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Episode 141: When It All Falls Down Under

By Mickey on 1 Comment

Show Notes:
Recorded Wednesday, January 26 2011 (10:30 PM – 12:00 AM) at Zodiac Racquet Club, Southgate MI
    “Our Australian correspondents fill us in on Jimmy’s tour Down Under, Mickey rounds up the Irvine CA show, and Schmoe provides the latest about his nipples. (Special guest: Jennifer.)”

    Jimmy sure knows how to make an exit. His return to Australia after twenty-two years made headlines, but probably not the way he would’ve wanted.
    Mike provides this week’s title. Alternates include:

Gravity Storm
Last Man Standing
Stars Fell In Australia
Why the Things We Do
Survive
Beyond the End…Of the Stage
Face Plant For the Night
Sinko de Jimmyo
I Wish the Stage Could Last Forever
When the Stagefront Betrays Me
A Pirate Looks at Floory
Defining Gravity
Changes in Altitudes

    01:43 – The Criterion Collection’s Broadcast News Blu-ray
    05:39 – according to Time and Date.com
    06:35 – photo of Buffett on gurney, from Channel 9 in Sydney

    06:44 – TMZ’s write-up and their front-row video:

    06:53 – An alternate angle, on YouTube:

    08:19 – more video from TMZ.com: Steven Tyler fell off the stage in Toronto, in August 2010
    08:55 – Listener Brett guested in Episode 30
    09:07 – audio is off the video from 6:53
    09:54 – Listener Mat’s video, at the Sydney Opera House:

    12:25 – the Auckland show was scheduled for Saturday; I was confusing it with Radio M’ville’s broadcast of the second Opera House concert on Friday
    12:35 – Jim Mayer’s Twitter post
    15:01 – our partial research shows Hordern Pavilion is twice the capacity of the Opera House
    15:30 – Listener Fiona’s pictures, at our WAOTNC Photo Gallery
    18:15 – a couple hours after this recording, we got word the Auckland concert had been officially canceled
    18:57 – “Buffett to appear on Lionel Richie Album” from Buffett News
    30:28 – this quote followed “Creola”
    37:56 – sorry, the M’ville Liquor Chiller deal ended on January 28 2011
    38:37 – Mike bought us M’ville Spiced Rum for Christmas back on December 22
    39:06 – Molly Maid
    39:15 – Larry is the proprietor of Zodiac, and back on December 3 he hosted a poker party — at which Schmoe and Scott knocked out half of his outdoor Christmas decorations when they decided to cut across the front lawn rather than use the sidewalk like grown-ups.
    42:53 – to be honest, Mr T’s “thumb dance” has morphed over the years from him simply standing up and pointing to the back of his t-shirts into us doing these moves from Airplane!
    45:12 – this was pretty much confirmed in the video Jimmy recorded the next day:

    49:25 – nope, not “Katie”: it’s Leah Flanagan
    56:58 – Colin Hay will be at the Ark (in Ann Arbor MI) on April 28 and April 29
    57:12 – vegemite on Wikipedia
    58:31 – Vitameatavegamin
    58:40 – welcome to Schmoe’s second nipplecast. The first one can be heard in Episode 126
    1:03:40 – Chafe Free
    1:05:22 – Good God, that was the longest lead-up ever! I hope the joke is worth it…
    1:06:34 – …oh well…
    1:06:51 – more audio off the video from 6:53

Episode 135B: The Other Half

By Mickey on Leave a Comment

Show Notes:
Recorded Wednesday, September 1 2010 (9:30 PM – 11:30 PM) at Zodiac Racquet Club, Southgate MI
    “Listener Ed’s 2010 Alpine Valley review plus a concert roundup from Bristow VA. (Cameo by Jennifer.)”

    Feel free to read along with us:

Listener Ed’s 2010 Alpine Valley Review by WAOTNC on Scribd

And clips from the concert are part of our concert roundup in Episode 132B.
    01:20 – for more on “shadows tall”, consult Episode 98
    02:20 – Listener Ed’s blog
    03:33 – here’s Listener Ed’s proof:

“Just wanted to show that the cell network could not process calls even though I had 5 bars.”

