I can tell it's going to be one of *those* weekends. You know, no sleep, long drives, but hey, it's all worth it...

Jo and I left Rochester promptly at four on Thursday afternoon, and after a very enjoyable drive, made it to Albany by half past seven. We proceeded right to Valentine's; Chad Maloney was enjoying dinner at a pizza place next door. We sat and chatted for a bit, and Jennifer (whom I'd met at the Kew Gardens show) also joined us.

Doors opened around 9:30. John Greene and Josh from yeP! drove from Boston and were partaking of some drinks at the bar; I'd met Josh before, but not John. I think they finally convinced me that I need to see an Iron Horse show one of these days. After a bit, we headed upstairs where Jenn was waiting for us.

I hunkered down on a couch and relaxed with Marcus for a bit, but shortly thereafter, Jason Reiser, Rob Johnson, and Jason's friend Leah arrived. And before we knew it (it was like 10:30 at this point), Hammel on Trial started. He was a little more abrasive than the time I saw him in Burlington, but I still enjoyed his performance.

Dan and Jered were also there, staking their claim right in front of the stage. Fruvous came on around 11:15, and played for a little under two hours. The set is very similar to what has been done at the last week's worth of shows, but I'm not complaining. The crowd went nuts, and it was definitely the best reception they've had at Albany thus far. During the Drinking Song, Fruvous invited John Greene and some guy named Glenn that John had met during the show up on stage. Moxy ended up letting Glenn sing most of the second half of the song, and he had a pretty nice voice. I've never seen "guest artists" for that song before. :)

Afterwards, Jo and I only chatted with everyone for a few moments, as we had a long drive ahead of us. We said our goodbyes, and left Albany at about two in the morning, which meant our arrival time in Rochester was a healthy 5:30 AM. Uggh!!

As I'm writing this, I'm getting ready for the Buffalo show at the Tralf. Oh my, how I'm going to sleep on Sunday!!!

From Chad Maloney:

Well, in everyone's life there comes a time when all the email is caught up with and there is time to post a review so that Zard can read it when she gets back =) And for me, now is that time.

I took a couple days off work (not counting the days of anticipation for the new set) to go see the Albany->Buffalo->Buffalo->Saratoga Springs shows. So, I got up bright and early and started the drive over to Albany in the beautiful Indianapolis night, which turned into a nice Ohio sunrise and eventually, a New York sunset. What did I learn in all this? Well, I can now define what is a long distance to drive in my tastes. Well, estimate at least. Somewhere between 10 hours and 13 hours lies the too far mark and I hit it going down I90 for what seemed like years. But eventually I rolled into Albany at 5pm ready for an adventure of venue and parking finding.

Mapquest was good to me, so the adventure was short lived and I shacked up in a Pizza/Deli place next door to Valentine's. I got some pizza and read for a while after making the acquaintence of the nice people working there. Around 7:30 I spotted a familiar face. Chris O'Malley had arrived and so I jumped up and stuck my head in front of him. Good, company for the waiting. I met Jo there too. She came with Chris and brought along her wonderful laugh. We met Jennifer from Rochester waiting in the Pizza place too and we all talked and laughed for awhile. We decided that when someone tells a joke, you to do the "joke" hand motion (which a little circle thing with your hands). Chris also informed me of the cancellation of the Saratoga Springs show. Well, at least that'll leave me 5 hours closer to home in Buffalo. Oh, and I still have two pieces of pizza left if anyone wants some. Just send a SASE and... oh nevermind.

Right before doors, we met up with John Greene and Josh (two Yep!pers) and chatted a bit. The venue was really great. Marcus had a couch (and no arm sling for all those following the recovery) and some great new merch (I got a cool YWGTTM sticker and a shirt too). While we were chatting it up with Marcus, Jason Reiser arrived with Rob and Jason's friend Leah. I don't remember when Jenn got there, but she was there too.

Hammel went on right on time. I was very entertained watching him do his guitar theatrics combined with silly faces. He was one person. I was amazed at that. It is so hard for one person to keep everything down and make a complete sound. I was also amazed that he didn't break a strings that night =) He made some internet jokes about people posting about the Sweaty Bald Guy, but it was all in good fun. The blew a seal joke was good too, but we decided that someone didn't let Hammel in on the joke hand motion and I don't think he ever told a joke with ending it by pointing out how hard it is to get good jokes.

Dan and Jered showed up somewhere in here near the end of Hammel's set or in the break. That was relaxing since I was planning on getting in on a hotel room with them and Dan was the reserver. Why do I have doubts about such travel pros?

