Very short review:

Vika and I woke up at Ella's in the city around 10am, but didn't get out and start exploring NY until about noon. Spent the day sampling our favourite foods, including Barney Greengrass, Ray's Pizza, and sushi for dinner. Caught a flick during the day too, since we were only seeing the late show and had plenty of time to traipse around.

Stood in line and froze...again...but finally got into the club by 10:30 or possibly a little later. This night Dan Bern opened for Fruvous for both shows. Dan Bern's set was pretty good, started with a young man doing one of his songs and getting a LOT of laughs, and also joined by Fruvous to do some of the same jams from 1/1 (apparently, Fruvous didn't join Dan during the early show on 1/2). Fruvous came out after Dan and delivered yet another high-powered Canadian export set.

Dave's setlist from the early show reads:

Michi
Jockey (crossed out)
Horse
Stuck
Kids
Tureen-Sauce
Downsize
Too Careful
Pisco
Moon
Author (in parens and crossed out)
Darling
Psycho

Dave's setlist from the late show reads:

Half
Saha (crossed out)
Jock
MPG
Boss
Ass
Sad
Sleepy
Booty
Rush
Hold
King Gree
BJ
Potion

After the show, we said our goodbyes and left NYC around 3am. Driving in extremely slippery conditions, we finally made it out of Manhattan and headed back to Boston, making it home by 7:30 in the morning on Sunday.

Whew! What a weekend. Sorry about being so non-verbose, but 1999 has started, and there's a lot of FDC to catch up on! :-)

From Lori (and Trace, Chrissy, Jennifer):

Okay folks I already sent this once, but as our beloved gateway was in the throes of narcolepsy many of you ('cluding me!) never got it. So here we go all over again: (would that be dejanews all over again

This review was jointly composed by Lori, Chrissy K, Jennifer (ladywench) and Trace. They are equally to blame for all the events herein described, so direct epithets to all of them equally. (And reserve a few for Mosh (Kevin Way) too, what the hell ... :) )

Nothing quite like reviewing shows a week later, when all the details have jumbled together. (OTOH perhaps that means that only the truly standout ones stand out. :D)

Saturday morning came way too early to the quartet on the 18th floor at the Marriott Courtyard. Some of us (read: the flamingo/murrmaid) woke up at a truly obscene hour, no doubt because our overworked drumming hands were throbbing from the previous night's table-whacking. (Serves us right, we mumbled to ourselves, stumbling into the bathroom, regarding Trace's coffee pot with awe, but deciding to settle for cocoa with marshmallows before hoping into the shower.)

The aches temporarily soothed away, Lori tumbled back into bed next to Chrissy and passed out until about eleven, when she awoke to find the other 3 roomies up and in the process of grooming. They were quite impressed with her early-morning activities, and she with their ability to sleep through them.

More or less awake, we called Mosh at the Holiday Inn, then settled back with coffee and cookies for breakfast. (Whoever said Fruheads weren't healthy diners???!) Mosh presently arrived in our room, and we set out to find a foodery we all thought we could handle not to mention a drugstore that had one-hour film- developing capability. Successful in the second objective if not the first, we delighted ourselves at the "Something Else" with cappuccino milkshakes and copious quantities of food. A good thing, too, as it was the only meal some of us would have for the next 30 hours.

Trace and Jen apparently hadn't wounded their hands as much as Lori had the previous night, because they had jolly good fun beating up the luncheonette table and using the salt and pepper shakers in lieu of shaky eggs. The staff of this eatery, who seemed to be of Middle-Eastern heritage, were highly amused by their musical exploits, grinning and making pleasant quips in passing. While this made our industrious drummers timid for a moment, in the end it only encouraged them in "playing" whatever implements were left on the table after the meal; and considering that it took 20 minutes to get our check after we were *obviously* done eating, apparently the restaurant operators enjoyed the "floor show".