    04:12 – I had the same thing happen at our Pine Knob show. As the intermission started, I tried sending one of my photos to TwitPic. A song and a half into the second set I finally gave up.
    09:14 – our own concert roundup is part of Episode 132B as well
    19:55 – here’s the photo I refer to
    22:40 – “stopped mentioning”. I meant to say “stopped mentioning”. The exact opposite. What a dumbass.
    22:50 – this was brought up in Episode 131. The mistake has been corrected, but here’s our screen-grab of it.
    23:20 – “Margaritaville (Live) – Single” by Bret Michaels & Jimmy Buffett [iTunes link]
    35:50 – the change in audio is because I moved the mics for the joke. The “We’re back” was in case the joke immediately followed the concert roundup.

News From the Front

By Mickey on Leave a Comment

    Back home from another great Buffett show at Pine Knob. Here are a few images from our amazing Row A seats. I shot some video too but the quality is quite poor (my phone is two years old); I at least used it for the freeze-frames of Bret Michaels surprise duet on “Margaritaville” and when Jimmy came by us at the end of the show. The pictures have been upload to our Photo Gallery, or you can also check them out at my Flickr page or my Mobile Me gallery.

Nadirah singing “Creola”

“GOOOOAALLL”

Bret Michaels guesting on “Margaritaville”

Fins to the left

The laying on of hands

    Update: our tailgate video was edited late in the afternoon and uploaded to Vimeo and YouTube:

Pine Knob Tailgate (2009)

By Mickey on Leave a Comment

    Straight from the lab, its reels still drying, here’s our tailgate video from Thursday’s concert. We start off at Schmoe’s Cantina, pay a visit to St Hedwig’s, drive up to Clarkston, meet up with Schmoe and Co again, encounter lots of Woo Girls, see another great show, and, ultimately, return to the cantina.
    Thus…

    In total, viewable at YouTube, Facebook, MySpace, Vimeo and Viddler.

A Pleasure and a Hell of an Evening (2009 Edition)

By Mickey on Leave a Comment

    Buffett Day has come and gone in Michigan. The concert is over and, as Mike would say, Summer is now over too. SunLover over at the Buffett News discussion board has made MP3s of the concert available, if you didn’t catch it or want to hear it again. I’m working on a quick little tailgate video from yesterday, but for now here are some cellphone photos I took during the show.

Mike’s and my view from row II

    And one from Scott…

Scott’s view from row O

Episode 78: Schmype

By Mickey on Leave a Comment

Show Notes:
Recorded Wednesday, July 30 2008 (10:00 PM – 12:30 AM) via Skype
    “Our bad luck streak with tech continues as the guys try their first Skype call to discuss Listener Ed’s review of the Alpine Valley concert.”

    Greg and I were the first ones online for this call, and I recorded almost an hour of background noise as he made a late dinner and put his kids to bed. I thought I would improve my sound by talking into a USB microphone but in fact it picked up lots of room noise as well as fan noise from my desktop computer. Luckily I was recording myself on a separate track and could mix myself out when not talking. I guess it went okay, for our first time; and it felt kind of fun to be using Skype like the real podcasts do.
    00:28 – a Blues Brothers reference, of course
    01:04 – one was Mike, obviously; and the other was Schmoe
    01:40 – one of those photos…

Jimmy in Indianapolis

    02:49 – the Roger Clyne simulcast, live from Florida
    04:06 – actually, the opposite: as host of the conference call, picking up on Schmoe meant I put Mike and Greg on hold
    05:52 – here’s your chance to read along with Schmoe…  (More notes after.)

Gents,

Listed below is a review of the concert from last night. An incredible show to say the least.

Buffet Concert Review
Alpine Valley July 19, 2008

The tour of the parking lot prior to the show was unbelievable. It had been raining all morning. The sun came out & it got hot & humid. Everyone had been drinking a lot. Let’s just say that for July 19th 2008, the Alpine Valley parking lot became the intersection of Sodom & Gomorra!

The Show:
They played AC/DC’s ‘You shook Me All Night Long’ to get the crowd pumped up. Then they played Hot, Hot, Hot. Then Jimmy took the stage alone to start the show. Jimmy was very loose with the comments when he came out as well as all throughout the night. I t was just like the concert in Glendale, AZ for the opening of a new Margaretville. Jimmy was loose that day also. It was the old Jimmy. He wasn’t patronizing the crowd. He was just having a good time & saying what was on his mind.

