Ray

Yes, Ray–but can I take the both of them in a three-way battle royal, if it comes to that?!?!?
STEEL CAGE DEATH MATCH. NO HOLDS BARRED. THIS HAS PAY-PER-VIEW WRITTEN ALL OVER IT. ❗

the Cha-Cha in Ra -cha-cha? The Scenario on Ontario? Whoa dudes, I’m glad i only asked the merch girl for a Buick6 CD — I don’t want to step into this! (Don’t scare her off so that this summer she’s selling t-shirts for Neko… 😮 )

Wish I could join you all. Love that part of the country, snow and ice and rusty belts and all. Last call for Lu before a long trip down under… Should be great. Enjoy! Full reports expected.

Thanks for the setlist and reports… I was awaiting Tim’s review of the “new” Buick 6…

I enjoyed the show, but there is a hole there without Doug Pettibone. The “essence” of Lu’s music is missing.

Tim, you are definitely right about the hole. You can’t see a show now and not feel Doug’s absence. I join in singing all the praises of doug that have been posted here, and agree that Lucinda’s band the last few years was amazing. Yet it’s possible the new incarnation of Buick 6 could bring out more of Lucinda in other ways. The show I saw in Montclair put a focus back on Lucinda, who was more subtle and nuanced than I was expecting.

Everything changes and evolves, and thus Lu gets new creative opportunities to keep it fresh.

It’s early to judge how the band is going to sound down the road. I was not disappointed with the band. I am looking forward to hearing how they sound next time i get to a show.

I think the “essence” is Lucinda. (Of course, I’d pay full ticketbastard prices to see her even if she lost her entire band and was out there all by herself with just an acoustic guitar.) 🙂

She then observed too much empty space (about 10 feet) between the stage and first row of the seated audience; accordingly, Lucinda asked the audience to stand, move-up, and fill-in the empty space. Consequently, the remainder of the show had a large group standing, swaying, and dancing in front of the stage.

further evidence (proof) that lucinda likes — needs — a standing GA audience up close (as smartly observed by Lafayette in another recent thread)….

Thanks Paul. Any contrasts between Montclair and Peekskill (other than a coat check)?

in my fogginess this morning, replaying last night in my head, i’ll add that “moving” is a good description to add to this show. Although Lucinda played a lot of songs, she avoided many of her “greatest hits”. But the setlist was wondrous, and it created an experience that had surprising layers of emotion and feeling.

I have to say I love the Wellmont. Visions is right about audience and stage — so close! And if you don’t want to stand, the GA balcony seating seems close enough. A bar with good beer, too! Something for everybody, really.

Although the break between Buick6 and Lu’s appearance seemed long, I would have loved for the show to go on into the wee hours. No complaints from me about staying out late for Lu!! It even felt like she might have done a 3rd encore, if the crowd had only asked.

All the silly, superficial issues from the past (“the book,” etc) seem to have faded into the irrelevant distance.

i remember Amy’s comments about Lu’s sign-off from the last nj show in sept ’07, and she’s right: no need for revolution anymore, just peace and love.

thanks Vis. Great report. Acoustics at the Keswick are excellent (saw her there with the wonderful Charlie Louvin in sept 07), but the formal seating creates a more sedate crowd. It’ll be interesting to see how/if the energy changes tonight with standing GA on the floor. Looking forward to a great show at the “new” Wellmont. If I see the middle-aged guy reaching for the setlist, I’ll say hi! 😛

that looks like fun, though in a way much scarier than a wall of crucifixes….

that story in today’s Times, with the line Tom references, begins with a mention of Lucinda’s father as only one of the four Presidential inaugural poets:

“Miller Williams seemed to get it about right. His inaugural poem, “Of History and Hope,” was dignified, with a weather-beaten resonance. It began:

We have memorized America,
how it was born and who we have been and where.
In ceremonies and silence we say the words,
telling the stories, singing the old songs.

(Music fans could not have heard that last line without recalling that Mr. Williams is the father of Lucinda Williams, the venerated singer and songwriter.)

“To have great poetry there must be great audiences, too,” Walt Whitman said. He was talking about the quality of a poet’s readers. “

(“venerated” — how about that for an adjective for Lucinda?!!)

Good story. Good to see poetry take center stage. Good to be a part of the audience.

Thanks for a year of great music — and for letting us be a part of it. Looking forward to the shows in the new year.

Happy christmas/hanukkah/kwanzaa/druid rituals/and new year to all! (May the Pagans and Christians enjoy the holiday table together.)

I’ve often thought it is interesting that Lucinda and Hank share last names and that — I can’t put it any better than Elvis — she shares “Hank’s kind of economy for just the right amount of words and in exactly the right order.” It is a great description for both of their songwriting.
It’s even more interesting when you add Lucinda’s father, Miller Williams, a poet, into the ruminations…. As a further digression, here’s a choice excerpt from an interview with the father, where he notes the shared last name (http://www.jimnewsom.com/PFW05-MillerWilliams.html):

….but one of his favorite memories is an evening spent with country music legend Hank Williams.

“In 1952,” he remembered, “I was teaching at McNeese State College in Lake Charles, Louisiana, and Lucinda was just on her way in the womb. He and the Drifting Cowboys performed at McNeese and after it was over, they were up on the stage by themselves—the audience was gone and they were putting their instruments away. I stepped up onstage, and he looked at me and said, ‘Yeh?’ I said, ‘Mr. Williams, my name is Williams and I just wanted to tell you you’re the best there is.’ And he said, ‘Anywhere around here to get a drink?’

“In those days you could get a drink at an Esso station; they had booths. I said, ‘Yeh, just a few blocks down the street.’ He said, ‘Tell my driver where,’ and I did.

“We went in my car, and he sat facing the door so he could see when his driver came in. He ordered some beer. It was my first college teaching job and though I was an instructor, I thought of myself as a college professor—I was only 22—and I said, ‘Well, I think I’ll have a Scotch.’ Because that’s what college professors drink.

“So I had a Scotch and he had more than one beer; we were just chatting about all sorts of things. His driver showed up, so he stood up and walked past me in the booth. He put his hand on my shoulder, looked down and said, ‘you oughtta drink beer, Williams, ‘cause you got a beer drinking soul.’ And I haven’t had a Scotch since!

“He died right after that in that same car, about two weeks after we met. [Hank Williams died on New Year’s Day, 1953.] And Lucinda was born on January 26th.”