Originally 10-1-2005

OK, so here's the recap of 2 crazy road trips in 2 days.
Decemberists were Wednesday night at House of Blues in Orlando.  The
venue is very cool looking, visually very appealing, but it sucks just
the same. It is in the middle of this 'destination' near downtown
Disney, whatever the hell that is.  You can see Pleasure Island across
the lake. (Pleasure Island, for those who don't know, is a Disney Land
of Bars.  There are different themed bars/discos and you can wander
around with a drink in your hand...ugh...was dragged there once years
ago for a gf's birthday)  There is a huge arena that is a permanent
home for Cirque de Soleil, a huge 24 theatre AMC Theatre, a mega
Virgin mega store, a Wolfgang Pucks' with 3 or 4 different restaurants
to choose from and I don't know what else is down further because I
haven't walked any further down but I assume there are more places
that are eager to find ways to separate you from your money.  OK, back
to HOB.   Corporateness permeates the place.  Tight security; they do
bag checks, they wave wands up and down and do pat downs.  Once
inside, large men in yellow HOB SECURITY shirts are everywhere.  The
layout is a square, with bars along either side and the back, then go
downstairs to the 'floor' in front of the stage.  There is also a
balcony which was closed this night.  The stage is  probably 50 feet
wide and tall, covered with a curtain that looks like a quilt.

I had baked brownies to give the band, and had them wrapped in foil.
I had a knife, too, a steak knife to cut the brownies with.  The knife
was wrapped in paper towels, and both were in a plastic grocery bag.
I thought for sure I'd never get the knife thru security (really, its
almost airport tight) but they waved me right in without checking the
bag.  My friend, Bev, said that al Qaeda would be recruiting me
now...I smuggled a knife into HOB!  So, how to get the brownies to the
band?? I asked a beefy security guy by the front door.  He suggested I
try  the door leading to backstage.  I asked the beefy security guy by
that door.  He couldn't do anything.  He couldn't let me backstage, he
couldn't go backstage, he couldn't get anyone in 'production' to do
anything, either.  Hmmm...so I just clutched my brownies.
We met up with Tampa Kevin and his beautiful girlfriend, Rachael.  We
had gotten there late, the opening act's last song.  Sons and
Daughters were supposed to be good, but I guess I'll have to wait
until next time.  So, the Decemberists made us wait a long time before
they finally came onstage.  We had forty minutes to chit chat and cool
our heels. The place was packed.  Don't know why they didn't open the
balcony. They finally took the stage at 9:20, and damn I couldn't see
a thing.  I'm 5' tall and I usually get to a venue early enough to get
up front, but tonight it wasn't to be.  And to make things worse, if I
tilt my head back trying to look up, I end up looking through the
wrong end of my bifocals and everything is blurry.  So we went up the
stairs to the bar level and craned our necks to see the stage.
I didn't know what to expect.  I was not expecting high camp, but
that's what we got.  The show was a lot of fun.  The lead singer had
on a red and white striped blazer, ala Farrel's ice cream parlor.  The
lead guitarists had some kind of jester's hat on.  I guess when I
listen to the records I took them as performing these songs straight,
but live they decided to have fun.  I mean, its soft rock, right?
Gotta do something to liven things up.  The crowd ate up the antics,
down to the giant snapping fish jaws at the encore during the whale
song (whatever its called)  The crowd chanted and swayed along to the
tunes (there was one odd guy with a metal helmet behind Kevin, but
I'll let him tell that tale.)  The violinist was very good, the
harmonies were wonderful.  She did sing a song on her own, very Sandy
Denny like.  The keyboardist/multi instrumentalists was also female,
also very good.  They put on a 'show' vs. just playing a concert...I
think their last song before the encore the entire band was on the
ground playing their instruments, including the drummer draped across
the drum set.  OK, it was a lot of fun.
Sometime during a bathroom break I asked the merch people if the band
was gonna come out and sign stuff and the lady said no.  So I said,
screw it, and gave the brownies to my friend Bev to do with what she
wished.  She wished to keep them, so we munched down on our way home.
Home after 1 am.  Got kids off to school at 7:30 and went back to
sleep until 10:30.  I am sooo spoilt.

Last night, Kevin got to the house about 6, we ate dinner, Bev got
there about 7:45, and we headed towards Orlando about 8.  There were
four bands in the line up and we were afraid of a really late night so
we decided to take our time.  We got there around 10, I think, and
right after we bought our tickets I spotted Jason about to go into the
door so I stopped him, introduced ourselves, and gave him the brownies
I had baked for him that day.  He seemed very pleased with the
brownies, but I did not say that it was a bribe to get him to play
longer.  We got inside, very scant crowd as compared to the night
before.  Probably 200 people tops.  The second band was just
finishing, so we milled around, visited the merch table. Bought the
self titled CD and the tour EP.  Caught up with Jason again, and asked
him my most burning question.  I said, you're a happily married guy,
right?  Right, he said.  So, I asked, how does your wife take it when
you write a song 'You've Got Such Pretty Eyes For A Snake'?  Doesn't
it drive her crazy.  He said he was sure it did, but he just had to
write what out there.  HMMM>?>>>So, that was the most of our exchange,
except to ask why he didn't come to Tampa.  He said they didn't get an
offer.  I said next time we'd put on the show.  He said to be in
contact with his booking agent. (We've got one guy in Tampa who puts
on most of the alternative shows in town.  He does this in addition to
holding down a full time job so I'm sure he's just burned out)
The next guy was coming on so I went down to watch him.  Scottish folk
singer, Alasdair Roberts.  Sounded more Irish than Scottish, but what
do I know?  He did traditional sounding songs, very good stuff if you
like that.  The man was skinny.  (Insert Bobby Sands joke here)
Bought one his CDs for my hubby.
So, MEC finally takes the stage...about 11:40 or so, I think.  Loud,
rockin', yeah.  But immediately noticed a bad crackling sound with
Jason's guitar.  He soldiered on a few more songs, kept stopping
trying to tinker with the amp, then finally gave up.  So most of the
set we had just one guitar.  Jason didn't take his guitar off, though,
even though it wasn't working.  Security blanket, perhaps?  Or, what
do you do with your hands when you're used to holding a guitar and now
have nothing to hold onto while you're singing? He occasionally would
strum it or form a chord and then realize it wasn't working.  Very
good stuff.  Didn't keep a set list, but remember we did get Just Be
Simple, The Dark Don't Hide It, Leave the City and don't remember all
what else.  Kevin timed it at an hour and 5 minutes, so I guess we
should consider ourselves lucky, considering it was a one guitar
operation.  Glad we made the effort to trek to Orlando.