The Nels Cline Singers

[poppydawn]

Awesome, incredible performance. The 37 of us who bothered to show up were given a performance worthy of a much bigger audience. This was my first Singers show and I didn't know what to expect. Mesmerizing.

 

And for the record, Party @ the Moontower and Fatheadfred are good people. There. I said it.

[Three dollars and 63 cents]

This was the set list, if I remember correctly:

 

First set:

Lullaby for Ian

Fly, Fly

Cause For Concern

Dedication

He Still Caries A Torch For Her

Thurston County

 

Second set:

Reconciliation

A Mug Like Mine

Thurstonius

Blues, Too

Confection

 

They were wonderful, as always, even though they got in late, Russ the sound guy had food poisoning, and they could've phoned it in for such a small crowd. I'm annoyed that the Blue Note didn't even let the band get their gear packed before starting the techno dance party (and that the DJs talked through the Singers' entire second set), but it was still a great show.

 

Off to Nashville soon!

[Party @ the Moontower]

Me and Pedro had lots of fun @ the Blue Note despite the creepy emptiness.Nells was quite interesting and funny. It was a neat little 30 something birthday for me!Before the show I had a 90 minute massage and then we headed to http://www.flatbranch.com/home.asp. I bathed in their house IPA and stuffed my self silly chowing on warm braided pretzels with a side of tangy beer mustard, smoked house-made kielbasa, Brie and cheddar cheese, red grapes, pickled cucumbers, grape tomatoes, and sourdough baguette toasts with beer mustard, and a salad with tender chunks of chicken mixed together with creamy fresh avocado, celery, onion and spices, served chilled on a bed of baby greens with fresh cucumber, grape tomatoes, and baguette toasts.

 

I like anything and everything on Baguette toasts!!!!!!!

 

Poppy Dawn, your yummy food blog is making me hungry. Saw the CSA pics.Here is the link to our lovely beef next door. http://www.breezy-hill-farm.com/. Pedro's family also has a fondue resturaunt and coffee shop. You should try a beef latte.Just kidding. I would get the chicken fat mocha instead.

 

They are on Slow Food St. Louis..which has events in your neck of the woods. http://www.slowfoodstl.org/farmers/farms/b...-centerview-mo/

 

Nice meeting you nice people. The burrito however, I could have left that.I look like I have an alien baby in me belly....10 hours later.

 

I borrowed this awsesome pic of Nells and his Obama sticker.

[poppydawn]

Mmmmmmm ... now I wish we'd made it to Flat Branch. LOVE those pretzels and mustard!

 

We were all bemoaning the burrito/nacho alien babies by the time we got home.

 

The president of Slow Foods StL is the woman who started our CSA - http://www.fairshares.org. So maybe you guys can get in on the supply side! Chicken fat mochas for everyone! Yay!

 

Maggie and I are headed to Nashville in mere minutes to start the adventure all over again.

 

Thurstonius

 

This melted my mofo face off. So incredible.

 

Guess I could have told you that in person, since you just walked into the room!

[mountain bed]

Awesome, incredible performance. The 37 of us who bothered to show up were given a performance worthy of a much bigger audience. This was my first Singers show and I didn't know what to expect. Mesmerizing.

 

And for the record, Party @ the Moontower and Fatheadfred are good people. There. I said it.

You've been CLINE'D Glad you got to see them girl! Isaw my first NCS show last month and it was everything I wanted - truly mind blowing.

[renic]

And for the record, Party @ the Moontower and Fatheadfred are good people. There. I said it.

 

this is good to hear.

[poppydawn]

You've been CLINE'D

 

I'm sitting in a hotel room in Nashville, Tennessee with Three Dollars and Sixty-Three Cents, and we are laughing our asses off at this! We got CLINE'D again tonight, and it was once again mind-blowing. I'm so glad I made the spur-of-the-moment trip to get two NCS nights. I'm just wishing I'd gone to the Indy show last month.

 

Hey Moontower - we think the serial killer guy was at the Nashville show tonight. I don't know, since I didn't see him in Columbia. Maggie did, though, and she thinks it was the same guy. Only this time he had a following.

