From: owner-jewel-digest@smoe.org (jewel-digest) To: jewel-digest@smoe.org Subject: jewel-digest V4 #351 Reply-To: jewel@smoe.org Sender: owner-jewel-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-jewel-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk jewel-digest Saturday, June 26 1999 Volume 04 : Number 351 * If you ever wish to unsubscribe from this digest, send an email to * jewel-digest-request@smoe.org with ONLY the word * unsubscribe in the BODY of the email * . * For the latest information on Jewel tour dates, go to * the OFFICIAL Jewel web site at http://www.jeweljk.com * and click on "Presence" * OR * go to the Atlantic Records site at http://www.atlantic-records.com * and go to the "On Tour" section * . * PLEASE :) when you reply to this digest to send a post TO the list, * change the subject to reflect what your post is about. A subject * of Re: jewel-digest V4 #xxx or the like gives fellow list readers * no clue as to what your message is about. Today's Subjects: ----------------- * Jewel Has My Pen! (part 2 of 2) [MAXMOUZE@aol.com] * P.S. [MAXMOUZE@aol.com] * Review: Bakersfield, CA 06-25-99 [sinjin@nexgate.net (sinjin)] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 26 Jun 1999 03:44:55 EDT From: MAXMOUZE@aol.com Subject: * Jewel Has My Pen! (part 2 of 2) continued from part 1 A few seconds pass and then his assistant returns in the room, tape in hand. He walks over to me, pointing at the cover where I listed the songs and EDAs singing them. "Is this a compliation?". I said "Yeah, it's a tape of the members of Jewel's fan club doing covers of her songs." He's all "Wow, are you on it?". And I'm like "Yeah, my name's Mark Oxman and I did four songs." I now point at all the times my name appears on the cover. "This is Memoirs of an EDA, it's a parody of Memoirs of a Housewife". AGGGH, I didn't get to ask Jewel if she still remembered "Memoirs of a Housewife", my favorite song of hers. It was my only chance and I blew it. Oh well...I actually brought it up because I assumed her assistant would be familiar with the song, but he wasn't. "I also did Down So Long, Who Will Save Your Soul, and uh....Near You Always". "Oh, neat" he said or something to that extent and he walked off. I can't remember how he replied but I wish I did, because then I'd feel better about having given the tape to him. I know Jewel never listened to the first one so I doubted she would get around to listening to the second. But, oh well... So, we were all kind of standing around talking and then they were like "You guys have to leave" so we apologized and left. "Wait, she has his pen," Garrett reminded authority. "His what?". My DJ friend popped in. "Yeah, but I think it'd be best if she kept it. Then you can tell everyone Jewel has your pen." Wow, what an amazing concept, I thought. JEWEL HAS MY PEN!!! I hope she looks at it and says "Wait, where did this come from? Oh yeah, that EDA in Bakersfield had it. Oops, I forgot to give it back to him." OK, maybe not. But, I am proud that I am a fan of Jewel instead of other artists. A venue employee commented how it was nice to be working with a great woman instead of with someone who sits in their dressing room doing drugs or acting up. I used to have this feeling Jewel can be snobby in certain situations, behind the scenes, but she seemed so professional, so confident. She was totally a celebrity. If you had never heard of Jewel, you could tell she was famous just by watching her. She was in total control, just like on stage. She never was awkward and carried conversation as beautifully as she does on talk shows. And, she was so tall too! Usually when I meet celebrities, they are tiny and I wonder how I didn't notice it on television. Jewel was 5'6", 5'7", maybe even taller with her high heels on. She didn't tower over anyone, but she certainly didn't seem tiny. Anyway, the concert started and my seats were not that bad because it's a small venue so any place isn't that bad. I wasn't on the floor but on the left side of the stage, in a balcony-ish area. I was slightly far away from the stage vertically and slightly horizontally. I could see Jewel's facial expression, but if I, let's say, wanted to take a picture, she would come up too small to be seen. That's where my seat was... So the guy next to me is complaining that I am going to record her concert and probably am going to be loud or something like that. I didn't speak the entire concert, not even to shout out the title of the rare songs before she sang them (if they're such big Jewel fans where they want to shake her hand and get her attention in the crowd, don't you think they should buy the album and be familiar with the material?). I didn't shout "YOU'RE MY ANGEL STANDING BY!" before she sang it for the finale, when everyone else had no idea what song she was strumming the introduction to. I spared my vocal lenses, to avoid having my voice heard by Jewel for one moment in time. I already talked to her, I didn't need her to know that I existed to feel content with myself...as many others did it appeared. I've lived in Bakersfield for as long as I can remember, but man, what an embarrassment they made of our town. Of course, it was no different from any other concert. But people clammering to get onstage. Struggling to get their hand touched. Desperate to be glanced at. And what's worse is I looked in the crowd, and knew so many people. I