Presently we decided we really ought to stop disturbing all the nice people around us, so we wandered to FAO Schwartz and had a good ol' time. After being briefly enthralled by the possibilities presented by the vinyl, foldable, spectacularly portable and not all that expensive walk-on piano near the front door, Chrissy and Trace went off in mad pursuit of all things Star Wars, while Jen, Mosh and Lori joined forces in the music section, determining after great amounts of research that although the instruments were fun as toys, they didn't sound all that great.

As the store was growing ever more crowded, we developed a sophisticated tracking method for finding our companions, which had nothing at all to do with patchouli or Polo. Instead, the searcher yelled "Moxy!" and the searchee, if in hearing range, replied "Fruvous!" Yes, people looked oddly at us. But we're used to that. And it worked, the whole rest of the weekend -- except, notably, at the Bottom Line. :D

Mosh and Lori went off to the land of pink things, trying to find a suitable party-girl Barbie to offer to our heroes. No luck, though Mosh *did* find a pointy-haired-boss doll (action figure). Ultimately, we decided the piano would do just fine, and if Fordy felt like stomping it, well hell that's what you're *supposed* to do with it.

Combining our resources, we purchased the piano and batteries, made our way outside, and set off for the BL in two separate taxis. Jen and Trace got a really cool cabbie who was trying to learn to play concert flute, and they babbled musc and Moxy at him for the whole ride. Jen didn't even notice when they arrived at the BL. There were no mad line-crashers on this day; we were the first ones there, and promptly set about putting batteries in our little toy. Jen had no sooner lain the thing out on the ground and torn into the battery pack than ... who should come around the corner but ... our favorite Persian-Canadian and his bass-playing buddy.

AAACK! Jen and Chrissy almost died right then and there, but the Fru pair merely ducked into the front entrance of the BL, and soon we were merrily dancing atop the piano, playing with a boomerang-type foam thingy Mosh had bought, and drawing attention from amused passerby. In a few minutes Jian, his hair soaking wet and wearing *no* coat in 20F temps, popped out of the club to say hi and check out what we were doing, thereby earning silent motherly admonishment from some of the motherly types among us. (Lori notes that OTOH she -- the only actual mother in the bunch -- just assumed he's a big boy, and a sturdy Canuck to boot, and he knows what to do in the cold :D )

Ji assured us Murray had not even seen the thing, said in fact that he would have known nothing either except for the giggles, and promised not to tell anyone about it, then went back inside. Amanda and Mike Greenburg joined us on line, and Chrissy and Mosh experimented more with the piano while Jen and Trace played Jen's baby dumbek. As it grew dark and cold we folded the piano up, but not before having a singalong with a homeless man who happened by. As the line grew and the door- opening hour neared we switched to a chorus practice, and were noisily into a round of YWGTTM when someone came out to start letting us in. Those of us who saw this person coming trailed off, leaving Jen merrily singing alone to this guy, who stared at her strangely until she too meekly tapered into silence. (<---Hey! says Jen, I was still singing backup at that point, though not well I'll admit :) )

Inside we split up, as Jen had been informing us ALL DAY that she desperately wanted sit stage Dave so to see Mike and Dave's hands on the piano. She, Chrissy and mosch secured seats belly to the stage, while Trace and Lori, smack-dab in front of Jian's drum kit, with Andrea, Paul, Mike Greenburg, the other blond Kevin and Sarah, spent much of the pre-show time wondering how the piano was ever going to get to the Lads, as it had been entrusted to Their Royall Shynesses. Trace talked to Cal to confirm that it was okay to toss it up onstage, then went to tell Jen and Chrissy of these plans. Meanwhile, Lori chatted with Tobey, after first knocking herself sillier by tripping over an unlighted step and cracking her head on a table. (Which scared the HELL out of BL personnel, who for the rest of the night left the room lit except when the artists were actually performing. See, she's the flamingo in the coal mine for Fruheads, keeping y'all safe. :) ) Lori just wishes she didn't have to nearly tear off her ear in order to perform this service. :( She's a lefty, has a hard time with basic coordination, what can she say.....

