One problem of the show was handled with flair: the technical difficulties. When Jian's microphone failed at the start of "I Love My Boss," they performed it off-mike. It sounded terrific from the front row, although I'm not sure how far it carried toward "the people trying to be cool off in the corners." And the string of Beatles movie references started with a too-short guitar strap -- "the guitar is high, and the piano's been drinking!"
After the show I stayed to get a setlist autographed (I'll scan it in and add it to my Web page soon). In the short conversations I had with the guys before and after the show, they were extremely friendly and fun to talk to as usual. The whole night had been Fruvous Up Close & Personal, really; after standing right up by the stage, not only stage Murray but within about an arm's length of the musician in question, I think I'm spoiled. :) Nothing farther away is going to be quite the same. You don't get microphones in your face from row 12, for starters....
In short: the concert was pure energy and I loved it! I still hate having to miss the Seattle gig on Saturday, but this sure makes things easier. Come back this time next year and I promise I'll be at the show. ;)
- jenn "not 21 until August 21, 1999" griffee
Incidentally, I realized I did a rather odd thing with this review: talked about the events without evaluating the music itself much. This is what happens when I write the recap as much for a memory aide as anything else. :) So a few more thoughts:
The new songs -- "Sad Girl" and "Half as Much" I hadn't yet heard; "Pisco Bandito" and "I Will Hold On" I'd heard in Mpls. -- left a great impression, both musically and lyrically... the line "depression is romantic when it's a fad" really stuck in my mind. "Hold On" is still gorgeous. I loved "Michigan Militia" the first time I heard it on YWGTTM, but hearing it live (or on Live Noise, for that matter) still outdoes the original recording for me every time. "Sahara" live is always amazing... I, as a confirmed sucker for vocals, took a while to adjust to Fruvous' more heavily-accompanied songs, but especially since seeing them in concert a couple times this year, I'm appreciating both a lot more. And of course the a cappella or mostly-unaccompanied tunes are gems. "Message" didn't do much for me on the original recording, but the a cappella version blows me away!
Wonderful show -- thanks, guys! :)
From Arbie:
Well, my first Moxy Früvous concert. Its fair to say that it was everything I expected. It would also be fair to say that it was wasn't more than I thought it would be. This, of course, is the fault of all you ammf'ers who over the last year-and-something have given me such eloquent narratives for my imagination to work on. Really it didn't feel like my first concert, I have been there with you guys before. Please don't think I was disappointed or anything, IT WAS GREAT. I was dead on my feet the next day but I wouldn't change a thing. The only thing I do regret is that in this one chance this year to meet other members of our little group I missed someone, Jenn Grifee (JennCyn) if we had only known you would be there... :>(
Next time for sure. :>)
So here is my story I hope it comes up to the calibre of all your stories I have had the pleasure of reading:
Sept 23:
Doug Sheppard pitched up in town and Frücasa West (tm) is officially in business. By the end of dinner Doug had told me every set list of every show on the tour to this point and then once we got to my place he commandeered the computer and wrote most of it down as you've probably seen. Then and only then did he crash for about 12 hrs. I didn't really understand the "fruhead vs. frufan" thread until I met Doug. I thought I was a Fruhead but next to him I see that I am really just a Frufan.
Sept.24:
George Nowik arrived from Seattle and Frücasa West (tm) is now officially full. I was having a day from hell at work (I'm self-employed so I couldn't phone in sick ) so I didn't get to spend much time with them before the show. Mr. Goodhost I wasn't.
The Show:
I arrived at R's on R a bit after 8pm to find Doug and George already there and Doug already busy chatting up women. Go Doug go! Tanya and another girl whose name escapes me but who is a music major at Douglas College (my old alma mater) ended up sitting with us, not that anyone but me did much sitting.
