stoger

Wow, now I’m wondering what to expect when I hit the pavement in front of the venue Kasey Chambers has called her favorite in the States to play: scalpers waving three-figure tickets aloft? Sidewalk brawls pitting “townies” against blue-collar urban types with “motown” user names? A further division in which the “gownies” from the university form common cause with the Detroiters to beat the town yuppies–if not bodily, at least to the front spots? And what of those cryptic twin seats easily overlooked in the rush–what if a single like me from another part of the country gets to one first and throws his coat over the other? “Attitude” indeed! I’m getting off the Greyhound from Erie (connection through Detroit!) armed for bear. Let’s rumble.

But truly, Lucinda, Tom and her management team have done about all they could to bypass Live Nation/Ticketmaster and/or give “rebates” to fans forced to deal with that monolith. And I think tom’s offer here is more than generous. For my two cents, I got a very courteous Michigan Student Union employee over the phone a couple of weeks ago who tried to help me predict when tickets would go on sale, also providing valuable info about the venue which the web site’s seating configuration didn’t make clear. I nabbed a presale GA no sweat through Ticketmaster, though admittedly I did so early (I think it was the second day rather than the first day, actually). Yes, there might be some bias locally going on–but even that beats a 100% Ticketmaster set-up. How many shows have we all been to where there’s not even an option of dealing with “locals” by way of purchasing?

@West Words wrote:

For those of you relics who refuse to join Facebook 😉 and you know who you are, here is the special link for the pre-sale and the password is “BLESSED”. xo 🙂

http://sa1.seatadvisor.com/sabo/servlets/TicketRequest?eventId=367145&presenter=NJCB&venue&event=_lucinda

Main floor F4, smarty pants. And I trust it didn’t take hours out of your life to paste in this link code here. . . .

I think Austin South X SW Lost Highway anniversary show is the 18th, West Words.

Fine reporting, Tony. That marquee actually had Lu’s name on both sides, with Jack Shit making only the west side. I believe that Tim and others would agree that the New Year’s resolution of Lucinda is off to a fine keeping, based on last night.

“Jailhouse Tears” was a one-taker, LWJ, though I vaguely remember turning to Tony and speculating that a verse had been left out. The song paired nicely with “Buttercup”–which unfortunately was blurbed by the LA Weekly critic as a song influenced by “the glow of love.” Guess that guy didn’t get beyond the surface title. But his brief article also said “Real Love” was about Tom. . .

I was surprised by the nature of Jack Shit’s set, as Butch Norton had warned us in passing to put our ear plugs in. Mild to heavy noise level I’d say–they worked the Gram Parsons-related material wonderfully, including a midtemp “Devil in Disguise” and an electrified, instrumental-break-heavy “Pretty Polly.” I liked their “Long Black Veil” too, though the rubes-in-from-the-rural-California-sticks personas between songs wore a little thin. Each has a fecal-related name, it would seem; Val’s is “Bo Shit.”

The one guitar tech was a nice guy, from France. I feel like I’m in a position to judge this, as he had to work from front of stage (no wings in the Viper) and constantly jostled me as he lifted and re-racked the instruments. But he did a great job. Don’t think I’ve ever been elbowed by any jeffflappygilwolfienickdewitt-s though.

One curious comment: Lu said at one point that they hoped to “put the last tour behind us”. I’m willing to concede that this was part of her fresh start in ’11 spiel, as it was delivered in that context. But who thought the August tour sucked? Not this reporter.

The New Year’s ditty was song eleven, I think Tony. It was listed to kick-off the night, but Lu was in no light bantering mood upon walk-on. That changed.

“Convince Me,” “Awakening,” and “Blessed” were on setlist, not played. The other newbies were great.

So thanks especially to Tony for his pre-show largesee, and to WestWords for helping to make this happen for me. Good to see paulfrom losangeles, tim, and Etienne (sp?) as well. Go 2011.

Orchestra B105.

Great news, but I feel a Crazy Heart victory. Shouldn’t the late Stephen (Steven?) Bruton’s name be somewhere on that Crazy Heart nom. data?

@tntracy wrote:

@stoger wrote:

I can envision paul_in_losangeles working that travelocity website hard at the moment. . . .

And you the Southwest Airlines site, my friend… 😆

Tom

Yessir, that new Nashville to Laguardia service doesn’t come any too soon. . . .

@FC356 wrote:

Tom
We just opened a new state of the art theater in Lafayette, La. at the Acadiana Center for the Arts. Lyle Lovett and his Large Band was the first act to play at this new theater a few weeks ago. It seats approximately 300. Seems like Lucinda would be a great fit for this venue. And it’s just down I-10 from NOLA on the way to Houston.

This sounds prospective, even if the total capacity is on the low-for-Lu side. Wasn’t Lucinda scheduled to play some venue in Lafayette post-Katrina–an event that got cancelled by the NEXT hurricane? Sorry, I can’t remember its name. At any rate, I bet you have Sonny Landreth already booked in your new space. . . .