From: owner-good-noise-digest@smoe.org (good-noise-digest) To: good-noise-digest@smoe.org Subject: good-noise-digest V4 #82 Reply-To: good-noise@smoe.org Sender: owner-good-noise-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-good-noise-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk good-noise-digest Saturday, April 21 2001 Volume 04 : Number 082 Today's Subjects: ----------------- John Gorka in Annapolis 4/19 ["Jay Votel" ] Re: No show ["Jay Votel" ] Re: No show [Smithfinn@aol.com] Re: No show, and no anger . . . [SMOKEY596@aol.com] Re: No show [Matthew Bester ] Re: No show [Robpiper@aol.com] Re: No show ["cycle12345" ] Re: No show, and no anger . . . ["cycle12345" ] Re: No show ["cycle12345" ] Re: No show ["Bunny Hutchinson" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2001 08:29:49 -0400 From: "Jay Votel" Subject: John Gorka in Annapolis 4/19 John Gorka, April 19, 2001 at the Rams Head Tavern, Annapolis, Md. Reviewed by Jay Votel  jvotel@megapipe.net 1. When She Kisses Me 2. Im From New Jersey 3. Edgar The Party Man 4. Flying Red Horse 5. Shape of the World 6. Let Them In, Peter (on piano) 7. Branching Out 8. St. Caffeine 9. I Saw a Stranger With Your Hair (With Alice Peacock) 10. Houses in the Fields (on piano, with Alice Peacock) 11. Oh Abraham (with Alice Peacock) 12. People My Age 13. Blue Chalk 14. Hank Senior Moment 15. When He Cries 16. A Saints Complaint 17. Semper Fi (with Alice Peacock) 18. Good Noise 19. e: Night is a Woman A full house greeted John Gorka at the Rams Head Tavern Thursday night. After a pleasant warm-up set by Chicago-based songwriter Alice Peacock, John brought his Martin guitar and spiral notebook to the stage. There were a lot of requests and John did his best to fill them. He did perform six songs from the new record, which satisfied my craving to hear his new material live. So many people were requesting his funnier songs, making this performance more upbeat than many of Johns concerts. It must be a hard balancing act for him on stage, having only a rough concept of a song list he wants to perform, and having the audience request the humorous songs. Performing too many, I believe, diminishes the impact of the humor of each by a degree. Yet pulling out a funny song to break the tension after some of the darker or more political songs seems to have more effect. The converse also is true  too much darkness diminishes the impact of each of the darker songs at least a little bit. Its a balancing act, and no doubt some nights accomplish this task better than others. Last night, the scales were tipped toward the humor. And because of this, perhaps the best moments last night came when John was backed by Alice Peacocks harmony. Her sweet voice added a nice touch to I Saw A Stranger With Your Hair, Houses in the Fields and Oh Abraham  my favorite of the evening. These three were sandwiched between two funny tunes. Alice has a lot of stage presence, too, but she knew how to blend and not detract from the lead vocals, even asking the sound technician at one point to lower her volume in the monitors. In the audience, the blend of their two voices was wonderful, but it must have sounded different on the stage because they both commented about it. Looking back over past performances, I note that three of the first four songs in this set were the same as his March 5, 1998, show at the Rams Head. He almost always does I'm From New Jersey early, so the surprising thing was that he opened with When She Kisses Me here in 1998, too, and he did Edgar in the first four songs in that show as well. Both times it was by request. Also, he couldnt leave Annapolis without singing Semper Fi, which he has performed almost every time Ive seen him here, usually by request. It's a nice touch in this Navy town. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2001 08:53:03 -0400 From: "Jay Votel" Subject: Re: No show Hi everybody: I submitted my review of the Rams Head show before reading the digest to discover that John failed to show at Wolf Trap the night before. This explains some of the snippets of conversation I overheard standing in line to have him autograph my copy of TCYK. I was trying not to listen, but ... Apparently there was a mix up, and he thought last night's show was his date at Wolf Trap. I didn't know about the night before, so I couldn't really ask him about it last night, or I would have. This happened once before, several years ago in Alabama I believe, or someplace in the south. I remember someone in the house at a show a couple of weeks later in Delaware asked him about it, but no one yelled out anything about it last night. For some reason, when I was making plans and ordering tickets two months ago, I decided not to attend the Wolf Trap show. It might have been sold out (the most logical reason), but more likley it was that I attended two concerts there in two weeks' time last month and wanted a change of venue, so to speak. Kismet, I reckon. I'm really glad to hear that no one blew a gasket over it, but transportation trouble is a part of daily life here in Washington and it's "the folk way" to be understanding in these matters, right? I really think it was a mixup in dates, judging from what I overheard in Annapolis. Maybe we can get a fuller explanation from someone in the know? ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2001 10:12:05 EDT From: Smithfinn@aol.com Subject: Re: No show My understanding was that John did in fact mix up his dates and feels badly about it. I received an email from someone else who was there and he said people were disappointed, but like Steve says, fairly gracious about it. I believe they are trying to reschedule even though I was told that Wolf Trap announced they would not be rescheduling. Susan ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2001 10:40:00 EDT From: SMOKEY596@aol.com Subject: Re: No show, and no anger . . . Oh Steve! So sorry to hear about this! I can't imagine all those people, even Gorka fans!, taking it so well! I remember a few years ago a friend and I drove three hours to see Hal Ketcham. She was basically going along because I was DYING to see him. As we were walking across the parking lot of the venue, I looked up at the marquee and saw the words, "Hal Ketcham-Cancelled". I yelled over to my friend to look. And we just stared at the sign and back at each other and back at the sign. I thought surely SHE was playing a joke on me somehow. Well, we went in and inquired, and it turned out that Hal's father had passed away and that's why he wasn't there. :-( A long trip for nothing, but he rescheduled and I got a seat at his feet for the next show. I think karma will come around and make your next Gorka show something really special. I hope so. :-) SMOKEY GOV. BUSH: I talked to my little brother, Jeb, I haven't told this to many people. But he's the governor of, I shouldn't call him my little brother, my brother, Jeb, the great governor of Texas. JIM LEHRER: Florida. GOV. BUSH: Florida. The state of the Florida. The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer, April 27, 2000 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2001 07:49:47 -0700 (PDT) From: Matthew Bester Subject: Re: No show I was at the Barns too, on Wednesday night. What a bummer! I really wanted to get mad at someone, but there's no one to get mad at. These things happen. I'm seeing Susan Werner tonight at the Barns and hoping for no mixups. Quoting Smithfinn@aol.com: > My understanding was that John did in fact mix up his dates and feels badly > > about it. I received an email from someone else who was there and he said > people were disappointed, but like Steve says, fairly gracious about it. I > believe they are trying to reschedule even though I was told that Wolf Trap > > announced they would not be rescheduling. > > Susan > - ------------------------------------------------- Created by Zkey.com - http://www.zkey.com Awarded PCMagazine's Editors' Choice ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2001 12:41:23 EDT From: Robpiper@aol.com Subject: Re: No show Steve and Matthew, I am so sorry to hear about the mix-up at the Gorka concert. What a bummer! It is, however, good to hear that people accepted it without anger. Especially in these times of road rage, mass killings, etc. Robbie ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2001 13:02:10 -0400 From: "cycle12345" Subject: Re: No show That's correct, Susan; "Barns at Wolftrap" management announced that there would be no rescheduling of the show, and you really can't blame them. This sort of occurrence causes them tremendous problems (apologies, refunds, etc.) for all parties involved (I remember the poor doorkeeper, apologizing to us and assuring everyone that he didn't know about it either) and can give the venue a bad name, something they don't like and just can't afford. Steve > My understanding was that John did in fact mix up his dates and feels badly > about it. I received an email from someone else who was there and he said > people were disappointed, but like Steve says, fairly gracious about it. I > believe they are trying to reschedule even though I was told that Wolf Trap > announced they would not be rescheduling. > > Susan ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2001 13:05:36 -0400 From: "cycle12345" Subject: Re: No show, and no anger . . . Well, that was certainly a good reason for why Hal Ketcham couldn't appear, and I had hoped that there was a good explanation (although not anything like that, of course) for John's absence, too. Unfortunately, there wasn't . . . Thanks, SMOKEY! Next show? Maybe. Steve > Oh Steve! So sorry to hear about this! I can't imagine all those people, even Gorka fans!, taking it so well! > > I remember a few years ago a friend and I drove three hours to see Hal Ketcham. She was basically going along because I was DYING to see him. As we were walking across the parking lot of the venue, I looked up at the marquee and saw the words, "Hal Ketcham-Cancelled". I yelled over to my friend to look. And we just stared at the sign and back at each other and back at the sign. I thought surely SHE was playing a joke on me somehow. Well, we went in and inquired, and it turned out that Hal's father had passed away and that's why he wasn't there. :-( A long trip for nothing, but he rescheduled and I got a seat at his feet for the next show. > > I think karma will come around and make your next Gorka show something really special. I hope so. :-) > > SMOKEY > GOV. BUSH: I talked to my little brother, Jeb, I haven't told this to many people. But he's the governor of, I shouldn't call him my little brother, my brother, Jeb, the great governor of Texas. > JIM LEHRER: Florida. > GOV. BUSH: Florida. The state of the Florida. > The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer, April 27, 2000 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2001 13:10:25 -0400 From: "cycle12345" Subject: Re: No show Thanks for your sentiments, Robbie; I'm particularly glad for everyone that "Barns" didn't announce the real reason why John didn't make it, and I really hope that this doesn't get out too much into the general public, media, etc. It ain't good for business . . . Thanks again! Steve > Steve and Matthew, > > I am so sorry to hear about the mix-up at the Gorka concert. What a bummer! > It is, however, good to hear that people accepted it without anger. > Especially in these times of road rage, mass killings, etc. > > Robbie ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2001 13:19:45 -0400 From: "Bunny Hutchinson" Subject: Re: No show Yes, there was a similar incident in 1998 where John mixed up dates / venues. Missed a show in Alabama but made it the following night ... sans CDs to sell to Eddies' Attic in Atlanta. His CDs, I believe had gone to Alabama. Poor guy... If this is in fact what has happened, then it would seem that I've finally come across someone who is as chronologically challenged as myself. : ( Even an electronic organizer doesn't help much if you get some wrapped up in doing something else that you forget to look at it. : (( Bunny ... what day is this? ... Hutchinson ------------------------------ End of good-noise-digest V4 #82 *******************************