The room is a large rectangle with the band set up on a decent sized raised triangular stage across one corner. Tables ring a large dance floor and there is a second level "loft" with barstools and a rail/table around three sides of the room. Good view from up there. The bar takes up the rest of the wall beside the band on the long side of the rectangle. Clear? Ya right. Anyway we had a table at the edge of the dance floor about as straight out from the band as we could but a bit stage Mike. This turned out to be the where the tape would be made as George didn't have the correct cable to patch off the soundboard. I would estimate the crowd at 200+ and when Jian asked for a show of hands not quite half had actually seen Moxy before but most seemed to know the audience response routines. I was surprised about that.
Dayna Manning started about 9:20. She writes very well and she has a good strong voice (which I wish her sound guy would quit covering up with reverb) and her guitar technique is great. But she is only 20 and she's still got some work to do on presentation. She only has two accompaniment styles, strummed and finger-picked. Each song was either one or the other never both. She never sang a line over a held chord or note or sang any part of any song unaccompanied. She does have lots of talent and she will develop a more mature varied style. And as Doug will tell you at any and all opportunities she is quite pretty (and about 100 lbs. soaking wet). The Lads hit the stage about 10:30 and we were off. And they were off too, as everybody left the table to go do their thing on the dance floor in front of the band and left me doing my thing at the table and watching over George's dat. I go to hear the music and to watch the guys. I can dance to the records anytime. I had a music history prof. who told me I should've been a stage manager or something. I like to watch the way the whole event is orchestrated, how the voices and the instruments are layered together to create the variety of textures of sound which is a large part of what we love about this band. And the tightrope walk that they do through the banter.
As to the setlist and the banter see JennCyn excellent post. She nailed it. One thing she missed however was Dave's injury. During Psycho (I think) he broke a guitar string. I noticed that he had something on his left index finger I thought maybe he had overdone it and was getting a blister or something but later I and some others were talking to him and he told us he felt the string hit his finger on the side and he said it was an odd feeling to see it poking out the other side. Apparently it missed everything important, he said it didn't even hurt much when they pulled it out. Later I heard Tobey say he broke every rule of firstaid pulling it out. Ouch and yeeeeeeech.
Didn't have very long to talk to the guys, the Dick's staff really were in a hurry to get out of there. :( But did mange to say something to all of them, and Jian knew my name from the ng which was very cool. :>) By the time we waited for the girl's ride to show up and then grabbed something to eat my head hit the pillow about 3:30 and I got up at 7:00 and dragged my sorry ass through another work day. But it *was* worth it : )
From George:
folx, THIS IS LONG. get some popcorn, put on some sleezy music or Wood, whichever comes first, cuddle up with someone special to you, and get ready for seat of the pants, drop dead, fantasmagorical, slammin, jammin, riproarin, hairball hacking, and bagel sacking story of a lifetime.
for those of you who just want the meat of what happened DURING the show itself, then please pagedown to the -----'s where i will separate the meat from the mayo, cheese, lettuce, and bread.
as sirilyan discovered during the course of his western candian invasion in the following of the fru, some of the most interesting points of road tripping for a show happen before and after the show. this is no exception. "I'd like to tell you a story..." ..."...and lots of Americans."
so george wakes up on thursday morning to get things packed and get going. the estimated time of arrival into vancouver, b.c. was supposed to be somewhere around 2pm. well, that didn't happen. getting tangled up at the parents office moving furniture was not exactly an easy way of getting out of the city easy. actually, i probably should have avoided the parents entirely, but it makes them happy when i'm around from time to time, especially when i'm going on a 'road trip'...
so the adventure begins! driving through the areas i am familiar with was no big deal: been there, done that, wrote the screenplay, etc. etc. once you get really far north of civilization, however, stuff gets to be a little strange. the economic structure of really far north seattle (i.e. way the heck outta city limits) is quite fascinating. i noticed that there is an instruction manual followed religiously when creating cities further than 35 miles north of jet city: to have a population of any kind, one must have a wal mart, a best western inn, and a burger king. otherwise, you have a town the size of a freeway underpass (i.e. "Welcome to Squelch" *blink" "thanks for driving through Squelch. Come by soon.") and a hand-painted Y.M.C.A. sign somewhere within sight of the freeway. That was the vast majority of the drive north towards the leaf border: observing how civilization works (?) really far north.
