The highlight: people were roaming the aisles hawking beer (Free State beer, no less) as if we were at a baseball game! Holy shit! Liberty Hall should take a note from this idea and bring us beer when we are crammed in like sardines at a concert.
The lowlights: The evening's MC, Tim, is probably a very nice fellow, but we thought the drunken, abrasive style clashed pretty jarringly with the mellow vibe of the performances. As Art Dodge curtly told him, late in the show: "Wrap it up." And then there was the inevitable dude who finally got drunk enough to yell for Skynyrd after a contemplative Dodge song ("Meet me out back after the show," Dodge said, and hopefully he kicked the guy's ass good and proper).
Our top musical moments:
Danny Pound's rip-roaring song about how "the sun hasn't set on this boy yet." (we don't know titles, but we're guessing that might be the title!). And also his cover of Warren Zevon's "Mohammed's Radio" ("Don't it make you want to rock and roll?").
Arthur Dodge's duets with Mrs. Dodge (who was perhaps the unsung musical hero of the night).
Suzannah Johannes, in a sparkly shirt and boots, singing a lovely duet with Danny Pound after awkward attempts to arrange themselves atop very tall stools. Sadly, she didn't tell the hilarious vibrator story she regaled us with at last week's BARRR stand-up show.
Matt Suggs' "Where's Your Patience, Dear?" (if you have a mix-CD from us, there's a 72% chance this song is on it).
Verdict: four out of four Free State beers brought directly to our seats!
Upcoming shows include Truckstop Honeymoon, with perpetual Larryville neo-hobo Tyler Gregory. And later: Hospital Ships! (is the Hospital Ships show really on St. Patrick's Day, as the MC announced? That seems like an odd night to try to draw a big crowd to a mellow gig).
Artistic discovery of the evening:
Richard was profoundly moved by the haybale art in the gallery, while Chip felt the hay could have been put toward a more practical use, such as a nice breakfast for Coco the Pony.
7 comments:
Pound'n'the rev
Mrs. Dodge has a very unusual first name.
Suzannah Johannes, I covet your sparkly sparkly jacket...
I personally thought that the beer sales were a bit intrusive on the musical space. The noise of clanking bottles and rattling ice can really screw up a quiet moment, and did so several times during the evening. If the idea behind the concert series is to present local music to an attentive audience in a concert environment, it doesn't make a lot of sense to add distractions in a small room like that. Maybe the corporate sponsors (Free State/Love Garden) could set up the beer and food stand outside the entry door to the auditorium.
As I remarked to my friend at intermission, "You can take the audience out of the bar, but maybe you can't take the bar out of the audience."
Brilliant, DP'n'the rev,
You've just named the Leotards new single: Dick'n'the rev
A variation on Sugar Dick. Word is Richard himself starts this ditty with "Well there I was...balls deep."
Hey, isn't that a registered trademark of the Victor Continental show?
Anonymous, yeah, the ice-crushing definitely ruined the opening interlude with Dodge (the evening's MC was right about that, if not much else). But maybe it's a small price to keep us all nicely hammered in a comfortable environment.
@ balls deep - not everyone in the audience drinks. Some of us were there just for the music.
According to Yahoo!, there are 52 bars and pubs in the Lawrence area. Over a dozen of them are within walking distance of the Arts Center. If being "nicely hammered in a comfortable environment" is central to your enjoyment of a show, there are other ways to take care of that issue that don't intrude on the rest of us.
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