Set List
1     Why Don’t We Get Drunk
Although I think this song has been overplayed over the years, Jimmy’s solo version of this song on this tour was a very good performance and sure was a surprise he opened the show with this one. Jimmy stated that he needed to do this song to appease the rain gods of Alpine Valley.

2     Home Made Music
I never really liked this song, even the original version on ‘Hot Water’. I did not like the Pine Knob version either. When they played it tonight, I thought it sounded pretty good. Interesting fact: Russell Kunkel co wrote this song. Russ played drums on seven James Taylor albums.

3     Tiki Bar Is Open.
This one was OK. It needed more horns. It needed Amy Lee & Tom Mitchell. I always enjoyed watching John, Amy & Tom.

4     Fruit Cakes
Jimmy updated the lyrics. It was a great performance of this song. The video screens showed the parties in the parking lot before the show.

5     Pencil Thin Mustache
One of my favorite tunes. John Lovell’s performance was outstanding.

6     Miss You So Badly
Great song, great performance.

7     5’Oclock Somewhere
Another great song. Mac was great with this one.

8     Changes in Latitudes
Jimmy and the band got the crowd rockin’ during this song. You’d have to be there to really get a sense of how the crowd was during this song.

9     Cowboy in the Jungle
I love the original from Son of a Son of a Sailor better. It just doesn’t translate very well live for me.

10     Brown Eyed Girl
This one is always an Alpine Valley favorite. Jimmy & the band rocked this one. This song gets a crowd reaction that matches Margaretville.

11     Cheeseburger in Paradise
A great performance of this song.

12     Come Monday
I never get tired of hearing this one. Jimmy did the beach band configuration with Mac, Ralph & Robert which was fantastic.

13     One Particular Harbor
Jimmy talks about Tahiti & how it inspired him to write this song. There was video footage of him in Tahiti from what looks like the mid to late 80’s with the old band before the PM band joined. There was Sam Clayton, a young Mike Utley & a young Robert G.

14     License To Chill
The performance of this song puts the Chicago DVD version to shame. The band was in sync on this one.

Intermission
Sports Illustrated Video
Dukes on Sunday Video
Another Saturday Night Video

Note:
I could not understand why the roadies were reconfiguring Gunthie’s drum kit. You don’t usually make big changes to a drum kit during intermission like they were changing this one. I soon found out why!!!!!!!!!!!!

15     Bo Diddley Tribute

Hey Bo Diddley
Jimmy started to talk about the death of Bo Diddley & was going to do a tribute. I looked on the stage & the guy in the red shirt look familiar. Was it? YES IT WAS!!!! Fingers Taylor on stage!!!! I could not believe it!!!! The performance of ‘Hey Bo Diddley’ was absolutely incredible. Jimmy, Mac Ralph, Fingers, Cedric Burnside & Lightnin’ Malcom jut put on one hell of a performance. Fingers was just unbelievable!!

16     Juke Joint Duo
Jimmy & the band left the stage for Juke Joint & Fingers to perform a song. This was an incredible performance! It was just Fingers, Cedric & Malcom.. What can I say? It was just drums, guitar & harmonica & they filled Alpine Valley with an incredible wall of sound. I was speechless. Has Jimmy and the band ever left the stage and handed the crowd of 40,000 to another band? If not, this has got to be a first!

17     Ass & the Hole
Mac did a fabulous job on this one. As Jimmy promised, Spring break Johnny came out of his shell.

18     Stars On the Water
This is one of listener Ed’s favorite songs. The PM band rocked this one out. But, I will have to say, the best live performance of this song was on ‘Live by the Bay’. Fingers rocked this one. If only Josh Leo could be here! Right before this song started, Fingers was doing a shot of something with either Mac or Peter. I could not tell.

19     Son of a Son of a Sailor
Jimmy talks about the navy & visiting the troops. They showed video footage of Jimmy & Mac’s visit to the sailors on the USS Harry S. Truman. Again, Fingers was just great.

20     Volcano
Fingers was out of control on this one. He did an outstanding performance. Having Fingers on stage really had a positive affect on the band. Every time he was out there, the rest of the band would just turn it up a notch. He would walk around while playing & just look at another band member & that member just would just pour their heart & soul into that particular song they were playing.

