Sunday, December 8, 2013

Prelude to Vangelis

I love my bandmates.

I love banter.

There are some who'd say, about rock 'n' roll shows, "More rock, less talk!".  I once had a wonderful station manager at a community radio station I dj'd at who proclaimed that notion loudly and proudly many times over the years, both to those on stage and on the air.  Thankfully it was not directed my way very often!  There are others who would argue that more talk - but not necessarily less rock - is one key difference between a wonderfully entertaining show and a pretty average one.  Some artists go so far as to script their banter, while others use the spur of the moment to put the hitch in their giddy-up.  Occasionally even an album is given the 'banter/intro' treatment to interesting effect, as can be heard on Lee Hazlewood's Requiem for an Almost Lady, wherein each song begins with some sort of babble before the goods hit you in the heart.  If you enjoy this sort of thing, one extreme example from the live setting can be found on Tom Waits' third live album, Glitter and Doom, wherein the second disc is comprised entirely of his banter, taken out of context from before and/or after specific songs, stitched together as one looooooooong track.  It kills parties and makes friends, all at the same time! 

But I digress.  In the context of The Lonesome Weekends, often the parameters of the gig, and the styles of our fearless frontmen, leave me wanting more.  Banter, that is.  Does the audience feel the same?  I can only guess.

If I do hazard a guess, and I'm even 50% accurate, that means that some folks, indeed, are on my page.  To them, I'd like to offer a little bonus supplement to our final show of the year, and first since July (!?!?), this coming Friday at Vangelis in Saskatoon.   

I can only hope - as a member of the band who needs to know the order of tunes being played - that what follows is an accurate setlist, and that my bandmates won't cry foul at all our mystery being hijacked for the sake of a little old blog post.  I do this, however, with the knowledge that there likely won't be a lot of babble before most of these tunes, and that if I had complete and total power over a microphone and/or my musical colleagues, I'd totally bum rush the show with the banter gold you can read below.  Feel free to peruse it, via any technological format, during the show, to get, perhaps, a more nuanced experience of the gig.

Or just fuck it and rock with us, and be glad I only play keyboards!

(Note: all banter to be heard in a loud, slightly boozy, "Helloooooooo Cleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeveland" mid 70s rocker voice for optimal effect.)

Buckskins: Here's the first song we ever jammed, the first song we recorded, the first song on our first record, and the first song you can dance to tonight.....apologies to the opening act!

The Right Thing: Listen carefully, follow this advice, and remember that crushin' cans is plenty fun but way easier when the cans are empty.

Beard: Hellooooooooo Jesus freaks!!!!

Dream: I don't know about you, but some of my best dreams only last a couple of minutes.  Here's one of them.

Gov't Street: Our second record begins with this song, and if you'd like proof, please, go to the merch table right now and find out!

Crooked Line: This is the song Johnny Cash would've written if he'd had more balls and been honest with himself about his habits, about how hard it is trying to walk straight down any sort of line, especially if it happens to be crooked.  I walk the line.....indeed!

(Don't Let That) Bottle Suck You In: Drink up.  Hey is it last call yet?  Where are our shots???

White Lightnin': Mighty, mighty pleasin', pappy's corn squeezin'.  Nuff said.

Crashin':  Ok, for all you lovers in the audience that are cranky with your dates because the freakin' band just won't play anything you can slow dance to, this one's for you. 

Baby: Anyone for a two-step?  Or a line dance?  Anyone??

Pretending: So far this song is unreleased, but we're hoping that David Lynch can take some time off from meditating and cooking cool quinoa recipes to use at least 30 seconds of it for the violent sexy parts of his next movie.......and here we go.....

Chickenshit: This one helped our second record get an 'explicit' designation on Amazon.com - right up there with Wu Tang Clan, muthaf*&^%#$ !!!



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