kept running into people who I did theater with, who had seen me in theatrical productions, or that I went to high school with. I saw a guy from my math class buying Steve Poltz's album. Yesterday, he didn't even know who he was, and today he's buying his album. I saw so many people who never showed any interest in Jewel attending just to have something to do Friday night. I felt sort of special, being the only resident in the city who was actually a diehard Jewel fan. Well, WAS. But, that night, I felt so proud of all the time I devoted to Jewel in my life, even if it was years ago. Because now I was a Jewel expert and I recognized more of her songs than just the five she's released. I tried recording the concert but I ran out of batteries near the beginning so I don't have a setlist. I do know that she started with "Near You Always"; she always does that. I think she likes how it warms the crowd up, makes her seem mysterious, and she's got it down cold as an opening. Then she sang Deep Water, then What's Simple Is True, then Hands. That's #1, #2, and #3 from the album respectively. Was she playing it in order? And what happened to the Jewel who made up her setlist as she went along? Unfortunately, since she had a band now, she couldn't just improvise. The entire show had to be rehearsed and down cold. How sad. It was really nice seeing a projection of Jewel in the background, and every now and then it would flash some camoflauged images that didn't detract but help set the piece for the songs she was singing (the projection controller must have been on the ball, because a lot of the images he chose coincided with the songs ... it was a beautiful touch). Besides the stinkin' tape recorder not cooperating (I kept checking it to see if it ran out of tape and it was an hour after and it hadn't and I was thinking 'Something's wrong here...is it on pause?'. Yeah, right, it was just NOT WORKING!!! PIECE OF #@!*), it was a pretty good show. Jewel is an amazing performer, I can't picture her doing anything else. I liked when she shocked the crowd by screaming and once she even did an alternative yelp (I don't remember what song, either "Down" or "Love Me Just Leave Me Alone" I'm guessing). Who Will Save Your Soul was brilliant, with a lengthy conclusion where she would scat and the guitar player (Shep Pettibone or is it a different Pettibone?) would match the sound with his guitar. Then she introduced the band and left. A lot of people exited the building, but I knew Jewel -- she ALWAYS does an encore. So she came back, did "Absence of Fear" and "Angel Standing By" and was gone. I thought there might be a second encore, where I could request "Amen" or "Jessica" or "Memoirs of a Housewife" or SOMETHING, but no...the lights turned on and people really were supposed to leave at that point. It's odd how people who are so daring and so courageous to get someone's attention when the lights are out can seem so normal and mundane when the lights come on. I waited till the crowd waivered and then Garrett came to get me. I said good-bye to him and his mother and waited in line for a souvenier -- I wanted a program. A girl in line was doing a play with me, so I got a little (teeny weeny, I was just a few feet away) shortcut. I quickly got a program (TWENTY DOLLARS? COULD IT BE ANY MORE OVERPRICED?! Geez...) So I exit the building, wearing my EDA shirt with pride, and a guy stops me. I was wondering if he was an EDA too or if he just thought I was cool, but I realized that it was most likely the prior. I was right. He introduced him, mumbling a name like "Jason" and we talked about the EDAs. He said he saw someone else wearing a shirt but he didn't talk to them. I wanted to wait to see if any more were going to come out, because I wanted to go hang out with them, but he said they had all probably left. "Jason" and I talked for a long while. I think the conversation went on longer than he anticipated or would liked it to have but how often do you get to meet an EDA in your very own city? We talked about Jewel, her songs, her poetry, her changes, her concerts, the Everyday Angels, everything. I told him I was Maxmouze and he recognized me, saying I had posted quite a bit. (I misheard him and thought he said I cuss quite a bit). He asked me who from the list I had met before, and I said "Oh, I don't remember. I do know that I met Sinjin though." He sort of smiled and he goes "Oh, but I'm Sinjin." The reason I had brought it up was because...while I had vaguely met Sinjin at the San Diego concert for a brief moment, he just seemed to be familiar to me. I used to think Sinjin was a Native American and/or a 40-something man who used to hang out on the list. When I met him in San Diego on 9-20-97, I was shocked to shake hands with "Sinjin" and find he was a young man in his 20s, with brown hair. It wasn't that I necessarily thought he was Sinjin, but looking at him reminded me of Sinjin. Weird... So I thought he had said Jason but he really said SINJIN and then I comment how weird it was of bringing him up. Then I told him I was going to Northridge in a few months to go to college and he smiles again and he goes "Oh, I just graduated from Cal State Northridge". HOW FREAKIN' WEIRD! Two strikes in a row! Now it's just getting weird. So we talk about the EDA Concert and such, and we sort of give annoyed looks when the people around us cuss each other out ("Too bad