Well, this has been a long and sleepless night. Completely jazzed over last night's show...and I've got another one on Saturday. *FruBliss*!

Last night started seamlessly with a quick jaunt down I-95 to Wilmington. I met Kimberly (Kris' Mom) and Scott on the church steps a little before 6 -- we were the first three there. While Kimberly worried about where chad was (he had her ticket) and Scott wandered in the dusk, I consumed a Big Mac without tasting a bite (probably a good thing) and grooved on the muffled warm-up sounds coming from inside. We heard a piano and were thrilled by the prospect ... Love Set Fire? we wondered. It's Too Cold? since they were warming up with it. Etc...

Kevin arrived and claimed his ticket, and as the outdoor steps started to fill and a few enterprising souls went through the door, Kimberly and I said to ourselves "Hey! Selves! We were here first!" So we went inside and stood on the inner steps, which rapidly grew crowded. chad showed up and was astonished that so many people greeted him (ok, so Kimberly had mentioned her plight...) June buzzed by, promising "just a few more minutes!"

And just a few more minutes passed, and the inner doors did indeed open. And we found ourselves in a real church. With pews. And sound stuff all over the altar. And a humongoid pipe organ, and a wonderful abstract stained-glass mobile suspended over the altar. I plunked myself down in the front row (pew?) stage Mur and tried to envision a secular, rollicking FruConcert in such a place. Meanwhile there were refreshments being served in the back, and Kimberly started introducing me to other people, and they started introducing me to still more people. Whew! It was like college orientation or somethin'. Ladywench. Beth. Wendy. Trace showed up and admired my Flyers jersey while I admired hers; introduced me to Jim (also Flyer-attired) and we started looking for Alan. Eventually all four of us staked out the Mur-corner and sat chatting until John Flynn came onstage.

He did a decent-length set, featuring Emily, Armadillo, A Manatee Sneezed on Me, the song about "owning stuff" that I love but don't know the name of. Very energetic and engaging. Kept grinning at us Flyers, as if he was trying to figure us out...

After a short intermission, on came the Lads. And they were really pumped. Jian caught sight of us and just shook his head; Dave was grinning ear to ear; Mike bounced all over the stage; and Murray -- well, the one disadvantage from my location (and Trace, Alan and Jim were worse off) was that a pitched beam blocked our view of Mur a good bit of the time. Occasionally he peeked around it or otherwise popped into view.

They started with Early Morning rain, then went on to a really hopping Darlington and Medicine Show. This was really cool, because I'd never heard ANY of these live. Mike took the piano for Horseshoes, and then they really started engaging the crowd, using the ... umm... uniqueness of the venue to advantage. They were respectful of their surroundings, using less *language* than usual, but they kept the "offing a band member" thread/theme alive, working the "sacred mobile" into a bit about how one of the band members would be killed by a falling piece of glass. That would make them famous and increase sales, "like Nirvana". They'd be known as the band that had spookily predicted this unfortunate member's demise, but actually it was all planned; they were actually divided into two camps, and one was going to off one of the other side by pulling a chain to cause the glass to fall.

Another bit mocking their manager, who they claim is actually channeled by whichever lad is feeling particularly receptive whenever a managerial type is needed. I Love My Boss off-mic and offstage, with Jian prancing from pew to pew and the other three lounging against the side wall of the church, Mike at one point seated in a windowsill reading prayer book. Next Spidey, slinging webs across the back half of the audience, and then back onstage for BJ. By this time it was getting pretty hard to just sit politely in those pews. Homeward Bound next; Mike's guitar string broke, and Jian was breaking up as Mike TRIED to continue playing, but finally they finished with "the new, a cappella ending."

At this point they decided that the people in the balcony looked "cute" sitting up there, as if they were on a space shuttle or something, leading into an observation that we ought to send John Glenn up again in another thirty years, just to see how 110-year-olds fare in space. Jian then commended us for not applauding his "age-ist joke", and they segued into an improv wherein the balcony people where aliens who said "eeep!" The balconians obliged (except for a few who stubbornly said "arf" instead and who were instructed that no, they did *not* have free will.) A comparison was made that these "eeep" aliens were like the Swiss, neutral, not choosing a side like us folks down on the floor. The floor was then divided into wolves (stage Mur) and sheep (stage Dave) and they had us all howling, baaaing, eeeping and arfing for the better part of five minutes. Ultimately the wolves attacked the sheep with knives (!!!) and, as Murray observed, he always knew it would end in a bloodbath.