Then came the new set. I was so excited at it. I had half worked all week thinking about this show. Message started in (and I felt a loss for the Wah-wah too, but it went away fast =). They the four went off into a small Wood excursion. I love On Her Doorstep!! I had heard Lazy Boy from the Pizza/Deli during the sound check, so I knew it was coming somewhere. Yay! And it just kept going. Blues Boo Time is awesome. Murray lays down some sweet groove on that one. The WLUV intro into the new Boyfriend was great too. Murray and Jian back and forth saying each others names for like 8 times (Troy? Tim? Troy? Tim? Troy? Tim? Troy? I'm here Tim. What is your question for me?).

Then I melted. I love Fell in Love. Live it just hits me. There is that Fly sorta feeling, you know? But Fell in Love just takes me along and just wow! Get in the Car pulled me out that. Dave had a Rockford Files leadin for it (Sky, forget about your karma. Get in the car.)

Hmmm... memory... Video B'ville was somewhere after that. Right after BJ I think just because the transition was familiar (I guess I should use the shuffle mode more on my CD player). Murr was strumming chords for the end and really getting into it when his amp over heated. The equiptment failure allowed the opportunity to speak of the bass troubles and the contingency plan that was formed. The electrics on Murr's Spector friend the night before and he scrounged up a '68 Fender (like I couldn't find a '68 Fender if I tried). So, the bass was dubbed the Messiah and so someone yelled Dan Bern is the Messiah. Murray said that we'd have to ask Dan if he were the Messiah before we pinned him with it, cuz he might now want to be and someone yelled to play Jerusalem (a Dan Bern song). It didn't seem like any of the Frufour payed attention, but later, Dave broke out into I spent 2 long days in Buffalo, sweet Buffalo and Murray added All I ate was white pizza. Lot's of white pizza - all in a Jerusalem style of course).

King of Spain had lots of cone references because the Blue and Yellow coned hat and my heart was shaken hearing King of Spain end with out Green Eggs & Ham. Not bad or good shaken, just a noticable difference. Of course deep down inside, I knew that meant good things, but you know...

Then Signed, Sealed, Delivered came. It was decent. I guess I was more attached to Love Potion that I though. But I liked it. Maybe it'll get better when I hear it more.

Then the encore brought with it a silver hatted Mur-man and a story like something from a Kronenburg flick. Boo-ing Mr. Cheese. Cheering Sam-I-Am! Needless to say I love the full version of Green Eggs & Ham if not just because Murray gets to sizzle.

I normally really like hearing Fly live, but you know, sandwiched in between a full order of Green Eggs and Ham and my first live Grunge of Spain, it just sorta was nice, you know. Grunge was great! Sunglasses and all.

The second encore brought arm and arm swaying and singing along. And even more singing along than normal. John Greene (Go Flyers!) and Glenn (he had another Hockey jersey on too... Montreal maybe?) were invited on stage to sing along. Murray taught Glenn the low harmony on the harmonics realy quick and then Mike got him going on the Melody for the whole second half! It was really good and it all came off as a nice refreshing end to great show.

We stayed around chatting it up and even were allowed to carry some stuff to the Frubus (just like on TV when the older brother "lets" the younger brother clean his room because it is the cool thing to do). Dan, Jered, Jenn, and I headed off to a bit of sleep before the next day's trek. Some to Buffalo, others to there parents =)

• I've Gotta Get a Message to You (A Cappella)