Dan Bern's first set was fun, although Trace grumbled about not once hearing Missing Link all weekend -- as it seems to be what he's infamous for, she was a little disappointed. She did, however, get to be his offstage foil by missing the final chorus of his singalong song "Hey God", thereby forcing him to begin playing the entire song over.

Then our heroes took the stage, although Lori can't remember much of their set -- apparently still recovering from her close encounter with the table. Talk about Fruhead trauma! Murray was wearing his Flyers shirt again , and the seats right in front of the drumkit provided a great view of the 3 non-drumming Frus, although we had to peer between cymbals to catch Jian.

Here's the first show setlist, Jian's, with Lori's and Trace's comments:

 Michy
 Horseshoes
 Stuck in the '90s -- with George Pataki reference 
 Kids -- no quiz again.  No one yelling pro-separation either. 
 Tureen -- I *love* just singing along with the doo doo doos here 
 Saucep'n
 Downsizing -- this is REALLY powerful
 Careful -- entirely too catchy.  
 Pisco -- yes we did the little dance :D
 Moon --  with the 'G' played on the out of tune piano since Murray had
"washed" the pitch pipe
 Darlington -- completely rocked
 Psycho Killer

 encore:  Drinking Song, which Lori has decided isn't great for HER 
             mood either, at least live.  Maybe it would've been better if we 
             had stood, swayed, held hands, instead of being separated by
             those tables.  Communality can make a big difference.

They crossed out Jockey and KOS for the first set, and SAHARA for the second (oooooooooooooh!! SO not fair!)

At some point Jen unfurled the piano onstage, and Mike decided it must have been intended for Dave, as it was presented Stage Dave. (Actually we'd been hoping they could all have fun with it, but that was where there was sufficient clear space.) So Dave, appearing a bit scared by the strange hybrid of piano and hopscotch court, started playing, at first inaudibly until Jian and Zard pointed out that he could put the mic next to it ... and then, with no practice, he played Fur Elise perfectly. On the first try. No mean feat, when he had to hopscotch over several keys. We were rather astonished, given the awful music that had been made on the sidewalk. Yes, our Dave-O really CAN play ANYTHING.

They also decided that Paradigm Shift wasn't as cool a name as they'd first thought. Not when there were *great* bands with names like Boston ... and America ... and Asia. They wanted something with a global-domination theme, something cool and impressive. Lori was about to shout out "Pangaea" when they decided that "Moxy Fruvous" was actually a colloquial Eskimo expression that meant "Arctic", and with that they launched into a riotous '70s-'80s medley of Duran Duran, Midnight Oil, and a few other *truly* glam acts. :D

Between sets we rearranged our seating so that we were all together next to stage Murr/Ji, along with Jacey7. Then we mingled. and mingled. and mingled. Lori's "project" for the night was to entice the Frus into signing Steve's birthday card. (Hey, 3 out of 4 makes a memorable card!) While doing so, she got a lesson in forebearance from the Murrman, whom she observed dealing extremely patiently with a drunk and very cranky person. This person, apparently a non-fan, seemed to chastise Murr and the rest of the Frus for not playing Stradivarii, while deploringing the throngs of "groupies"surrounding Jian, even as she sought Murr's signature. Sheez! The good humor the Frus show in the face of such nonsense never ceases to amaze. :)

Meanwhile, back at the table, waiting for newcomers to trickle into the club for the 10:30 sets, Trace asked Jen to pull the dumbek from her backpack, intending to hold it under the table and discreetly play. But no, *that* would've been too easy and inconspicuous. Instead Jen plopped it on the table, and shortly the two of them were drumming away in the middle of the club. (How they managed to get all four of their hands on that itty bitty dum Chrissy and Lori can't figure, but they did, and the sight certainly amused *certain* onlookers, much to Jen's consternation. :)

Dan Bern's second set opened with a bang when an audience member walked out in lieu of Dan, picked up his guitar, and sang Tiger Woods. As this audience member was perhaps fourteen years old, we were in absolute hysterics. The kid did a really wonderful job. And Lori HAS to wonder what his parents thought :) After this performance, Dan walked out and announced he was going to let the kid tour for him, he'd just check in occasionally to make sure things were going okay.

