And then there were three... Kat, Amanda and I left Milwaukee around 11 in the morning... Minneapolis bound!!! The Frübus still rocked... just not as hard. We missed Donna... (o; It was a good drive to Minnesota. Some more Wisconsin rain, but no hardships to speak of. Oh yeah, except for the worst Denny's experience we've ever had... (o; We waited about 45 minutes for our food, then found out that our waiter had forgotten to put our order in. Thanks to Amanda, we ate for free.
We stayed at the most wonderful, magical place during our time in Minneapolis. It was a place where dinner was ready when we walked in the door; where the beds were turned down when we were ready to go to sleep; where coffee and cereal awaited us when we woke up. And that place was called Kat's parents' house. Kat's parents, Duane and Karen, are excellent people. I wanted to stay forever... but was told that in a couple of days the magic would wear off and I'd be forced to fend for myself... (o; We stayed with them from Monday night until I went home on Wednesday.
Kat had wanted her nephew Andrew to come to the show with us, but since it was a school night that plan was nixed and Karen said she'd go with us. So we headed off to downtown Minneapolis Tuesday afternoon, bummed around town for a while, had coffee at Starbucks just on principal... (o; and had dinner at a great Thai restaurant around the corner from the Fine Line. Got to the doors around 6 for the 6:30 opening. We caught a little of the soundcheck through the closed doors and Amanda stated that there seemed to be too much sound for such a little room. Lawn chairs outside on the sidewalk would've been good seats at this venue. It was a nice room. Kat and Karen had reserved seats up on the balcony and Amanda and I grabbed a couple stools stage Dave. As the place filled up, however, we found ourselves almost on the stage. We were literally draped over Mike and Dave's monitors. It's been a while since I've been THATCLOSE to a show. It was cool, though.
Toshi Reagon opened. She was pretty good... I probably wouldn't buy her cd's, but she was entertaining, very funny. She said it was great to be playing before Moxy Freevus... and the crowd quickly corrected her, to which she said we'd have to help her out since she'd never heard of them. I enjoyed her.
Oh, yeah... the show. Mike's setlist (I finally managed to grab one from this trip):
1/2 HORSe 2 CARe IF ONLY VIDEO SAD PISCO LAZY RIVeR MINNIe BJ DARLING RUSH HOLD MICHY SAUCE SPLATTER PSYCHO
As Amanda pointed out, it was a very traditional set, but extremely well played. I didn't think it was all THAT traditional, but I do agree that it was well played. The sound WAS too big for the room, but perhaps our vantage point wasn't the greatest either. Horseshoes was dedicated to Eric and Tara, who had recently gotten engaged or married, I forget which... we had to wonder whether "look straight at the coming disaster" is really such a good way to start married life together. Hmm... They guys stated that they are totally in favor of intra-Frühead relationships, then went off on a whole tangent of polygamy and Mormons. 'Twas hilarious! After Disco Bargainville, Jian told a very funny story about going to Sam Goody for a couple cd's. The girl helping him at first seemed interested, but when he mentioned that his band was playing at the Fine Line that night, she was indifferent. OK, you had to be there. He ended by walking out of the store like "Peter Brady loses the girl". After Lazy Boy Jian broke out the camouflage wearing mother f***ing Jesse Ventura doll... we knew he had to pop up somewhere. During Minnie, some random woman from the audience got on stage behind Jian and was literally fondling him through an entire chorus. Jian joked later that it was the Sam Goody girl... the whole thing was extremely odd. They did a totally kick-ass slow version of BJ Don't Cry. Very interesting. I was thrilled that they finally did Darlington. It has been and continues to be one of my absolute FAVORITE live tunes. And I was surprised by The Greatest Man in America. It has never been CLOSE to a favorite song of mine... but something about seeing it live... it's very entertaining. I'm still enjoying Psycho Killer, but after having heard it 6 times in my last 7 shows... it's starting to wear on me. I saw Love Potion #9 in 4 of my first 5 shows, and started wishing for new closers then, too. It would've been gratifying to hear something different for at least a show or two on this trip. Billie Jean is always one of my faves... Dancing Queen... saw Walking Spanish once. Anyway, for the first encore they played Authors and Get in the Car; second encore was Fly and My Poor Generation. It was a great show... bittersweet though because it was my last for a while.
On Wednesday we were able to get to the Mall of America for a couple hours. The place is SO huge... in 2 hours we only managed to see a small section of the whole mall. We went to Legoland, saw Camp Snoopy, and just wandered around for a bit. My plane left at 8, so Kat and Amanda dropped me off at the airport and then headed up to Manitoba for the Thursday and Friday shows. Color me jealous. It was great to get home, but as I landed in Denver, I wished more than anything that I was instead Somewhere In North Dakota with the remainder of the Frübus. I know, there's just something sick and wrong about wanting to be in NORTH DAKOTA... but what can I say? Apparently four consecutive shows just aren't quite enough...
So now it's time for me to get a little sappy again. Donna, Joe, Debbie... it was great to see you guys again. Really great. And to everyone else I saw again or met for the first time (I won't name you all for fear of forgetting someone), thanks for reminding me why I travel thousands of miles for these experiences. It's been the best time I've had in a long while. We'll have to plan a Frübus2 before long, k?
RANDOM OBSERVATIONS, ADVICE, AND (mostly Amanda) QUOTES:
Why is it that other people's parents kick ass when yours are tolerable at best?
If the billboards in the Milwaukee area are any indication, the anti-smoking industry is MUCH more lucrative than the cheese industry.
Whoever wrote the Denny's menu had to've been drunk. Or high.
Every city should have a Brett Favre steakhouse!
Whoever named the Ho-Chunk Casino was NOT a marketing genius.
If you REALLY want to confuse your waitperson, ask if you can substitute fruit for the meat in your Denny's Slam.
In the Frü-universe, 'thief' is synonymous with 'souvenir collector'.
It's possible to OD on Pop Rocks.
By the time I get around to writing reviews, nobody cares anymore.
"It's a festival of breakfast meats!" ~Amanda
"Cher is following us through the Midwest... and it's scary." ~Amanda
"If I HAD a poodle, I'd name it Snarky." ~Amanda
"Note to self: speeding past the state police headquarters... NOT a good idea." ~Amanda
"We must be true Früheads... we're running errands for Dave Tobey." ~Amanda
This is a great quote, but needs some introduction. We were eating breakfast with Katrin's dad on Wednesday and we were telling him that Karen had become a "Jian's person", which was understandable since he's nice-looking, charming, personable, and good with moms and kids. Kat's dad says... "You know, you're describing Eddie Haskell..."
"You are entirely TOO perky. And your shirt's
tucked in."
~Amanda (to me, at the airport)
Some other tidbits from the performance include:
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