| GBS in Harrisburg, PA |
| Jack Hinks was introduced with “Are you ready to rock?” Somehow, I never considered it a rock song. Bob sure looks like he's rockin' out, though! |
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| After Jack Hinks we were treated to a funny account of the memories of traveling folk-rock musicians, thanks to Alan.
“I woke up this morning after coming in from Toronto. I thought we were in Harrisonburg, Virginia. We’ve played in Harrisonburg, Virginia before. It’s a very small town tucked up in the mountains. What a surprise when I went out the bus door to walk around the town, as I always do. It didn’t seem like the mountain town I was expecting. It was bigger, there was a river valley and it had a building that looked like the State Capital buildings we've seen here in the States. I walked around, found a lovely river trail but nothing was familiar. When I got back on the bus I asked Bob if we had been here before, ‘cause he remembers these things. Bob said yes we played here, but I was confused, and I’m still confused. There is a lovely river and a State Building here. Have we ever played here before?” I shook my head no and said, “No, you played in Lancaster at the Chameleon!” Alan continued, “I remember there was a hurricane. I thought I’d ask if we’d been here before and I just didn’t remember.” “No!” I yelled again. “The Chameleon was in Lancaster! You were in Lancaster, not here. I know! I was there!” Alan looked at me. “We didn’t play here? I thought I would have remembered all the Irish Pubs and Italian Restaurants! You mean Bob is wrong?????? Bob’s never wrong!” Séan came back with a comment almost under the radar because everyone was laughing. " Bob can’t be wrong. He’s never wrong. He must’ve been high that night." Walk on the Moon was next and the melody was ably sung by the songwriter (Alan). I listened hard to the lyrics. Pretty good lyrics if you ask me! It seemed that Bob was still trying to figure out what to play on the fiddle for the song. He really seemed to be concentrating hard. I’m really glad to see the fiddle out for the originals. That was something I truly missed on Something Beautiful*. Séan filled the time as Alan took a swig of water – “That was great Alan! Maybe we should save this next song for later though. It’s nasty! We should wait till we’re in Harrisonburg!” Cue much laughter. But Alan apparently wasn’t ready for the next song. He was examining a HUGE Hershey Bar someone gave him. I feel a bit like that dude who shrank and then was a giant. I forget his name, but he went to Lilliput?” The audience yelled “Gulliver!” “Yeah that’s the dude! Gulliver! I feel a bit like Gulliver today. I’ve seen the world’s biggest Hershey Bar and the world’s smallest camera. And it’s only 8:30! If I eat it will I shrink and be dwarfed by chocolate?” |
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| That was Séan’s cue to steal the Hershey Bar and open it, taking a big bite. His guitar lay haphazardly on the stage. |
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| He didn’t shrink but an unnamed teacher in our row asked in a loud voice,“Did you bring enough to share with the whole class?” (She works with little kids so she knows it’s important to have enough.) With a glance at Alan, he did hand it off to someone in the front row and everyone took a piece off it, passed it to the next row and the audience celebrated a chocolate communion with the band. Bob was actually getting a big kick out of the whole scenario. He grinned and laughed the whole time. Doesn't Séan look like a little kid who has no intention of sharing? |
| It must have been good 'cause he tried to stuff it in his jacket pocket. Of course it wouldn't fit. He didn't look like he was going to give it back to Alan. |
| The conversation had gone on long enough though as Alan commented, “We’d better sing some songs, Bob will be pissed!” Bob tapped his watch and all of a sudden looked impatient. And Séan stepped up to the mic to announce, “We’re in Pennsylvania!” |
| Believe it or not, THAT was the introduction to Paddy Murphy! Kris at one point here ended up playing drums on Séan ’s guitar! After the song came the intros of the band members. Alan teased Kris and Murray saying how Murray was really great and then adding “MacFarland? Not so much.” Apparently he had seen the movie Borat and this is a running gag line through the movie. It would resurface several more times this evening n the banter. |
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| Photo by helenwheels |