’s, even carving “F*ck Facism (he spelled it wrong) into his Gibson Dove (right before an MTV unplugged show decades ago) as a tribute to Woody. He’s never confirmed as such, I’m assuming.
Thanks for posting!