21     Making Music for Money
I will have to say that I did not care for Nadir’s version of this song from the Pine Knob concert. I always thought that only Jimmy should perform songs from the A1A album. However, Nadir really belted out the lyrics on this performance. I think it was because Fingers was also on stage. Fingers rocked this one.

22     School Boy Heart
Wow! This was another great performance. The band was in sync and everyone just rocked on this one!

23     In The City
The vocal harmonies were just fantastic on this one. This is another example of the band just being in sync tonight. I liked Mac’s comments about the first time his picture was taken in public after leaving Mississippi. And I quote “It was the second time a McAnally had his picture taken and there was no bible in one hand & a shotgun in the other”.

24     Pirate Looks at 40
A great live performance with the added treat of Fingers on stage. I can’t say it enough. Fingers just made this song extra special.

25     Band Intros
Jimmy talked about the article in the Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel on the band.

26     Far Side Of The World
A great performance along with video footage from Jimmy’s trip to Cambodia or Vietnam.

27     Southern Cross
I never get tired of this one. They always do a great job with this song & having Fingers on stage gives it that extra touch of class.

28     Margaretville
The crowd just went wild during this one! Fingers was playing on one of Utley’s keyboards during this song and him & Utley were just having a great time. Jimmy added the lost verse.

29     Fins
Another great Fingers performance.

30     Rainy Day Women
The band just let loose with this one. It was a great, great performance. Again, Fingers just rocked! He poured everything he had into this song. John Lovell also did a great job on this song. There was also some strange smell or odor in the air during this song.

31     Distantly In Love
I was very impressed with Jimmy performance on this song. In the past he always did the acoustical ‘last song’ differently that the original version. Songs like ‘Stories We Could Tell’, ‘Lovely Cruise’, ‘He Went to Paris’ were always performed differently when Jimmy does these ‘unplugged’ encores. Jimmy can do what he wants, he owns the songs but, I always thought they should sound like the original. With ‘Distantly in Love’ it sounded very much like the original version & was just a great performance.

BEST PERFORMANCES
Fingers Taylor                 Here Comes Bo Diddley, Rainy Day Women,
                                           Making Music for Money
Mac                                   Ass & the Hole
John Lovell                     Pencil Thin Mustache & Rainy Day Women
Jimmy                               Distantly In Love

BEST SONGS
School Boy Heart
In the City
Here Comes Bo Diddley
Come Monday
Changes In Latitudes

I can say that of all the live Buffet concerts I have been to and seen on DVD, this concert was the best. Watching Fingers performing on stage was an unforgettable experience. When I did my review of ‘Live by the Bay’ I mentioned that Jimmy’s old band interacted well with each other and that the PM Band just sort of stayed in their little spot during the concert. Jimmy was real loose that night and was taking jabs at members of the band and they were starting to loosen up a little.

After Fingers took the stage, everything changed. It was like he flipped a switch & the rest of the band came alive. I have never seen the (PM) band interact as well as they did on this night. Fingers was such a motivating factor in the rest of the band’s performance that night. Everyone was smiling. Gunthie was smiling & he never smiles. Doyle Grisham was smiling and he rarely smiles. Jim Mayer who moves around a little during the show was just all over the place this night.

You just had to be there!

Listener Ed

p.s. Tina looked great!

    06:22 – a week prior, Jimmy, interviewed by none other than Mike Utley (at the July 22 show in Pittsburgh), talked about such an incongruous song appearing in his warm-up playlist.