they're not Everyday Angels," I told him. "'Cause they need some Jewel in their life!"), a man complain that his wife/daughter's purse had been stolen (ironically by the girl who cussed someone else out via car), a guy shout out to his friend's from a open car window "Jewel touched my butt!" (uh, lucky her), and two girls holding their drunk friend asking where their hotel is. Sinjin gave them directions (I live there but I had never been to the venue so I didn't know it was two doors down), and I became displeased with my city. The drunk girl was a very good friend of mine in 2nd grade but we hadn't really seen each other since. I was so disappointed with how idiotic Bakersfieldians were acting; no, we aren't hicks as we are stereotyped as. We are just a bunch of people who don't know how to react when artists come to town. Of course, I really shouldn't make it a personal issue because in L.A. or San Diego, people act EXACTLY the same way when a concert is over. I just feel responsible because they were representing my current hometown. Anyway, Sinjin and I started standing in silence and we both realized we should jet. I got to my car and sped home. I told Sinjin I lived 10 miles away but it's really more like 25. Nonetheless, I got home in about 15 minutes and ran to my keyboard to write a post -- something I haven't done in ages -- titled "Jewel Has My Pen!" - -- Mark ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 26 Jun 1999 04:23:50 EDT From: MAXMOUZE@aol.com Subject: * P.S. P.S. Throughout the show, I felt disappointed in myself. I still had the journal that was once my goal, my ticket to closing my Jewel obsession, by putting it in her hands. And there was my chance and I didn't even bring it along. I no longer felt what I wrote in that journal though. Jewel was no longer my savior. But, still, couldn't I just have handed her the thing and said "Don't read this but keep it". Then it wouldn't still be sitting in my bedroom somewhere. The more I thought about it...since that was my only copy, I think I'd appreciate it more than Jewel would if she just added it to her unopened pile of gifts. I will be older and read it and have a story to tell. And, if Jewel ever meets me under a circumstance where I'm not just a fan in a room with her that she is obliged to talk to, then maybe we can have a laugh over it. Anyway, it's best that I kept it after all. It's a nice piece of moment regarding my life story. Yet it feels cursed. It's so depressing, and yet it was a realistic portrayal of who I used to be. I want to be rid of it to erase the past. P.P.S. I pulled out my "Spirit" CD and played it. I have a new appreciation for it now. P.P.S.S. I finally heard Jewel's new "Jupiter" remix. She said to call radio stations on Monday and request it. I'm sure the local station will play it since they put on her concert and it will be their way of thanking her for coming. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 26 Jun 1999 02:40:52 -0700 From: sinjin@nexgate.net (sinjin) Subject: * Review: Bakersfield, CA 06-25-99 Here is the set list for the first US concert of Steve Poltz's "Distilled Spirits" tour. "10 Chances" "I'm Just a Chair" "Everything About You" "ABC's" "Silver Lining" "Centennial Arena in Bakerfield" "Waterfalls" "I Love You, I Adore You, What Will It Take For an Encore?" "Impala" "Star Wars Song" Before Steve came out the stage was decorated with a purple velvet backdrop, a wooden stool, and a crate covered with a blanket. The crate was adorned with a hand-fan, what looked to be a small teddy bear, two wine glasses, and the centerpiece was a Barbie-like doll with a blue dress. Steve came out in a blue jacket and blue pants with a red shirt underneath and a black undershirt and black boots. For most of his set Steve was on stage alone, however he was accompanied by one or two instruments (a guitar and what I guess was a slide guitar). In addition a lucky, lovely lady from the crowd named Brandy joined Steve on stage for "ILYIAYWWITFAN". That's when he let the audience know the reason for the two wine glasses. Steve filled the glasses with a red wine and asked for one female member of the audience to join him on stage. Brandy made it on stage and quickly downed one of the glasses of wine and gave Steve a few kisses in exchange. So if you see some wine glasses on stage at his next show (and you're of legal drinking age, of course) then be prepared to quickly run on stage when Steve asks for a girl. "IJAC" was dedicated to all the chairs in the world, how sweet. "CAIB" was a little diddy he made up on the spot, as he is legendary for. The highlight of Poltz's set was "Waterfalls". He talked about how he was in love with Lisa "Left Eye" Lopez and how she burned down her boyfriend's house. The crowd was screaming when he burst into the rap part of the song. His set lasted about 40 minutes, and Steve closed with "Star Wars Song" and he got much of the audience to growl like Chewbacca during the chorus. Now on to the set list for the first US concert of Jewel's "Spirit" tour. "Near You Always" (green) "Deep Water"* (blue) "What's Simple is True"* (orange) "Hands"* (white) "Jupiter"* (orange, yellow) "You Were Meant For Me"* (red) "Enter From The East" (green, purple) "Morning Song" (yellow, purple, orange) "Cold Song" (red, purple) "Barcelona"* (fire, red, white) "Life Uncommon"* (blue) "Foolish Games" (white) "Down So