Saturday morn. Got up at a nice lazy 10:30, had some breakfast, and then Vika and I headed to the Motel 6 up Rte. 91 to catch the jam that a bunch of fruheads were planning. Well, I'm not sure if any jam happened, but around three in the afternoon, a group of us went back to downtown NoHo for some sushi...yum.
After our sushi dinner, a group of us went to Fire and Water (cool place) for a FruCon 2 planning meeting. We got a lot accomplished, I think, and things are definitely going to be kicking in soon, so keep an eye out!
Around seven in the evening, doors opened at the Iron Horse again. Same kind of vibe as the previous night, expect everyone had on their spiffy Halloween costumes. I went as myself during the summer, wearing all my anti-sun clothing. Jess Klein opened again, starting around 8, like the night before, and played for about the same length of time. She dressed up in a groom's outfit, while her guitarist friend dressed up as a bride...very cute.
One of the Iron Horse staff came up on stage right before Fruvous was supposed to hit the stage (around ten). He said Fruvous couldn't make it, but Dave and the Chia Pets would be playing instead. Jian, Mike, Dave and Murray ran up on stage, sporting derby hats, mascara, and red cheeks. The four of them proceeded to play for more than two hours, playing ALL cover songs. They had the Nields, John Greene and Jess Klein join them for certain tunes during the set, which was very neat. Some of the covers I'd never heard before, including the original version. It was quite different than any show I'd ever seen of theirs. At the end of the set, for the last encore, they did do a Fru-tune...Gulf War Song...amazing!
Here's what Cal's setlist reads:
Substitute BBC Olivars Porno Thatboy PleasePlease Loose that Goil Signed - Mistra Complainte Summertime Cheek2Cheek Billie Starman Ms. Otis Message Early Mornin Jockey Released Spainish Train in Vain Psycho -------------------- Homeward Brown eyed -------------------- Allison
After the show, there was a post-show party, held up in the Iron Horse's balcony area. Fruheads chatted, ate food, and the band joined the festivities. Around two in the morning, we were graciously kicked out again. :-) Headed back to the hotel, and I chose to fall asleep right away since I was exhausted. Finally fell asleep around three in the morning.
Sunday morning, woke up around ten in the morning again. Vika and I spent some time socializing and said our goodbyes around noon and headed back to Boston, making it there by half past one.
What an amazing weekend. Got to see a BUNCH of people that I probably won't see again till Frucon, and the whole vibe of the weekend was just amazing. May we always have Iron Horse halloween shows...what a great tradition that would be.
From Fiona:
Marie-Claude woke us up with a phone call at around 10:30. She and Katherine came up bearing pictures from other shows including the infamous and quite gorgeous storm shots from the Ottawa Folk Festival. Jenn (ladywench) arrived with her doumbek, several tinwhistles (have you ever heard Drinking Song on a tin whistle? very cool) her wooden flute and her glass flute. Drea got to play Sahara on a proper doumbek.
Eventually we all got dressed, split up to go eat, then gathered in an area next to the Motel's pool. Not much music ensued, although Richard did play his mandolin a bit (and a bit more once I'd gone I hear). Lots of talk, signing of birthday cards, costume help, picture taking etc did take place and It Was Good.
Chrissy and I headed off to the Frucon committee meeting, (late) where she got a compliment from Jian. "All I could think was.. "I'm sitting next to Princess Leia!""
Eventually (about 5 mins before doors were supposed to open, not that they did, seeing as the ENTIRE weekend was run on Fruvous time) the meeting broke up and we headed for space in line. Here we almost met Nate de Rose, but not quite.. it was 2 people he'd booked tickets for but not the man himself. One of the few I didn't meet this weekend.
Drea, Amy and Richard showed up sometime during Jess Klein's set, worrying the two of us a little. I paid a lot more attention to Jess this time and she rocks.
Then.. "Moxy Fruvous is unable to make it tonight." It's the Chia Pets plus Dave! (We got a lot of stories about the pre-Fruvous days)
Tell me.. how many bands can do a night of covers and have their fans enjoy the show more than a regular set? Three Beatles tunes, Poor Napeoleon, stuff from Luxor '98 and NYE '97 plus others I've never heard of them playing.
"One of our possible names was Love, Bonus!" "In an alternate universe, we ARE Love Bonus and you just told the crowd that one of our possible names was Moxy Fruvous. There was stunned silence, followed by hysterical laughter." -Mike and Murray. (Murray, you read my mind)
La Complainte du Phoque en Alaska. Very special. I'm not Quebecoise and I'm not even sure where I've heard the song before but wow.
