There are those people on this newsgroup who type wonderful, complete, clear, entertaining reviews to various shows they attend. Alas, I am not one of them. What follows is an account of my day, with the things that stick out in my mind included. It will ramble, it will most likely not be grammtically correct in any way, but bear with me ;-)

First off, I have to say that this has been close to the perfect weekend. Obviously a perfect weekend includes it being your birthday! And what luck-- having Fruvous in my home state on my birthday weekend. ;-) Them having only spent a toal of "three hours" in Hoboken, and not much more in the state of NJ ("since its near that other state,a dn that *other* state") the timing of it was almost kismet ;-)

Friday (the actual birthday-- this is a little backgroung on this blissful weekend. Indulge me-- I'll consider it your gift ;-) I went and saw the Mummy (good, cheesy fun. I actually had to do the completely lame and totally pointless "watch the movie through your fingers" thing at several parts; always a good sign ;-) Afterwards, went and had some drinks with some friends. But saturday was the real celebration!

I started it off by meeting up with friends in the city and seeing "Not About Nightengales."

All I can say there is wow. Go see this play if you live anywhere near NYC. Its an old Tennessee Williams

play that was never before produced, and is now playing at the Circle in the Square, which is this *very* cool theater where the seats are in a "u" surrounding the stage, which is just the floor, and there are no more than 10 rows at any given stage position. The performaces are just phenominal, and the story is very intense, and very well told. I do as much theater as I can, and I have to say this is without a doubt the best show I've seen in a long time.

I think after this intense, moving, emotional theatrical experience, I was that much more ready for the fun of Fruvous! We arrived around 7:20, and was quite surprised to see just how "intimate" the show would be! The room, it turns out, holds only 225 people. So really, we figured, there wasn't a bad spot to be had, staked out a little piece of space about half way back, and listened to the opening act, who was an odd combination of the cheerleaders you knew in high school, the girl who plays Beth on newsradio, and the winner of some local hyena-calling contest. But not in a bad way;-)

Of course, by this time we have come to realize that there actually *are* bad spots to be had, as the crowd begins its inevitable shift and the tall people magiclly migrate in front of us. We reposition a few times, and wait for the boys to come to the stage.

And realize that when I say "come to the stage," I mean makeing their way from the entrance, through the crowd up to the front, and then climbing up. Magically, at this point the gods of people taller them me performed a Moses-like parting of the crowd, and I had a perfect view- all four lads, without having to crane around a head!! "Twas bliss ;-)

I really am just too tired at too much at a loss for words to express to you how great I found this show. Suffice to say that its almost enough to convert me from the local frufan that I currently am to a bona fide "frutripper." Only time will tell ;-) Despite the small size, the energy in the place was amazing. The crowd, on the whole, was great-- dancing and clapping and singing and laughing, and from what I could see, very little chatting. Anyway, on to the performance. Like I said, not a set list, not in any order, just cool things as they occur to me:

--Since there was no "off stage" or "back stage" area, Dave had to pass his guitar, crowd-surfing style, over the audience to get it to Tobey. Jian mentioned that this was a traditional Persian custom, whereby the guitar would be "touched by the masses" (also the name of an upcoming album ;-) and later played. Guitars thus came and/or went a total of three times.

--The theme of the evening was "VH1- Behind the Music." Detatiling the down ward spiral of the band, into broken marriages and drug abuse. Dave, as the special would report, had taken to carrying around little ziplock bags of what appeared to be sugar. He had an insatiable sweet tooth, and the band had to step in with an "equal" intervention.