    07:14 – the concert clips were recorded directly off my Sirius radio, as opposed to off the Sirius web stream like I usually do. To get a good signal the radio was outside while we stayed inside to record Episode 77. It rained that night, and the radio was protected only by the umbrella of a patio table on Schmoe’s deck.
    08:39 – I am dead wrong on this one. I completely forgot he did indeed do “Fruitcakes” at Pine Knob, with me standing right there to hear it. Although I remained convinced I had not heard it for days after. (Shades of that one long ago concert where Mike did not hearing “Changes in Latitudes”.)
    17:33 – Bo Diddley, in Wikipedia
    18:48 – Juke Joint Duo, on MySpace
    19:23 – “Listen to what I say, not what you hear.” Quote of the Episode!
    19:51 – “Skinny Woman“, from YouTube
    21:31 – Scott is reading from the bio on the Juke Joint Duo MySpace page
    21:47 – Calvin Johnson (musician) vs Calvin Johnson (American football), in Wikipedia
    27:53 – as mentioned in Episode 13
    29:11 – the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article, previously mentioned in Episode 76
    31:18 – there’s a time-cut here. Schmoe would not usually pee that quickly
    35:59 – nope. It’s not his ceiling fan. Those internal mics always crackle when using Skype — but when used with any other application, they sound extremely good.
    34:22 – “this long” as in three hours!
    34:31 – yeah, Greg wishes!
    35:02 – obviously this comes from earlier in the recording.
    A few things were edited out of this session, not the least of which was an injury at Greg’s house where a heavy frozen food fell out of his freezer, injuring the bare foot of a house guest. One giant chunk of conversation involved Scott discovering Woot.com had a deal on bacon salt — a product we had never heard of before but took an instant liking to just on the name alone. As Schmoe is always saying “Everything tastes better with bacon.” I regret having excised this, especially as Scott has been quick to bring up the subject of bacon salt in subsequent recordings. (Plus the fact Mike, now that we’re using Skype to contact him in Houston, has permanently labeled the crackle coming from Schmoe’s laptop as “bacon noise”.)

      >  Download Episode 78

A Pleasure and a Hell of an Evening

By Mickey on Leave a Comment

Just got back from the June 10 show at Pine Knob. Here are some photos off my cellphone…

Heading toward the Pine Knob pavilion

The Lawn

Prime Time Joe

Wow! This makes gasoline look cheap!

The Pavilion, from our seats in Row Z

Jimmy “trades” his flip-flops for a “Buffett 08” Red Wings jersey

Fingers Taylor!!!   Playing “Son of a Son of a Sailor”

The crowd

Fingers Taylor!!!   Playing “In the City”

Jimmy dons his jersey for the encores

Sneaking closer for “Tin Cup Chalice”

Late night tailgate

    Update: I did a photo-dump of all tonight’s pictures over at my dot-Mac gallery –– over at my Flickr page.

Scott’s Corner

By Scott on 1 Comment

    The time has come to reveal the spectacular wonderment that occurred the night of the concert. I truly wished to immediately put pen to paper and construct brilliant prose to justly describe the night’s events, however my dad asked for permission to take on the task. Feel free to send him comments (good ones) at polwonder [at] wideopenwest.com.

