|
|
Roadtrip of the Month
The Best Shows are in........Texas?
Edited by Rob Turner
by David Saslavsky"Like the Astrodome, and the first teepee.." sang Neil Young while I sat in the orchestra of the Oakdale Theater in Wallingford, CT.
"It's a sign....I'm going to Texas!" I thought, using anything as an excuse to see more Neil. He had just announced two shows in Austin, and I owed my brother and his family a visit. Now Texas is no one's hot spot for Memorial Day weekend, but two More Neil shows was making Austin look like the French Riviera to me. I've been listening to Neil since the summer of 1978, when at Camp Fuller in RI, the director would blast side 1 (yes kid's, records!) of Rust Never Sleeps across the row of tents every morning.
"My My, Hey Hey! Rock and Roll is here to stay.." My fellow campers weren't shy about their opinions. "Country music sucks!" "That guys voice is like nails on a chalkboard." I said nothing. I liked it. One day I got up the courage to ask Clyde. "How come he sings about rock and roll while playing that twangy guitar. Everyone here thinks Neil Young is country."
"Neil Young is about all music" Clyde informed me. He then played side 2. From the opening notes of Powderfinger, I understood.
When I arrived in Austin, TX on May 27, I was a part of the biggest news story in 20 years, the opening of the new airport. The self proclaimed "Live Music capital of the World" had built a stage in the main concourse and planned to have continuous live music for it's travelers. However, the announcements for flights couldn't be heard so the stage was empty when I arrived. It didn't matter. I was psyched to see my brother, Michael and my 5 year old nephew Jacob waiting for me. We quickly scooted to my brother's house to meet up with his wife Lisa and two year old Jacob.
After a delicious dinner at Curra's Grill, we headed over to The Bass Concert Hall on The University of Texas campus. At $76 a ticket, I was doing this show solo. an hour before show time and the box office had seventh row for Thurs. and fifth row for Sat. Sold!
Now with some time to look around, the five of us strolled over to check out the Longhorns football stadium. With two kids we didn't look to dangerous so the security guard decided to let us look around inside. As venue of the month editor, I love this stuff! It was funny though, the kids were a little uncomfortable and Nathan announced that we didn't belong here. Where do they get this morality?
It was now show time! The Bass Concert Hall is a 3000 seat theater which reminded me of a modern day Carnegie Hall, a huge orchestra with two small, but very high balconies. The theater, built in 1981, is six stories tall, with a lobby area and outdoor decks on every floor. For acoustic Neil, the sound was perfect!
For his solo acoustic tour, the stage is set with a ring of guitars around a chair. Behind sit an upright piano, a pump organ, and a grand piano going left to right. Neil has about ten new songs he was featuring, as well as pulling out material form all of his career, even Buffalo Springfield. On this tour, anything could happen. Check out the setlist. 28 songs! I later learned this was Neil's longest show in almost 15 years! Highlights were my first Albuquerque, Ambulance Blues, Southern Pacific on the guitjo (which he strums to the rhythm of a train) I have never seen Neil in such great spirits. He kept saying how great it was to be here, because the audience really listened. In the northeast, drunks were screaming out requests DURING songs. In Vegas, I heard the crowd was so horrible Neil almost walked off. He changed the lyrics to Last Trip to Vegas (instead of Tulsa, and meant it) Austin really appreciates their music and Neil threw down a fat reward!
Friday was a total hang day. Listen to Howard in a different city, play with the kids and enjoy Lisa's cooking. That night, Michael, our friend Jim, and myself went out for a few beers downtown. Austin is really starting to feel familiar now, as I've been there almost ten times. It's got a great vibe, perhaps because it's a cultural oasis in the middle of Texas. We hung out at the bars in the 4th Street area on the west side of town. I reminisced about seeing Phish at the Austin Music Hall in '95, and after the first show flying across town to catch Trey sit in with MMW at Emo's. We sat on the rooftop of the Waterloo Brewing Company and threw back a couple of porters. This really is the "cool" side of town. Most of the good music venues are here, Austin Music Hall, Antone's, Liberty Lunch, and La Zona Rosa. Although Stubb's BBQ and The Mercury are near the famous 6th Street area, 6th Street is basically for tourists and people who think that going out to see live music is checking out some cheesy cover band.