--I apparently was not the only birthday person in the crowd. Alas, mine was a private celebration while lynne's (I am unsure if this is a "poster"-- forgive my ignorance, but I tend to know all of you by your sig files ;-) was acknowledged and discussed by the band. It was proposed that each of us should buy her a drink,. but if you were there as a family, you could all chip in and get a supersized drink-- perhaps a slurpie with some alcohol added in ;-)

--Our "BREAST SIZE" disccussion made it into the intro to what I belive was "splatter splatter" (feel free to correct). Dave mentioned that Aliens had been on HBO the night before, and that he was highly disturbed by it. Murray suggested that he simply needed to build up his tolerance. Dave asked if this involved him having to rent "I Still Know What You Did Last Summer." To which Jian interjected "I Still KNow What Your Breast Size Was Last Summer." Without a doubt my favorite line of the evening ;-)

--Oh-- so you want to hear about the music too?? ;-) Because, with the exception of Pisco, IWHO, and Mistra KNow It All, I was largely unfamiliar with the new songs, I was psyched by how many they played. Both Pisco and IWHO were included. The entire crowd was loving Pisco. I *adored* splatter splatter, which I believe I may have head once before, but didn't quite catch the lyrics on.

I had never heard River Valley live before, and honestly it had never been one of my favorite songs from Bargainville. But seeing the performance tonight gave me a completely different energy off of it, and now I know this wil be the new "song for Jen to obsess on" for awhile ;-) This went right into Get in the Car, which I thought was a really great pairing. They really complemented each other well, and kept the energy high. There is much much much more to be said on this front, but I see I am not even remotely doing it justice, so I will leave that to others.

--The thing about this place, as I mentioned, was that in order for the band to get to the stage they had to walk through the crowd. SO about halfway through the show I begin to wonder how they are going to work the encore. So after Psycho Killer (right??-- its a blur) the band kinda scurries over past stage Dave and just sort of hides in the corner ;-) We couldn't see them from where we were standing, but after the applause went on for a few, they popped back up and resumed their positions. Jian commented that it was about preserving the tradition of the encore, even if the band never actually left the stage ;-)

I could go on (and on and on ;-). But the bottom line is I had an amazing time. Its funny how even though I read this ng regularly, and listen to the CDs and tapes, I still forget just how truly wonderful they are live. And I think that's a good thing, because I'm always blown away.

One day, however, I swear I will stick around to see what actually happens "post show" at a fruvous show. I tend to just get my card stamped and leave, but I hope to someday investigate this after-glowish fru-community I read so much about ;-)

OK, It's been a long, wonderful day, and the only way to end such a day is by getting obnoxiously delicious quantities of sleep. I am off the acheive this now.

From Katie:

well, here i go with the review.

i'd like to begin by saying that i did purchase a ticket for the hoboken show--i just didn't have it when i got to the venue.

anyway, we got to maxwell's pretty durned early and ended up inside for some food and drink upon the assurance of the manager that we'd be allowed to line up to get into the staging area before people who didn't eat. that was really nice. i was flipping out about not having a ticket (it had sold out), and lori from baltimore helped me devise a bit of a scheme to get in and offered me a glass of wine to calm my nerves (i politely declined, seeing as how getting kicked out of the venue for drinking underage would hardly facilitate my seeing the show).

at any rate, we hung around outside the stage doors and listened to the sound check. tobey and i chatted for a moment about cookies and such and then the guys walked by to head off for some food. that was when i began to question the size of the place. no back door? hmm.

they finally started letting people in, and lori gave her name for will-call. it turned out they didn't have the ticketmaster list and shoved us aside 'til they found it, letting other people in ahead of us. that sucked. eventually, they just started taking a list of names. so, in a momentary fit of deceitfulness, i gave my name as a will-call and dashed into the venue. hey, i *did* pay for the show :).

the room was small. very small. i think the guys gave an audience number like 225. the opening act came through the audience and climbed up on stage. hmm.

at any rate, she was okay. amusing, to say the least.

the guys came on relatively on-time. only 10 minutes late, i think. they came in through the audience and climbed up on stage, murray in dark jeans and a red button-down shirt (oddly similar to my outfit), jian in jeans and a t-shirt none of us had seen before and the kick-ass yellow-lensed geek glasses. mike sported his essex county sheriff's department shirt and dave was stunning in the seersucker jacket from utica. setlist (not sure whose):

