From: owner-rockford-files-digest@smoe.org (The Rockford Files) To: rockford-files-digest@smoe.org Subject: The Rockford Files V1 #136 Reply-To: rockford-files@smoe.org Sender: owner-rockford-files-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-rockford-files-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk The Rockford Files Thursday, May 28 1998 Volume 01 : Number 136 Today's Filings: ----------------- Grand Rapids Sandi Shorter Rocks My World!!! the time is nigh! Orgasmic! Little Ben-tent, lots of Daily Show sadness..... too many bruises via grand rapids ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 27 May 1998 03:33:09 -0400 From: Kristin Klevering Subject: Grand Rapids I just got back from the show, so forgive me from any incoherent rantings. I'ts way too late. The Orbit Room had a balcony, so I went up there and found some front row seats (there was seating in the balcony, the main floor was with no seating). I was up there with my date, and with Kara and her friend, who I met earlier at a studio session with BFF. When the band started playing, Kara and I got up and started dancing. The people in the balcony preferred to sit - what was wrong with these people? - - so we went to the aisle to dance for the whole show, being polite. There was some mashing and crowd surfing going on on the main floor, so we were glad to have dancing space without dealing with all of that. If anyone saw, I was wearing my "Kiss My Ass" t-shirt. Sure, I didn't have close view of the band's facial expressions, but being a short girl, I was happy as hell to have dancing room and an un-obstructed view of the whole band from the balcony. It was great. Ben took off his shirt to change it and the crowd went crazy (and I screamed, as well). He even stood on his piano to sing during "Steven's" and it was the first time I'd seen that (this was my fifth show)! He asked the crowd to pray for his Steinway, as it's being repaired, and that he was playing on his Baldwin tonight. So let's all of us keep his Steinway in our prayers. There was an extended verison of "Freebird" played, as well as a guitar verison (no piano - Ben asked for a guitar earlier in the show) of Jackson Cannery! I liked it better than the piano version, although it may have been from the excitement of hearing Ben play guitar for the first time live! They also did the full version of "Undergroud", but there was no clear hearing of the dreaded line tha the crowd shouts out. Bummer, for me. The "Jackson Cannery" was the encore, and the only encore song. But it was worth it. Better than any two songs that they could have played without during a regular encore. My date saw me get crazier than I normally do at BFF shows, and he still really likes me. In fact, he finally joined us in dancing in the aisles (as did a handful of people - why not more is my question) for the last few songs. I want to say thanks to Eric for being such a sport during the drive up there with no air conditioning on such a hot day, and that I'm sorry I stepped on his feet when he was trying to dance with me. I'm such a klutz! Later - Kristin ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 27 May 1998 09:17:32 -0400 (EDT) From: Eric Patton Subject: Sandi Shorter Rocks My World!!! As if you people didn't already know this, but I still had to let you know. Sandi completely kicks ass, and here's why. Went to the show at the Orbit room in Grand Rapids, Mi. last night with our very own fellow Fjordian, Kristin Klevering, her boyfriend (who completely kicks ass, byt the way. Tell him I said so, Kristin,) my ex-girlfriend (couldn't tell she was an ex, could ya? ;> ) and my ever lovin' self. We got there, and I quickly determined that Grand Rapids is where strip malls go to die, so they can be in peace with all the rest of their relatives. We enter the place, and it's a cool setup. The place used to be a movie theater, so I liked it already. Sat around for a while, looking for other Fjordians, Amanda in particular, who I was majorly bummed that I missed. Anyway, Superdrag, the supposed opening act, bailed last minute, so some local band called the Zero Product showed up instead. They were okay, nothing musically special. One must give props to the drummer, who was performing through an attack of what appeared to be constipation and Tourette's Syndrome. The crowd, now starting to get bothersomely drunk and assholish, starts pushing up, wobbling around, and generally annoying the people who came to see Ben. Sandi, showing she's a bigger hard-ass than I can ever dream to be, threw beer on the people to get them to calm down. Then, when they started up again later, she threw the other cup at them. One of the benefits of two fisted driking. ;) Anyway, then the Boys made their appearance. I'm not going to go through the set list, but let me make one point clear. It's been said before, by many a person, but let it be said again: one does NOT MOSH to Ben Folds Five. Now, for a couple songs, I could see it. Bad Idea, and maybe OAD, but not Fair, and Eddie Walker. If the people doing this are your friends, stop them. I was a step away from starting my Jyhad against the Stupid on that dance floor last night. Other than that, the concert was a blast. They didn't play Air, which I wanted to hear, or Brick, which I didn't, but they did do a kick ass Discordant version of Freebird, with a little Snoop Doggy Dog thrown in for good measure. And one of the most wrong things I'ver ever heard came on after they did Jackson Cannery as their closer (Ben played guitar for it, and it just rocked.) There is a techno version of Brick out, ladies and gents, and oddly enough, I enjoyed it a lot. I started swinging with my ex, with Kristin, with other friends who came, and I had a ball. Most fun song about abortion I've heard. ;) Anyway, enough outta me. Laters all! ERIC _______________________________________________________________________________ "Love is a fountain, Gryphon, a well -- a great many people can drink from it, and none detracts from any other's helping." -Asrial Arconan _______________________________________________________________________________ ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 27 May 1998 15:02:27 EDT From: F2G2@aol.com Subject: the time is nigh! with the ominous words, "the scene is a-changin," i believe we can all feel a chill down to the very base of our spines. so what do we do from here, you ask, fear in your eyes and a tremor in your voice. the time has come, ladies and gentlemen, to unite. it is time for all the hardcore, old skool bf5 fans to go paramilitary. canned goods, lots of guns and knives and ammunition, camo gear (i get the helmet that says "born to kill"), some explosives, hunting and trapping gear, etc etc etc. and not to be piggish, but we will need many women of child- bearing age to accompany us to insure the further growth of our new nation. we shall, in our first documented move, declare ourselves free of taxes. then, the fl and i shall go out to shoot nine and discuss the possible repercussions of our actions. we must rise up against the forces of mainstream evil (ie collective soul/matchbox 20/etc etc fans) and strike now! as they are painting their nails in garishly ugly colors that they see the 'cool kids' wearing, we must smite our enemies! now is the time! are you with me? matthew ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 27 May 1998 17:17:41 -0400 From: Amanda McClintock Subject: Orgasmic! Well kids I am just now recovering from a close to orgasmic concert last night. For all of you who have been saying the boys seemed down and out at your shows I give you a condolence hug and say I am truly sorry. (NOT sarcastically) For the BFF gods smiled down upon me Tuesday night and gave me one hell of a show. Okay, I am sure that being at the barracade directly infront of Robert added to the posibility of having a fantastic time but still. They played everything I could have ever wanted to hear. (Set list if I can remember right went SOMETHING like: Pyser, Battle, Philosophy, Emaline, Fair, Last Polka, Evaporated, Stevens, Alice, One angry dwarf, Underground (with small disco diva, Jackson Cannery, Eddie Walker, and to close song for the dumped - Now I know the order isn't right but I think I got all the songs) And yes Robert did sing Disco Diva just for me, I was screaming it at him all night, and right before his line in Underground I did it again, he looked at me winked the looked over to Ben who shrugged and started in on the piano part, but it was short, and also TOOOOO sweet! At the end of one angry dwarf Robert threw his bass guitar pick at me (SWOON!), and I would have to say one of the highlights was ben sneering (comidically) at all the people crowd serfing over the barracade during Steven's. ~"I think Steven was mad.." - leaning over a drunk guy sauntering to the left of the stage after surfing.~ But the one thing that I think may have made this one pretty unique concert was the fact that Ben requested a guitar and actually jammed out Jackson connery ala pick! Has anyone else been to a show where Ben goes ape shyt on a six string? He was complete with sunglasses and all. Well let me know either way, but it was quite a sight to see Ben up front saoking in the screams. At one point during Song for the Dumped Darren knocked his drum stool off his platform and just kept banging away standing up! (As a fellow drummer I went nuts at this!!! :) So in short I still can't whipe the smile off my face! So for Eric, and Kristin, even though I couldn't find you, we were together in spirit!!! Now I take off tomorrow for California to visit family and my best pal who is an intern on Judge Judy. So I will be gone for about two weeks! Don't talk to much about me while I am gone! Luv Ya! Amanda ~BUY THE NEW JEFF BUCKLEY~ (I am serious, it will blow your mind!) ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 27 May 1998 17:35:14 -0400 From: spencerc@usit.net (Spencer Corden) Subject: Little Ben-tent, lots of Daily Show sadness..... Ben-tent: Selfless, Cold, and Composed is in F#, and Alice Childress is in the key of B. Also, personal experience has taught me that tossing a wooden piano bench at the keys of my Steinway grand is not as effective as launching a cushy drum stool like Ben does. Time to call the piano tuner. Daily Show sadness: It's true, kids. Craiggers is leaving the Daily Show. First Seinfeld leaves my Thursdays wide open, and then this. Bummer. Some intersting URL's about the situation...... http://www.cableace.com/nontelevised/host.html http://NY.State.org/Auburn/homepages/people/killerinfo94.html I found the latter URL to be a personal page, but has some wickedly hilarious quotes from when Kilborn was at the 2:30 a.m. anchor position at ESPN. Two of my faves include: "It's all part of spring tradition. The flowers bloom, Stallone puts out a bad movie, and the Sonics lose in the first round" (About 3/4 of the way through the NBA season) "Benoit Benjamin for two...Hey everybody, Benoit has now scored in TEN consecutive SEASONS." If you go into a panic and need counseling, feel free to give me a call. I'll leave my answering machine on. Spencer ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 27 May 1998 22:06:09 EDT From: Sandibrady@aol.com Subject: too many bruises via grand rapids i have returned from my 3 weeks of *touring* and am covered in bruises after the mess in grand rapids last night...majorly annoying crowd who thought crowd surfing and pushing make a ben folds five show more enjoyable. gotta love those michigan crowds. it's a sad day when i return from a bf5 show with more bruises than i got when i took my brother to see pantera and we ran around in the mosh pit all night. i never thought i'd say this, but i am really looking forward to the 2 beck shows i'll be seeing....at least with seats it will be hard for all the idiots to crush me to death. as for the show, it would have been great if we had been able to watch it instead of always having to duck down when the crowd surfers got passed over the barracade. i must give a big thank you to *the girl* who punched that fat ass blonde in the face after kicking us in the head 3 times. i am typically not a violent person, but i must say, it was necessary at this show. if this is what the crowds are going to continue to be like, i don't think i have the desire to see any more, much less be right up front... it was my 30th bf5 show and the worst crowd yet... and i'm not knocking the band, but they didn't seem concerned for the well being of the crowd at all. i know it's hard to say something, but if phil anselmo (lead singer of pantera) can say 'hey, you guys need to watch out for one another' during a big arena show, i think ben could say a few words in a measley club. (for that matter, even jakob dylan says a few words when he sees things getting out of control and people getting hurt, when they were first starting out in small clubs and just this year in the arenas...) i'm not saying that something should be said whenever there's crowd surfing going on or whatever, but when things are out of control and people are getting hurt, it would be nice. **don't send me nasty email in reference to this post because i don't care if you disagree** sandi ------------------------------ End of The Rockford Files V1 #136 *********************************