then comes the actual border between the united states and canada. it's amazing. lots of flowers, lots of trees, lots of cars. oh lord lots of cars. the line at the border to enter canada was a bit of a curiosity in many ways: especially compared to the lack of aforementioned line to enter the states. this could mean one of several things: an equal amount of americans and canadians are fleeing from the tyrannical washington state legislature, canada is kidnapping us and confiscating our currency in a hopeless effort to bolster their economy, or the west coast decided to mass-migrate to richards on richards for the fruvous show, in which case i hope they have a great deal of extra parking. not likely that last statement, but one can only hope.
so, driving into canada. i must note that i've never actually driven to canada before: i've only ever been there by bus or had someone else drive. the experience of driving oneself into the country is something that shouldn't be skipped by anyone. especially if you're from the states, even more so if you're from seattle. the driving experience in canada is one that builds character. now i know why most canadians are so nice when i meet them or anything: it's because none of them are in their cars when i type/talk to them. speed limits are in kilometers per hour on the canadian highways and city roads. on the highways, most of those speed limits are observed pretty carefully. but in the city, most of them are driven as if they are miles per hour. and, just like in east coast canada, the yellow and white lines in the middle of the road are used for aiming the car, as opposed to dividing the lanes half the time. but i can get over that. driving wasn't so bad i guess. i'll live with it. (: so the exchange rate doesn't only apply to money: it applies to the speed limits. amazing. it also applies to the car/vanpool lanes in canada. for example: in washington state, you only need two people to ride in the "i'm cool koz i have a carfull" lane. in vancouver, you are required to have six. fruvous wouldn't even be able to use it unless they put cal in with them so they could have a whole six people and leave the rest of the guys in the dust.
i'm getting into vancouver! woohoo! they're so logical there! park street is right alongside a ... well ... park. amazingly logical and practical. of course, there is always a little bad to go along with the good. my heart started pounding into my forehead when a vehicle pulled up right behind me, sporting a nice, dark, navy-blue shade of warning sign paint all over the car. the vehicle in question then pulled to my right and stormed off ahead of me: it was a freakin taxi. who gave the taxi's permission there to adorn the same color as police vehicles? that's not a nice thing to do to an american. another strange difference between seattle and vancouver is the complete lack of left-turn lanes in the greater vancouver area. that causes quite a little bit of congestion to say the absolute least. made for some fun brake and miss adventures tho. equally strange were the blinking green lights at traffic signals. i seem to recall that in some regions, blinking green lights meant that you could turn to the left without having to worry about oncoming traffic. not so in vancouver. i wonder if it's just to make sure that people are keeping their eyes open on the road ... one landmark of note was the Death By Chocolate that i passed on the way in. that will become a key landmark later on in this story, but for now, it's just nice to note that vancouver has a respectable establishment to remember.
man there are a lot of british columbia license plates in vancouver.
so i finally got to the "strip mall" where i was going to be meeting Arbie. when i was able to finally navigate myself into a location of potential coherence, it occurred to me that right where i was parking, directly to my left was a liquor store, and directly to the right was a bank. if i were any other person, the first word out of my mouth would be "score" ... but since i've not taken to being a lush quite yet, i simply note it as humorous and move on to the next scene: the pay phone. speaking with Arbie revealed that he would be at a stocking area at a local grocery/goods store. i hauled my vehicle to the store after stopping at the Sony store and paying way too much for DAT tapes. so there i was standing, waiting for a forrester vehicle that i thought i was looking for. i made eye contact with a gentleman who looked profoundly like mike myers, and then we broke eye contact, he went back to work, and i went on looking for a vehicle. if i had actually looked at my own notes, i would have realized that i was looking for a safari, not a forrester, and that 'mike myers' was, in fact, loading up a safari, wondering if the guy dressed in black was me, and then realizing that it couldn't be me because i looked just a little too freakish: vancouver native. *grin* finally, the mike myers guy said "george?" i figured that this was the guy i was looking for, and it turned out to be arbie. whew! finally found him. followed arbie home to Frucasa West through the dark back-roads of vancouver to finally meet sirilyan. sorry, no clever associations for doug, but it was cool to finally meet his hair. and him too.