Half As Much
Horseshoes
You Can't Be Too Careful
If Only You Knew
You Will Go To The Moon
When She Talks
Pisco Bandito
Splatter Splatter
Michigan Militia
Johnny Saucep'n
Independence Day
Sad Girl
River Valley
Get In The Car
Psycho Killer

Encores:
King of Spain
I Will Hold On
My Poor Generation

as promised, the set was very much new-stuff-heavy. jack ross was there (i had noticed him entering with mike before the show) and i'd imagine there were assorted label people there, though i didn't recognize anyone i'd seen before.

some notable banter (in no particular order):

jian mentioned that the bar they had gone to previous to the show had been essentially empty and lacked a men's bathroom. though with a "certain toss of the hair" jian could have passed for a woman, he decided to forgo attempts at disguising himself and just went in. after sitting down ("so far so good," said dave) he started reading the graffiti on the walls which he deemed similar in content to that in the men's restroom, but much more nicely scripted. he noted that though he knows that men and women are equal and all, he doesn't get why men can't write. murray suggested that perhaps it was due to the fact that men write with jackknives. jian termed male handwriting "neandrathal" and mike commented that though the writing is atrocious, the drawings of bulls and hunters are great. then they played a song :).

before "splatter, splatter" dave mentioned that _alien_ had been on HBO the night before and that he hated scary movies. he had run out of _papillon_ in 1978 (?). murray suggested that he simply needed to build up his tolerance. "would that require watching 'i know what you did last summer'?" asked dave. "'i know what your breast size was last summer'" retorted jian. see what we've done? *sigh*

at one point early in the set, jian mentioned that they would be playing a great deal of new stuff, so "for those of you who came for the old tunes, fuck you!" a bunch of us covered the ears of toolman's daughter. jian said, "oh, it's nothing she can't hear on 'south park.'" he then apologized for "the phrasing, not the sentiment." i thought it was adorable the way he kept smiling at her through the drum kit all night :).

jian mentioned lynne's birthday, and then suggested that everyone buy her a drink. two people could get together and buy her a double, or a family could purchase a super-size. murray suggested just getting a slurpee and dumping some alcohol in. the suggestion was met with a high pitched shriek, and murray admitted that the idea intrigued even him (strange for a guy who later admitted that his true poison was bourbon sours).

early in the set, dave handed off a guitar to be tuned, and it got passed through the crowd. jian said that the passing of the guitar was an ancient persian ritual. at every major event in persia, a guitaar would be passed above the heads of the muslim people. murray noted that it was important to the show that the guitars be imbued with the energy of the audience and that the bass and then the drum kit would follow. "a whiff of allah and a touch of the masses," jian said. mike revealed that "a whiff of allah" and "a touch of the masses" were the titles of the next two albums. jian put on his best burnt-out british rock star voice (ala "that's any good") and said "after 'a touch of the masses' was when dave really started spiralling downward with the drug problem," then grabbed the mic and in an overly dramatic monotone shouted "VH1 behind the music. we'll be back with drug problems, disappointment, and failed marriages." this became a runnin theme throughout the evening, with all of the guys playing old briish rock star and discussing drugs, disappointment, and failed marriages.

jian mentioned at one point that he felt like he was at a basement party. dave noted that the chips and pretzels were in the other room and that janine and someone else were having their first lesbian experience upstairs.

before "when she talks," mike mentioned that the song may or may not be on the next album, which led to lots of comments on mike's cryptic nature.

before "river valley" the guys broke out in a mixed-up version of "kill the planet." very nice :).

at the end of the show, jian told us that we should vacate the room, but be sure to hang around the bar area to buy things for the band later. we did so, talking to murray and dave and getting ourselves something to eat. we marvelled as jian table-hopped and chatted up a storm. he must have had some friends there that night :). after saying goodbye to tobey and finally meeting cal (who complimented me on the "fine cookie" he'd had), we chowed down then split to drive debb to the train station and head home. after a stop at molly pitcher for cinnabons, we motored down toward the philadelphia are to warm beds and lovely frümemories.

