Who: Al & The Transamericans
When: September 4, 2003
Where: Nietzsche's/ Buffalo, NY
With: Ben, Mike, Matt, Ryan (?), Ben's Southlake roommates (?)
Of Note: essentially bluegrass moe. for $10, Mexico for Mike's 21st birthday
This day had not been a good day. The brakes on the Jeep were shot and making some sort of weird scraping sound and I did not have the money to fix it.
But! Ben had rounded a bunch of us up to go to a concert at Nietzsche's. I wasn't sure what to expect because I think this was after we'd gone to see al.one, which, no disrespect to Mr. Schnier, but the electronic DJ thing did not do much for me.
Ohmygoodness, was I in for a treat. Al & The Transamericans is a side project of a bunch of great musicians from other bands - Al, Vinnie & at the time Jim from moe.- who play fun, poppy bluegrass and do moe. songs! So, it was essentially like seeing moe. minus the half hour jams, plus a banjo for $10.
I remember having so much fun! Before we left, I was so worried about my car and how I was going to pay to fix it. I don't remember which one (or maybe it was all of them), but one of the boys pulled me aside and said, "Jen, it's all going to be okay. There is nothing you can do about it now so we should just go have a great time seeing a great band. Can you drive?" I drove us all down to Allen in Ben's white Buick.
I have a distinct memory of the song 'Everything Here' because the bridge of that song goes, "Oh can't you see/ I'd be flattered/ At the efforts/ Oh gee whiz/ You made/ To be here/ And see me through". The lyrics right there match the chords that are being played at that time! (C-B flat-F-G-C, I think) I thought that was SO clever.
I remember having a dance party/hoe down pretty much the whole night.
The coolest part of the night was when they played 'Mexico'. It's a great song, in general, but this version, with the banjo, seemed to find a great pocket and just, for lack of a better word, groove. One of the lines of the song talks about getting to Tijuana, just in time "to celebrate my 21st birthday". The night of the concert was the night after Mike's 21st birthday!! I remember that we were all so excited and made a big fuss for Mike when that line was sung.
That year was the year that Matt & Ryan moved to Buffalo and Mike made the trip from Geneseo pretty frequently. I felt like the five of us (Matt, Mike, Ryan & Ben) (either as a quintet or in smaller permutations) had so many great adventures that year. Ben and I were past hating each other and we were all just such good friends; I really loved having the C-Town boys as family that year.
(Matt replaced my brake pads the next day.)
When: September 4, 2003
Where: Nietzsche's/ Buffalo, NY
With: Ben, Mike, Matt, Ryan (?), Ben's Southlake roommates (?)
Of Note: essentially bluegrass moe. for $10, Mexico for Mike's 21st birthday
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| From Remembering the Encores |
This day had not been a good day. The brakes on the Jeep were shot and making some sort of weird scraping sound and I did not have the money to fix it.
But! Ben had rounded a bunch of us up to go to a concert at Nietzsche's. I wasn't sure what to expect because I think this was after we'd gone to see al.one, which, no disrespect to Mr. Schnier, but the electronic DJ thing did not do much for me.
Ohmygoodness, was I in for a treat. Al & The Transamericans is a side project of a bunch of great musicians from other bands - Al, Vinnie & at the time Jim from moe.- who play fun, poppy bluegrass and do moe. songs! So, it was essentially like seeing moe. minus the half hour jams, plus a banjo for $10.
I remember having so much fun! Before we left, I was so worried about my car and how I was going to pay to fix it. I don't remember which one (or maybe it was all of them), but one of the boys pulled me aside and said, "Jen, it's all going to be okay. There is nothing you can do about it now so we should just go have a great time seeing a great band. Can you drive?" I drove us all down to Allen in Ben's white Buick.
I have a distinct memory of the song 'Everything Here' because the bridge of that song goes, "Oh can't you see/ I'd be flattered/ At the efforts/ Oh gee whiz/ You made/ To be here/ And see me through". The lyrics right there match the chords that are being played at that time! (C-B flat-F-G-C, I think) I thought that was SO clever.
I remember having a dance party/hoe down pretty much the whole night.
The coolest part of the night was when they played 'Mexico'. It's a great song, in general, but this version, with the banjo, seemed to find a great pocket and just, for lack of a better word, groove. One of the lines of the song talks about getting to Tijuana, just in time "to celebrate my 21st birthday". The night of the concert was the night after Mike's 21st birthday!! I remember that we were all so excited and made a big fuss for Mike when that line was sung.
That year was the year that Matt & Ryan moved to Buffalo and Mike made the trip from Geneseo pretty frequently. I felt like the five of us (Matt, Mike, Ryan & Ben) (either as a quintet or in smaller permutations) had so many great adventures that year. Ben and I were past hating each other and we were all just such good friends; I really loved having the C-Town boys as family that year.
(Matt replaced my brake pads the next day.)
I barely remember that show, this is what happens when you're 19 and (to quote 'Man of the Year') "on everything but roller skates..."
ReplyDeleteHa. Well, I suppose that's one reason everyone got along so well that year...
ReplyDelete