arbie had to go back to work, so doug and i decided that we were going to wander around vancouver downtown waiting for the show to start. what we didn't realize at the time was that wandering consisted of stopping at gas stations, taking wrong freeway exits, and trying to get ourselves to downtown in the first place. ahh what fun that was. we eventually, after several stops and lots of laughs, found the location of the venue, parked somewhere down stream of the entrance doors, paid for the parking (credit card parking! my goodness! seattle city improvement, are you reading this?) and decided to see if we could check out the venue.
we walked up to Richards on Richards (affectionately known as Dicks on Dicks to the locals). Huge, wooden doors with massive metal handles. we opened the door, and heard music. ladies and gentlemen, my heart is beating even as i type this particular paragraph out. horseshoes was being played. i didn't know if it was soundcheck or cd, and nobody was trying to stop us from going in, so we just kinda walked into the back area of the venue. there were four guys on stage playing instruments and right at the really quiet part of horseshoes right before the big ending comes in with those beautifully sung chords. my heart stopped right there. i couldn't believe what i was hearing. i couldn't believe what i was seeing. i think my jaw hung a little loose and just the ever slightest trace of dribble started to make a run for it. there they were, there i was. doug had to get my attention at that point to make me realize that the one of the staff members was asking us what we were doing there. my original plan was to talk to Cal and see if i could get a hook-up, so doug told the guy that we were there to see the sound guy. the staff person came back after talking to cal and told us to have a seat and wait. i was still nodding dumbly. another staff person finally came around and told us that the band wanted the venue cleared for the sound check, so we obliged and started to take off. we passed by a long haired dood who doug informed me was tobey. cool. doug stopped tobey, introduced me, we had a few laughs and talked about stuff, the venue, shows, etc, i felt still quite stupid, and then tobey went inside and we took off to get some food and revive norg.
i think that moment, more than anything, will stand out in my mind as the high point of the entire trip. well, there was another big moment, but that's another story entirely. will get to that later.
we found a place that sold french fries (in canada? why don't they call those something else? they certainly don't call it 'canadian bacon' there...) with a cool garlic and something dip that was the total grubbing experience. i think i was in shock for another half hour or so before i finally came to (and ate). after we finished munching at this little place, we went back to the venue in time to see that there were a few people standing outside in line, including one individual whos name escapes me who had a FruVest on! yes, i finally saw one. quite the styling apparel i must say. would have looked much better than mine, that's for sure. in any case, it occurred to me that i left something in my car down the road and needed to go get it, so doug held the place in line and i went to the car. on the other side of the street, i noticed that there were two people sitting on a park bench, one of which sorta looked like jian. that puzzled me a little, so when i came back from my car, i made sure to walk on that side to see if it was them.
ok, here's the first mistake i made the entire weekend. as i was walking by, i realized that the other person sitting on the bench was murray. double whammy. they were also deep in conversation. jian looked either tired or unhappy. i didn't even remotely want to interrupt them at that point. as i was walking passed, i then noticed that jian had looked up, right at me, murray followed suite, and jian nodded to me. while my mind raced to figure out what had just happened, i had to fill the gap somehow. EMBARASSING MOMENT: i looked at jian and said "jian?" he nodded again. i looked at murray and said "Murray." he nodded too. (as if i needed to remind them of their names.) now the REASON for the embarrassing moment (i'll never live this down) is the fact that while i was reminding them of their names, my mind was telling me "you should have just kept walking. but if you kept walking, and they saw you at the show, they would think you were anti social or rude, and you've heard about jian's memory. oh great they nodded, now you have to say something." so i introduced myself to the two of them as "George from Seattle" and pretty much left it as that. told them i'm really looking forward to seeing the show. asked if jian was ok kos he _did_ look kinda down, and he said everything was cool, they were just talking. right. subtle hint. taken. told them i'll see them later, and murray piped in that he would see us after the show. whew. didn't feel TOO stupid anymore.