And so into You Will Go to the Moon -- *another* song I'd never heard live! Pisco Bandito followed -- I love that calypso danceability -- and on the spur of the moment Mike invented the Pisco screen-saver. Sad Girl, with Dave on the piano -- I like this song better each time I hear it. Then Boo Time (have a lot of fun in Wilmington -- Delawarian/Upper Merion) and Michy, and the best rendition of Message I've heard them do. The church acoustics *really* worked for all the a cappella stuff last night. King of Spain/long GE&H, with Mike playing a good chunk of O-bla-di O-bla-da and getting the audience to sing along.

Then a long improv about "moments" that involved negotiations between Murray, the neutral agent for Dave, and Jian, the neutral agent for Mike, because Dave and Mike don't speak to each other but Mur and Jian get along. Mike wanted Dave to move a foot or two to the left, and Dave wanted Mike to sing the Rainbow Connection, which somehow morphed into How Much is that Doggy in the Window in the Murray/Jian negotiations. (If you followed the logic of that improv, or even of that sentence, you're good.)

And so into Present Tense Tureen, Johnny Saucep'n, and Organ Grinder (!!!!!!!) At this point most of us were jiggling helplessly in the pews, having not danced all night (I never got my dance with chad!) so for the first encore they instructed us to stand for a ripping version of Authors and then Lou Reed and the Dancing Queen/Angel of Harlem medley.

For the second encore they again took advantage of the acoustics and, off mic, standing in front of the gorgeous pipe organ, they delivered a spine-tingling Gulf War Song. That was when we could tell how many Frugins were there, because they were all giggling at the funny parts while the rest of us sat in utter, stupefied silence. At the end it took a few seconds before we could even applaud.

After snagging setlists we sat around chatting, eating brownies and Trace's cookies, and waiting for the guys to come out so we could do photo ops. The King posed with all the Flyers, but Jian got all ethical on us :) , so we had to take of the jerseys to get pics with him. Trace had won the raffle of the Fruvous hockey jersey, so at least one of us was semiproperly attired.

We were talking about a pilgrimage to the LHP, but it was late, so it didn't happen. *sigh* another time.

Hi to Maige, Jess, June, Joni, and anyone else I didn't mention earlier ... I haven't forgotten you!

Jian's setlist:

Early Morning
Darlington
Medicine
Horse
Boss
Spidey
BJ
Homeward
Moon
Pisco
Sad Girl
Boo Time
Michy
Message
King/Green
Tureen
Saucep'n
Organ Grinder

Encore 1

Authors
Dancing Queen

Encore 2

Gulf War Song(not specified)

I probably got the improvs out of order. Oh well. I only slept in twenty- minute intervals before being jolted awake by recall of some snippet or other.

See you at Katonah!

From Alan Sigman:

Wow, what a great show in Wilmington!! If that's how the services are all the time at the Unitarian Church, sign me up!

Lori has already done a wonderful job telling all about it, so I'll just add a few things...

On Thu, 11/12/98, Srm9988n@aol.com (Lori) wrote:

>Trace showed up and admired my Flyers jersey while I admired hers; introduced >me to Jim (also Flyer-attired) and we started looking for Alan. Eventually >all four of us staked out the Mur-corner and sat chatting until John >Flynn came onstage.

Hey, fellow Flyers fans- thanks for saving me a seat up front! We can't all be there when the doors open.

> >After a short intermission, on came the Lads. And they were really >pumped. Jian caught sight of us and just shook his head

He really was annoyed by the jerseys, wasn't he? Though he did introduce Dave's accordian solo in Darlington Darling: "special guest on accordian tonight, former Flyers follicly-challenged defenseman Ed Van Impe!" It's true, in addition to Ed's lack of talent, he was also quite lacking in hair. This was back in the days when players didn't wear helmets. Anyway, I was amused, esp. since I had posted a while back how impressed I was that they had mentioned Ed Van Impe a few years back at the Phila Folk Festival.

