From wesley.chun@Eng Wed Oct 9 03:34:02 1996 Date: Wed, 9 Oct 1996 02:55:32 -0700 From: wesley.chun@Eng (Wesley J. Chun) To: app@roadkill.com Subject: Santa Rosa show revvvview Content-Length: 10040 Everyone's got such great reviews, that I just cannot do any better. Rather than spend the time on talking about the show since everyone's taken the mantle, I wanted to focus on some of the behind the scenes news. However, I can say, or reiterate, that the show was great, and enough said. Other than a few flubs which you have to *listen for*, the band played flawlessly. I went to the show with a friend of mine from the 6th grade, Vince (trapper@ dsp.net) and his mom. We left around 4:30 from Hercules, CA, which is where they and my parents live, and started out for Santa Rosa, about 50 minutes away. After a wonderful dinner at the Italian Affair Restaurant (gee I wonder what type of food they serve), we stopped off at a Long's Drugs store to pick up the recommended set of ear plugs. We arrived at the venue somewhat late, at 7:20, with the doors having been opened at 7:00, and the show set to start at 7:30. As it turns out, not all the equipment was quite ready, and the first notes weren't actually played until 7:48 or so. Before the show started, I struck up a conversation with the couple next to us, and after discussing the new album a bit with them (they haven't picked it up yet), the couple next to them overheard our conversation, and the gen- tleman asked, "You aren't Wesley, are you?" That was quite shocking... some- one who didn't know who I was but *knew* who I was, asking such a question! Apparently, he saw me holding a copy of (what else?) my discography and show- ing the first couple. He also saw that I was wearing my UC Santa Barbara t- shirt, and figured it out. He asked about Freudiana, which led to the couple behind *him* (let's see, that would be 6 people now), who had their inlay from Freudiana to show, etc. So I handed 3 copies of my discography just like that! Now I only have 2 left! :) Oh, the memorabilia. They had last year's black Cherry 7UP shirt ($23), one of last year's baseball caps ($20); and for this year, a long sleeve black shirt embossed with Alan's name ($30?), and a new t-shirt which is maroon, has ToMaI artwork on the front, and IR and AA on the rear ($23). It was "different." They also had a new baseball cap for this year. The prices were off the top of my head, so don't take it literally. No programme... rats!! /* PARTIAL SPOILER ** Then the show happened. Then the intermission, where we resumed our conversa- tion. Then the 2nd half occurred. You all will be happy to know that the rehearsing of Psychobabble has paid off, and they inserted it into their tight songset after Eye In The Sky, before the 1st encore. ** PARTIAL SPOILER */ After the show, we walked around the venue, took a much needed bathroom break, we went to find where all the other folks with passes went to. We waited out- side, were told to go inside to stage left, then were escorted stage right to the back. Alan wasn't quite ready for it, having his shirt opened, chugging a Heineken, etc. He went back to the dressing room and we had to wait a little while longer. In the meantime I met up with MJ Vasko, who also is on the mailing list and seemed to know who I was without the vice versa being true. How did he know? He saw the address tag on my backpack and hunted me down. We will see him tomorrow night at the Warfield!! :) Anyway, After awhile, both Alan and Ian came out, the first. They were followed by Neil. I didn't see much of the Peter, Gary, Stuart, or John. Alan was instantly mobbed by people, so I stayed away. Ian was his usual easygoing, modest, easy-to-talk-to, etc. and became the "hit" away from Alan. You could see the crowd slowly flocking over to him. I didn't want to interrupt either of them, knowing that I would be spending more time with them later in the evening as well as a few more shows down the line. The first conversation I had was with Ian. Someone was getting him to auto- graph something, saying things like, Wow, your guitar was killer tonight, I can't believe we're talking to you, how many albums have you been on with Alan... At that point, I rudely interrupted... why he's been on *all* of them. He's even done a record called Panamrama (even though that was the group name). His neck snapped up immediately, he said, Oh you know about that one then. I said that I should, oh, and thank you for signing my web page BTW. "OH! Are you Wesley then?!" He then went on to say how cool he thought my web archive was, etc. He also asked how often I update it. I told him almost every day! I might have a job for much longer! :) He then went on to explain how he was going to get "online," esp. after the US leg of the tour. He will give out his e-mail address to all of us fans when he is ready! We then went on to discuss the problems with River North, the lack of market- ing, etc. He said that they were very enthusiastic about the "project" :) at first, but once everything was signed and delivered, they turned cold tur- key. My mind was filled with River North record execs going "Suckers..." He said they are not very organized, i.e. look at River North and Platinum! I also said that their marketing was really ppor and that we were bombarding "Maria" with phone calls, etc. He just loved it! His eyes lit up and he ex- claimed, "Yes, DO THAT! They need it! That's just great!" He was very en- thusiastic of what we were doing for the band. The CD-ROM caper. River North wanted to charge for it. They really wanted to make bucks off it. But the band