We saw BoDeans live earlier this evening. They played straight through, without a break. It was a good mix of classic old stuff with newer songs. These guys put on a great live show. They really got the house rockin’, and it looked like they were having fun, too. Kurt Neumann, the lead singer/songwriter, stuck around for a while just outside the front door after the show. For all practical purposes, Kurt is the band, even though there are six of them, and he gives the others plenty of featured solo time.
Oh, by the way, Nickypoo, this is what a groupie looks like …
Notice there’s no bus in the background. There was one extremely large guy working security, who is off camera to the right. All he did was wave us up to meet Kurt when the couple ahead of us were done. It took me approximately 10 seconds to shake his hand, tell him that I’d been listening to his music for decades, but this was the first time I’d seen BoDeans perform live, and thought they put on a great show (all true, btw). He shook my hand once again as I turned to leave, to let the next people approach him. He seems like a really nice guy. Anyway, that was the extent of it. Most performers at that venue don’t even stick around for a meet-and-greet.
By nicky’s standards I probably qualify as a Gaelic Storm ‘groupie’ as I go to their concert every time they’re in my area.
I’d see BoDeans again, if they return to that venue. I’m seeing Al Stewart there for the second time next month. It still doesn’t make me a groupie in the way Nicky imagines groupies to be. It makes me a fan.
I love going to concerts at my favorite venues in this area. They’re much more intimate and fun than large stadiums and arenas, and it makes me more of a fan of whoever I’m seeing!
This place is a winery that has an event hall out back; maximum seating capacity is 200. Table numbers are assigned, but not seats. Book online or via phone, then simply give your name at the door when you enter, and the guy checks your name off the list and tells you what table you’ve been assigned.
It’s got a bar/concession area in a back corner. They don’t want you smuggling in food or booze, obviously. I’ve never tried to, but it’s not as if they search people. The food and drink is overpriced; the tickets are not. I wouldn’t buy dinner there, but it’s nice to watch the show while splitting a bottle of wine, and munching on cheese and crackers.
The atmosphere is really relaxed. They state that disruptive people will be asked to leave, and they ask that you turn off your cell phones and the flash on your camera during the performance. Other than that, there aren’t any rigid or nonsensical rules for the audience. Most people at the same table check to be sure they’re not blocking your view, which would never be the case in an arena or stadium. So, yeah, I like the winery. 😀
One of my favorite concerts was Richard Marx at the auditorium at the community college in Mason City. The seats were maybe half full, and it was just him and his guitar and a string quartet. At first I wasn’t going to go, but the weather was unseasonably nice that night, I was bored, and I was in the mood for music I’d grown up on. He was relaxed, had fun with the audience, even poked fun at a couple show showed up almost half an hour after the concert started who had seats in the second row, and when he went ‘unplugged’ for one song we had no trouble hearing him.
I saw Blue Oyster Cult in ’82 at some auditorium at Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove. They got college kids driving in from State College, Lewisburg, Gettysburg, and Carlisle. Good show, complete with laser lights, and Eric Bloom riding out on stage on his motorcycle to start off Godzilla. Same show they did at Madison Square Garden, but with a much smaller audience. The audience was probably too high to be rowdy, but the cheering was plenty loud.
Saw the Cult in ’74, opening for Lynyrd Skynyd at the Nashville Speedway. Great show.
I’ve seen Dylan twice, John Prine twice, The Chieftans three or four times. Don’t really consider myself a groupie of any of those groups.
One band I’ve always loved is King’s X, which I refer to as groove metal or funk metal depending on what mood they’re in at the recording studio. One of their best concerts was during the Pittsburgh Comiccon — which I didn’t find out about until I met one of the local acts opening for them (Stronghold). Anyway, I managed to shake hands and give thanks to both King’s X and Stronghold after the concert, and it was just a good time all around. What was great was the genuine appreciation both bands had for their fans. Made for a good night of music.
My favorite shows are always the ones where it’s obvious the bad is having as much fun as the fans and aren’t just performing to get it over with.
err the band not the bad 🙂
King’s X is amazing, and I still have a hard time believing Doug Pinnick is in his 60s. Dude has got some serious skill and some real pipes on him.
Rusty, you didn’t shove a book of poorly-written self-published stories into his hand? What kind of fan are you?
Hi guys, I ordered one of janrae frank’s books and it took 8 weeks to get here from America.
I really enjoyed her short story and would like to read more… So I went back to amazon to try and order a PDF of one of her books but amazon is only trying to sell me the kindle edition! I don’t have a kindle. So now my question is: where can I buy the books online in PDF format, I really don’t want to wait 8 weeks again plus it is getting very expensive due to the high postage from the US. Help anybody?
You can get them from Smashwords.
https://www.smashwords.com/
I’m glad you liked it
I just bought “blood rites” and I’m already well into it.
I like that it is a series – so you can stay in the story for several books. At times it is just so sad to say goodbye to characters at the end of a book 😉
Blood rites is a curious book. The original publisher, Renebooks, broke my novel into three parts. So Blood Rites, Blood Heresy, and Blood Dawn were originally written as a single book.
Why did they do that? Was it too long to publish as one book?
The book was 175k long. But I think, hindsight being 20/20) that they saw more money in publishing it as three. An instant trilogy kind of thing. With my lycan books, the minute they started making split the book noises, I cut it down.