From: owner-shindell-list-digest@smoe.org (shindell-list-digest) To: shindell-list-digest@smoe.org Subject: shindell-list-digest V12 #100 Reply-To: shindell-list@smoe.org Sender: owner-shindell-list-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-shindell-list-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk shindell-list-digest Friday, January 6 2012 Volume 12 : Number 100 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [RS] Pittsburgh Show [Pete Jameson ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 6 Jan 2012 00:56:07 -0500 From: Pete Jameson Subject: [RS] Pittsburgh Show I must begin by thanking Carol for encouraging me to go tonight...we made it to the city in record time (catching greens lights all the way)...we vowed to make it a "cheap date" (2 kids in college next fall) $50 for 2 tix & $14 for two gyros at the local Greek joint -- a treat for us country dwellers...Club Cafe is very small, with a black velvet ceiling dotted with starry lites -- actually an ideal place to hear folk music, though perhaps 25% were without seats. Richard was in excellent humour tonite, the crowd was, dare I say, rapt...and it was genuinely moving to hear some of our old favourites and, yes, many were re-worked, or at least he played them in different tunings...I'll follow with the set list, but here are a few standout moments. At a show a few years back, Richard's son was in attendance, as he was studying at the University of Pittsburgh at the time. Tonight, one of the audience members asked if his son had graduated. "Well, no, he decided he wanted to go to a sunny place. So he moved to an island in the Phillipines, where he lives by a blue lagoon and surfs and eats coconuts. I tried to talk him out of it, to no avail," Richard related with resignation (alliteration unintended). Now, if anyone else in the troubadour game had offered this from the stage it would have been met with skepticism and anticipation of a punch line. But the son of the man who splits his time between Buenos Aires and the Pampas of Argentina? Seems perfectly natural, don't you think? As parents of a 19 year old in college, it gave me pause, but all is right with our Paddy boy for now... "Your Guitar" blew me away -- it's a love song to the guitar, with Richard equating his newly-acquired instrument with a newfound love...I had seen the "Shed" clip of it on youtube, but tonite it really pulled me in and made me appreciate anew the brilliance of RS' songcraft (I love that he pays homage to "Red River Valley" & "Shenandoah")...I first saw him in the year that Sparrows Point was released (cognoscenti need not look it up) and have seen him as often as has been reasonable (and a few unreasonable treks as well) since we, too, left New York in 1998,..there's a warmth to his songs and when performed live the love with which he nurtures them evinces his genius...I remember Ann Powers of the Times called him a "lapidary craftsman", and i've since imagined him fighting the good (internal) fight ad nauseam to deliver the songs he sees fit to record-- probably why we don't see new batches of 10 songs as often as we'd prefer... Finally, he told a funny story about a recent party at their place outside Encenita, Argentina -- far enough south that you can see the southern cross...he proudly told of how he'd sat our on the porch with friends and helped them locate the constellation...so last week their friend Juana Molina ("You know her, right? No? She's amazing") was out enjoying the night sky and Richard remarked about the beauty of the southern cross..."Falsa cruz?" she queried him. "Falsa cruz?" he replied. "Si, es la falsa cruz...alli esta la vera cruz!!" Turns out our expat had been showing all his visitors the "other" southern cross -- smaller in size and unknown to much of the world outside sailors and residents below the 40th parallel... But enough of my late nite prattling...thanks for keeping the Shin-dig a diggable feast! 1. Balloon Man 2. You Stay Here 3. Transit (the earliest I'd ever seen him play it) 4. Kenworth of My Dreams (Bridey fave) 5. Last Fare of the Day 6. Your Guitar 7. Ballad of Mary Magdalene (request) 8. Satellites 9. Love in Vain (Robert Johnson cover -- he recently learned - probably first public RS reading) 10. Get Up Clara (request) 11. Mariana's Table (prefaced by Southern Cross anecdote) 12. Courier 13. Are You Happy Now? (request) 14. Arrowhead 15. Reunion Hill (request) 16. There Goes Mavis 17. Fishing (Encore by request) P.S. As he passed us on the way to the stage, I gave Richard a copy of the new Guy Clark tribute record "This One's for Him" -- it's an amazing 2-disc collection of astounding songs brought to new life by an equally astounding cast of interpreters: Willie, Patty Griffin, Jerry Jeff, Kristofersson, aw, shit, just buy it! Also bought the new 13 Songs You May or May Not Have Heard Before -- after one listen the best reworking was "Fenario"...Slainte! Pedro in PA ------------------------------ End of shindell-list-digest V12 #100 ************************************