said, no, make it free, for our fans and devoted listeners as a gift. They said no! It was cost them an extra $0.50 to make the CD, plus having to pay for the double CD slimline cases, etc. "50 cents! They can have my ----- [expletive deleted] 50 cents." :) And the band is *really* steamed that they dared to not ship the CD-ROM in Canada. They told people to go get the US import, bootlegs across the border, etc. :) Regarding the track for OA. Most of the songs Ian wrote were done over time i.e. from 1994, and were not necessarily written with the aviation theme. In fact, when Alan mentioned that he wanted to work on a new theme album, Ian groaned, rolled his eyes and thought, gee all those songs... out the window.... Fortunately, they were able to "fix" some of the lyrics and actually finish the album. TIDBITS: (memorize ere they be on a future Avenue trivia) -- Ian's cousin who was shot down in Iraq was on Ian's father's sister's side of the family. -- There is a promo-only version of OA without the inlay, with the balloon of balloons (see page 2 or 3?) artwork. It was had at a radio station. -- Hi Ho Silver Lining was written by Scott English, the lyricist for One Day To Fly. I don't know what happened to the song though. -- The working title for Can't Look Down was I'll Hurt Myself.... it was about a crazy lunatic. -- The working title for So Far Away was Rio. -- Alan went to school with Francis Monkman -- Ian is 40-something years old... -- He wanted us to post something, a secret, about the CD-ROM, but I didn't want to know what it was, so asked him just to give me a clue... He said something like, "The mouse isn't the only thing you can use to play with the CD-ROM..." -- The motorcycle that he did the wheelie on in the latest issue of the Avenue is a Gasgas 270 2-stroke Italian import. The picture was taken very near his home in Scotland. /* PARTIAL SPOILER ** Special treat for those going to the Los Angeles show. Christopher Cross will drive down from Santa Barbara just to do So Far Away on stage with the band!! The group is also working on some new songs to add/modify from the playlist. One of these is Breakdown. ** PARTIAL SPOILER */ After most of the crowd left, I was up to Alan. We talked about many of the same things that I discussed with Ian, most notably River North. I told him about Maria, a name he recognized. I then went on to tell him that we all have been bombarding their phone and Maria's voice mail with messages and complaints. I even joked that perhaps Maria didn't exist and that she was a front or something. Alan muttered under his breath something along the lines of no, she exists I'm afraid. :) He was also enthusiastic that we have been calling them. I even told them about John's adventures at Tower Records. Now Alan and Ian are interested in you John! :) I also found out that Alan does *not* have Freudiana black! Oh, I suppose he'll want to *trade* something with me for it... I wonder what I could ask for... :) The other thing is that they "feed" off the energy from the crowd. Tonight's crowd was slow in getting started. Consequently, so was the band. So if you want them to rock your socks off, you must do so too! They want the cheering, the clapping, they want to see you sing in the audience, or even if you just mouth the lyrics!! This is esp. true for Ian. IF you thought what he does is great, wait till you jazz him up! Didn't he do like a 40-minute solo romp last year somewhere?? Alas, time was short... the band had to be on its way to the Radisson in San Francisco where they are staying... no, don't go bother them. THey want to put a great show tomorrow night. Alan, Ian, and Stuart will all be at the Tower signing in San Francisco on Jones/Columbus/Bay tomorrow. They would just love it if you could come out and chat with them. I guess the rest will be sightseeing, so keep an eye out for them! :) The only variable here is that I thought the flyer said 12 noon, isn't that what I posted? Alan thought it was 2 PM, so I guess that will have to be worked out. I won't be able to go since I'm actually going to work tomorrow! That's all I have for now. Part Deux from the City tomorrow night. For those coming to the city, please use BART, bring your cameras, earplus, your inlays, LPs, anything interesting, etc. It'll be great! Thank you and good night!! Wesley ps. By the timw we left, it was past midnight, two hours after the show ended. From wesc@pacific Wed Oct 9 11:07:33 1996 Date: Wed, 9 Oct 1996 11:07:26 -0700 From: wesc@pacific (Wesley J. Chun) To: app@roadkill.com, wesley.chun@Eng Subject: Cameras and Sicilian Defense Content-Length: 1005 I forgot to mention what happened at the venue last night. They didn't check my 2100 cubic ft. backpack. I had a camera in there and I *could* have taken in a serious tape recorder too. Unfortunately, SF will definitely be more hectic than Santa Rosa, so we'll have to play it by ear. I would just love to take a picture of them while they're performing tho!! It's true, SD was recorded in about 40-45 minutes. Alan joked that Eve took *longer* than that! :) One more piece of trivia... the decision to use the clear plastic CD holder/divider because you can see the artwork on the rear cover, which distracts you from the front cover. They said that Storm was *not* happy about that. I said said, "So he was pissed, eh? Is he a really picky person?" They all just broke out in a new round of laughter. Apparently, he's Mr. Nitpick to the end! Just like Alan, a perfectionist of his craft. I'm still "on air" from last night as you might imagine... how can it get any better tonight?!? Wesley