Cincy Been Gone
The first show on the John Mellencamp/John Fogerty tour was in Cincinnatti at the Riverbend amphitheater. The day we returned from Bermuda, my computer crashed and would not reboot. I had to take it to a local repair shop - Dr. Micro - which was a $60.00 round-trip cab ride from the Millenium Hotel in downtown Cincinnatti.
It turns out that the hard drive failed and luckily the tech was able to save all of my info except for a couple of drivers. I had a stock 10gig drive in this Vaio, now I have a 40 gig. Even after getting this one fixed, I ordered a new Dell Inspiron 600m (using Jerry's computer), and with the 35% off deal, I will have a pretty up-to-date machine for less than $1000. My fiancee will bring it with her to Detroit, if it arrives at the house in time.
The gig itself was a test of endurance for all invoved. It was hot and sticky all day. Mellencamp has a large set and a ton of lights and P.A., which takes time to set up and properly test. As the opening act, we get the stage when the Mellencamp gang is finished with their soundcheck. We then have to push their set to the back of the stage and roll our risers in front, wire everything and do our abbreviated check. JF likes to run most of his tunes in soundcheck, so we are in a hurry to make that happen before "doors", the time when the public is allowed in. Can't really soundcheck in front of an audience...though all of us have had to at one time or another.
A half-dozen or so songs into Mellencamp's set, they break down into the "cocktail" set, so named because of the "cocktail" drum kit, a compact and portable version of a full kit that was popular with lounge drummers due to its smaller size. JM introduces JF and they do a couple of songs together, trading vocal verses. On this night they did "Green River" and "Blood on the Scarecrow". JF plays electric on Green River and acoustic on Scarecrow.
Love the choice of lyric in Green River where Fogerty says "...Wonder if my rope's still hangin to the tree...". Happy accident or carefully crafted, that is a much better line than "hangin' from the tree" which is what most people would say in normal conversation. "Hangin' to..." implies clinging and embracing, which is what the singer is writing about - his fond memories of Green River. That's why Fogerty is a great songwriter.
Cocktail Set
It turns out that the hard drive failed and luckily the tech was able to save all of my info except for a couple of drivers. I had a stock 10gig drive in this Vaio, now I have a 40 gig. Even after getting this one fixed, I ordered a new Dell Inspiron 600m (using Jerry's computer), and with the 35% off deal, I will have a pretty up-to-date machine for less than $1000. My fiancee will bring it with her to Detroit, if it arrives at the house in time.
The gig itself was a test of endurance for all invoved. It was hot and sticky all day. Mellencamp has a large set and a ton of lights and P.A., which takes time to set up and properly test. As the opening act, we get the stage when the Mellencamp gang is finished with their soundcheck. We then have to push their set to the back of the stage and roll our risers in front, wire everything and do our abbreviated check. JF likes to run most of his tunes in soundcheck, so we are in a hurry to make that happen before "doors", the time when the public is allowed in. Can't really soundcheck in front of an audience...though all of us have had to at one time or another.
A half-dozen or so songs into Mellencamp's set, they break down into the "cocktail" set, so named because of the "cocktail" drum kit, a compact and portable version of a full kit that was popular with lounge drummers due to its smaller size. JM introduces JF and they do a couple of songs together, trading vocal verses. On this night they did "Green River" and "Blood on the Scarecrow". JF plays electric on Green River and acoustic on Scarecrow.
Love the choice of lyric in Green River where Fogerty says "...Wonder if my rope's still hangin to the tree...". Happy accident or carefully crafted, that is a much better line than "hangin' from the tree" which is what most people would say in normal conversation. "Hangin' to..." implies clinging and embracing, which is what the singer is writing about - his fond memories of Green River. That's why Fogerty is a great songwriter.
Cocktail Set
posted by Tom Spaulding at 9:43 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home