and all this BEFORE the show. jiminy.
we wait in line for a little while longer. it occurred to me to actually look at the line and see what the turnout was looking like. fair amount of people. wow. the venue started letting people in. what i forgot to mention before was what the actual venue looked like. there was a fairsized floor for any kind of dancing you could possibly want, even though the floor itself looked like it had been long used as a country dancing floor. you know the look, graying wood that has been hammered one too many times by not only cowboy boots, but the hammered themselves... the stage was about four feet above the dance floor: high enough to be imposing, but low enough to make the standing audience feel close to any group in question. i've been told that richards on richards was never a country bar, but i swear that the floor ... anyway, i digress. there was, lining the dance floor on the outer edges, a number of seating arrangements consisting of chairs around tables. that was awfully nice of them. outside the dance floor was a nice roomy area or bar seating and table seating in a semicircle configuration, as well as upstairs seating in the same shape. i never actually went upstairs to see what was there, but i was a little preoccupied. perhaps doug could elaborate on the high altitude dining area. we ended up being introduced to a couple gals by the name of Tanya and Maeve. they were probably as excited about the show as doug and i were and we had a good time talking tons. the two of them took off to find food, doug took off to find a female in a green shirt, and by then arbie had shown up at the venue so we were chatting now and again. arbie let me know that this was his first show as well so i was excited for him too. this was going to turn out to be a wonderful experience for everyone.
dayna manning (not to be commonly confused with danya) came on stage as the singer/songwriter gal and opening act. i've heard a lot of mixed reviews about her material from people here and there, and i guess i get to add my opinion to the mix. in short, she was fantastic. she sang with feeling, played her guitar very well, and while she said that she was new at the piano, played a wonderful song to go along with that. the lyrics still run through my head. i was saddened to find out that there were no CD's available during the last leg of the tour for her because they ran out a long time before. bummer. her show consisted of several songs, many of which she commented on prior to playing. i have to say that i was captivated by her music because a lot of it reminds me very much of the singing/songwriting my best friend does, who i have performed with. it was lovely to listen to. she seemed really shy, but i have no clue if she's ever been on tour or anything to that effect before. critics just best recognize, foo. she was great. a fitting opening act for what was about to happen.
during the middle of her show, tanya and maeve came back bearing gifts: food!! oh those girls were sweeties for bringing us leftover nachos. they were delicious, especially since i was stupid and didn't eat much that day. there were still a few nachos left at the end of dayna's show, so we finished those off and got ready for stuff to happen. after cal had finished doing the setup on stage, i walked over to him and asked him about hooking up to the soundboard. he told me to follow him to the booth to see if there were any outs available. the unfortunate thing was the fact that there was only a mono XLR output and i didn't have the right cables (george makes a note to have people add that to their list of stuff you should have when going to tape a show) for converting XLR to anything. so i set up the microphones at the table attached to two plastic drinking cups. arbie offered to watch over the stuff, which was very kind of him and probably unnecessary since people seemed pretty cool about minding their space. special thanks to him, tho, for being a wonderful host and a great guy to hang out with.
and now comes the part you've all been waiting for -- THE SHOW!
the house music started to dim out and a single note emanated from the speakers. apparently this was to be the first note of the show, because doug immediately made a speeding dash for stage jian+mike. in fact, a whole mess of people started heading for center stage. i figured i knew where i wanted to be, so i sorta sauntered off to the left and near the front of where stage murray would end up being. jian then came on stage, smiled at everyone, and murray was not far behind. this of course brought a massive roaring of audience approval as jian sat in a chair and affixed a dumbek between his legs, gave a count, and the show began with the...
