From: owner-harbinger-digest@smoe.org (harbinger-digest) To: harbinger-digest@smoe.org Subject: harbinger-digest V4 #189 Reply-To: harbinger@smoe.org Sender: owner-harbinger-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-harbinger-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk harbinger-digest Tuesday, January 4 2000 Volume 04 : Number 189 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) LIFE - NYC - 12/31/99: Review [Kenn Subject: (harbinger) LIFE - NYC - 12/31/99: Review The show on New Year's Eve was good. Not great. Not even close to the best I've ever seen. Only good. As is usually the case with Paula's performances, the crowd played a big part in the show we got. This was undeniably a lame New York City New Year's Eve crowd. Four shrieking, drunk girls in the front row who, naturally, only knew the holy trinity of Paula songs (WHATCG, IDWTW and Me) and, of course, sang along loudly and badly. They used most of the rest of the time Paula was singing to chat among themselves. One 40-something sloppy drunk slob who spent the entire show trying to videotape Paula (yeah, I was the lucky guy who got to stand next to him) which prompted management to pull him out of the crowd - count 'em - four times! to tell him he couldn't film. But he kept it up anyway and never got kicked out. By the end of the show, he was so blotto that he was to doing the Wayne's World "we're not worthy" homage to Paula and bellowing "Long live George Harrison!" Still can't figure out what that was all about, but I took joy in telling him to shut the fuck up and stop screaming in my ear. Anyway, drunk and disorderly conduct aside, the performance itself was enjoyable, if short. Here's the set list: Watch The Woman's Hands Mississippi Rhythm Of Life Tiger I Believe In Love Where Have All The Cowboys Gone? Me I Don't Want To Wait God Is Watching Encore: Jolene Feelin' Love The first encore was supposed to finish with "Be Somebody" and, according to the set list taped to Doug Wimbish's mike, there was even a second encore planned - "Carmen" - but like I said... lame crowd. I was really surprised that she started the set with "... Woman's Hands." I haven't heard her perform it since the This Fire tour and figured it wasn't going to be part of the set this time around. So that was a cool way to start things off. I have to say that I'm not nuts about Paula just standing and singing on songs where she used to accompany herself on piano. Don't get me wrong... Rakiya is a good keyboardist. It's just that I really enjoying watching Paula banging away at the piano on songs like "Mississippi" and "Throwing Stones." Hopefully, if Rakiya is still around on the next album, she'll be relegated to backup singer only (which she does quite well) and Paula will start playing her own keyboard/piano again. But back to the review... Hearing "Tiger" was also a pleasant surprise, but it's another song I prefer to hear with Paula playing the piano. When they launched into "I Believe In Love," there was a noticeable lack of reaction from the crowd. It seemed like some of them had heard it before, but they weren't jumping for joy. "Cowboys" got them all excited. By the end of it, I was pretty well pleased, too. Paula was almost finished with the song and just banging away on her foot with her tambourine when it broke and all the little metal cymbals when flying everywhere. One landed right in front of me, so I've added that Paula Cole relic to the collection. ;) I wonder how many times she has performed that song using that particular tambourine? Quite a few from the looks of the cymbal I pinched - it's all worn down and dented from repeated beatings against Paula's boot. I talked to Jay before the show and he said that they were all looking forward to having the next month to themselves - the tour begins in February. Paula mentioned during the show that she was happy to be performing for us at Life and that she was originally asked to perform at the ill-fated $1000-per-ticket Javits Center millenium concert (with Sting, Aretha Franklin, et al), which was cancelled due to low ticket sales. Truthfully, Paula didn't fare much better than the Javits folks. Ticket sales for the Life gala were so low that they cancelled Paula's first show and the dinner that went along with the $350 tickets. And it wasn't like the one show she still performed was sold out. Far from it. The concert area at Life is probably about the size of the performance area at Toad's Place in New Haven, CT and the stage isn't any bigger than the stage there. I know that's not much of a frame of reference for those of you who have never been to Toad's, but I would say that it would hold about 400 people before it would seem packed. Life never came close to seeing that many