> I Love My Boss off-mic and offstage, with Jian prancing from pew >to pew and the other three lounging against the side wall of the church, >Mike at one point seated in a windowsill reading prayer book.

Mike looked like he was trying to climb up onto the windowsill for his verse, but when it came time to sing, he hadn't quite made it all the way up yet, so he just lied across the windowsill and sang the first part, then sat up and improvised a line, something like: "people say that I am clinging, but really my shirt is stuck in the window". Then when Jian paused at the end: "I love my....", Mike picked up a prayer book during the pause and made like he was reading.

>At this point they decided that the people in the balcony looked "cute" >sitting up there, as if they were on a space shuttle or something, leading >into an observation that we ought to send John Glenn up again in another >thirty years, just to see how 110-year-olds fare in space.

They started by saying that they had heard that John Glenn was opening that night, only to discover it was really John Flynn. They carried the age joke even farther, suggesting that they should send John Glenn's remains into space after he died to see how his remains would fare in space.

>Sad Girl, with Dave on the piano -- I like this song better each time I hear >it. Then Boo Time (have a lot of fun in Wilmington -- Delawarian/Upper >Merion)

Dave did a little improv when he first sat down at the piano. He was trying to do What a Wonderful World, but sang "what a wonderful life" instead. Also, during the whole wolves-sheep improv, Dave played the theme from Peter & the Wolf on the piano. He also stayed at the piano for Boo Time, instead of using the mini-keyboard. Among the Boo Time rhymes were the first time I had ever heard "Unitarian" rhymed with "rastafarian". Probably the first time "rastafarian" was ever uttered in that building. Speaking of drug references, the guys said they were going to trek to the "lowest highest point" later that night and do LSD, then changed their minds and decided to do mushrooms, more organic. And speaking of "lowest highest point" references, Mike sang a little improv at the piano (maybe during Ob-la-di Ob-la-da? I don't think he sang any of the real lyrics, it was all improvised lyrics) about it being the lowest highest point of his life, the night he threw up in his best friend's kitchen sink.

> King of Spain/long GE&H, with Mike playing a good chunk >of O-bla-di O-bla-da and getting the audience to sing along.

It wasn't actually the "long" GE&H, just the usual post-KoS arrangement, but the "not the Beatles!" break was extra long. When Mike went to the piano and did Ob-la-di Ob-la-da, Dave took his mike over for him. Then when Jian tried to lead back into GE&H: "so you don't like green eggs and ham?", Dave realized he didn't have his Mike, so there was a pause as he went to the piano (which was on the floor in front of the stage, er, altar) to retrieve his mike. Other Dave lines: "now I vacuum the steps at skydome" and as he pointed in our direction: "now the Flyers call me up to drive the zamboni. Ladies and gentlemen, I introduce to you Bobby Clarke and His Dentists!"

> >Then a long improv about "moments" that involved negotiations between >Murray, the neutral agent for Dave, and Jian, the neutral agent for Mike, >because Dave and Mike don't speak to each other but Mur and Jian >get along. Mike wanted Dave to move a foot or two to the left, and Dave >wanted Mike to sing the Rainbow Connection, which somehow morphed >into How Much is that Doggy in the Window in the Murray/Jian >negotiations. (If you followed the logic of that improv, or even of that >sentence, you're good.)

Yes, hard to recap that bit, but it was hilarious! They all played their mock roles so convincingly and obviously had a good time with it.

Organ Grinder was a surprise for me, and made quite a good set closer.

CONGRATULATIONS to Trace for winning the Fruvous jersey!! If it couldn't have been me, I'm glad it was someone I knew (well, I only knew Trace for a couple of hours at that point, but still...) Of course Jian commented he was glad she won because now she would have to take off her Flyers jersey to try on the Fruvous jersey. And Trace, thanks for the wonderful cookies! And thanks to whoever made those deadly chocolate cheescake brownies. And it was nice meeting a few of you from the newsgroup, even chad the Caps fan.