From SkyStar:

WARNING. THIS IS THE LONGEST EMAIL I HAVE EVER WRITTEN. EVER. PROCEED W/ CAUTION AND A *DEEP* CURIOSITY FOR EVERY STINKIN LAST DETAIL ABOUT THE HOBOKEN EXPERIENCE...I CANT HELP IT...IT WAS *JUST THAT SWELL*

Alright y'all. As some of you may know, I spent the last 32 days literally keeping an hourly countdown till my impending defruginization in Hoboken. OK. So yeah, the 8th finally comes and I have this whole story of how I'm going BOWLING with my friends(yeah...) and then I go and hop on the PATH from 33rd and get my little 16 year old fruchil', BY MY SELF, to New Jersey(and as for Katie, I dont harbor the requisite New Yorker's disdain towards your state anymore...Hoboken is really cute:)...

So i get there and it's pouring rain and I'm all soaked and disheveled from the hella-long-ass walk from the station and I finally find Maxwell's and walk inside to find Lori. I know she has longish blond hair and when I see Kate sitting inside, i get all excited.....so I walk on up to her and she's like "sorry honey, I dont know you" ouch...DE-NIED, right? well that's not the worst part. As i get up to where Katie's sitting, I look @ the table behind her and who do i see? YES, the whole freakin band. I have dreams when im really bored in bio, of walking into a club or restaurant or CVS and seeing them and there they are RIGHT FREAKIN THERE. so i had my 16 year old shit fit, made like michael johnson and ran right back out the door to go have my panic attack. DOH!

RIGHTY-O:) so I finally find lori and val and introduce myself to kate and we get on the que for the show. When the doors open and Kate *does* get inside, despite the fact that she has no tangible ticket[ :) ], we all hightail it to the front of this tiny tiny room and I actually get to stand in the front row far stage murr and NO ONE EVER PUSHED ME FOWARD(!) despite encouragment from Jian early on in the set for the last 3 rows of sold out room to crush foward..:) before i begin with my actual music review(and it IS all about the music), lori wants to add that these people were also there: Jen, Psycho Mike..fully dressed(!), Kim & Kris, Emily & Daughter, Tim Toolman & Family, Kevin, Katie, Lori, Val, Mike Greenberg, Jason Reiser & Bastet, Andrea & Paul, Mary Krause(*please keep in mind that i, personally, only know like, 5 of them, so if you werent there, and i say you were, my bad*)

ANYWAY>>The show starts with Debby Schwartz, who im sorry to say and hope not offend anyone but, didnt like very much...so ill let someone else touch that one...

Then i see Tobey and although he has no idea who in bloody hell i am, i give him Joni's letter and ask him to please somehow know that she misses and loves them...At this point I notice that my cheap-ass disposable Kodak Max camera has a flash and say to lori, ok see how the light is not on? i guess it wont flash then. I take a practice shot. No flash...oh the irony

THE SHOW BEGINS

*Jian wore the sweet yellow glasses again for first couple songs*...very bowie, slightly bono...

*Half As Much...this being my Very First Show, i didnt know this one..but hell, they're all good [side note, is that david duchovony voicing over that sprint commercial in the pool??]