THE DAY GOD INTRODUCED HIMSELF TO THE PIESTRAKS

    Some people meet God on their death bed where they repent and regret many of the things they did. Others see Him in a dream where He gives them this week’s lottery numbers or tells them to blow up the abortion clinic that’s around the corner. I have strong reservations about the validity of those “messages from Heaven”. On the other hand, there’s our experience. Most of those others can be explained through a simple explanation like mayonnaise that got too warm, or a bowl of chili that had a little too much “BAM!” We were neither asleep nor near death, so there’s no other explanation other than the obvious one that’s left: Divine Intervention.
    To fully appreciate the story I’m about to relate, you have to be a Parrothead: a strange breed of creature who appear in their full and colorful regalia on a few occasions around the Western Hemisphere that seem to coincide with the appearances of their spiritual leader, Jimmy Buffett. He can’t be pigeonholed into any particular genre. He’s the occasional: redneck philosopher; party animal; drunk; musician; children’s author and one of the few adult authors who have had books on both the New York Times fiction and non-fiction best seller lists. His followers often track the party-creating crusader across the country, and occasionally to treks out of the country to a variety of Caribbean destinations. The followers cover the age spectrum from children to the card carrying members of AARP. It’s in this atmosphere that God chose to show Himself to us; thus reaffirming that God is everywhere, even at a hedonistic semi-rock concert.
    To say you had to be there is an understatement. After Buffett’s three year absence from the Detroit area, we did our duty, standing in line and getting a lucky number that would let us have a chance at getting tickets to the only concert of the year that counts for a Parrothead. Then there were the months of anticipation and then finally the day of September 12. A thick cloud of gloom crept into our minds, only equaled by the dense, dark clouds that filled the skies. Unfortunately, the frequently wrong weather forecasters seemed to have hit this one on the head. They had promised rain, and in some areas, heavy downpours. On this night, Clarkston, Michigan would be one of those areas.
    After arriving in a light mist, we ate our dinner and began to absorb the atmosphere around Pine Knob (aka DTE Enery Music Theater) on the day of a Buffett concert. Buffett music mixes with the sound of blenders humming throughout the parking lot as Parrotheads attempt to transform the DTE parking lot into Margaritaville. Men in grass skirts trying in vain to outdo women in grass skirts suddenly become a normal sight. A half-hour before the concert, the bad news begins to be delivered. The clouds are the messengers God sends. They open up and try to drown the excitement of the beach loving Buffett crowd. It almost worked on us. We later confessed that we all wondered if it was worth going inside to sit/stand on the hill with our lawn tickets. Scott gave up first. His saner side took over and he approached a man who was trying in vain to peddle a third row seat he had purchased for $350 for the “bargain price” of a hundred. “Let me know when you get down to $60,” were Scott’s last words to him. It wasn’t much later when the drenching rain drove the man to taking a big loss so he could go inside to enjoy the dryness of the pavilion. We decided we’d share the ticket, taking turns to enjoy a respite from the downpour while actually seeing the concert.
    Scott went down to his seat and reported by phone that his seat was terrific. Only three rows from the front of the stage, it was a dream few Parrotheads ever realize. Meanwhile, Jeff and I, clad in our dollar plastic ponchos, slosh our way to the concert area. Walking uphill, waves of water wash over our shoes as if we were on a stroll at the beach. We settled on standing in front of the hill. Although we had no hope of sitting, we were standing on solid cement and the thought of sitting on a rain-soaked mix of mud and grass wasn’t very appealing.
    If you wear glasses and are trying to see something in a pouring rain, it’s not easy. Glasses just don’t come with wipers — yet. Seeing the stage clearly was a challenge. Once again the gloom, disgust, and questions floating on the raindrops, ran through our minds. Can this be possibly worth it? No, was the honest answer, but there we stood. I vowed to make the best of it. Then, the cell phone rang. Could that be God calling?
    As exciting as that could be, it wasn’t. B ut it was darn close–it was indeed news from God. Scott was on the line. The gregarious Scott began noticing empty seats in the row around him and began talking to a couple next to him. “Are you expecting some people to join you?” It was then that Scott’s vision was drawn to the man’s shirt pocket where several tickets were peeking out. The unexpected response was that the couple’s friends, obviously not true Parrotheads who deserve tickets to this sacred area, had canceled. Weakened by rain, they sat home to watch some stale rerun of Diagnosis Murder. When the gentleman responded that he had tried to sell the tickets outside, but finally gave up as the rain got harder, Scott made his move. Many would have never made the inquiry, feeling that it would be sort of rude or brazen. Having no shame, Scott uttered the words God had told him to say, “I have two people who are standing in the rain who would love to come down here.” The next thing was amazing. The man gave him two tickets. When I answered the phone and heard the words, “I have tickets for you and Jeff,” I was sure that my approaching dementia was causing me to hear strangely. Then he repeated it and seconds later he was in front of us with tickets in hand, leading us to the promised land where your permission to enter the next level is checked and rechecked every six steps. There we were! The land of milk and honey and at that time, more importantly, dryness. It was hard to believe that only seconds earlier we had been standing in the downpour full of gloom. It was deliverance; our glimpse of how the chosen ones enjoyed things on this night.
    Scott pointed out to me the couple who were our benefactors. As I waddled in front of them, I was carefully trying not to brush up against them with my water-carrying poncho. It was then that the prophetic words came to me. Looking at the middle-aged, attractive lady, I uttered, “So you’re the people God sent.” I swear I don’t know what made me say that. I had only a busy few minutes from the time I received the news to the time I said those words. Her reaction was what finally sealed my belief. A large warming smile came across her face. That was it. It was as if she said, “I’m glad you realize who sent me.” She said nothing else. Then, the house lights went down and the show started. Those were to be my only words to her. They departed with just a few songs left in the concert. I’m sure they left Pine Knob to go back to the wonderful, warm place whence they came.
    I now know how writers feel when they have a story inside them and nothing will stop it from coming out. I really never had this feeling before. Divine inspiration is nothing new. Dante’s Inferno and Handel’s Messiah have no real explanation other than help from the big author in the sky. I don’t begin to equate my effort to theirs, but for the little Polish kid from Fordson High, I figure this is as close as it gets. After telling a friend this story, she cleverly responded with, “I’m glad He didn’t call you up and give you the tickets personally.”
    Me too.

