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@tonyg wrote:
Did he have his vintage 1970’s style polyester jacket on?
The white one? With the black lines in the shape of rectangles all over it? 8)
Whatever he wears, he sure can hit a lick on that old Telecaster he plays!
Tom
Now that I am safely back home & caught up on my sleep (never can sleep in those damned hotel rooms), it is time for a brief trip / show report. After a wonderful Southern comfort food meal at the Ajax Diner on the square in downtown Oxford (the square area was absolutely lovely, decked out in Christmas lights & finery), stoger & I ambled on over to Proud Larry’s a good hour before the stated showtime of 9:00 PM. That netted us two seats at the far right end of the bar which, we agreed, were the optimal bar seats for a relatively unobstructed view of the stage across the small room (there is a large, square column to the right of the stage that partially obstructs the view of most of the rest of the seats down the bar). Despite our luck, we both agreed that we would move up front to stand for Amy & Shannon’s set after the two opening acts. While we waited for the first set to begin, Amy & Shannon entered the bar & we had a nice chat with the two of them before the music started.
The first opening act, whose name escapes me, was actually a young man who works at the bar & plays acoustic guitar & sings. He performed a pleasant enough 6-song set. This was followed by a set by a band named the Pollies out of Muscle Shoals, AL. They reminded me very much of the Drive-By Truckers, both in musical stylings & volume. Although I like loud music as much as the next guy, theirs was a bit too loud for the room and/or their amps, making the lead singer’s vocals unintelligible. They were good, though – just needed to tone it down a wee bit in my humble opinion.
As Amy, Shannon, their drummer (Shaun?) and guitarist (whose name I have forgotten – stoger can fill in the blank here) began loading their own gear onto the small stage, stoger & I moved up front & center. What followed was a very entertaining set featuring most (all? I didn’t take notes…) of the songs from the Chasing The Ghost – Rehearsal Sessions EP, as well as others from both of their catalogs. They played approximately 15 songs (there was a set list of 20 or so songs laid on the stage at Shannon’s feet, but they skipped several due to time constraints – it seems Proud Larry’s has a 1:00 AM curfew, which they met with just a few minutes to spare).
After the set, as the doorman tried in vain to shoo the remainder of the audience out the door so they could close up, I purchased a copy of the aforementioned EP (despite having already purchased a digital download) & asked Amy & Shannon to sign the cover for me, which they both graciously did, Amy’s signature complete with a sweet little personalized message. And, for all those inquiring minds, I asked Shannon to clear up something that stoger and I had pondered previously in the evening. The question: is the title of her song from the Coldwater album “Bohemian Wedding Song” as listed there or is it “Bohemian Wedding Prayer Song” as listed on the Chasing The Ghosts EP? The answer: the latter, four-word title is the correct one. Mystery solved… 😉
Tom
P.S. Tonyg, you would have been quite chilly walking around the Oxford square with a low overnight of 29° F… 😆
Just realized that the Perfesser & I will be spending our last evening on Earth together in Oxford, MS seeing Shannon & Amy perform at Proud Larry’s. What a way to spend the Apocolypse! I am sure the Perfesser will come up with some highly appropriate literary gem to quote for the occasion… 😉 8)
I’m not sure if this is what the Mayans had in mind when they predicted the “end of time”, but it works for me! 😈
Tom
@Lafayette wrote:
Over The Rhine in the WNKU studio at noon this Friday to plug their Christmas Homecoming show at The Taft Theater on Dec 1.
Got tickets? 😉
Tom
@stoger wrote:
As the web site notes, “residents of Canada and the states of Florida, Georgia, California, and Ohio are ineligible for entry.”
Hmmmmmm. But not Tennessee, eh? 😆
Tom
@stoger wrote:
Wow, never knew there was a character limit on subject lines, Mr. Moderator.
Only for the more loquacious amongst us, my friend… 😆
Tom
@stoger wrote:
And congratulations on employing the word “erstwhile” in a strong English sentence 😀“Strong” except for my inadvertent use of lower case for the first person pronoun “I” and “that’s” rather than “that” (since corrected).
You must be grading on a curve this evening, Perfesser… 😆
Tom
@LWjetta wrote:
I was curious about the venue so Carrie’s web site lead me to “Grocery on Home”
Grocery on Home is indeed the name of the venue, LWJ.
I found out about the show from the owner of the home / venue, whom I am friends with on Facebook. Besides Carrie Rodriguez, in the past several months we have seen Pieta Brown & Bo Ramsey there, as well as Angela Easterling.
I agree with you regarding the smaller venues. The Grocery certainly fits that bill, and then some. It has a very warm, inviting atmosphere & is all about the love of great music. Sarah & I are fortunate to have been able to discover it, make friends with the owner, and see some great live music there…
Tom
Last night’s show was simply delightful! Carrie showcased her immense talents very effectively on the venue’s tiny stage. Carrie performed with her guitarist (I think his name is Ben Kyle, but I could easily be mistaken). She did not perform her cover of Lu’s “Steal Your Love”, but she did play “Seven Angels On A Bicycle”, “Never Gonna Be Your Bride”, “’50s French Movie”, “I Started Loving You Again” (w/ some fond words for Merle Haggard) & “Rex’s Blues” (she started off her set with this with a nod to Townes Van Zant), among others.
I chatted with her a bit after her set & she signed a copy of Love And Circumstance I purchased at the merch “table” (more like an old overnight case stuffed with CDs sitting next to the stage – in fact, you can see it to the far right in the first photo). Paul_from_losangeles, I told her I was a friend of yours which immediately brought a smile of recognition to her face. She mentioned that she has not seen you in a while, and asked me to tell you to come see her soon – I think she said she will be playing in LA in February, but you can check her show schedule on her Web site to verify…
Here are some photos I took – sorry for the quality (or lack thereof) – I am still getting used to my new iPhone 5’s camera! 😉
Tom
P.S. The owner of the home / venue is big-time into “outsider” & African-American folk art – I love the sign above the stage: “MAN NAME EDDIE – DOG NAME BAD”… 8)
@Lafayette wrote:
Fantastic. You have found quite the venue. Looking forward to your report.
We have indeed, Lafayette – quite fortunate to have “stumbled” upon this little jewel of a private venue. Tonight’s the show – looking forward to it!
Tom
For all Birmingham attendees – no listing yet of the show at the Alys Stephens Center’s web site, nor any pre-sale / on-sale date / time info…
Tom
@tonyg wrote:
Diabolically, I followed the Snoop Dog presale link from their Facebook page yesterday late morning and magically entered presale land. There was a calendar there so I changed the date to January 9 and “voila”, I was at the Lu presale page and I bought a ticket.
Didja pick up a Snoop Dogg ticket while you were in the neighborhood? 😈 😆
Tom
Here is an interesting read regarding the “Lost Notebooks…”, some one year after it’s release. Unbelievably, there seems there was some “push-back” regarding the project from some country music “purists”.
As a response, I like the quote that ends the piece:
Holly Williams could have some good advice for critics of the Notebooks album. She’s made a quote of her grandfather’s into a personal motto, “I don’t know what you mean by country,” he said, “I just write songs.”
As always, Hank, well put.
Tom
