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Current mood:  grateful
Hey. It's been awhile since I blogged. I'm not really the blogging type, I guess, but I did want to share this because it really touched me. I'm just so incredibly grateful to all of you who continue to support me and the band by coming to shows, purchasing the music, and being so welcoming and encouraging. Sometimes, I just can't believe that anyone gives me and my songs the time of day, so words cannot express how genuinely appreciative I am. All I can say is thank you.
This is a review of the 3.20.09 show I played at the University of Pittsburgh along side my wonderful friend, Bill Deasy. If you haven't checked out Bill's music, he has a great style -- it's quite different from mine, but good, genuine songwriting is just good, genuine songwriting. Bill and his fans have been so incredibly welcoming and accepting of me, and I'm just overjoyed that I get to even call Bill a friend, let alone a musical companion. He's in my top friends, of course.
Thank you, Old John, for your kind words. They mean more to me than you'll EVER know.
"There’s a legend on the Jersey shore that a big time rock star was so upstaged and outplayed by an opening act that the crowd turned on him and he was never the same and faded into oblivion. I’ve never been able to verify that this actually happened but I’ve heard it often enough and from different sources that I’ve come to believe that it’s, at least in part, true.
Headliners have to very careful with openers. Openers have to get the crowd up but can’t over shadow the star. The audience can’t want the opener stay on stage instead of the headliner. Maybe the mark of a real star is someone with the courage to let real talent open for them and the talent to not be outshone. If that’s true then put a star next to the name Bill Deasy.
I’ve seen a lot of acts open for Bill but none top Laura Shay. Bill has described his music as dark. The same could be said of Laura’s. She even apologized about the sadness after one song. If John Cusack’s character in High Fidelity had heard Are You Happier Now? he’d immediately put it at number one on the top five breakup songs. But there’s a difference between sadness and depressing, a fine line to be sure but Laura toes that line without crossing it. Like Bill, there’s a sense of hope and maybe even happiness under the darkness. Maybe it’s just watching Laura, her joy in performing shines through no matter what the lyrics. Whatever it is it works beautifully.
About this time you’re probably saying, “Old John, stick this in Somebody Else’s Town.” But it belongs here because it’s about Bill’s show and his talent. One of his talents is to know when to let others shine and he did it well last night. After a few songs by Laura Bill joined her for two including On The Other Side Of The World, a song that if my CD player broke and just played over and over again I might never get it fixed.
Then it was time for Bill’s set but instead of banishing Laura to the island of misfit openers he had her stay. The result was 90 minutes of bliss. Bill said that the room felt like he was playing in someone’s living room and the whole night had a feeling of just being with friends. Bill’s voice was a little more gravelly than usual but it worked well with Laura’s harmonies. For me two songs stood out. Judgement Day with Laura’s percussion, piano and vocals gave the song a different life. And, of course, none of Old John’s ramblings seem to be complete without talking about Sweet Thing. Bill talked about the 40th anniversary of the release of Astral Weeks and how his version of the song was different from Van the man’s. True but it seems like we get a different version of Bill’s every show. Last night’s was filled with smiles and laughter with a call and response about getting lost on the roads around Greensburg and the Olive Garden or OG. I carried those laughs and smiles with me after the show. They’re still with me.
Thanks Bill, for being smarter and better than the rock star of that Jersey Shore legend. And thanks Laura…comeback soon."
 | Currently listening:
Lost in America
By Gathering Field
Release date: 1996-08-20 |
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2:36 AM
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