Sahara (extended) - that everyone told me that this would be the song not to miss on this tour. jordan practically married this song but annulled due to complications, fiona said it would kick me where it counted, and they were absolutely correct. i LOVED this version of Sahara. i very much like the original sahara as well, but this one totally rocked my world and made a fantastic opening song. jian playing rhythms on the dumbek, murray covering the groove with the bass. dave and mike eventually came on stage afterwards, dave playing a wood block in rhythm of the other two guys, and mike was fiddling around in the background. eventually, switching of instruments occurred with jian taking the drum set, dave the electric guitar, and mike that tiny keyboard with some very nice chord changes. after the chord changes came mike close to the microphone with the shaker. and then they sang. oh man did they sing ... the extended description of the song is the best way to describe it, as it is easily twice as long as the original and far more complex in the exploration of the harmonies. what a lovely song. it eventually ended with the guys singing the last few chords without any instrumental accompaniment, and the lights went slightly darker. without any kind of preamble, the continued to rock our worlds by filling up our...
Jockey Full of Bourbon - which was very similar to the Live Noise version of the song. the lyrics were a little bit in a different order than they were on the live noise cd, but the basic idea of the song was the same: they're doing a way cool version of a tom waites song. i liked the tom waites version. i love the fruvous version. is there a song that they can't do justice to? apparently not, considering what they do a little later on in the show. after bourbon was finished, we were almost introduced to...
B.J. Don't Cry - when jian started out the drum beat of the song while others played with instruments. he enjoyed telling us that it was the first time in three years that they had been to vancouver, for which the audience roared their approval. the question in jian's mind, however, was if they were cheering because they were back, or cheering because they only come every three years? to which case, we were told to do something profane with a laugh and the song started. to this moment, even listening to the tape afterwards, i have no idea what mike is saying about gentlemen in the megaphone section of this song, but someday i'll figure it out and laugh. i was smiling as we got the "it's genesis" version, however. after this particular, they were going to immediately go into throwing...
Horseshoes - but they decided that it was time for a little improv, with dave starting out by singing Broadway (i'm serious, there isn't a song they can't do justice to) .. the jam continued on with them noting that "when they told us we were playing dicks on dicks we thought 'are we playing in a gay bar?'". After the humorous jam, they got into horseshoes. i have to admit that this song will never sound nearly as beautiful as that brief moment when we were there for the soundcheck, but i love the song nonetheless. great song. after horseshoes were tossed, we were told that they were going to be playing a lot of songs released on the live noise cd, but also, some new ones. that's when we were introduced to a ...
Sad Girl - i'd never heard any of the new songs before tonight, and i have to say that this one was a great way to open up the idea of new fru. (ok that was bad, leave me alone) i would love to sit down and analyze the words for that someday, but for now i will just appreciate it as a great jian song with a wonderful feel. after sad girl was over, we found out that the "guitar is high, the piano is drinking, and you can't find the waitress with a gieger counter"... or something to that effect. however, it was time to go on a journey. it's when we were invited to hear the tale of a fish named...
Pisco Bandito - the bandit fish. a murray song! and he plays classical lead! on the acoustic guitar! holy cow! not only that, but when he's playing the lead during the middle of a very bright and happy song, he leans back ever so slightly, lets his jaw hang a little, and puts on his "lead guitarist" face, makes cool looks at the audience, and totally adds to the mood of this song. if only i had someone to mambo with. i did do the pisco dance tho. it's coast to coast now kids! and dave plays bass! oh the joy of that night. ahh the song was over alas. wonderful to listen to. it was then that jian reminded me that ...
I Love my Boss - especially for letting me take two days off to follow fruvous. right as they were about to not be able to "stand a loss", jian's microphone cut out right on the 'loss' .... irony at its finest. so instead of waiting for the microphone to get fixed, they decided to give us off-mic boss. oh what a TREAT that was! i had hoped that i would get to see them perform off-mic at least once during the three shows i would be at, and i was so happy to see that. their stage play, dancing, and such are quite the sight to behold. i've heard plenty of tapes of their shows, but nothing could prepare anyone for what they do while singing on stage. it's great! lots of energy throughout the whole song. after they told us about our collective bosses, we were told that when you finish trashing the planet...