Bubba from the third row

Episode 17: Wet Wet Wet

By Mickey on 1 Comment

Show Notes:
Recorded Tuesday, September 12 2006, (11:00 PM – 12:30 AM) in Clarkston, MI
    “The North Coast boys, live in concert. Direct from the Pine Knob parking lot, where they tailgate and share their reactions to Jimmy’s first Michigan show in three years.”

    Listener Barbara from Florida commented back in June how she could not “wait for the video cast of the official tailgate party”. We knew ahead of time that, sadly, she was destined for disappointment. We were never ones for elaborate tailgating, realizing early on that it’s more fun to devote the time to drinking and eating than in putting up decorations or putting on costumes. And the last couple times, most of us haven’t even taking the day off from work. I did, but spent most of the day in front of my computer, reading the live blogs on Apple’s latest announcement. I actually hated to leave at two, since I was not able yet to see what the new iPods looked like. I got to Joe’s at three, and was quick to use his son’s laptop to check out the online Apple Store. Greg showed up soon afterward, and after packing up Schmoe’s vehicle we repeated the start of our Caseville trip to go pick up Mike at work.
    There was a Meijer’s nearby so we were able to get some extra supplies. We packed most of the Coronas and Twisted Teas and tequila ahead of time, and we were able to get some food and some ice now. I also made sure to buy some backup batteries for the podcast we planned for after the concert.

Picking up Mike from work, at 4:10 PM

Greg gets supplies from Meijer’s.

A sure sign we’ve gotten old: a case of water instead of beer.

    I think we got to Pine Knob at five. It had been drizzling all day, but plenty of people were still dedicatedly partying. We had the cover of Schmoe’s canopy, which he uses for U of M tailgating. I had planned on trolling the parking lot for interviews, but that changed as the rain increased. Scott was tailgating separately, with his family, but he stopped by at around six.

Cruising the parking lot

The Parrothead and Body combo

They misspelled “Pine Knob”

Our massive tailgating setup

A neighbor

Another neighbor

Scott and his brother stop by

The redneck grass skirt?   Grass toga?  Grass overalls?

Let the drinking begin: Schmoe has the mix…

…and Greg has the tequila.  (Incidentally the guy behind Greg is the one who says “She’s a keeper” during the episode.)

    Joe and Greg had lawn tickets and needed to go into the venue early. We packed up and headed in at around seven. Right around then, the rain turned into a deluge and it did not let up for most of the rest of the night. Everyone was soaked to the skin and the lawn was a muddy mess. I met up with Greg and Joe outside the men’s room, and they accompanied me to the souvenir stand where I bought a baseball cap. We then split up so they could go to the lawn and I could meet up with Mike in the pavilion.
    The rain did not let up till right around the same time the concert ended. Mike and I found Greg and Joe more easily and quickly than expected; we all wound up together at the same men’s room. We started recording the show as soon as we got back to Joe’s vehicle. I tried to limit the episode to being about tonight’s concert, but a few of our stories were worth keeping. Since they didn’t necessarily fit, I include them here as a Show Notes Page bonus.

And this is a the setlist we discuss:

Singin’ in the Rain / Hot Hot Hot
1. Brown Eyed Girl
2. License to Chill
3. Pencil Thin Mustache
4. It’s 5:00 Somewhere
5. Grapefruit – Juicy Fruit
6. Come Monday
7. Floridays
8. Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes
9. Bama Breeze
10. Cheeseburger in Paradise
11. Why Don’t we Get Drunk
12. Party at the End of the World
13. One Particular Harbour
(No Intermission due to rain)
14. Peanut-Butter Conspiracy (with Mac & Fingers)
15. In the City
16. Knees of My Heart
17. Window on the World
18. Son of a Son of a Sailor (with Fingers)
19. Werewolves of London
20. Greenidge/Mayer solos – Desperation Samba (Halloween in Tijuana)
21. Dixie Chicken
22. Volcano
23. Margaritaville

First Encore:
24. Fins
25. Southern Cross

Second Encore:
26. A Pirate Looks at Forty (with Mac & Fingers)

      >  Download Episode 17