From: owner-harbinger-digest@smoe.org (harbinger-digest) To: harbinger-digest@smoe.org Subject: harbinger-digest V4 #10 Reply-To: harbinger@smoe.org Sender: owner-harbinger-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-harbinger-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk harbinger-digest Thursday, January 28 1999 Volume 04 : Number 010 HARBINGER DIGEST To post, mail harbinger@smoe.org To unsubscribe, mail majordomo@smoe.org with: unsubscribe harbinger-digest To get list info file, mail majordomo@smoe.org with: info harbinger-digest Today's Subjects: ---------------- (harbinger) Paula at the Garden [Kenneth R Carpenter Subject: (harbinger) Paula at the Garden Hey, Harbinger.... I went to the Women In Music concert on Monday night to see Paula perform, along with Phoebe Snow, Janis Ian, Helen Reddy, Judy Collins, Odetta, Jewel and Mandy Barnett. The concert itself was like most other benefit concerts - very short sets by the performers interspersed with trite introductions from the appointed emcees. Overall, it certainly wasn't the best concert I've ever attended, but for what little the performers had to work with - three songs sets, to be precise (with the exception of Jewel who did six or seven songs as the headliner) - they did a good job. Paula's set consisted of "Me," "Feelin' Love" (the extended mix) and "I Don't Want To Wait." Her voice was faltering during the first half of "Me," but by the time she reached the second chorus, it kicked in and she sounded as good as ever. Nothing new to report with regard to vocal or musical arrangements. She wore her hair down and donned the Native American outfit that we first saw during the Sarah McLachlan Storytellers on VH1. Interesting outfit, but it just looks like it'd having you sweating like a linebacker under stage lights. One particular event took place during Paula's set that was cause for concern to me and others with whom I spoke after the show. I'll mention this with the knowledge that the individual involved in the scene might very well subscribe to this list. Truthfully, I hope he does. Perhaps after reading this, he might get an idea of how completely strange and unsettling his behavior seemed to those of us watching his histrionics play out before us. I was sitting in the third row of the orchestra section, just left of centerstage. A young man who I would guess is in his early 20s was sitting about fifteen feet to my left in the next section over and a couple of rows back. I noticed him when I first arrived because he was holding a big bouquet of flowers, apparently for one of the performers. That was that. I saw him and forgot about him. Well, once Paula had taken the stage and finished "Me," I and everyone in the Theatre at Madison Square Garden were made aware of his presence. Paula had barely begun "Feelin' Love" when out of the blue this guy screams... no, it was more than a scream... he bellowed, "I LOVE YOU!!!!!!" while Paula was still singing the soft intonations at the begin of the song. I looked over at him and the guy was nearly in tears and had started to sing to himself, right along with Paula. It appeared that Paula had an unbelievably overpowering effect on this guy. So, Paula keeps going with the song. Like I said, it was the extended mix so it went on for a while. Toward the middle of the song - shortly after Kevin's guitar solo and right when Paula really starts to build up to the vocal crescendo - this guy lets loose with another earth-shattering "I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!" Just as loud and just as intensely as the first one. Now when I look over, I see that he *is* in tears and seems to be positively overtaken with all kinds of emotions. Then he headed for the stage, just about two feet away from where Paula was sitting at her keyboard. Paula finished the song and got up from her keyboard. The guy was standing a bit behind her, so she didn't see that he was holding out the flowers for her. She went to other side of the stage to start introducing the band. Paula ended her introductions and was about to start "I Don't Want To Wait" when the folks in the front rows started to call out to her to let her know this guy was standing over there waiting to give her flowers. She realized what they were saying and went over to him. Now up until this point, I didn't really think much about the whole thing. Some fans just get really, really excited at concerts and can hardly contain themselves. Nothing wrong with that. It's just excitement. This guy was just weird, though. A scary, creepy, irrational kind of weird. Paula took the flowers from him and thanked him. He was really worked up by this point. He held up his camera and asked if he could have his picture taken with her. Not realizing that this guy was perhaps a bit overzealous in his feelings for her, Paula said OK and he got up on the stage. Most of the audience who hadn't seen all of this playing out before them was applauding so it was almost impossible to hear what was being said after that point, but this is what we saw: He was standing there for a moment, murmuring something to himself and still getting weepy, while Paula sat the flowers down on the stage. When she turned back to him, she put her arm around his shoulders and she held his camera out in front of them to get a shot of them together. She never got to take the photo. All of a sudden, he just embraced her. Big unexpected bear hug. The hug didn't last long because she broke out of it. She was noticably taken aback by it. I'm guessing from the expression on her face that it pissed her off and might have even scared her a little bit. She nodded to him, handed him his camera, said something, gave a little smile and walked away. He stayed right where he was. I don't know if he thought he'd just stay up there for the next song or what, but Paula turned around and, seeing that he was still standing there, waved goodbye to him and kept walking. The Garden security ended up going over to get him off the stage. He spent the rest of her set in his seat and the rapturous expression that he had been wearing before he got to get up on stage got even more disconcerting. If this guy does subscribe to the list, I hope he'll understand by this post that the manner in which he behaved was inappropriate. For one thing, when one is at a concert, screaming anything at the top of one's lungs during a quiet part of a song is distracting to the musicians and just plain rude to everyone. But more importantly, the behavior we saw this guy exhibiting was giving a lot of us in that front section the heebie-jeebies when we saw how he was reacting to Paula. I hung out and talked to quite a few folks after the show and this was the first topic that came up. Without exception, everyone agreed that this guy was just plain creepy. I hope that we were wrong. I hope that he was just a good fan who got carried away with the moment and that he is actually a sane, responsible guy. I have my doubts about that, though. The guy who was sitting behind me recognized him from the Alanis Morrisette concert at the Hammerstein Ballroom a few months ago. He said this man behaved in exactly the same manner there. I'm mentioning this because I think this fan should at least be aware of the perception others had of him and his behavior that night so that he might reflect on how he might want to carry himself in future concerts. Now... on a lighter note... The remaining acts ranged from OK to 'eh, with the exception of Phoebe Snow. I was bowled over by Phoebe's performance. What a voice she has! Can't wait for her to do a solo show here in NYC. I would love to see her live again. She finished her set by doing a tremendous cover of Joplin's "Piece Of My Heart." Major standing ovation. I snapped quite a few pics of Paula during her set but haven't gotten the film developed yet. Hopefully, at least one or two of them will turn out. The show was not publicized well. The venue was switched from the Garden proper to the Theatre at the Garden at the last minute due to low sales. They didn't even manage to fill that theatre. It was too bad, too. Empty seats tend to really bring down the energy one gets from the performers. But, in any event, Zero Population Growth made some well-deserved bucks from the show. All of the artists who appeared at the concert did so for free. Peace. Kenn - ------------------------------ To unsubscribe, mail majordomo@smoe.org with: unsubscribe harbinger That's the way to unsub even for poor, benighted AOL users. Digest, further unsub and problems FAQ at: http://www.netaxs.com/~jgreshes/lists/harbinger.html For This Fire kinda-lyrics write Riphug@aol.com ------------------------------ End of harbinger-digest V4 #10 ******************************