One final thought on the Jian vs. The Flyers thing...as much as I love Fruvous, my love affair with that hockey team from Philadelphia goes back a lot farther. I've been going to games since I was 10 years old. So it annoyed me a bit to hear Jian dissing the Flyers, esp. being in the Greater Philadelphia Area. What gives this young Canadian smart aleck the right to come into our territory and put down our local beloved team? But upon reflecting on this, I've decided that while I'm not happy he dislikes my favorite team so much, I'm glad he expresses how he really feels about it, rather than acting like some plastic rock star who says the same lines in every city just to get cheap applause: "It's great to play in , our favorite city in America! And how 'bout those , we're all big fans!" I'll take honesty over that shtick.

And again, from Lori:

Next time Alan and i are at a concert together we really oughta team up on the review. He remembered whatever i forgot or temporarily misplaced :)

>first time I had ever heard "Unitarian" rhymed with "rastafarian". >Probably the first time "rastafarian" was ever uttered in that building. >Speaking of drug references, the guys said they were going to trek to >the "lowest highest point" later that night and do LSD, then changed their >minds and decided to do mushrooms, more organic.

Yes, both of these were hilarious! and I actually did remember them at something like 3 am, but by the time I wrote the original review...zzzz

>It wasn't actually the "long" GE&H, just the usual post-KoS arrangement, >but the "not the Beatles!" break was extra long. When Mike went to the >piano and did Ob-la-di Ob-la-da, Dave took his mike over for him. Then >when Jian tried to lead back into GE&H: "so you don't like green eggs >and ham?", Dave realized he didn't have his Mike, so there was a pause

Well, it was the longest GE& H *I've* ever heard

>Other Dave lines: "now I vacuum the steps at skydome" >and as he pointed in our direction: "now the Flyers call me up to drive >the zamboni. Ladies and gentlemen, I introduce to you Bobby Clarke and >His Dentists!"

giggle!

>and Dave >wanted Mike to sing the Rainbow Connection,

And how bizarre is it that the rainbow connection thread began on this very same night, among a bunch of people who weren't at the concert and didn't even read the review until this morning? Dooo dooo dooo doooo. Trust No One ....

>Of course Jian commented he was glad she won because now she would >have to take off her Flyers jersey to try on the Fruvous jersey.

Yes. He insisted she do this front and center stage/altar -- she was starting to take off the Flyers jersey anyway, fortunately. Wouldn't want a stripper on the altar, along with the rastafarian references and -- oh! I forgot about the obscene Violent Femmes line Mike quoted when they were talking about how they were billed in Baltimore as having bad language. That was a whopper for a church!

>And Trace, thanks for the wonderful cookies! And thanks to whoever >made those deadly chocolate cheescake brownies.

Umm, that'd be me. *blush* *takes a bow*. I think they're why Jian forgave me for my jersey. :)

>One final thought on the Jian vs. The Flyers thing...as much as I love >Fruvous, my love affair with that hockey team from Philadelphia goes >back a lot farther. I've been going to games since I was 10 years old. >So it annoyed me a bit to hear Jian dissing the Flyers, esp. being in >the Greater Philadelphia Area.

Well, yeah. I grew up worshiping those Cup-winning Bullies too. But...

We kinda started it. Yeah, he ragged on Trace and John Green in NoHo, but then we decided to escalate the situation. So he teased us back. I don't know whether his apparent enmity toward the Orange and Black is as a fan or on a more philosophical level (and there are things US teams, Flyers management, and even our demigod Bob(by) Clarke does, and attitudes they hold, that I have qualms about). I may ask him sometime -- but not when I'm wearing a jersey!

I don't think he was really ticked when he first saw us, or throughout the performance -- it seemed to me more like bemusement, "I can't believe they really did this, even though they talked about it, and they're sitting right up front, expecting me to react."

But again, I can't read his mind. I just know he was very decent and friendly last night, as usual, and if, when I'm getting a hug and a photo that *I* requested, I'm not allowed to wear something that offends him for whatever reason, so what? There are lots of bands that demand much more from their fans before they'll give them the time of day, much less a hug, conversation, autographs and photo ops.

Ok. I think that about sums it up.

Thanks to Shilfiell for these:
• Mike rubs the Buddha
• Mike, stop eating the instruments!
• Mike on piano
• Lou looks to the sky
• Dave's setlist

Some other tidbits from the performance include:

• Feel free to help contribute to this section!