*Horseshoes(lor's favorite)...i got psyched for a song i actually knew...and it blew me away...as lori pointed out later, i actually almost cried i was so happy...it was very surreal..them there, less than 2 feet infront of me...murray's shoes, dave's seersucker jacket...it was too crazy...and i couldnt pretend to play the drums b/c jian was actually playing them...AH!:) I was in shock for a bit..im sure the expression on my face when they all came out said enough...awe...worshipful awe

CHATTER<>

   *Too Careful
   *If Only You Knew
   *YWGTTM.....holy shit fuck wow. sorry it was too cool. just Too Damn 
Cool...again i almost fell down..yeah, im a dork, but it was just So 
Goodlater... 
   *intro to when she talks*
            Mike:  "this next song might or might not be on our next album."
            Jian and others look baffled.  Dave:  "Sounds kind of like an 
agatha christie mystery"
            Jian:  You look like an agatha christie story.
            Murray:  Yes.  Tell me, Dave, is that suit (the seersucker 
jacket) what they issue when you leave prison?
            Dave:   and that's a nice shirt Murray.  How was the 
gulag?

*When She Talks...i dont understand why y'all dont like this one...i thought it was beautiful

*Pisco Bandito...gosh! oh gosh! wow! i had never heard it before. it's so cool!

*Splatter Splatter -- Intro: So Dave said he was traumatized by seeing Aliens last night on HBO(which brought up some questions for me , b/c wasnt he in RI last night and if so, then how did he manage to watch that b/c i thought it was on @ like, 9ish...but whatever)AND FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO FEEL THAT YOUR BRA SIZE/LEG HAIR BONDING SESH'S WENT UNNOTICED BY THEM...:)..UH-HUH...

they were talking about movies and mentioned I Know What You Did Last Summer...so then Ji said to Dave -- "yeah, I know what your breast size was last summer."...just a pense.. anyway, SS is now one of my new fave songs

MORE CHATTER< VH1 Behind the Music running theme -- dave carrying bags of what looked like sugar, turned out he was a sugar addict -- they had to do an Equal intervention; Murray had a crack problem, all their failed marriages..yadayadayada...it was all way to funny for me to try my hand at a paltry attempt @ reliving it...ji kept up w/ a *Behind the Music* voice over...with these *brilliant* british accents...it was swell:) i laughed.

  *michy militia, one of my faves so i like wanted to jump up and down and 
make like TMBG but this was a pretty calm crowd so i felt stupid being the 
only one jumping besides murray...
 I'M THINKING THAT IT WAS RIGHT AROUND HERE, AS JIAN WAS GETTING HIS 
PIPEY-THING THAT I CAME UP W/ THE BLOODY BRILLIANT IDEA OF TAKING A 
PICTURE...OY FUCKING VEY. THE LIGHT *WAS NOT ON*, MAIS BIEN SUR, THE STUPID 
FLASH WENT OFF AND LIKE, IM NOT SURE IVE EVER FELT AS DUMB AS I DID RIGHT 
THEN. JIAN STOPPED AND STARED AND I FELL INTO LORI'S SHOULDER, BEET RED. I 
ACTUALLY HAD THAT THOUGHT WHERE YOU WANT TO FALL INTO THAT HOLE AND END UP 
SOMEWHERE IN THE SOUTH CHINA SEA....BUT NOOOOO. I JUST KINDA SLUNK INTO THE 
CORNER BEHIND THE SPEAKER AND SHUDDERED FOR A WHILE. IM SO SO SORRY. IM NEVER 
EVER BRINGING A CAMERA TO A SHOW AGAIN. THE SAD THING IS THAT IM ACTUALLY A 
PRETTY DECENT PHOTOGRAPHER. I JUST DIDNT BRING MY REAL CAMERA...oh well...i 
felt like a shit, the only damper on my evening... anyway..on with the show
  *Johnny..and i knew all the words...i knew that if i learned them all, 
*some* good would come out of it somewhere, someday..too bad i was hiding in 
the shadows
  *ID4..it was amazing.(pauses to think of another word but decides to save 
it for the review of IWHO)
  *Sad Girl
  CHATTER "Now we';re going to play an environmental song which Mike wrote 
but                                            Dave Sings: "Trash the planet 
(improv)  "cut down the trees, use more aerosol, urinate all over, don't put 
out that campfire fan it/ trash the planet"/ ...You can make a difference" 
segue into 
  *River Valley!!!!!..sigh, y'all know how i feel...
  *GITC...yay! my drivers ed theme song
  *Psycho Killer! w/ funnyass Ji intro where he gets all pseudo-pensive like 
he's waiting to become one with the rhythm...then this person yells 
"Bargainville!"  and  Mike snaps back with "yes!.... we will now play ALL of 
the album Bargainville.)..and mad props to my french teacher Mme. Lehv, b/c 
w/o her stupid vocab drills i would never have been able to sing along to the 
song..criminey! homework having a PURPOSE?? 