The second FruSet. Ummmmm. Lori, having suffered acute Fruhead trauma early in the evening, recalls very little, although the sets in general struck her as very similar to the previous night's. Chrissy swears Jian's setlist is a dummy, that they weren't following it at all; but here it is, because Jen and Trace, due to more garden-variety Fruhead trauma, can't really say one way or the other. Maybe someone else recalls??

Sahara  -- as noted, THIS was cut.  guess they figured there'd already been
                a dumbek played that night.
M.P.G. -- Lori, the designated typist, doesn't have a clue what this is.
Boss  
Ass   -- don't recall them doing this that night.  but when they did it 1/1,
Mike 
            broke us up with a growl of "Stanutz!!" after "jugs of milk left
in the 
            fridge/with only drops remaining" 
Sad
Sleep 
Booty(me)
Rush  -- they tossed in Pat Buchanan instead of Ollie North
Hold
King
Green
BJ
Potion
and a big circle around J  
(which was Jerusalem with Dan Bern), their joint encore.  Dave took the 
congas for this, as the piano was utterly unresponsive, and appeared to 
be having an absolute gas jamming with Dan.

The troublesome quartet wishes to note that the second set was filled with alarming, seemingly psychic references on the part of the Fru Four, which caused Chrissy, Trace and Jen to debate if Lori was actually a spy for the band. (Heh, like I'd tell if I were :D) Or had the guys bugged our hotel room and table? Hmmmmm. Cause for alarm, whatever the reason, as comments re: shaky eggs and other *issues*, many of them, umm, shall we say *not* intended for public scrutiny , were being repeated verbatim by band members.

After the show we mingled awhile longer, dreading the thought of going outside in an ice storm. But club management was understandably eager to see us leave (it was about 2:30 a.m,) and was even insisting the Frus behave themselves. (Sitting on tables is simply NOT a good example. :D) While debating how to get 45 blocks uptown, Jen bribed the rest of us to let her take the Big Piano home with her by promising to take it to EVERY outdoor Fruconcert she attends in future. (Note to the Lads: this toy WAS intended for you to play with, so it goes without saying that if you want it, it's yours!)

Eventually we left the club, dismayed to find that the few cabs running were not picking up passengers. Finally, after lengthy attempts to find a cab Gordon (Elgart? a TRUE gentleman, whatever his last name :) ) graciously offered to escort us back to our hotel via subway.

We sat up talking with him until about 5 am, then crashed for a few hours. Around 9 Jen and Lori hit the breakfast buffet while Chrissy and Trace slept in, and then we checked out into absolute dreary gloppy icky rain. This of course did NOT stop us from doing a whirlwind tour of Rockefeller Center, admiring the multitude of, um, large orbs bedecking the Christmas trees and wreaths, or from buying most of the Met store's supply of shaky eggs, as well as oohing their turtle-shaped tureen (the loveliest pot Lori's ever seen; and a suitable shower gift for Chrissy, who says she's never having a shower but who admired it greatly :D) Lori, however, was quite disappointed to find, amid the myriad tigers, hippopotami, t-rexes, lions, cats and bears, not a single solitary rhinoceros. :(

And so our glorious Frutrip came to an end, as we proceeded to Penn Station, thence to Metropark, then on a highspeed melodic trooper-infested caper down I-95 to the Philadelphia airport, where Chrissy caught a treacherous flight back to snowbound Buffalo. It was fun. It was good. It was cold, and sleep- deprived, and quite insane. And we should do it often.

FruCon Ho!!!

• Dave's setlist from the early show
• Dave's setlist from the late show
  Thanks to ChrissyK for this one:
• Jian's setlist from the late show

Some other tidbits from the performance include:

• Feel free to help contribute to this section!