You will Go to the Moon - where, ironically, it looks exactly like the smaller disco ball that was hanging at the club, as pointed out by them. again, more stagecraft. my goodness these guys are absolutely amazing on stage. when they got into the middle of the song and got to the "orbiting rondelle", all the lights went dark, and they light up the 5 or so disco balls, right on cue. holy cow that was beautiful. after the song was over, hats were donned. i had no idea that i was about to be told a story about...
Minnie the Moocher - and introduced to grandpa fruvous. mike plays the role of the grouchy old man perfectly. we got a good ol' fashioned sing-along outta the whole thing too. i'd heard of minnie the moocher as done by fruvous, but only heard it once on a really faded tape a while ago, so it was great to hear it live. mike'll have to be careful about that chelsea clinton thing as he gets closer to the east coast of the states tho ... *grin* after that we were treated to hear the...
Kids Song - on stage and at a really far end away from the province in question. interesting reactions abound whenever that song is done i would imagine. there were an equal amount of yes and no answers when the question was asked. i wonder if people were arguing just for the sake of it, or if people actually had a stand on it. (: after the kids had held court, more new songs were abound, and jian said, in that way he has, that...
I Will Hold On - and wow was it quite the powerful song. it has just a taste of wit thrown into it, it is one of the new songs, and i love it to pieces. so far we're looking at a rather potent set of stuff for a new album. i wish i could compare it to studio versions or something, but since i had never heard it until that point, there is not much i can say about the matter. i do like the song, however. at least it's not in a minor key. i think that would be more than i could handle. hehe. after the song was finished, mike brought the rest of the house to its feet by telling us he would miss us...
Half as Much - and finish off the set of new songs for the night. upbeat song, relatively short, great subject matter, i enjoyed it a great deal. proving once again that the next album is going to be quite the kicker. can't wait till that one is finished. after the ordeal of missing was finished, the boys in good form thanked us for the applause, except for dave who threw in the "thank you very half as much." ugh. and i thought adam was bad. (: so the boys then started to tell us their stories of the experiences they have had in the united states, particularly with a group known as the...
Michigan Militia - who made their name in the newspapers by being silly. similar to the version on live noise, murray's bass line was a little different in the beginning: a little more on the hip-hop side of things, less melodic, but quite fitting now that i've had a chance to get used to it. silly me. and since the banjo was already out, mike went into the monologue about those who are anti-food and how we are against them, a tin whistle was flashed, and...
Johnny Saucep'n - made his appearance on stage. i love love love that song. it's plain, it's simple, it's witty, it has wicked rhymes, murray rips that brush a new one, they sing, (i caught jian breathing during the last chorus) and it was great to see it live. we all caught onto jian's little dance during it eventually tho. that was hilarious. after that, the mood was changed a little bit, stuff mellowed out some, and they decided that they...
Gotta Get a Message to You - and it was got, let me tell you. when i first heard that version on live noise, the acapella version, i couldn't listen to it without getting little shivers and goosebumps. the feeling is still there. i love that song, i love that arrangement.. oooooooh. yum. after they got their message to us, it was time for a special guest star on stage! yes, you all know who it was, it was the...
King of Spain - arrived to tell us his story. a hilarious moment about why the king of spain was not sitting on his cushined and plush chairs but working menial jobs came when murray asked if it was because of hemorrhoids. no, it wasn't because of that. so once he was the king of spain. hehe gotta love that song even all this time later. of cousre, as i was prepared for, the king of spain was instantly transformed into mr. cheese for the short version of...
Green Eggs and Ham - better than the doctor could have ever told it. stage play. king of spain too. stage play. holy cow. there is some amazing stuff that happens when those guys decide to ham it up a little. the experience of watching them on stage is one that will never be forgotten. my only regret is that most of my pictures didn't turn out too well because i didn't use flash and the 1000 film just wasn't that great in a dark place... aah well. after he did not eat that stuff, we were treated to the...
