Thursday, January 29, 2004
Three from the Fish
Yesterday was not a bad day, and it got progressively better as it went. I’m therefore privileged to share with you, THREE THINGS ABOUT SEEING HOT TUNA AT THE FILLMORE:
1) The phrase “souped up” has always meant, to me, “supercharged,” like a muscle car with extra muscles or a particularly high-powered version of anything. Well now my cellphone is “souped up” too, in that last night as I knelt on the sidewalk while I waited in line, getting my big ol’ tub of udon soup out of a take-out bag , my phone slipped out of my coat pocket and fell neatly and cleanly into superheated broth. I plucked it out instantly (my finger is even a little burned now, yes, that finger, the good one) but to no avail. Amid general hilarity, I confirmed that the phone was and is dead.
So here’s a request to blogsville: if I’m supposed to have your phone number, I probably don’t have it anymore. Please feel free to bring me up to speed. In fact, I’m going to solicit any phone numbers people want to share with me. I will promise one personal chat for every working number I get. I solemnly promise not to call you during my favorite television shows, but it would be so nice to be able to tell you that I’m thinking of you those late nights and early mornings when I just can’t sleep. What, you didn’t have that problem? Sorry to wake you up but since I’ve got you on the line… what’s cooking? Not soup, I hope…
2) The Fillmore just rocks. It’s beautiful and authentic. You can feel the vibes from clear across the street. Free apples at the front door, crystal chandeliers with purple lights shining through them, and the ghosts of a million hippies filling the dance floor. In fact, we talked about what a great straight-to-video feature that would be - “THE GHOSTS OF ONE THOUSAND HIPPIES“ ("Ghosts of a Million Hippies” sounded a bit too expensive) - “They’re incensed! Don’t Bogart Their Afterlife! Death by Dashiki!” Even a seasoned professional musician like Jorma noted how special the Fillmore was on his daily tour notes site. I’ve heard a lot of other musicians say the same. There are other great venues in town, but there’s something about the Fillmore. Stop arguing with me - you know I’m right. You can tell by the way I shut down the discussion.
3) Hot Tuna is really as good as all that. Several years ago my mentioning that band brought laughter to the dead eyes and bitter hearts of a bunch of litigators with whom I was spending entirely too much time, but that only proves how lost they were to the beautiful things in life. You know that song, Embryonic Journey by Jefferson Airplane? Yes you do, it’s a classic rock classic, acoustic guitar and bass, the 1960’s answer to Bach’s Musette in D. If you don’t know it, you can find it easily enough. Add in a bunch of depression-era blues, traditional folk songs, and bluegrass, and have it played by titans of musicianship on acoustic instruments. They played two long sets with a great mandoline/banjo player, and Jack played with Box Set for the opener. Really, I’ve never seen better music-making, and I was standing barely six feet from Jack and Jorma. It was amazing to see how such beautiful music was made from so close, to hear it come out of the instruments instead of the speakers. Although I wound up on my feet from 5:30 to almost 1 am, it was worth every second of it. What a phenomenal concert. So you can just put your hand down - there’s no “alternate viewpoint” requirement on this blog. Hot Tuna is better than you thought it was. So is yellowtail sushi, but I’ll save that for another rant.
Now, some readers might notice that I’ve deleted a bit of this post. That’s because it was meanspirited and contrary to my personal philosophy. I’m not going to be judgmental about it - I’m just going to excise it in the spirit of cosmic harmony and the eightfold path. In the meantime, I hope you’re all having pleasant evenings and I’ll be thinking positive thoughts about every freaking one of you till my goddamn head explodes. Go in peace.