attendees the other night. Maybe 200 people came for Paula's show and only 50 or so of those folks were actually standing up around the stage. I was thrilled because it meant I could stand right up in the front row just like the olden days, but it isn't conducive to getting a killer show from PC. She and the band seemed to be having a good enough time performing, but it wasn't a powerful show. I suppose it's hard to get that yin/yang performance thang going when the crowd from which you draw your energy is providing as much juice as a dead Duracell rabbit. So, at the end of the day, it was a pleasant enough Paula Cole concert-going experience, but you really didn't miss much if you weren't there. Kenn - ------------------------------ To unsubscribe, mail majordomo@smoe.org with: unsubscribe harbinger Btw, if you are an AOL subscriber the above instruction will work for your EVERY time. Digest, further unsub and problems FAQ at: http://www.netaxs.com/~jgreshes/lists/harbinger.html ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 3 Jan 2000 16:52:16 -0500 From: Kenneth R Carpenter Subject: Re: (harbinger) LIFE - NYC - 12/31/99: Review I wrote: >> dead Duracell rabbit Dead Energizer Bunny. You know what I mean. Sorry. I just came off a long decade that kicked my ass. Cut me some slack. It's my first day back. ;) Kenn ****************************************************************************** The information contained in this e-mail message is intended only for the personal and confidential use of the recipient(s) named above. This message may be an attorney-client communication and as such is privileged and confidential. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient or an agent responsible for delivering it to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that you have received this document in error and that any review, dissemination, distribution, or copying of this message is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately by e-mail and delete the original message. ****************************************************************************** - ------------------------------ To unsubscribe, mail majordomo@smoe.org with: unsubscribe harbinger Btw, if you are an AOL subscriber the above instruction will work for your EVERY time. Digest, further unsub and problems FAQ at: http://www.netaxs.com/~jgreshes/lists/harbinger.html ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 3 Jan 2000 18:04:01 -0800 (PST) From: Brian C Subject: Re: (harbinger) LIFE - NYC - 12/31/99: Review So... how did she sound? How what did she wear? How did she look? The last few pics and interviews I've seen, she looks as if she's gained a few pounds and shaved her arm pits. Don't get me wrong...I'm not being judgemental. I've just always thought Paula was beautiful and love to hear about how she looks as well as admire her voice and music. - -Bri - --- Kenneth R Carpenter wrote: > I wrote: > > >> dead Duracell rabbit > > Dead Energizer Bunny. You know what I mean. Sorry. > I just came off a long decade that kicked my ass. > Cut me some slack. It's my first day back. ;) > > Kenn > > > ****************************************************************************** > The information contained in this e-mail message is > intended only for the personal and confidential use > of the recipient(s) named above. This message may be > an attorney-client communication and as such is > privileged and confidential. If the reader of this > message is not the intended recipient or an agent > responsible for delivering it to the intended > recipient, you are hereby notified that you have > received this document in error and that any review, > dissemination, distribution, or copying of this > message is strictly prohibited. If you have received > this communication in error, please notify us > immediately by e-mail and delete the original > message. > ****************************************************************************** > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------ > To unsubscribe, mail majordomo@smoe.org with: > unsubscribe harbinger > > Btw, if you are an AOL subscriber the above > instruction will > work for your EVERY time. > > Digest, further unsub and problems FAQ at: > http://www.netaxs.com/~jgreshes/lists/harbinger.html > > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger. http://messenger.yahoo.com - ------------------------------ To unsubscribe, mail majordomo@smoe.org with: unsubscribe harbinger Btw, if you are an AOL subscriber the above instruction will work for your EVERY time. Digest, further unsub and problems FAQ at: http://www.netaxs.com/~jgreshes/lists/harbinger.html ------------------------------ End of harbinger-digest V4 #189 *******************************