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Cafe Du Nord is really one of my favorite bars ever. it has this rococo feel to it without being pretentious or bourgeois; an odd layout, but very comfortable. the walls are crimson, the pool table is crimson, the carpeting (in the bar and dining areas) is ornate, and there are gold touches all over everything. hello, lioness! you enter from the street and immediately go downstairs. like disappearing into a little vintage womb for some beautiful music and tasty, elegant drinks.
took the streetcar downtown in jeans and tank and sweater that I’d thrown on after work. no line; the doormen were very cool. I always try to be fashionably late for shows because rock and roll is not known for running on the same schedule as the rest of the world, but somehow I’m always part of the early crowd.
being around the indie-rock crowd is always entertaining. lots of horn rimmed glasses. and thankfully, very few cell phones! go GenX! it was a little odd to see men in their 30s still doing the t-shirt-over-sleeves thing, but nostalgically endearing too. I’m not sure if the look just doesn’t age well or if my tastes have just matured
, but everyone was really laid-back and pleasant and warm vibes abounded.for some reason I was in the mood for beer, which is odd because beer doesn’t usually sit too well with my delicate insides. I ordered a Hefeweizen and sat in the stage room next to some unfortunate blond man who was on crutches. an employee of the bar came over to him at one point and said “word to the wise, man, you’ll have much better luck up there,� and gestured toward stage right. I thought right, except there are no chairs there. the blond guy looked at me, shrugged, then hobbled up to the stage and tried to get comfortable.
at another point, a skinny white dude with an afro and butterfly-collared shirt walked past me, and in my head I thought, bass player. the opening band (sorry, I don’t remember their name) took the stage, and sure enough, white dude was rocking the bass. the singer had a beard which he’d shorn with one clean line down the center of his chin, giving the effect of totally nuclear sideburns. the band was tight and skilled, but I can’t really get into that 70s revival stuff; the harmony and the happy guitar and the doo-da-doos. but there were a few moments of shreddage and the crowd seemed to dig them, so all’s well, et cetera.
ordered a second Hefe and found a seat (there are a handful of chairs and tiny tables along the other wall of the stage room), nice and close. they closed the velvet curtains and turned on one purple light and the crowd in the room suddenly tripled to capacity. OSX appeared out of nowhere and introduced his lovely Missus.
I had made a decision that night. it was special– it was to be my tenth time seeing J live– and I decided that instead of my usual front-and-center euphoria position at the show, I was going to try as hard as I could to take it for granted that I could see J any time I wanted to, kick back, drink a beer, and listen to some genius music that has become such a huge part of my life. I don’t know if I’m explaining it well. being a small town country girl I never would have imagined that I would ever be fortunate enough to see him perform so many times, and I think I wanted to see what it would be like to be a regular concert-goer without being all “holy shit I am front and center for J Mascisâ€?. just relax and enjoy him and his music without that urgency that I must must must be up front because who knows when this will ever happen again.
and…I actually got more emotional than I’d ever been at one of his performances. I was so relaxed and just entranced and so, so happy. J wears his age and spirituality well. he has gone from being introverted to being peaceful and it only enhances and embellishes his music. his guitar work was impeccable; he was upbeat and engaged and seemed to truly be enjoying his time.
the crowd was fantastic, the best crowd I’ve ever experienced at a Mascis outing. they were uproariously loud and supportive; people were singing along and cheering happily and no one was being obnoxious. every once in a while one person would freak out if he started a certain song and the glee was contagious; squeals would pop up from different pockets of the room.
I’m sorry I can’t remember the set list in entirety but he played a sampling from almost every album, Dino, solo, Fog. Ammaring was particularly shred-tastic, as was Alone (despite some struggling with the lyrics). a lot of people were excited to hear Same Day, and of course Freak Scene and The Lung were big crowdpleasers. I remember Quest and Keeblin sounding particularly tender, and…does anyone else notice how the ending of Not You Again is more comical and abbreviated every time?
every song sounded fresh and energetic; a great balance of distortion and straight out pretty, melodic strumming and fingerwork. two encores. everyone was totally pleased, including J, who thanked us several times. elated Rosa wiped a few tears, sent a few prayers up to the heavens, and felt very satisfied. I thought of sitting in my room as a kid, with my first crappy guitar, rewinding and playing songs off Green Mind over and over so I could learn the chords.
at the first sign of house music, I bolted for the ladies’ room, because as my dad used to say, you don’t drink beerâ€â€
when I was itty-bitty my dad used to listen to this one Tom Petty record a lot; at age 4 or 5Â I thought "don’t have to live like a refugee" was "don’t have to live like american cheese."Â when you’re a toddler the word "refugee" isn’t in your vocabulary…I guess american cheese is the next best thingÂ
a friend-of-a-friend of mine is working down there in connection with Louisiana police officers and investigators– and according to him, New Orleans law enforcement have filed zero reports of being shot at by civilians.
not much but I hope that perks you up a bit. :-
also, I find that it’s generally not people who lack college education that are the problem; it’s people with very little travel and/or life experience under their belts.
in case anyone has a room to spare:
http://www.shareyourhome.org/”>http://www.shareyourhome.org/
I didn’t mean to suggest that people shouldn’t use the Red Cross at all, just that they seem to have a more suspicious track record than some of the other charities. But that might just be because they’re the biggest, and the bigger an organization, the more room for error/corruption/whatever. These groups are all staffed by people, and…there are good people and bad people everywhere. If you can see that your local Red Cross is doing great things, by all means, support them
I’ve read a lot of bad things, unfortunately, about the Red Cross– everything from corruption and greed in the upper echelons to (like Mattman said) people getting turned away. There was a couple on 60 Minutes once who had lost their house to flooding; the Red Cross gave them $40 and then used their picture, unauthorized, on the cover of one of their publications as an example of people that they’d "helped".
