Set 1
Cubano Chant (Band Only)
Aja
Time Out of Mind
Godwacker
Caves of Altamira
Black Cow
Babylon Sisters
Slang of Ages (Walter)
Band Intro
Peg
Home At Last
Set 2
Steely Dan Show
Janie Runaway (segue into)
Hey 19
Haitian Divorce (Walter Sings)
Lunch With Gina
Everything Must Go
Parker's Band (Back up Singers do lead)
Josie
Kid Charlemagne
Don't Take Me Alive
Encore
My Old School
FM
Dateline: 3:30P Friday September 12th, 2003.
Here I am, NYC at the Novetel, waiting for the big moment to arrive. When I arrived in NYC I immediately went to the Roseland Ballroom to find out what was going on. I spoke to security and asked when the soundcheck would be and found out that the load in was not yet complete. I decided to walk over 1 block to 53rd and see what I could see and low and behold, the guy was right. There were doors and people and stuff going in and out. There was also a building right across the street, getting cement hoisted way up to the top and I decided to not hang around for long. There was also a bouncer type dude back there who I really didn't want to mess with. So I returned to the Novetel (I had scouted it out earlier). Nice balcony overlooking the street. Pete Fogel was right on. Oh, I did ask for a SD poster at the Roseland Box Office and the woman doing Will Call said they did not have any extra. Damn.
It is now 3:45P and I went out onto the terrace and people with Steely Dan tee shirts came out. I asked and found out it was Lucky Henry and his wife. We talked for a few minutes and he mentioned that he had listened to the sound check at the back doors back in 95. So when they decided to go off in search of some dinner, I decided to brave big and burly and walked back over to 53rd street. I got there in time to see the back door of Roseland actually open. I stepped into the doorway and saw that it was just behind the stage on the far right. People were doing the check, check microphone stuff. In retrospect, I figured out it must have been the sound guys. Big and burly decided to make an appearance at that point and I got put behind a barrier. Almost immediately, Keith Carlock came up to the door and he had to pull out his identification, before B & B would let him in. A minute or two later, along comes Walter walking down 53rd talking on his cell phone. As he came to the door, I managed to catch a picture of him.
A much better open then at Paso Robles, the bass was a bit high in the mix, but the band had no problems at all. You could tell that they were feeding from the frenzy that was the audience and everyone was trying his hardest to please and amaze. Carlock owns Aja's drums and Herington manages to do almost all the guitar parts on his own. Walter is there, but most of the work was Herrington, from what I could see. Then on to Time Out of Mind. For me, the funniest part was everyone trying to hold the mystical sphere. Us and the background singers. It made me laugh.
Godwacker. Donald using the Melodica for this tune, though still not as complex as in the CD. The good part was that I heard real improvement on the horns. I remember hearing it going no where fast, the first time around. This time the horns had their act together and were definitely taking it on the road, during the bridge/trading 4's part. I still wish Donald and Walter would do it, but this has evolved into quite a nice piece of work. On to Caves of Altamira. This song did nothing for me at Paso Robles and I was real impressed with the improvement tonight. Donald's voice doing the song justice, considering it was written back in the Brill Building days. I expected to see some cave paintings on the background, but that didn't seem to be the case. Black Cow up next and during the sound check Donald had done the "Uptown Baby" open and I was kind of wondering if he was going to do that tonight, but no, he sang it straight. The Victor Feldman part is always my favorite and tonight didn't disappoint. Babylon Sisters was another song that I did not see them do on this tour, so it was nice to hear. The band is doing it even better then I saw it on the Plush and the girls were really into it. So was the audience, we would shout the line about "you've got to shake it baby" along with them. Nice work. Walter gets introduced and did Slang of Ages without any substitutions that I could hear. Of course the fact that my part of the audience was singing along, may have had something to do with that. No slang me at the end. Damn.
Band introductions focused on the fact that they are all from the NYC area, minus Cynthia. It was very hot music during the intros and much better then I remember. Peg came up next and Jon Herrington does his magic, Carlock does a masterful version of Rick Marotta on drums. Finally Home at Last ended the first set. Being that Bernard Purdie will be performing Saturday at Le Bar Bat, I almost expected him to turn up as guest Drummer on this tune that carries his Purdie Shuffle. We were out of part 1 and not a minute too soon.