Saturday's show brought out a real chatty Neil. He teased us for trying to figure out where he would be playing Friday night. Club rumors were everywhere. Neil did some recording with some "friends". Willie? "Where's Willie?" someone yelled. "Willie's here." replied Neil. "He's always here. Wherever here is, he's there!" Neil went on to explain that the Bass Concert Hall was a musical church, where people paid attention and this allowed the music to grow. He debuted a new tune, In The Great Divide, about the good and bad sides of relationships, and dug deep for Flying On The Ground Is Wrong, from the first buffalo Springfield record. I sat next to Jimmy Riddle. He books the coffee house in Columbia, SC. He was heading to Stubb's BBQ down the road to catch John Wesley Harding. A quick drive and the luckiest parking spot ever, and I was sitting in the upper bar of Stubb's looking down on JWH as he just got underway. What an unusual setup! Stubb's upper bar (street level) ends at a railing which is practically on top of the stage. The lower level where the artist stands on a mini-stage is like a basement with cement walls. Out the door, behind the bar is a mini-amphitheater for bigger shows. Michael and Lisa recently saw Bela Fleck and the Flecktones there. (Nathan's favorite CD - "Bela Hippo") Maceo Parker would be along in a couple of weeks. After the show, JWH was out peddling his latest CD. It's unfortunate he remains unsigned. He's a tremendous singer-songwriter and showman. For his 75 minute set, he played all requests.
Sunday night was for checking out the local music scene with Mike, Lisa. and Jim. On the way to Jim's house, we heard Bela Fleck would be on E-Town, the Colorado based live music/environmental radio show heard in Austin on KGSR (107.1FM), one of the greatest commercial stations in the country. Jim didn't have a tape deck, so we rewired the VCR into the stereo and bought a high quality blank, and went off to the Hula Hut for dinner. Karl Denson's Tiny Universe was at the Mercury, but I had just seen them in the AllGood fiasco, so we headed to Antone's to check out Guy Forsyth. Antone's has since moved from it's original location where Stevie Ray Vaughn regularly played to a non-descript building downtown. Very Basic. Bar. Stage. Merchandise. Bathrooms.
Guy Forsyth plays two sets every Sunday, and has a real loyal following. It was fun to be the outsider in "the Guy scene" People of all ages were there. A group of teenagers were up front, and Michael even ran into a vice-president from his company who's a real Guyhead. For the first set, Guy played guitar accompanied with another guitarist, a drummer, and a large bass player. the set was a mix of Texas blues, and ballads. Guy even soloed on a saw.
Second set is the real blues scorcher. Guy drops the guitar for his harmonica belt and wails as his band chugs along. We left a few tunes in as by 1:00am we had to revive the baby-sitter.
Whew! What an incredible weekend. Time to rest up during a week of work as jambands.com tour hit the Wetlands the next weekend...
David Saslavsky is venue of the month editor for this very site. He wishes to thank Dean Budnick and Rob Turner for their patience as he planned to write this on the plane home, but finished four hours before the 15th.
June Issue: Home | Editors | Features | Columns | Photos | Regional | New Groove
Road Trip | Tour Journal | Venue | Levels | Ghosts | Homegrown | Inaudible | CDs | Charts
JamBands.Com is published on the 15th of every month. Submissions are due ten days earlier on the fifth of each month. Please contact the specific editor for the section you are interested in contributing to. For general content comments, please e-mail jambands@jambands.com. For all technical web site related issues, please contact Sarah Bruner or David Steinberg