So... my friend Time Zone Guru was very stunned by this particular choice of song from the hazy past, because like a true Easter miracle it seems to have resurrected memories long buried among brain cells thought long deceased. Apparently several lifetimes ago tzg attemped to recall the WB Experience years after the fact for a not-quite-lemon-nor-mustard colored group of... uh... still undecided. Or maybe it was for Mizar 56.5. Anyway, in spite of being in possesion of an actual set list from the very scene of the Art Crime, there was still some self doubt as to what he actually heard. So for kicks and wiggles tzg thought it might be interesting to some, and annoying to others, to look back on that flawed recollection, and tzg never likes to miss a chance to be annoying...
tzg would like to thank wbm, mod, Mulder and Scully... especially Scully... for helping him replace that missing time, and for the cyber implant that seems to be working grelibjb iib qpknc...
Wednesday, December 22nd 2004 - 06:37:41 PM
Who is tones and why does he keep following me everywhere I go?
Here's the hastily re-edited review I sent a friend about WB's gig...
---I snagged the set list from Walter's show off the stage via a compassionate roadie after the show. Fortunately it's dated - Friday, April 7, 1995 - Slim's, San Francisco. (Local trivia: Slim's is a bar/nightclub co-owned by Boz Scaggs) As I remember it, the gig was a one time only thing, a benefit for a children's charity run by a friend of Walter's. Tickets weren't on sale very long before the show, so I only had about two weeks to look forward to this gig. I went with Denise, a Dan - particularly Walter - fan (friend of a good friend of mine who I met at a party about 12 years ago, where we struck up a conversation about Laura Nyro that still hasn't stopped...).
I bussed it into the city because I was "Santana" at the time - car less (sorry...) and made it early enough to meet Denise for the first time, go in and see nothing in particular was happening yet, and decide it was safe for us to go across the street to the deli and grab some food, chat, and make it back for Walter's set:
Lucky Henry
Down in the Bottom
Book of Liars
Surf and or Die
Three Sisters (?)
Junky Girl
My Waterloo
This Moody Bastard
Hat Too Flat
Hard Up Case
Cinder Annie
Girl Next Door - encore
Jaz Jam (not played)
I have very broad impressions of that evening, and an odd bunch of vividly specific memories, because I was conscientiously trying to remember too much of everything, which in this case, defeated the intended purpose... Ironically, I didn't drink or otherwise that evening, though it's possible subsequent events have taken their collective toll. But here are the facts as I got 'em...
I remember being a little taken aback when the band broke into "Lucky Henry" - my specific reaction being "Opening with such a rhythmically dense song... that's different... pretty ballsy... cool." Around this time I start checking out the band... I remember it was the same keyboard player (bald, Yul Brenner-ish... I'm lousy with names...) as from the previous tour ('94), and a different everybody else... I think. I remember being pretty stand-offish about the bass player reading charts, thinking " How could you not learn these songs by heart." (Yep, petty jealousy. Even at the time I realized I was being pathetic...). The band of course was impressively tight; "Down in the Bottom" totally caught the groove on the album. A few songs in I think Walter remarked that the gig had been fairly quickly rehearsed, which would account for the copious about of eye contact between the keyboard player and the rest of the band...
There was a cool moment as Walter was introducing "Book of Liars". Someone yelled, "Smoke 'em if you got 'em", to which Walter chuckled and said, "Yeah, that's right. Smoke 'em if you got 'em". The reference was to the previous year's Dan tour, when he had introduced "Book.." as a kinda mutated reggae tune, and said, "So smoke 'em..." Those of us that remembered chuckled too...
I remember "Surf and or Die" being excellent. "Junkie Girl' was just amazing. Actually, all the songs stuck close to the album arrangements, and were well represented. My only regret about the show was no "Girlfriend", which was my favorite song at on the cd the time ( one of my all time recorded Walter moments is when he goes; "that's why, I'm all..." right before the chorus on "Girlfriend". So perfectly cool, deadpan, chill, Springer, au courant [in '94], and nailed. I tend to tweek on the esoteric details sometimes, like the way Donald pronounces quarter "qwa-ta" in songs. Love it.) And I don't think they did "Cringemaker" either, which would have been perfect for the Friday night bar party type crowd.
Now, the weird thing is I don't remember the song "Three Sisters", unless it is another song with with different title, like "Cinder Annie" = "Little Kawai". I tend to have better recollections of unfamiliar songs, especially by Don and Walt. For instance, I remember "Girl Next Door", or "The Girl Next Door to the Methadone Clinic", as being a kind of slow tempo country waltz (try it with the longer title, pausing after "girl" and "door") with funny lyrics I remember as "affectionately sardonic." (yet another great tune) That said, I think I would have at least a small recollection of something called "Three Sisters", so I'm pretty sure it didn't happen, barring any X-files-esque "missing time".
Speaking of "didn't happen", they didn't play "Jaz Jam", which I assume would have been along the lines of "something in the key of..." in case they needed to fill time. That would have been interesting.
Walter seemed to be in good humor the whole night, and really seemed to enjoy himself. He said "Goodnight. Thanks for coming out." and left the stage. The crowd was really impressed and responded with sincere enthusiasm, not polite "this is where we are supposed to clap" stuff. I remember being elated, but dumbfounded that it was over. Somehow I had the presence of mind to stagger towards the front of the stage and ask a stage tech for the set list still taped to the stage...
I'm sure I've got more details stored up there somewhere, but like I said I don't remember much of the stuff I usually remember, like what the other members of the band besides the keyboard player looked like. Weird. ---
There ya go. Hope it makes sense... lol... I'll answer any questions you guys want to shoot me if I can find the answers buried under all these years of lost memories. I'm off to do a little post-solstice mopping up. Damn pagans make such a mess...
Happy post-solstice everyone.
your
tzg