A night out

[rikibeth]

Well, first of all, the garage has not even been touched.

But that's OK. lordavon and alcarnor came down from Amherst, and we fed them dinner -- shadowflyer had already pulled a roast to make, and lordavon's a vegetarian, so I put together a quick potato-onion soup (no leeks in the house) to be her main dish and everybody else's accompaniment. That and roasted carrots and we were good to go. If you don't count the frantic kitchen-table cleanoff so everyone could sit down.

We made it to the Sounding Board in good time. This was perhaps a mistake.

See, I'd spaced on it being a double bill.

The first act was a duo calling itself "Old Paint." Two guys with acoustic guitars and harmonicas, singing COWBOY SONGS. At dirge tempo.

They were technically competent, is the best I can say for them. But... anyone who can make "Ghost Riders in the Sky" sound that boring? I tell you, I was wishing for a speeded-up, punked-out arrangement complete with the "Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!"s like in Boiled in Lead's version of "Rasputin."

It was bad enough that I started passing notes with lordavon and alcarnor. I had a pocket calendar that I'd never used in my jacket pocket, so at least we had something to write on. It got pretty silly, so I promised I would transcribe it.

rikibeth: Do you know the joke about the CivWar re-enactor, the Tuchux and the Laurel who were walking along the train tracks?

Along comes a train. The CivWar guy says, "oh, a train" and gets off the tracks. The Tuchux says "Crom! A monster!" and gets off the tracks. The Laurel just keeps walking along, muttering "Out of period, out of period..."

Steel rails humming made me think of it. (note: a lyric in the deadly dull song, something like "hobo's lullaby")

God spare us

lordavon: eirehound, alcarnor and I have a joke that Celtic music has only 4 songs.
Listening to these guys
well, at least Celtic has 4

rikibeth: I was doing galliard onze-pas to the jig set last night

hey, it's in 6

Justin du Coeur used to suggest practicing basic galliard to "God Save the King" because of the strong 6 and the slowish tempo

lordavon: You know, I thought I had the hang of this, and suddenly they tried to spice it up on the harmonica. Whoa.

rikibeth: this is like passing notes in boring classes in high school

lordavon: Especially since I used to pass notes in a little book, too.

rikibeth: I just used my usual class notebooks

(the duo introduces "Git Along Little Dogies" by claiming that the tune was an older English song without specifying what song it was... I make a guess)

Had she but told me when she dishonored me
had she but told me of it in time
I might have been cured by these pills of white mercury
Instead I'm a young man cut down in my prime

lordavon: NEED METAL NOW.

rikibeth: "Pills of White Mercury" is a cheerful ditty about STDs!

GET OFF THE ICE (this is an old joke from our game group)

Get off the stage?

(they begin to sing "Goodnight Irene")

The only time I ever liked this song was as a Grateful Dead encore

The Exiles are going to sound like the fuckin' Chieftains after these bozos

official notice going on my lj about how glad I am nobody came up for this

lordavon: WE DID!!!!

rikibeth: you get an apology
and also if you want, a drink at the pub on me

lordavon: :)

rikibeth: Fair's fair
I may transcribe the notes


The Exiles' show was, predictably, much better. First tuneset was a little shaky, but it was the first time they'd done it in performance, and some of the hair on Calley's bow snapped during it, so all things considered, not bad. The more practiced stuff was solid. And Calley's added the Dixie Chicks' "Travelin' Soldier" to the lineup. First time the song's ever made me cry.

After it ended, a young woman in the same row as us, who I'd had figured for one of Calley's school friends, what with the pierced eyebrow and the cartoon evil duck shirt and all, turned to lordavon and said, "Are you Rikibeth?" After we'd cleared up the identities, she explained that she'd seen me announce the show on my Livejournal and she'd come out. I said, "Are you gehayi?" because that was the only local LJ'er I hadn't met in person that I could think of, and she said "No, I haven't ever commented, I've just been stalking your journal, I'm garsha," and explained that she was new to the area, just moved from Minneapolis, and she'd been reading some local people just to try to make some social connections, and she decided to come out.

Well, she is definitely Our Sort of People. Rennie, gamer, filker, Converse high-tops, mother of a four-year-old, and she came out to McKinnon's with us afterwards, and I bought HER a beer, too, for sitting through that godawful opening act. She loved Rathkeltair, and she was crushing on Trevor the way I do on Collier, and she got up and danced along with me when they did "Blister in the Sun," and we had a grand old time.

During one of the tunesets, I was feeling like I ought to be able to identify the guitar riff that Collier was playing, because it was very NOT Celtic trad, but I couldn't quite place it. I asked him about it, and he said, "well, it was improv, not a direct quote, but I was thinking kind of Clash, Big Audio Dynamite." I grinned and nodded. He said "what's the name of that one, that goes "The horses are on the track," you know the one?" I said, "Right, and the title has nothing to do with the lyrics, damn, can't remember it." But a little while later it came to me -- "Medicine Show." I told him, and he grinned right back.

Collier also said if shadowflyer wanted to sit in on a tuneset with his bodhran, he'd set him up with the mike from his djembe. And, on the final tuneset, that's exactly what they did. You couldn't HEAR the bodhran in the mix, what with full drum kit, Highland pipes, and electric guitar and bass, but I am sure it was a blast to drum to, and it was just really, really sweet.

And today it's the Highland Games, and it is going to be tremendous fun, I am sure.

I may not catch up with my friendslist until much later this evening.

Whee!

Comments

[garsha.livejournal.com]

Yay for Our Sort of People! Thank [random deity here] that I decided to introduce myself after all - I almost didn't. I had an awesome time. I hope the Highland Games was much fun for all of you.

By the way, let Charlotte know that I hope she's feeling better, and I'm really glad to have met her.

[ceilidh71.livejournal.com]

i just ordered a Rathkeltair CD - i can't wait! thx for the rec!

[neilfein.livejournal.com]

I tend to see this a lot at open mics, with musicians who haven't been playing much and they have a small musical vocabulary. They'll either expand it, or drop out, or somehow find an audience that likes dirge-like cowboy songs. (It's a big world, there must be someone.)

[djinnthespazz.livejournal.com]

"Travelin' Soldier" ALWAYS makes me cry.
I have to skip it, most days.