There are plenty of other charities on that list, though, that have better reputations. Also, one thing that has helped me has been talking to friends of mine in the South (a family in Louisiana, a friend in Texas, a few friends in Florida) and getting referrals to local charities from them. They know what the best ones are. If you don’t have contacts there, just take a few minutes to Google around for localized shelters and support groups– there are a lot to choose from.
Also, per the city’s preparedness, my understanding is that the mayor had been trying for years to get funding for the levee because he knew it was damaged and posed a serious risk if it ever flooded or broke.
San Francisco and beyond (from http://www.sfgate.com):
Friday, September 2, 2005
A number of relief agencies are accepting contributions for victims of
Hurricane Katrina. In most cases, the agencies prefer donations of
money rather than goods.American Red Cross: To donate, go to http://www.bayarea-redcross.org; call
(415) 427-8000 or (800) 435-7669; or mail a contribution to 85 Second
St., Eighth Floor, San Francisco, CA 94105.
The Red Cross will be assessing damage, operating shelters, providing
food and cleaning up. Two emergency response vehicles have already
left from the Bay Area, and more deployments are expected.Salvation Army: Donations can be made via the group’s Web site,
http://www.salvationarmyusa.org; by calling (800) 725-2769; or by mail at
Salvation Army, Attention: Hurricane Katrina Fund, P.O. Box 193465,
San Francisco, CA 94119- 3465.
The organization expects to serve 400,000 meals a day to victims and
first responders.United Way of the Bay Area Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund: Donations
can be made online at http://www.uwba.org or by calling (800) 273-1779.Operation Blessing: (800) 436-6348 or http://www.ob.org.
America’s Second Harvest: (800) 344-8070 or http://www.secondharvest.org.
Adventist Community Services: (800) 381-7171 or
http://www.adventist.communityservices.org.Catholic Charities USA: (800) 919-9338, or http://www.catholiccharitiesusa.org.
Christian Reformed World Relief Committee: (800) 848-5818 or http://www.crwrc.org.
Church World Service: (800) 297-1516 or online at http://www.churchworldservice.org.
Convoy of Hope: (417) 823-8998 or http://www.convoyofhope.org.
Lutheran Disaster Response: (800) 638-3522 or http://www.elca.org/disaster.
Mennonite Disaster Service: (717) 859-2210 or http://www.mds.mennonite.net.
Nazarene Disaster Response: (888) 256-5886 or http://www.nazarenedisasterresponse.org.
Presbyterian Disaster Assistance: (800) 872-3283 or http://www.pcusa.org/pda.
United Methodist Committee on Relief: (800) 554-8583 or
gbgm-umc.org/umcor/emergency/hurricanes/2005In addition, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is accepting donations at its 3,800
stores and Web site, http://www.walmart.com.Several organizations are also accepting donations for animal victims
of the disaster:American Humane Society: http://www.americanhumane.org.
Humane Society of the United States: http://www.hsus.org.
Louisiana Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals:
http://www.la-spca.org/home.htmLocal Forums and Resources:
The National Next of Kin Registry
http://pleasenotifyme.org/nok/restricted/home.htm”>http://pleasenotifyme.org/nok/restricted/home.htmCraig’s List neworleans.craigslist.org/laf/
NOLA.com (The Times-Picayune) http://www.nola.com/
WWL-tv http://www.wwltv.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=16
RoommateClick.com Site offering a service for the New Orleans
homeless, free of charge.State, Local, National Goverment Agencies:
Federal Emergency Management Agency: 1-800-621-FEMA; http://www.fema.gov
Louisiana Homeland Security: http://www.ohsep.louisiana.gov
City of New Orleans: http://www.cityofno.com/portal.aspx
Louisiana Governor’s Office: http://www.gov.state.la.us/
Mississippi Emergency Management: http://www.msema.org
National Hurricane Center: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov
National Weather Service: iwin.nws.noaa.gov/iwin/graphicsversion/bigmain.html
Hydrologic Information Center (river flooding):
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/oh/hic/index.htmlhaha. it’s okay, just use the old telekinesis (dreamkinesis?) to send him over to my subconscious next time. I think it’s earlier at my house than yours, anyway, more dream time for me
rest assured, I hate Dave Matthews. I mean not personally, but you know. if I wanted to hear elevator music I’d go back to that job on the 13th floor. they’re actually not bad easy listening if you keep his godawful voice out of the picture.
and speaking of which, thanks, Blink 182, for guaranteeing a trend of crap male vocals for the rest of this decade.
"lookitssam " wrote:Anything by Jimi Hendrix. Lots of poeple say he’s a great guitar player, but alot of them don’t really mean it. Plus he has an awesome voice.that’s awesome. I’ve always maintained that Hendrix never got enough credit for his beautiful voice because people were so preoccupied with his guitar work.
good call, as usualÂ
my pick is "Folk Songs" by Dexter Romweber (of the late great Flat Duo Jets). a collection of lo-fi recordings, some created in his mother’s bathroom. if you’re a true music fan you’ll find something to enjoy on this record, if you don’t enjoy the whole thing. you can hear all genres on this beauty, from classical piano to jazz, rockabilly, surf, and of course classic, dark rock & roll. the Jets remain one of my all-time favorites…get this album for a taste of all their influences.
