December 4, 2003 - The Iron Horse - Northampton, MA - with: Steve Burns
Henning says: OK. I had really great time last night. I arrived early for the show at 4:30 to load in and sound check and what have you. When I got there the Steve Burns band was already on the stage and they were setting up in front of a huge movie screen. The stage looked ompletely full and tiny and I was trying to figure out how we were going to fit on there. Jim, the sound man, came over and asked me how many people were playing in SFTD that night. I told him five and he said, "Ok, we'll work it out." So, I sat and watched the set-up and soundcheck which was kind of surreal because the whole time they were checking out the DVD projections and these giant images were illuminating the room. It was snowing outside and I was feeling in good spirits because, on the 5 minute ride over, I heard The Cure and XTC back to back on the radio. Steve Burns was concerned about getting off the stage as quick as they could so that we would have time for a sound check. He's been in the opening band position recently enough that he had compassion. Which was nice. I told them not to worry about us, we are quick and used to setting up fast. It was around then that I realized that I had brought all the equipment except for my guitar. Lesa had noticed the same thing at home and called me and said that she would bring it down. The guitar and case don't seem that heavy, but when you've walked in the snow and cold with it for more than a minute, you realize that it really is. So it was very nice of her to do that. Cheers. We did our soundcheck without my guitar, though, for time's sake, and it was kind of fun. I just stood there and sang - it's more of a difference than you might imagine. Kind of cool. Gradually, the room filled up with a great looking crowd. Young and cute. We had a little food and then it was time to play. We hadn't played with Ken for a long time and he sounded great. Well, of course, he did. Everything felt perfect and easy to me on the stage. The band seemed to really pay as a solid unit - maybe it was the practice that we had earlier in the week. The new break down on Day Job was a hoot and the truncated ending on Omnivore was a surprise for everyone. Excellent. Two great idea from Brian. He's not just a great drummer, you know. Tony got to enjoy my new pedal board on it's debut voyage. Unpacking it and cleaning it up were so easy. Excellent purchase. The guitar sounded really crisp and clear to me. I was standing in the sweet spot, I guess, because I could hear everyone perfectly. Max's bass amp was right behind me and I felt very connected to the grooves of the songs. I had the best seat in the house. At one point I jumped in the air and Max did also. Rock. The crowd was great. They sang, they laughed, they clapped. One lady laughed like crazy at everything. We did our local debut of Back To School and Disgruntled Lover. Both were a gas. We also brought back Roger and Mary O'Malley and the Ivisible Pirates and Good Night. Lots of newish material. After the show, I talked to a number of very nice music-lovers and we signed some CDs. Unfortunately, we are currently sold out of my solo disc and some more people wanted to buy it. I can't wait until the new and much better band album is done. Maybe the snow this weekend will trap me in the studio. The Steve Burns set was fun to watch. The video screen ran through the entire show and some of the videos were really funny. The band was good, too and they had some great arrangements that were piped in through the DVD players. Lots of times, though, I hardly even noticed the music because I was concentrating on the videos. It became like a background soundtrack more than a concert. Overall, I would give the evening five stars for me. I thought we played one of our better sets and I felt good about it for the whole night. Tonight, it's back to the Iron Horse to see Lo Fine play with Clem Snide. Then at the stroke of midnight....it's BRIAN'S BIRTHDAY!! Yee! Ken says: everybody: i just realized i haven't played with you guys since transperformance?! august 26!! (and before that the listening room on august 11, which doesn't appear in the gig diary, i don't think.) i wish i could be in the band more often. so for this iron hoss show i had a skip in my step (thanks in great part to lesa, who seemed truly happy to see me in the band again -- thanks, lesa!). i also had a beard on my face and ginger in my tummy and a weird pain in my ribs/back that hopefully will go away soon and i had a great time playing. we opened for steve burns, and he and his band were very nice. they had lots of stuff with them (movie screen behind the band and a projector up on the second floor, a powerbook headquarters over by the drummer with all sorts of gizmos and wires attached) but we were able to set up in the middle of it all, without having to move most of the whatnot. which made it interesting for me, surrounded by s.b. keyboardist derek's very cool gear and shoehorning myself and hen's keyboard into the remaining space. i spent most of the show looking at tony's striped right shoulder. but when i did look away from the dimly lit keyboard and the dazzling stripes i saw max rocking out in his inimitable way, and brian smiling and thwacking his splash cymbal with poise and flair (keith moon meets max weinberg? or max roach?). and henning was in his plastic oxygen chamber with the incubating birdies. two of the songs we played were new to me, "back to school" and "disgruntled lover," and they're both excellent hen tunes. i wish i'd thought of more interesting parts to add, but i was concerned with "getting in the way" of the tight arrangements that were already there (the harmonies of hen, tony and brian