• Poor Mary Lane
• Chatter
  • Jian: Thank you very much, Alabanians. There's a lot of difficult times in your country.
  • Murray: And you get bad press.
  • Jian talks about Albania and Albany.
  • Dave: Does Pataki reside in the Wafer-thin (pronounced 'Waahhh-fer') buildings?
  • An audience member yells 'c-clamps!'
  • Mike: We're selling auto supplies up here tonight... intake manifolds...
• On Her Doorstep
• Chatter
  • Jian talks about the recent Boston show. "It's good to be out of Massachusetts, glad to be in NY state. Those fuckin' people make me sick."
  • Mike: Massachusetts is wicked good!
  • Jian mentions a BeeGee's song called 'Massachusetts'.
• Michigan Militia
• Chatter
  • Jian: Thank you, corporate subsidy advocates.
  • Murray: This is a song that begs you to keep eating.
• Johnny Saucep'n
• Chatter
  • Jian: How many people *really* have a stereo that rocks?
  • The audience is less than enthusiastic.
  • Jian: Well, whatever...
• Lazy Boy
• Boo Time (Jazz version)
  • Dave does some weird stuff on the 'ol keyboard.
  • Mike: You live in between the day and the night. Somewhere between folkappella and trip-hop. Life is eeked out between salad bars and chunks of hash. But sometimes you hit a dry spell, hit a dry spell, little arid, Gobi desert, [dry mouth noises which I won't even attempt to spell], very dry. Whaddya gonna do, sit and watch Flintstones reruns? [The audience moans.] Little ambivalent there. Whaddya gonna do, you gonna learn card tricks? No, you're gonna check out that little agricultural project you've been workin' on in the back forty (fordy?). That's right, it's hidden a little past where Officer Sedanko usually checks out. And if the sun is high, the time is nigh, the feeling is right, it's going to be tonight! When the clock strikes ten, that's when...
  • Mike & Dave call and response: Various scat lines.
  • Mike & audience call and response: Go go crankin', four guys wankin', Hammel on Trial, Manhattan style, Albany folks yeah!, breakin' the yolks yeah!, down by the caputaunt (??), to the Coolie Dam.
  • Final improv line (repeated 4x): Ain't too proud to beg down by the egg!
• Chatter
  • Dave: Boo Time is the proper song to go before this next one. Because you get crazy, then get real. Who doesn't go nuts on the weekend, then get straight Monday morning?
  • Jian: You don't Dave! You're an all week, 24, 7...
  • Dave: There's no days of the week to me.
  • Jian: You're a partying machine.
  • Dave: There's no need to break up the week like that. There's points, and points continued make a line.
  • Mike: Pythagoras was a winged bat.
  • Dave: The earth is like the weekend, and the moon is like Monday. And we're all going to the moon.
• You Will Go to the Moon
• Chatter
  • Dave: You guys back to school? Did you pick up on the 3-ring binder special at Walgreens?
  • The audience boos.
  • Dave: Aren't Walgreens accused of cutting down trees and killing seals?
  • Jian: They use the seals to cut down the trees, and that's the sick...
  • Dave: Have you ever tried to get a baby seal to hold an axe? It's a long process...
  • Jian: Watch this, this crowd is politically conscious. Watch...Starbucks.
  • The audience boos.
  • Mike: Bill Bixby.
  • One audience member yells 'yeah!'
  • Mike: This guy is aware of the work he did with China.
  • Dave: Charleton Heston.
  • The audience boos.
  • Jian: That's an easy one. That's like saying Anita Bryant.
  • The guys name a bunch of other people, including tennis stars.
  • Jian: Although drug abuse is bad, it certainly shouldn't be illegal.
• Ash Hash
• Chatter
  • Dave: I'm curious. I'm a pop culture fanatic. How many people have occasionaly smoked dope and inhaled?
  • A bunch of people cheer, and only three people put their hands up.
  • Murray: That means pot is good for the lungs.
  • Dave: When I get really downhearted, I stay away from the pot.
  • Mike: What do you fill the gap with?
  • Dave: When I get bummed, I switch the radio to WLUV. Talk about love, sex, and relationships. To salve the wounded heart.
  • Mike: They have a cool theme. You hear it in the car.
  • Jian: Yeah, they do.
  • Mike: While driving.
• Your New Boyfriend (Slow version)
• Fell in Love
• Get in the Car
  • Dave, during the guitar intro: Ya know, we were watching Rockford Files the other day, Rocky, Jimbo, Angel, and it's a famous one with a flaky girl from California, and she's hangin' with Jim, and she's askin' him for money, and spiritual stuff in California, and he's not buyin' it. At a certain point, he just bursts, and he says, "Sky, forget the karma, get in the car!"
• Chatter
  • Murray: Earlier in sound check my bass exploded. So, I'm using a different bass.
  • Jian: We're gonna have a burial for it.
  • Murray: No, we're not.
  • Jian: I thought it was gonna be like when Val Kilmer, as Jim Morrison, saw the Indian in the road. Hold the bass up for spirituality.
  • Murray: The good thing was that for the last song, this other bass was the right bass to use, circa 1967.
• The Incredible Medicine Show
• B.J. Don't Cry
  • The guys do some musical teases during the drum intro, including the bass line from "Can't touch this".
  • Jian, during the drum intro: Somebody, somebody, somebody scream!
  • "Buddha and a brush"
  • Dave plays the accordion solo from the Indie version of BJ.
  • Mike, during the accordion solo: Dug that tramp!
  • Mike uses his megaphone for the "Now on the street..." section, and speaks in a voice similar to Dr. Ruth's.
  • "every Thursday hit the Roxy"
  • "had turned from green to brown...but he'd rather take me to funky town!"
• Video Bargainville
  • Jian, during the instrumental intro: This came about, because not that long ago, when videotapes were like $30, $9 to rent. And now you can get videos for 99 cents. They're usually shit, like Caddyshack 2. I had this epiphony when I walked into a video store, when did videos become 99 cents, I thought to myself.
  • Jian does the whole opening line again, to get a better audience reaction on the word 'two'.
• Chatter
  • Murray's bass stopped working during Video Bargainville.
  • Jian: Well, it seems the new bass is not the new Messiah.
  • Murray: It's my amp this time. It just overheated.
  • Mike: Then maybe the new bass is the new Messiah!
  • Jian: Does anyone have a spare amp?
  • Murray: It's off now, it's cooling down.
  • Jian: When the bass goes down, ya know, we've had a lot of trouble with the bass.
  • Dave: When the bass goes down, his wife is happy.
  • Jian: We have a contingency plan, we say before the show, "Murray...fuck man."
  • Murray: And I say, "It's fly, man".
  • Jian, in an English accent, "We're gonna get a member of the royal family. But not the British royal family, but the Spanish royal family!"
  • Mike intros: The King of Spain!
• King of Spain
  • Jian, during the intro: In full Dick Cavet wear, but with a Tibetan hat.
  • Mike: Hat provided by Speigel.
  • Murray: They say that the Coneheads installed themselves in the throne of the King of Spain.
  • "King, how are you such a conehead? There's a cone on your head...and food on your head!"
  • "I've got a cone on my head, and I say 'Let's give every new kid a chocolate eclair!'"
  • "Ladies and Gentlemen, I introduce to you the Albany all-stars!"
  • Before the epilogue, Jian: Where did he [the king] get the seer sucker trousers?
  • Dave: You guys know Sophie's Choice?
  • Mike groans.
  • Dave: OK, I won't follow up on that one, then...

