So after getting LOST in suburban hell yesterday (and just minutes from my home...why do I admit these embarrassing facts in "public?" I'm usually really good with directions, really I am!) I finally arrived at Borders in Bryn Mawr, PA, just two songs into the set. I'd been wondering who exactly would show up at 4:00 on a Wednesday (other than crazy types like us who leave work several hours early to go to a concert!) for an in-store performance (which I'd never been to, believe it or not, and which I figured would be like maybe a half hour or something), so until I got there I wasn't worried about there being enough space for parking or sitting or standing...golly was I wrong!! It was PACKED--the entire music section, which is big, was standing-room-only, and not enough of that even; people were spilling over into the bookstore part. And it was HOT--all those people were breathing up all available air, I guess. And most of them looked like "grown ups" (like they seemed like responsible folks who probably should have been at work), but from the crowd's reactions it seemed like most of them had never seen Fruvous (how hilarious to hear an entire roomfull of people laugh at *every* line of "Boss," and how VERY strange to not hear anyone singing along during the whole performance!). Apparently many of them had heard Fruvous on WXPN yesterday morning on their morning commute (they were on from 8-9 a.m.) and decided they couldn't pass up a free show of these refreshingly wacky dudes so close to home (who could, of course??!!).
ANYway...I'm not really into the whole set-list mania (sorry!), but they did your basic standard intro-to-Fruvous stuff (Boss, Message, KoS, GE&H, Tureen, Saucep'n, Spidey, etc.), plus the new Sad Girl song, which I of course loved (how nice to hear new Fruvous again!!). After the "show," which actually lasted for about an hour and a half or so (I think), I found Sue Weiss, Dan Carp, Mary (Cricket), Misty and Rich (from Hazelton, PA)--a good small Fruhead contingent--as well as my MOM, who'd come over after school (she teaches nearby), and my friend Jenny who had been a Fruvirgin before the show and was happily converted after (sounds like a new closing for a Fruvous fairy tale..."and they lived happily converted after"). Jenny and my mom left, and the six of us waited for about an hour until the line of people waiting for autographs had dissipated (during which time Dan and I both bought our Live Noises--more on the album in a minute), and said our hellos to the guys. Mary (can I showcase this, Mary??!) presented Jian with an early birthday present of a wooden box with the outline of Iran burned into the top, with a Persian proverb burned into the wood below that--*in Persian*--which would have been cool enough, but then she said she MADE it herself!!! We were all duly impressed.
I decided to continue my Day of Irresponsible Behavior: not only had I left my assitant at school with a million rambunctious (to put it nicely) middle schoolers, but decided to reschedule my tutoring job for that evening so I could stay for a Fruhead Dinner. The six of us headed over to the Gullifty's, in the same building as Borders, and had a lovely, lively dinner. I gave Dan C. a ride back to Penn (well OK, really HE drove MY car, as usual!), and made it home by 9:30 p.m. All in all a REALLY nice afternoon/evening, and it was great meeting Misty and Rich. I love it that I can completely leave my "real life" behind and get so caught up in the World of Fruvous!
OH---then, when I got home, I finally got to listen to the new album--GREAT JOB, GUYS!!! It absoultely captures the essence of Fruvous, and from now on will be the innaugural album I tape for my non-Fruvous friends. It has all the energy that I've always felt was missing from the other studio-recorded albums--whenever I tape Fruvous for people who don't know them or haven't seen them live, I always give them the tape with the instruction that they must see them live to REALLY know what they're like...this new album renders that statement obsolete.
(Wow, is this the first full-length review I've posted here?? I think it is! Sorry if it's a bit rambly...)