the show ends but since there is no way to get off stage, they kinda just crouch off to the side of the procenium, then rush back on stage and jian apologizes for the lack of an actual encore-type return, but that it's about holding up the institution of the encore, and here @ Moxy Fruvous, they're All about holding up the institution:)... so onward with the encore: ***********

1*King ...ladies and gentlemen i introduce to you the former chinese embassy....it's laissez faire, im *not* wearing underwear...

2*IWill Hold On.. Mon. Dieu. c'est tout.

3*My Poor Generation (Val's favorite)...i liked it but it was kinda a downer to end the show w. a song i didnt really know..but who the hell am i kidding..i was reeling from shock...to be completely sad and truthful, it was probably one of the most wonderful nights of my life...including *and* topping my first phish show and my production of a midsummer night's dream.

**Post Show PartyTime**

well as you can imagine, i was shall, we say, a bit giddy with the shock of it all...

but i was with lori, val and kate so at least i was not alone in my state of post-defruginization shock.

I wont go on @ great lengths now, but here are the highpoints:

1*getting my frumiles card and my very own I <3 Canadian Boys shirt which i am wearing right now and am pleased to say is not as small as i was afraid it would be. my belly button remains covered thankyouverymuch(i hate those shirts w/ the hem @ the bra line).

2*giving murray my fru-offering, one of my favorite books, A Movable Feast. I was a bit disapointed that he'd already read it several times, but he promised to give it to jian, which made me really, really happy. i talked to murray;) hey mitchell! hey tanaina! hey mcvean!(and really justin, his hands working the bass were like, beyond amazing)

3*(for Val, my potential frumommy), standing by the door, trying desperately to not be noticed by dave (him being the first fru-lad that i ever like, knew) and all of a sudden, i hear this big "hey deb!"...it was fucking dave! sorry i was a bit in shock. but then i obviously realized that VALERIE asked him to do that. it scared me, but then it was nifty. i talked to dave;)..and yes Val, in retrospect, it *was* one of my favorite moments of the night, so thank you.

4* I left soon after we finished eating and I had about 35 min to get to GrandCentral from Hoboken...I MISSED MY BLOODY 12:30 TRAIN BY *2* FREAKIN MINUTES!

so i had to take the 1:30 home to Scarsdale and i fell asleep in the station and then on the train and didnt get home untill 2:30...the plus side is that my parents were asleep so they didnt ask any prying questions like, why the hell does bowling take you 12 hours...:)

anyway..thanks for reading about my first fru-experience. i had an absolutely fabulous(best show) time

love, deb

QUOTE OF THE NIGHT:

Murray: "Hey Cal, can I please get a little more of me, and a little less of Jian?"

Lori: "I'd like a little more of Murray too!"

Thanks to Kimberly for this one:
• Dave's setlist

• Half As Much

• Horseshoes
• You Can't Be Too Careful
• If Only You Knew
• You Will Go To The Moon
• When She Talks
• Pisco Bandito
• Splatter Splatter
• Michigan Militia
• Johnny Saucep'n
• Independence Day
• Sad Girl
• River Valley
• Get In The Car

• Psycho Killer

• King of Spain
• I Will Hold On
• My Poor Generation

Some other tidbits from the performance include:

• Feel free to help contribute to this section!