on "b.t.s." sounded beautiful). i'm glad we played "pick a gripe," not because i get those little goof-off moments during the verse (although that's super-fun for me), but because the structure of that song is so great, it's like a stream that bumps along calmly, then turns into a river that picks up speed and tumbles down a waterfall, which then collects in a serene pool and starts all over again. there are a lot of parts to the song but they flow (so to speak) so well...i just love that song!! the crowd was large and in charge and seemed to enjoy the show. i tried to look up from the keys more than usual, you know, "relax and enjoy it." "omnivore" sounded strong...i love the three-part harmony during the "long long day" section...apparently steve burns did too because he said he liked the song a lot, even from the stage during his set. ("I loved that song about the meat-eating dinosaur," he said. hmmm.) i liked steve's films which played behind the band all night long. and it was fun to see drummer jason strap on a hardhat fitted with a camera for a drum's eye view of the crowd and the stage. gimmicks, yes, but fun ones. like the SFTD activity page, which some of his fans really seemed to get into (one guy was REALLY into it...so much so that he became part of steve burns' set...he was seated down front near the stage and was concentrating so much on filling the back of his sheet with words that steve, mid-song, smiled and looked at him like, "what the hell are you doing??" and the guy held up the activity sheet). as people were filtering out i stood on the stairs, just to get out of the way, and some people were handing in their pages to me as if i were some teacher! "here, mr. beard." actually, some people have actually called me "sir" since i stopped shaving. mostly at various drive-thrus. "here are your chicken mctestes, sir." Brian Says: All week I knew I was careening towards an eventful weekend filled with music, fun (yay) and snow and gettng older (I'll get back to you on those). I just needed to reserve enough energy each day after work to do a good job on stage. On December 4 I left work an hour early and went straight to the Iron Horse to unload my stuff. Ning was out there talking to Zeke and then helped me with my stuff. Inside, the Iron Horse felt like something else--a huge video screen was the backdrop and I caught glimpses of strange things on the screen as I was heading in and out. On stage was a little guy with a guitar that I recognized as Steve Burns. I left to go home and freshen up, change clothes and eat. Upon returning, I saw that Ken and Ning had set up most of my drums. Steve apologized about taking so long to sound/sight check. I told him we really weren't expecting a soundcheck anyway. But we did actually sound check with Ning doing a great Roger Daltry, lead singer stud act. I was surprsingly nervous about the fact that two of my co-workers, one being my boss, were coming to the show. I had to focus on the influx of college kids coming in to take my mind off it. The show: everyone else basically covered it well. We did a great job. Maybe two slight flubs but that's all. The energy and mood were just right. Next day at work, Mary (my boss) said she loved the show. This isn't a Lo Fine gig diary or a birthday diary, but I'll quickly go over the rest of the weekend: 24 hours after SFTD, I was back at the Iron Horse to play w/ Lo Fine, opening for Clem Snide. Besides Zeke and El Beez siting in almost the same chairs as before, and Neil behind the bar, it was a whole different crowd. Perhaps the snow, which was just beginning, kept away those perusing the listings and thinking "ooh, honey, shall we go see Clem Snide tonight instead of Bad Santa?" The Clem Snide guys put on a great show and were very nice. All night, Ning kept counting down the minutes 'till my birthday. At midnight begun my birthday and 24 hours of intermittent fun. Starting w/ Neil buying me a lovely martini. Afterwards the party continued, as we all parked our cars at home and trudged through wind and snow to meet for a small afterhours. There was champagne, there was coffeecake, there were gifts and party favors. And records being spun. Thank you everyone. The next day I figured I'd stay in, hide from the snow, and watch movies. Afterall, the party couldn't go on forever. Or could it? Ning called me and invited me out for an Eastside Grill dinner. Ning, Beez, Head of Security Seth Tripp and Kevin all made the scene. Scallops and steak tips, wine and souffle, which is an ancient relative of a waffle, we decided. Pronounced "waff-ley" Over at Harry's, Don had nothing going on (the scheduled act cancelled) so he called the night Drinking Next to Brian. After a slow start of playing pool and digesting the Eastside meals, people started coming in. Fancy Trash played a set, the guys from the Crawdads played a set, then I stayed on stage playing drums for the last hour, mostlyu for people I don't play with on songs I didn't know. But they asked me. First, as a present, I asked Thane if we could do a couple Figments songs. So Kevin, he and I did two. Then I played some songs w/ Matt Hebert. Then with Philip Price. Then with.......was there anyone else? I don't remember. I was supposed to play w/ Steve Sanderson (who bought me a b-day shot) and Bow Bow but things were very, uh, loose by then. But holy gee. Capping off a great year of rock tour, rock opera, engagement, solo album...... I stayed in and hid when I turned 30, but this year realized there's no hiding. Thank you to all those nice folks. It woulda been great to have the fiance there, but you kept me from dwelling on any black clouds. Now, ladies and gentlebirds, I'd like to pass the birthday crown to your friend and his, Anthony Tone-D Westcott!!