• Chatter
  • Jian, during the drum intro, thanks the crowd.
  • Jian: If this is your first time seeing us, you're no longer a Fruvous virgin. If you've seen us before, we hope you're getting closer to that multiple state.
  • Mike: Orgasm.
  • Jian: We have a bass!
  • Murray: A slight cooling off period, the bass is OK.
  • Jian points out Marcus: He may look like he just got taken out of the Army recruits, but he's really a friendly guy.
• Signed, Sealed, Delivered

• Chatter
  • Mike: It should be noted that we never really became Fruvous until the day that we as a group all inscribed into a certain course, and studied a certain author who wrote: Me, I invented Spaghetti. His seminal 94 page tome, Whim of the Carpenter. And yes, of course, his subway tract, The Cry of the Meateater is more hospitals. The late, great Dr. Suess!
  • Murray comes on stage.
  • Murray: Yes, you're right to applaud.
• Green Eggs & Ham (full version)
  • Murray, talking about the audiences reaction to Mr. Cheese: The crowd turns ugly. Mr Cheese only sees the dentist once a year, contrary to their advice, he almost voted Republican last year.
  • Mike, using his megaphone: Get ready to cheer the next guy!
  • Murray: That's what we in the literary world call subtext.
  • Murray, introing Sam I Am: He was apparently born in the egg some years ago.
  • Jian, talking about his sheep: And when I was 16, with my big kiwi.
  • Murray: And to think you were clapping for him...
  • During "Not the Beatles", Jian: This is the state capital of NY, this is where the Beatles played.
  • The guys do some teases of "Revolution" and "Champaigne Supernova".
  • The guys discuss Beatle-mania briefly.
• Chatter
  • Dave, when the guys stand back up after GE&H: It's us! It's just us guys!
  • Murray: It's so fun to step back into the real world.
  • Jian: We're just trying to do what Ginsburgh did, that's beat poetry. There's not enough of that these days. People getting up, making asses of themselves.
  • Dave: I've watched the best people of my generation get up and make asses of themselves.
  • Some more talk is lent to Murray's bass.
  • Jian plugs the Buffalo shows.
  • Dave does a song for Buffalo (Jason Reiser's comments follow)
  • The song was a takeoff on Dan Bern's song, "Jerusalem"... and Jian's little "Tiger Woods" thrown in which did nothing but state another DB song title. This makes a LOT more sense once you understand that Jerusalem is a song in which Dan basically introduces himself as The Messiah. The comments about the new bass being the messiah got a few people in the audience to yell stuff about Dan Bern being the Messiah... and then they commented (in song) about that.
  • Jian explains why they have corded microphones, since they're recording for a live album. The sound engineers in Canada told Fruvous that wireless mics aren't as good for recording.
  • Dave: Those are the same guys who said cords are cooler than Jordache jeans.
  • The audience groans.
  • Dave: There will be no groaning at my lines, which are particularly good.
  • Murray: Time after time. Where do you go for the good lines? David Matheson...
• Fly
• Grunge of Spain

• Chatter
  • Jian thanks the crowd again, the club, and the staff.
  • Jian: Feel free to sing along, and with the consent of the person next to you, swing along...
• The Drinking Song
  • "played some Nintendo...and watched the Flyers (John Greene says this part)"
  • Partway through the song, Jian motions for John Greene and another guy to come up and sing on stage. This other guy turns out to be named Glenn, and sings lead for most of the last half of the tune.
  • Mike: Ladies and Gentlemen, the spirit of Maurie Richard!

Some other tidbits from the performance include:

• Feel free to help contribute to this section!