From Mary Krause:
I've been hoping someone else would post a review of yesterday's in-store (who knows with dejanews...maybe they have)...only because it was so different from the in-store I caught Sunday. It was off the charts...almost wrong to attempt to compare them. AND I don't have my setlist notes in front of me--so my memory is a little vague. Philadelphia...thanks mostly to WXPN...really LOVES Moxy Fruvous. So when WXPN dj Michaela Majoun said they'd be mobbed at the in-store, I didn't doubt it. There were folks everywhere. The in-store was held in the music section and people were lining the aisles, those of us directly in front of the band were sitting, and behind us, people were standing all the way into the book section. And unlike the folks in Long Island, most of the people here knew Fruvous. Knew the words to the songs, etc. They had PLANNED to come to this show, they didn't happen upon it. But there were apparently a few new people who had heard them on the radio in the morning and came since they sounded so fun. Cool. Anyway...The guys did essentially the same set as the NYC in-store, but they dropped "Peace of Mind" and (I believe) "Fly," while adding "Sad Girl." And of course, they added a theme of relating books to the music. Some gems being a very thick book on how to wage war (in Canada it's a pamphlet on how to use their 4 tanks with a section on using home knives for national defense), a book entitled "King of Pizza," a teeny-bopper book--"Lovin' Leo"--a tribute to Leonardo DiCaprio, and the Jewel poetry book...which is also available on audio tape for the car ;-) Jewel's poetry and good ol' Leo were sort of a running theme. And although we never did get to hear any of Jewel's poetry, we did get a bit from "Lovin' Leo" from Jian about how some girls chased him through the Louvre. Poor Leo. Although Mike encouraged us to dis Leo, since he didn't write back to his daughter's letter. The energy level of this in-store was very high and the guys had a lot of interaction with the audience, weaving their way through the sitting fans. A young boy introduced them..."This is Moxy Fruvous from Canada." Very Cute. Jian found a nice guy with long blond hair to toy with during "I Love My Boss." And Spiderman was especially adorable as this little baby...maybe a year old...was FASCINATED with Mike. Anyway, the whole afternoon was a lot of fun. From bits and pieces overheard, they either did or ALMOST did sell out of cds. The line to buy them was huge...as was the line to get autographs. About an hour to and hour and a half of just signing. I met some great people at this show too. Dan Carps, I already knew, but I finally got to hang out with him and Jessica and Sue Weiss (we all live in Philly, but I met them in Toronto...how absurd!). Also making the trip to Borders were Rich and Misty (aka Maige). We all had a fun time at dinner afterwards and probably drove our poor waiter over the edge. But it was a great evening. I can't wait to see everyone again!
From Rich Drees:
Expetations are funny things.
They can be either widely exceeded or horribly shattered.
An example of both extremes-
The night before Misty and I headed south from our Pocono Mountain homesteads to catch the Lads at the Boarders Bookstore outside of Philadelphia, we had gone, with a large batch of friends, to see the biggest hyped movie of the summer- ``Godzilla''. As I long time fan of the Big G, I was hoping that the filmmakers would be able to deliver an entertaining movie that also carried the same underlying theme about nuclear war that the original 1954 Japanese version did. (Side note- if you can, track down the original version in Japanese with English subtitles, not the slightly cheesy US version from `55 with Raymond Burr added in.) Unfortunately, what I saw was a two hour plus thrill ride that while it had its entertaining moments, ultimately disappointed me due to its crappy script, lack of internal logic (how come the cars only bounced when G first shows up but not later, why didn't they just posion the fish, why does it seem to keep changing height, etc. . . )and not so great acting. Matthew Broderick?! What is this ``Godzilla Vs. Ferris Bueller''??????? A fine example of shattered expectations.
Not for the other extreme- expectations surpassed!
When the delightful and delovely Sarah Hoffman up at Bottom Line Records originally clued me in on the Lads Boarders appearance she said that they would be playing for about ``half hour, maybe forty minutes.'' In my mind I was picturing the guys perched on stools, ala ``MTV Unplugged'' Accoustic guitars being strummed, Dave pumpin' away on an unmiked accordian with maybe 50-60 fans sitting around.
HA!!!
What the almost two hundred or so people (Just my estimate and by no means offical) who showed up got was a full blown, hour and twenty minute long, we might as well have been at the TLA except for the lack of giant speakers, knock down kick @$$ set of fun from the boys!!!!
Talk about expectations exceeded!!!!!
The Fruvous Four are out there promoting their live album and they recreated a typical (if such a word can be used here) live show. A quick glance at the set list will clue you readers in on how things pretty much went. Since they were in a book store, the guys had taken sometime to raid the stacks for tomes that related to every song they played that afternoon. (This preparation was spied upon by Misty and myself from Boarders' 2nd floor coffee shop balcony. We wondered if the guys had somehow been reduced to playing for store credit and not actuall money or were just stocking up for the van trip.)
Highlights of the book fair include Jian's readings from the book ``Lovin' Leo,'' a slim little thing devoted to pre-teen heartthrob Leo DiCrapio (misspelling intentional) and everybody ragging on Jewel's new poetry book.
The coolest part of the show for me was looking around and seeing all the parents who had brought their kids. It was fun to watch their reactions to songs like ``Spiderman,'' ``Spiderman'' and ``Green Eggs and Ham.'' Its nice to know that there's already a new generation of Fru-Heads begining out there. (Should that be FruHeads: The Next Generation?)
The boys were oh so gratious as they signed darn near anything that was put in front of them. I got a poster signed for the girl who works at the Waldenbooks near where I'm employed who was heartbroken she couldn't get time off to come on the trip. The boys also very kindly recorded a quick ID for my good pal Rich Z.'s radio show ``Dead or Canadian.'' (Saturday Nights 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. on 88.5 FM in Wilkes-Barre PA! If you have to be driving through town tune in!!)
An enjoyable dinner around the corner with several other Fruheads in which we discussed things like how we first discovered the Lads, first shows, etc rounded out the evening enjoyably. It turns out one our dinner mates, Susan, and I know some people in common going back to our days in college.
Small world huhn? With Fruvous uniting us all!!!!
Some other tidbits from the performance include:
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