My dad has a Ray Charles album he bought while in college. It's called RAY CHARLES IN CONCERT, and includes an ear-splitting, thundrous, grab-you-by-the-balls version of "What'd I Say." At the end of the record you hear Ray's announcer: "Watta show! Ray Charles! The great Ray Charles! The High Priest! Watta show! Watta show!"
Whatta show.
Picked up Cynthia at the airport, and then she, Tonya & Johnathon went to Gordon Biersch for the San Jose get together. There we met Carol and Nicole, two very nice Bruce fans, and a mother/daughter team to boot. It was particulartly nice to meet them, as I'd bought Tonya &Johnathon's tickets from Carol, after she posted on LTD.
Here's a tip for anybody buying tickets from some one on the 'net: pay the extra $10 and have them overnighted. Carol sent the tickets to T&J via USPS "certified," which apparently is a synonym for "by camel." The tickets took a full five days to go 100 miles. I was bit antsy toward the end of the week, but Johnathon got them on Friday. Whew.
Nikki has a great satin jacket, on the back of which she HAND PAINTED a replica of the GREETINGS logo, including the townscape within the letters. It was signed by Bruce at one point, too! She says she's not painter or artist by any means, but that it was simply a labor of love.
The concert:
Bruce was very energetic tonight, and took delight and great pains in setting
up each song. Some of the stories were real gems. For the first time on
Andrew's Oddyssey, he opened with his own "Ghost of Tom Joad":
Ghost of Tom Joad
Floods of people were still coming into the San Jose State Event Center
(basically a basketball arena at SJSU). Slightly annoying, particularly
when the usher planted his butt in front my face while directing people
to their seats. Bruce seemed a bit rusty on this one, and faltered here
and there on the harmonica bits.
Adam Raised A Cain
Straight TIme
Highway 29
I noticed Bruce's different styles of playing his acoustics - this song
is played with a delicate classical style of fingering, many fingers strumming.
Darkness On The Edge Of Town
A bit about Cynthia here. She's an old-time Bruce fan, and has seen him
many many times over the years. Apparently her mother played Bruce's records
incessantly when Cynthia was a child, and took her to concerts. Her mother
now proudly tells a story of Cynthia at age 7 scampering through the house
saying, "madman bummer strummers in the indian summer with a teenage
diplomat..." Just before Bruce tore into Darkness, I leaned over and
said, "You're going to like this." I glanced over during the song;
sure enough, she was wearing a Cheshire grin and bobbing up and down. An
old-time fan in the groove with The Man, digging the "new" Darkness.
Johnny 99
New musical intro! Bruce tore into the guitar with a staccato strumming,
and my jaw hit the floor. New song? No... wait... I'm picking up a Bo Diddley
beat. NOT FADE AWAY? COULD IT BE? Then he kicks into "Johnny 99",
forever one of my favorite songs. As the song ends the arena explodes in
applause.
Some guy in the back yells, "I miss you Sherry." Guess what bub, she's probably taking "Red Headed Woman" to heart tonight... with somebody else.
Mansion On The Hill - Hypnotic.
The Wish
Bruce's mom was in the audience tonight, and he took great care in setting
up the song. This was very special, because we knew during the whole song
that he was singing it *to her.* At the end he said, "Love ya Ma!"
Red Headed Woman
A bit about Tonya here. You see, Tonya is a redhead. Not one of those pretenders
with rusty brown, or a snooty "auburn," mind you. No, this lady
has bright flaming orange, in-your-face long curly RED hair. She also blushes
to a lovely tomato shade. Alas, our seats where around the corner, in different
sections, so I couldn't see her reactions to this song. However, I'd bet
dollars to doughnuts that Johnathon was giggling hysterically.
Talking about switching from "The Wish" to "Red Headed Woman",
Bruce says "We'll just skip the Fruedian implications of going from
one song to the other."
SHUT OUT THE LIGHT
Yowza. I've heard about this song. Finally I hear it. Such stark language,
the expression of the vet's confusion. I particularly like how the narrative
switches between the first and third persons.
Born in the USA
I'd warned Cynthia about this one, but I only said "blues, slide guitar."
After the first riff of blues chords, she says "Dang." A couple
of verses in, "Jesus." After I looked over and she was sitting,
open mouthed, speechless. After a minute she says "That was downright
haunting."
Brothers Under The Bridges
Dry Lightning
One of the better performances so far. After the closing line, a girl sitting
to my left whispered "Damn."
Long Time Coming
Tonight the campfire scene became real for me.
Youngstown
Sinaloa Cowboys
The Line
Balboa Park
Across The Border
Bruce read passages from "The Grapes Of Wrath" on the Teleprompter.
Bobby Jean
After my high school girlfriend and I broke up, I identified with many parts
of this song. For years I thought of her at the line, "maybe you'll
be out there on that road somewhere..."
This Hard Land
No Surrender
Cynthia was practically dancing in her seat, and the audience cheered in
appreciation and approval after the first chorus of "no retreat, no
surrender."
Galveston Bay
Promised Land
More moving than ever. The perfect closer. I believe in the promised land.
Sunday is the long day - drop Cynthia off at the airport, and then to Scramento to pick up I-5, then North to Eugene.
Hey ho rock and roll, deliver me from nowhere.
-Andrew
Andrew Laurence atlauren@uci.edu Office of Academic Computing http://www.oac.uci.edu/~atlauren/ UC Irvine