Gulf War Song. My first time hearing this live. I was so stunned and silent... until "history seems to agree.." Then I came to my senses and signed along as best I could.
Post show.. you've never seen so many flashes at a Fruvous concert I swear. 2 nights of no photos and it was over.. so we went wild blinding each other. Most of mine came out great. Hugs and goodbyes and the nasty realization (actually the second time it's happened to me this year.. OFF and NoHo weren't supposed to happen) that I just saw my last Frushow of the year. (See you at FruCon)
Quotes:
"That's your car? That car changed my life!" Mike Ford to Pixel.
"What? You've never heard of Moxy Fruvous? It's the band that made the Kessel run in under twelve Parsecs!" Mike Wood went as Han Solo, can you tell?
Sunday
Mostly goodbyes, a few last pictures, last stop at the diner, and a quote-filled ride home. Also my intro to Da Vinci's Notebook. Paul, you had better haul your crew up to Toronto sometime!!
Quotes "I flash, I slither, I dub" "How much do you make?" "Obviously not enough" - Chrissy and Amy "scroll, scroll, scroll, scroll. Type, type type" - Chrissy "Room service!" "You're not pancakes." Pixel and Mike "We should get down there and make sure people are moving. Let me rephrase that. We should get down and make sure people are getting ready to go." ladywench (you had to be there) "Solar power is where it's at!" Mike to Donovan, attempting to extend the goodbye to piss off the guy in the car behind us. "I have bouncing calf!" Amy "All these years of eating grilled cheese and it MEANS something dammit!" Chrissy (again, you had to be there) "I'm so worried about what happened today in NoHo" -Monty Python "There are no prostitutes to hit here. Must just be something about Amy's driving." "Amy attracts prostitutes!" Drea and me "And THERE's the horn! Two dates later I find the damned thing." Drea Drea can tell you this story. It involves the Frubus and Murray. We waved instead. "I think we need to call up the Fruguys and ask for Jenga tips" - Chrissy "I'm so sick of the Eurythmics. Blondie kicks their ass. In fact Blondie kicks their _fucking_ ass" "Thank you, Jian" Mike and Chrissy "I like you, come back soon" The gumball machine at the rest stop "Hi there! Will you be my friend? Don't leave me!" same machine "Parking area! Pull over!" "If you two want to park, fine. But what are the 3 of us gonna do?" Mike and Drea (took Mike and Chrissy several seconds to get that one. Amy was asleep) "On the way there it's the Fruway.." "..on the way back it's just depressing" Drea and Amy on the Thruway "Behave children!...says the youngest person in the car." Amy "I'd be incredibly comfortable if only I could cut off my left arm." Amy "It's the Chia Ladies plus Mike!" Mike Wood.
The end of a weekend. Let's do it again sometime huh? Virtual hugs to all, including the guys, Cal, Tobey, Jude and those of you who weren't there.
From Scott:
Here's the setlist from the Chia Pet's performance on 10/31/98 -- there are some songs I don't know either the full title or the artist.... those songs are marked ** along with the title as listed on Jian's setlist
As an aside, it was great to see everyone again, and meet many folks for the first time! I'll post a more complete review later....
============================== Substitute (The Who) BBC 1 (Soundtrack to Austin Powers) Oliver's Army (Elvis Costello) Poor Napoleon (Elivis Costello) This Boy (Beatles) Please Please Me (Beatles) You're Gonna Lose That Girl (Beatles) Signed, Sealed and Delivered (Stevie Wonder) He's Mistra Know-It-All (Stevie Wonder) La Complainte Du Phoque En Alaska (?) Summertime (Cole Porter) Cheek to Cheek (Irving Berlin) Billy Jian Medley Starman (David Bowie) Miss Otis Regrets (Cole Porter) Gotta Get A Message to You (Bee Gees) Early 'Mornin Rain (Gordon Lightfoot) Jockey Full of Bourbon (Tom Waits) I Shall Be Released (Bob Dylan, performed by the Band and many others) ** Spanish (Blues number with Hot Guitar by Mike) Love Me Two Times (The Doors) Train In Vain (Stand By Me) - The Clash Psycho Killer (Talking Heads) Encore 1: Homeward Bound (Paul Simon) Brown Eyed Girl (Van Morrison) Encore 2: Gulf War Song (off-mic) - Moxy Fruvous () Just to give additional credit where it's due, the following songs had guest stars on stage with Fruvous ....er..... Chia's....... Signed Sealed and Delivered: John Greene (yeP!) on piano Summertime: lead vocals by Jess Klein I Shall Be Released: vocals by Katrina and Nerissa Nield
Some other tidbits from the performance include:
Back to the tour dates 1998 page
