| GBS at Town Hall |
| Tishialuk Girls/Billy Peddle doubled the enjoyment of the Murray’s stand-up bass. I love the darkened stage and the haunting strains of that Low D whistle. Sends chills down my spine every time.
Alan introed Bob afterwards as “a St. John’s whistle player.” Sean added, “Bob is sexy!” (Bob smiled broadly and nodded his head) Sean continued, “I’d like to take a bath with Bob between sets one and two. We could watch Brokeback Mountain.” b c Bob looked a little shocked, smiled broadly and shook his head as he goes back to pick up his fiddle for the next song. Alan introduced Kris as “the man who has the worst seat in the house, looking at our arses. He plays drums, bongos…everything!” (Alan proceeded to point to each of the items in Kris’s percussion section and Kris played each one.) Then it was time for another song. As soon as Alan mentioned horses falling thru ice, I knew that Concerning Charlie Horse was next. He was funny – he explained that there were actually many songs about horse falling thru ice and everyone in Newfoundland could sing a few, and that this kind of thing frequently occurred in the logging country. Then he explained about Shave being a proper noun and not a verb in this song. “I don’t know,” he said, looking thoughtful. “There are hundreds of these songs about horses falling thru ice. If I heard all these songs I certainly would do something about it, do something differently. I’d never let it happen again! But this is the story about the Last Rites for Charlie. Can I get an Amen?” Cue crowd yelling “A-MEN!!!” Concerning Charlie Horse ripped past in no time with the fiddle part still evolving. I love the fiddle as Bob’s choice of instrument here and everyone on stage was bouncing dancing, roaming, smiling, excited. They were happy to be here in New York City. Sean took up the intro for the next song. “This is a song for the ladies,” he began. 'The ladies…ah yes! I’m on a bus with 10 guys and it smells like feet. Stinky, dirty feet. 10 guys with stinky feet.” “Hey man! We’re standing right here! And you’re gonna talk about us?” Said Alan, looking hurt. “Well, I love ya, man. I’d drag your dead body out of the ice the next Spring if you fell in,” said Sean with a straight face. I think Alan spit out his water here and looked incredulously at Sean. “You’d wait till the Spring????????” “Yeah,” Sean continued without batting an eyelash, “and I’d write a song about it and make millions off of it. I’d even shave your ass! And speaking of waxing…” Here, Sean stopped dead cold, moving his mouth as though he was going to say something but not uttering a word. He did this several times as Alan was chortling, “I gotta hear this. Listen to this segue!” laughed Alan, tapping his foot and looking expectantly at Sean. Sean finally came up with – "Waxing...This next song is a very clean song, very smooth…” While Alan began to strum his guitar, Sean continued, “There is no forking in this song, just spooning. Spoon, watch Law & Order, just perfect for this band!” Rover was thoroughly enjoyable with Bob having a great time dancing and doing a little head-banging thing with Alan. The Rover was Bob tonight, and the maiden let him in. He was very happy with that turn of events. |
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| New York, New York!
I think I can safely and truthfully say that this was the best GBS show I have ever seen to this point. I thought last night's was, but this had a little extra energy I think. It was more than the music. The music itself wasn’t perfect but it sure was played with enthusiasm and energy. The crowd was the catalyst. The audience’s energy brought an otherwise wonderful show to a level beyond exquisite. The b’ys on stage took that energy from the audience and quadrupled it. It didn’t begin so wildly. Our drive from the hotel in Northampton was uneventful, no big disasters. Amanda, Columbine and I pulled into NYC about 3:30, found a parking lot near the venue, and walked in the downpour to St. Andrew’s – a bar where the waiters are kilted and heavily accented. Columbine introduced me to my first Strongbow. Good stuff! We sat, admired the kilts and chatted for an hour or more and then swam our way over to Connolly’s for supper. I saw Lynda and Mpulse and friend at Connolly’s a few tables over. It was fun to meet Teej and Katie for the first time there and equally great to see Michele and Endi again. Michele is the goddess who got our more than adequate tickets. I bow in her general direction. I would have groveled at her feet during supper had I realized exactly where our tickets would seat us – second row, right in front of Alan. It was way too close for me to be taking photos. I felt like I'd be violating them or something. So no photos. Words will have to suffice. Lordog from the OKP was sitting right in front of us and I know he was able to take photos. Maybe he’ll share. They had seen GBS on their home turf in the fall of 2005. Columbine was a few rows behind me, and Amanda was front row, stage Sean/Bob. Cheryl and Howard were over on Amanda’s side, too. Marie and Barry, two Great Big virgins, were seeing the boys respectively for the second and first time. Marie had seen them when no one knew who they were and hadn’t realized they’d been back to NYC many other times. Columbine and I told Barry he was in for a real treat! |
| Love the Great Big Sea intro and they took their time coming out after the music began to play. But once they hit the stage and the lights went on, there was no stopping this train! Captain Kidd gets everyone in the mood for the dancing and wildness later. There were some people who never did stand up at the show, but they sure looked happy to be there and most of them clapped their hands sore. Donkey Riding didn't allow anyone to rest as every who was up already danced some more and some of the sitting ones got up and danced, too. |
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| Jack Hinks’ middle accordion part got Bob a big cheer when he was finished and the band got a great cheer when they wrapped up the song.
The audience was obviously in love with them and sooooooooo excited to be there. The band smiled all over the place and seemed to feel the love. “This is our last concert. The band is breaking up. We’ve peaked, that’s it,” teased Alan. He went on to say, “Charlotte will be expecting the energetic GBS but will get *in a whispered tone *, “How’s it going?” * Holds head as if having a hangover * “The first set tonight is a whole bunch of folk songs from Newfoundland and Labrador. At intermission, get water, read a magazine, chat, rest up for the second set.” Sean butted in here to introduce Sweet Forget Me Not. Even though it’s officially Graceful and Charming on the CD, he’s been calling it by its correct name for the last few shows I’ve seen. He explained that the flower was a popular one in Newfoundland. When he explained that his grandfather had captured his grandmother with the song and they had been married for 62 years, everyone was prepared to go “Aw!!!!!” but Sean added, “Then he ran away with a waitress. She was from New York City.” |
| What a lovely Murray solo for this song! He really was quite expressive on the stand-up bass. After the song, which got wild applause for Sean, Alan introduced Murray (“He’s not bad!”), who got almost the same amount of applause as Sean. “That’s enough applause for Foster,” Alan quipped. |
| All photos by Michele Thanks for allowing me to use |