It was boiling on the floor and we were just right up against each other. I decided to get a beer and cool off a bit, knowing that it was going to be a challenge to get back to the front. I actually found a seat on the side and sat for about 5 minutes to give my feet a rest and then decided to get back. Thank goodness for Ed Beatty being so tall. I used him as a compass and told the people I was trying to squeeze past, that he was my husband. When I got to the front I kidded him and told him what I did and he yells out at the crowd that he is not my husband. It was just too funny. We talked a bit more and then on came the band for part 2. Someone gave Cynthia an Aja scarf, I thought it was Danfiend. Cynthia seemed real touched.
On to The Steely Dan Show (with lyrics). I had lots of fun singing this, since the words were not projected in Paso Robles and then we had Donald and Walter back and we went off into the Jail bait medley of Janey Runaway and Hey 19. Donald does indeed give the audience a chance to sing on this tune. It was fun. Back into the Walter version of Haitian Divorce and that film was a riot. Definitely added to the feeling of the song. Yes, Herington did great on guitar for that tune. I felt they did better then what I heard at Paso Robles. Walter more at home with the sound and Herington had the wa-wa's right.
The band broke into Lunch with Gina and it was just perfect, like the album. The waiter never comes? Not in this case and they audience appreciated the change. Then, OMG, it was EMG itself. Carlock working those drums on the open and just feeding on the fact that we went wild when we heard the opening chords of that song. We knew we lost TIMTM, but what a substitution, 2 tunes!!!!! It was well worth it and a wonderful song. Walt Weiskopf did the sax right on (like I expected anything else from him). The girls did Parker's Band and how appropriate was it that 52nd Street's the junction. A wonderful dancing tune.
Next up was a beautiful piano piece that Cara Mia swore was Maxine but off we went into Josie. Tom Barney's bass work was excellent and Carlock was indeed on fire in all senses of the word. During Keith's drum solo, Donald grabs his Coke can and disappears from our view. When he returned, the can was gone. Hmmmm, they didn't want it around to end up on Ebay, perhaps? :-)
I commented that we were now kicking into overdrive and yes, here came Kid Charlemagne.
Herington feeding off the frenzy from the crowd, kicked it up a notch and then brought it even higher with my favorite song, Don't take me Alive. Watched Mr. Tom Barney as he did a wonderful version of the bassline on that song. I couldn't see him well this time, but it was more then I could see him at Paso Robles, so it was a real treat to catch some of his work, especially some of the Rainey stuff. Of course, I yelled for the infamous Luckless Pedestrian.
End of show and the crowd wanted more and of course, we got it. My Old School and Herington still working hard. Audience appreciates the effort. Donald makes the comment about "we have time for..." and a bunch of us go 2 more. He looked a bit confused and then said "1 more". Well, we tried. FM is done beautifully and we applaud as the band leaves the stage.
I picked up my stuff, lose Ed and gang and made my way over to Le Bar Bat. My feet by this time were dying and I took a table down below and got a soda. The place was packed! I finally got up the energy to go upstairs and someone points me over to a table in the back and there are the missing Ed Beatty with such people as Aussie and Utah, YGK and Lisa G, Andy Metzger, Dan Fiend. Others around the area are Cara Mia, Pete and Shari, Hoops and Moonflower, Hat too Flat and Mr. Sam and Lady Bayside. Also around are Tom Barney, Cynthia Calhoun and Jon Herington. I manage to speak to each of them and they are all incredibly nice people. I was getting tired and worried about catching a taxi out of there and I finally decided to cut my losses at 2:30P and take the taxi earlier, rather then in an hour or so. That ended up being the right thing to do, because I stuck my hand out to try to call a taxi and none of them stopped. Then Jon Herington moved out into the middle of the street, right in front of me and stuck his hand out. I kiddingly joked that he was trying to steal my taxi and at that moment a taxi stops. I guess because I am such an non New York wimp and he is a NYC expert. He graciously opens the door and informs me that here is my taxi. I was so charmed and impressed and grateful that this piece of unknown business was finally taken care of, that I climbed in and off I went. The rain that held off all night, finally appeared when I got to Kennedy Airport. I could not have asked for better. I stayed in terminal 4 until the other terminals opened up and flew back to LA, a tired but happy traveler. Thanks to all who made it a true night to remember.
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A poem from Wormy....
angel
an angel descended and hailed a cab
a six string wonder beckoned jestures graceful
a memory instill that night