Love Potion #9 - medley which had the usual ohio/disco combination, traced afterwards with a little jewel, some spirit of the west, and the love shack (good heavens the frucon spoof is coming true). the guys did their formal bow, left the stage, and we screamed, stomped (that floor HAS to be made for cowboys. it resonates just so), shouted, and they finally came back. dark lighting in effect, a bass line going, and we got to see a...
Psycho Killer - on stage for the first encore. jian doing his thing almost but not quite starting each time ... it was a great show. this is where things got ugly, however. near the end of the song when they were going nuts on the instruments getting faster, a string of mike's broke. he tried to break it off of the guitar so it wouldn't be in the way of anything, but apparently the string lodged itself in the first joint on his index finger. he continued to play afterwards, then ran off stage when the song was over, still attached to the guitar, and i was wondering if they would come back at all, regardless of how loud everyone was screaming for more. however, three of the four came back on stage. did a little bantering, and then mike came back on stage with a bandaged finger, picked up his guitar, and was able to play. unbelievable. that's when they told us that they would be playing for us...
The Drinking Song - and that we could sing along should we choose to. EVERYONE knew it. i don't think there was a single person there who did NOT know the song by then. it was a great sing-along, complete with the jian "you sing" for which we complied happily. doug really quickly taught me the 'opened the window, played some nintendo' gestures for which the two of us got smiles. after that point, we started the row of swaying people - doug got people to his right, i got people to my left. after we started ours, practically the entire audience was going at it. oh what a sight that was ... perfect way to end the show. with that, the show was over.
and then was the aftershow. the guys came out to talk to people and mingle and such. mike told us the story of how the string was right in the joint of the knuckle, and how tobey said that he was breaking every rule of medicine and just pulled the thing out. the weird thing was the fact that mike didn't feel it at all. so he just came back on stage and played. amazing. of course, this story after he finished wrestling on the dance floor with a friend of his. dave was socialable, murray as well. it was jian who scared the pants off of me. introducing myself as "George from Seattle" was all he needed to know who i was, as he turned to me, looked right at me, and said "George Nowik." after he shocked me, he THEN told me that he reads the newsgroup enough to know who the names are. now THAT was a real moment. he and i chatted a bit about mutual acquaintences, and then the venue owners told us that people have to leave: they were closing down. on my way out, i had almost forgotten. stopped by tobey, whipped the card out of my wallet, and got my first FRUMILE! *bounce bounce* the show was complete. outside of the venue was a gaggle of us, including doug, arbie, tanya, and maeve. we were all trying to sing fruvous songs. they were doing a great job, and me a terrible one because i had been cheering and screaming so much during the show that my voice was so completely shot. we had a good time talking about the show, tho. then tanya and maeve had their ride arrive and they left. the rest of us heading for Frucasa West started to head back home. however, doug and i acquired the munchies so we shouted at arbie, who we were following, to stop at the denny's. (:
the show recorded great. we listened to it some when we got back while doug was typing on the net, and finally we all had to collapse and sleep. the first night of fruvous was over for me. fruginity lost, i fell asleep having dreams of endless driving and bongos....
next time: round two: Legends, ferry boats, and tardiness.
From Doug:
Time, in minutes, between boarding the airport shuttle and seeing my first Starbucks: 20 (a damning proof of the failing B.C. economy)
Miles of sidewalk in downtown Vancouver: 800
Number of wastebaskets in downtown Vancouver: 29 (+/- 28)
Amount of street garbage in downtown Vancouver: 0
Time, in minutes, between getting off the shuttle and smelling marijuana smoke: 40
Times I'd heard from others that Vancouver is the Chinese-language capital of the country: 2,890
Times I heard people speaking Chinese in downtown Vancouver: 2
Times I typically hear people speaking Chinese in downtown Saskatoon every day: 1
Parking lots I saw that take credit cards: 1
The Pictures
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Thanks to George for this one:
- Murray's setlist
Thanks to Jen & Ann Griffee for this one: - Jian's setlist
The Music
Misc. Info
Some other tidbits from the performance include:
- Feel free to help contribute to this section!
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