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if Tim makes the curfew issue go away, we should all buy him a McSorleys!
Tim, thanks! No opening act could make a difference, but with “tastefully star-studded special guests” (?) who knows….
Ahhh, the trough — the rare mark of excellence in finer drinking establishments! Never been in a dive bar, with a trough, that I didn’t like. As for the ale: I’d start with the dark, then “lighten up”!
There’s no smooth segue from this back to the topic, but for those NYC shows I hope Lu and the powers-that-be will give some serious thought (in advance) to how they’ll handle the so-called curfew. (Pay overtime / start early?) It’s bound to come up, and it’d be nice to have her loving fans not commenting on how the “curfew” left a little sour taste after the shows. (Cheap beer don’t wash away the curfew blues….)
Lefty, I got spoiled with $1 drafts of Utica Club at a joint down the street from her brewery show upstate (and the barmaid bought us a round!)… but a legendary dive like McSorley’s is worth $2.25 a beer.
My memory is pretty foggy, too, and I’m trying to remember quite a few years back…. But you’re right, it’s interesting how seeing her in person is different. That was my first Lucinda show, and meeting her afterwards, I just remember thinking: She’s really little!! But her musical (and other) presence was pretty large in my mind, so that might explain that funny reaction.
You’re also so right about the live performance being amazing (what a great band!) — and totally losing yourself in it. We couldn’t ask anything more than that (and an artist couldn’t ask much more of her fans!).
it’s getting too crazy over there at the red rocks post, so I thought I’d change the subject and just tell red dirt girl how much I enjoyed her story of meeting lu and getting a hug. Lucky girl! I had my chance years ago, but i didn’t have the instinct to ask for a hug. This was about the time Car Wheels came out, and she was playing a small festival deep in southern new jersey (appel farm). The bus was delayed and it seemed like maybe she wouldn’t make the show. She showed up, though, seemed a little pissed and didn’t say much of anything to the crowd — just started right in. The show was great, though. It was the first time i’d heard “joy” (we all kept singing it on the drive home…) Anyway, leaving the show, the crowd was spilling out through a farm field, and I happened to look to the side and there was her bus…. and there was Lu, just standing there, looking around, all alone!! For a split second I thought, hmmm, maybe she wants to be alone (why isn’t anybody else hanging around?), but that silly thought didn’t last. So I walked up to say hi and… was totally at a loss for words! I should have asked for a hug. But I said something mundane like how happy i was to have discovered her music, and thanks, and shook her hand (sheesh!) She signed a wet, muddy program for me and was gracious and sweet as could be. If not a hug, I really should have asked if she wanted to get a beer…
peace, L & R…Hey Lucfan4ever, I think that’s a GOOD topic. I don’t know if there is a gender thing to this, either, but I am also curious.
I love your reference to “ ‘natural’ male fans”! That made me laugh; I guess I am one. And what of the “natural” female fans? What is it about Lu that appeals to your girl friends?
(And — here’s a thought — if there were a male Lucinda Williams, could I, or any of us, possibly feel this kind of connection?!)
I can’t explain why I too like songs like Come On or Those Three Days — written with a very strong female point of view — so much. (And I’ve really wondered about this.) For what it’s worth, here’s my take on your question. It’s probably as impossible to answer as it is to define Lu’s music, however….
For me, there is no one element I can isolate — it’s everything: the poetic lyrics, the music, the voice, all together, that create a powerful, emotional tug and connection. It’s the attraction of an artist who offers something very truthful. It’s the unvarnished, pure and raw, completely honest exposure of emotions and feelings. Without any cynical defenses. It’s music and lyrics that are emotional and atmospheric, filled with desire and love and loss. Without a trace of irony. It is both joy and sadness — all mixed together.
Her poetic calling out of geography — a steamy, sultry sense of place — has also done me in. I’ve always seen highway signs for certain places as kind of magical, and I remember the first time I drove into New Orleans and saw signs for nearby towns and felt goose bumps. When I saw signs for Slidell (“gonna go … to look for my joy”), or Mandeville (“mama lives in…”), or Baton Rouge (the house, the bus…), I felt like I was finding the source of inspiration.
It’s also her championing of the salt of the earth. My life is nothing like the characters in her songs, but these are the people I love too.
And it’s her notorious tortured perfectionism. It’s her willingness to take chances and experiment. It’s her integrity, not selling out, holding her artistic ground, suffering for it. Any artist who is that brave and that strong moves me. (Especially today, when commercial forces are relentless and, what the hell, everybody else has sold out….)
Honestly, I don’t know many people who feel the same way, male or female. I’ve got good friends who are big fans of blues, jazz, rock, and they may like her music, more or less, but don’t feel passionate about it. I think it’s a personal (even psychological) connection we make unconsciously — as with literature or art. And it’s what we all bring to it ourselves.
What are my favorites?
I think the self-titled album is a masterpiece, and almost every song on it is a fav, especially:
Side of the Road
Am I too Blue
Crescent City
Other favs (in addition to Come On and Those Three Days):
Metal firecracker
Joy
Pineola
Drunken Angel
2Kool 2B Forgotten
Mama You Sweet
…but this is impossible! And it depends on my mood.So, anyway, there you go: a guy’s long ramble on Lucinda, her music, and not so much about gender that I can explain. It is an impossible question after all! (But still a good one.)
I have a feeling that Underwhelmed might not have sung the praises of Lucinda Williams even on a “great” night. (Would Underwhelmed have been under whelmed at the St. Louis or Baltimore shows, too?) Even if the criticisms are valid for that night, what’s interesting to me is how people either “get” Lu immediately, or don’t. I think those of us who love her work — who love her — feel like we’ve found a kindred spirit. This is a soulful thing. It’s really an incredibly personal thing, too, even though we share it (differently) with tens of thousands of her fans. We are touched. We feel connected. And so we don’t care too much about unpolished, rough edges. We see through superficial things (like a songbook right next to her as she performs — so what? how amusing! it only makes me smile) and we let the poetry and the voice and the emotions and the music speak to us. It was like that for me when I first heard her self-titled album and “sweet old world” a long time ago, back the early ’90s — I was hooked. I’ve only seen 4 shows, two this year and two about 8 years ago, so I’m not able to compare a whole lot. But each show was very different, and her attitude and rapport with the audience was never the same. I know there were “flaws” in the shows that bothered some more than others, but I came away from each more attached to her music than ever. In one of the other posts, someone wrote about how Lu casts a spell — and it’s true — but you have to be receptive to the spell in the first place. You have to allow the Honey Bee to sting you, I guess.
