My phone started to buzz in my pocket at somewhere close on six in the evening. It was my friend Jeff Rosenberg. “OK” I thought, “I’ll call him back after work”. I was meant to give Casey and Tracy a ride to the airport, and Case was on to catch a little dinner in exchange, so my mind was elsewhere. So with me still in stinky work clothes from the day of gardening, Casey and I headed off to find a bite to eat. At which point my phone rings again, and it’s Jeff a second time. No worries, I thought, Casey and I are catching some dinner and I’ll call Jeff back. So when my phone rang a third time and Casey had fallen into conversation with the fellow who was working in the place we were eating (that cat was Aaron from back in Olympia days. He plays with Aarington in Old Time Relujin) I caught Jeff’s call, and excusing myself outside – three calls from Jeff – I knew something was up. “Jeffro! Sorry I didn’t catch your calls! You see Casey and I are…” “Never mind that, are you in man, or what??” “Um, in for just what now?” “Ryan Adams and his Cardinals in about ten minutes at the Aladdin Theater!” “What the hell, I missed this show all together – did you score us on the list?” And Jeff Rosenberg had. Two passes to a show that was sold out in one day and thusly there was no need for publicity and that’s how it flew below my radar. There just wasn’t any press for the show ‘cos there didn’t need to be any. The 600 seats in the Aladdin Theater were sold out. Game over. Jeff Rosenberg though writes for the Willamette Week and has near Jedi powers to score guest list spots for shows. And he did, and giving Casey and Tracy a ride to the airport not withstanding, I was super psyched to make it happen. And it did happen. Back at Tracy’s and Casey’s pad he was calling a cab as there happened to be a few minutes of wiggle room. I felt bad. I had said I would drive them. But with a cab on the way, I did. I jetted. Casey understood and perhaps would have done the same. A two-minute shower at the house. An East Coast drive to the theater. A parking spot. A walk down the hill. A moment’s hangout next to the tour busses checking out the scene. And then round the corner and up to Will Call. It was twenty after eight, Jeff was already in, and I was twenty minutes late for the show. My ticket came in an envelope and on it my friend had written “Tim, two seats, three rows back from the sound board, in the middle.” And here’s where everything changes. This is where the day falls away, and time turns immediate. This is the walking thought the doors of the theater and into another space altogether. I had always wanted to see Ryan Adams, and now he and his band were in the same building as me, and were about to play on a stage that I have played also. There’s nothing doing with that fact what so ever, but I do know the back stage area of the Aladdin, and could picture it in my head. That, combined with the fact that I love tour busses and gear, and have spent many, many hours listening to Ryan Adams records, he has been someone that I have wanted to see for a long time. As it turns out I had nothing to worry about in terms of being late. As Jeff remarked about a half an hour later when we were leaned up against the wall of the theater, “Ryan can be as clean and sober as he wants to. His shows will still never start on time and something will always be up.”
In this case, the bass player and someone else from the group were horsing around earlier in the day, and the bass player, with most of the band in tow, had ended up in the emergency room with the bass man needing stitches and the others there for moral support. The show was running behind schedule. This was somehow awesome.
When the band finally took the stage under hanging Chinese paper lanterns, the music, and the vibe and the entire evening were just awesome. I was thrilled to be there. Ryan Adams was in fine voice for sure and the song choice was spot on. I hung leaning on the wall and took it all in.
If there were any drawbacks to the show, the first would have been for me the fact that half the band were using music stands. Ryan, and the guitar and bass players had stands with notebooks and that is always a little strange to me. I let it pass figuring that the group were still working their way though the material off the new album. And after overhearing the front of house sound guy say that the set list was different every night, I figured that Ryan Adams just wanted to call any number whenever he felt like it. Still though, teleprompters are unacceptable, and sheet music isn’t far behind. I think my reaction is a little funny seeing as though outside of the rock world many musicians use sheet music, but to me their use in rock, or folk or some such takes away from the immediacy of the experience. What saved it though was the fact that the band were sitting down. Like a barroom or burlesque group. They looked great. Music stands or no. Everything was intentional. I let it go pretty quick. The only other thing about the show was that one could make the argument that the band were essentially flat lined. If you had a metronome in your pocket and counted out the beats per minute during the show I doubt it would have varied all that much. Every song was on the slower end of mid tempo. It’s not that the band were lazy or playing slow because they were board, they were consistent across the spectrum. The slower tempo opened up a lot of space in the music. The sound in the theater was completely dialed in and there was so much space in the air. The band played every note that needed playing and nothing more. They played slow, not behind the beat slow, but they let the songs breathe. It was just gorgeous. Massive really. A really beautiful night of music.
The photo above is from the show in Louisville. This woman Michele, from San Francisco, said that she would send me some of the photos that she took in PDX. She wont. She might. OK, she totally will. Never know....
Addendum ~ 8.13.07
Holy shit! She did!!! Thank you Michele! Michele sent along some of her photos from the Portland show. And she also sent links to Jay Blakesberg's photos from the Bay Area show and a link to the recording of the Portland gig. Jay, I met years ago back in Olympia. He'll never remember me, but he took loads of photos of Heliotroupe and the family scene in OlyWa back then. I have loads of stories from that time and will have to get to recounting a few here pretty soon. Circles happen in the strangest of ways. Thanks again Michele!
link to better pix:
http://www.blakesberg.com/temp/cardinals_july_07/
link to the show:
http://www.archive.org/details/radams2007-07-26.sbd.flac16
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