Friday May 9, 2008
Gypsy G's
Greenville, SC
Go, Joe!
"Ever the environmentally conscious troubadours we are, The Critical Darlings,
road crew, equipment, wardrobes and sporting goods made the journey in three
vehicles. We arrived four hours before we were to take the stage at 11:30.
Second of three bands, so there was no sound check. What to do?
Shortly after bringing our equipment onstage, bassist Frank and I took off ISO coffee and food. We found it at McDonald's. I parked my truck next to two "bums" who looked oddly well-coiffed, well-fed and relatively well-dressed. One of them, who looked like one of the Oak Ridge Boys, was carrying a nice-looking carry-on bag. They asked us to buy them sandwichiches but, of course, those hamburger-happy clowns were asking the wrong people. I'm only mentioning it because it was all kinda weird.
Back at the Gypsy, drummer Josh, Gina (Josh's
gal pal), Chris & Amanda were sitting in the Saturn listening to the final
master of Satisfactionista (if you don't know what Satisfactionista is, it's The
Critical Darlings' indescribably wondrous new album to be officially released in
digital form in June '08). Frank and I played a couple innings of ghetto ball
using a Wiffle ball and a rectangular wooden deck railing spindle. Frank's a
pretty good hitter. We played til it got too dark to really see anything.
I spent the next 2 hours doing all kinds of little things such as eating pizza,
discussing the acoustic properties of brick vs. ceramic tile, rapping with club
owners Jennifer & Scott, hunting down earplugs for Emily and her sister Jamie
and relating stories from high school and several other things that are too
mind-numbingly mundane or trivial to mention here. From the sister city of
Spartanburg, SC, Jamie also brought her friend Elizabeth (and we thank you).
I had been a bit nervous that the venue didn't have a sign or anything outside, but was assured that this was a membership club and that there would be a lot of people there later on. Sure enough, the place was hopping by the time we took the stage. Here's what we played:
1. I Know Too Much (For My
Own Good) (Request, soundcheck)
2. The Only Way
3. Waiting For The Siren
4. Sadder Day
5. Rage On
6. Towel Cape Song
7. I Won't Stand Still
8. Phony
9. Happy Here And Now (FIRST TIME EVER with Joe, Josh)
10. Rebel Rebel (Bowie cover)
brief notes: 1) I Know Too Much was totally smokin and airtight, whic was
surprising since we haven't played it much at all for a few months. 2) for Happy
Here And Now and Rebel, Rebel, I had to play Chris' Hamer guitar cos I'd knocked
my Les Paul out-of-tune during Phony by accidentally banging it against the
microphone stand. During the Rebel Rebel, I looked down and Chris was lying on
the stage kicking his feet in the air. Now, that's entertainment!
As always, being onstage and playing for our fans from SC and the surrounding
states was a joyful experience. Gina's parents from Asheville, NC made the
hour-long drive to see us and were quoted as describing our set as "amazing" or
something similar to that. It was very nice meeting them, and we were glad they
enjoyed it.
Emily, that gal from Tennessee (ed. note: actually, she's from Oklahoma), said
the set was "very good...but (her sister & friend) wished it was longer'. I'll
take that any day!
Stay tuned, we've got some incredible new music, a growing list of live dates
and a whole lotta crazy stuff happening. You will definitely want to be a part
of this amazing summer as we blast into it full-on and face first.
ROCK!"
Thanks, Joe!