Long"* (yellow, purple) "Do You"* (purple, peach) "Down"* (rainbow) "Love Me Just Leave Me Alone"* (aqua) "Who Will Save Your Soul"* (red, blue) ENCORE: "Absence of Fear" (green) "Angel Standing By" (white) END SET *with band Before Jewel came out, the purple backdrop parted to reveal a movie screen with www.jeweljk.com being promoted. Gone was Poltz's stool and crate with toys on top. Three cameras were focused on Jewel. One stage front in the center, another stage left, and the third was in front of the sound table. Her show started with a picture of Jewel as a child on the screen as Jewel began singing "NYA" a capella in the dark. As soon as the music started the lights came on and the crowd erupted. Throughout her performance each song was punctuated by a color scheme that matched the mood of the song. The colors are listed above next to each song. In addition, the three cameras were used to project a larger than life picture of Jewel on the screen behind her. Before "Jupiter", Jewel told the audience that she's remaking it and asked them to request it when the single is released. Jewel and Steve Poltz shared a mic during "YWMFM" and were almost as close as in the video. Before she sang "EFTE" Jewel requested that the audience be quite. After a few idiots stopped shouting (I guess they wanted everyone in the arena to know where the stupid people were) the arena stayed very quiet throughout most of the song. Kinda made me wish we had Dr. Evil on stage to say, "WWW dot zipp-it dot com...dot org." "Barcelona" was again one of the highlights of the show. The song started out with just a massive blast of bass from the drums. You could feel the boom throughout the song. The lighting was excellent throughout this song as it matched the mood perfectly. During the sullen parts, it looked like a fire with the red lights hitting the smoke, but during the chorus the white lights drowned out the dispair and brightened up the stage. Of course, Jewel's voice was amazing as well! And so were the musicians, especially the synth/piano solo. After "Life Uncommmon" which I really payed much attention to on the CD until hearing it live tonight, Jewel told the crowd that this was her first time in Bakersfield and got a loud crowd reaction. "Down so Long" was another great moment in the show. During the sad parts, Jewel's sullen movements coupled with the purple color created a somber feeling that contrasted with the more upbeat chorus of the song where Jewel became more animated and the lighting changed to a bright yellow. Jewel began to rock out to "Do You", shouting several of the lines. But she really hit full stride during "Down". I can't say how much I love this song! During much of the show the movie screen maintained a horse theme with overexposed pictures of horses running down cliffs, etc. But during "Down" images of a steel horse were shown. I'm talking motorcycles...Harley Davidson! Put this song on her next CD and anyone who ever said Jewel can't rock will have to smoke her tailpipe! By now the audience had already rushed the stage and people began dancing on their seats! This continued as Jewel and the band rocked through "LMJLMA". Jewel grabbed an electric guitar and jammed. The synth player keyed out an awesome 'harmonica' solo that got even Steve Poltz into it as Poltz played with the crowd by pointing to the musician. Jewel seemed to really be enjoying herself and had fun with the song screaming out, "You ain't nothing but a TURTLE NECK!" Once again the light show captured the feel perfectly. "WWSYS" was a full on scat-fest! Jewel said only about half of the actual words, the rest was scat, scat, scat. Reminiscent of the HGH show, Jewel battled the guitar with her scatting a line and the guitar matching it; then the tables were turned as Jewel had to match the notes the guitar made. It was amazing! Jewel served up an ample supply of "If the kitty gets hungry/wants milk, needs sleep/etc...it goes 'meow, meow, meow.'" This is something you have to see live! Jewel finished off by introducing the band and Steve jumped the song to a close. That ended the scheduled set. But the crowd wanted more and after some pleading she came out for an encore. A cute picture of Jewel as a child sitting at her desk was shown as she began singing "AoF". Again Jewel got the crowd silent before singing "ASB." That concluded the first stop in the American leg of the "Spirit Tour". Overall it was a great performance! Jewel's talent really showed through in "WWSYS". I've heard that song so many times and still she continues to impress me with a new variation. I think she could easily release a CD with only "WWSYS" in its many variations. One improvement I would like to see though is for Jewel to spice up the stage a little like Poltz did with his crate and toys. Just add something to make it more personal, like she did with the flowers in tours of old. Another disappointment for me was that I only met one other EDA, I hope to see more of you in San Diego. On a sad note, I did talk to two locals and they both told me that a young boy was buried today who drowned in the fountain outside the Centennial Arena. I said a prayer for the family of the boy while waiting by the fountain. Just the lifeguard in me I guess, I hate to hear about senseless drownings. This was the second one in a week for me. ------------------------------ End of jewel-digest V4 #351 ***************************