[Three dollars and 63 cents]

Last night's setlist, from what I can remember:

 

Reconciliation

A Mug Like Mine

Vamp

He Still Carries A Torch For Her

The Angel of Angels (on a borrowed Jerry Jones 12 string that made Nels very, very happy)

 

Dedication

Thurston County

Attempted

Blood Drawing

Something About David H.

 

I feel like I might be forgetting something from the first set, but maybe not. Every song had wild solos and improvisation, so they were all really long. They were all great, but it was really Devin's night in my mind. He played a lot more solos than I've ever seen him play. I'm going to be sitting on his side tonight in Knoxville (hard to believe, right?) and am looking forward to it.

 

It was a great crowd, and a really young crowd. A lot of Wilco fans, I think, and a lot of gearheads. After the show, Nels was talking to a group of kids about the second set, and one of them was saying it hadn't seemed very long. He said it was because they'd played Blood Drawing, which is usually at least 15 minutes. Then he pointed at me and said, "But we had to play Blood Drawing because Maggie is here. We always play Blood Drawing for Maggie!" Apparently Nels remembered that I like it, which is why they started playing it again last month, and they've been having a lot of fun with it.

 

I'm not sure if I'll have internet access for the rest of the trip, but if not, I'll check in when I'm back from being CLINE'd

[Party @ the Moontower]

Hey Moontower - we think the serial killer guy was at the Nashville show tonight. I don't know, since I didn't see him in Columbia. Maggie did, though, and she thinks it was the same guy. Only this time he had a following.

 

 

Oooooooo....was it the killer that wears the 1970's door-to-door salesman outfit with the hot short sleeved white t-shirt with the wife beater showing thru and sloppy over sized dress pants to hide his excitement? He totally scoped out the place looking for single young men. You should have seen his stalker dance he did for the green t-shirt boy once his shot of whiskey hit his hot spot. We kept joking that we would see the young boys face in the paper the next day.

 

He did mention something to Pedro about being from NY, or having followed Nells there? Maggie need not worry though, he only chops up young men.

[poppydawn]

Oooooooo....was it the killer that wears the 1970's door-to-door salesman outfit with the hot short sleeved white t-shirt with the wife beater showing thru and sloppy over sized dress pants to hide his excitement?

 

Maroon short-sleeved button-down, buttoned all the way to his neck (very tightly, possible autoerotic asphixiation fiend) with baggy pleated khakis to his excitement.

 

I think Maggie remembered the set list. It was phenomenal! Today we slept in, had a great lunch at Pancake Pantry, did a little shopping in the Hillsboro Village district of Nashville before parting ways. I'm in Clarksville, TN, having a latte and trying to get my brain wrapped around the past few days.

 

Which reminds me, one of the highlights last night was the young guy sitting next to Maggie who said, in regards to the performance, "I don't know what to think! My brain! It's too much! My brain hurts!"

 

Safe travels to Maggie as she hits the next two shows! Thanks for talking me into going to Nashville. Totally unforgettable, amazing experience!

[mountain bed]

I wish I could have been there. Sounds like you all had a great time!

[poppydawn]

Here's a handful of pictures and a video from Nashville.

[Three dollars and 63 cents]

I swear to god I'm never driving anywhere ever again. Today I had an old woman driving a huge Buick down the center of both lanes at 80 mph in North Carolina, bumper to bumper traffic for the entire state of Virginia, several huge thunderstorms, fog, and all kinds of assorted morons for 12 hours and 9 minutes.

 

But you know what? This week was so worth every minute of it. I'm kicking back with a Hop Devil while I'm dumping the pictures and videos off my camera. I took quite a few last night, and I have setlists from the last two nights and all of that when my brain stops feeling like Jello.

 

I'm feeling happy and overwhelmed in a good way. It's looking like this will be their last chance to tour this year, though they've said they'll hit the road again whenever time permits. They even said they'll come play in Ithaca, since it's their turn to drive 14 hours for me

[poppydawn]

Glad you're home safe and sound, and that you had such an awesome time! Although that drive today? Damn!

[Three dollars and 63 cents]

Here's the set list from Friday's show in Knoxville:

 

Build

Blood Drawing

A Mug Like Mine

Thurstonius

Exiled

Reconciliation

 

Fly, Fly

Sunken Song

Jackieing (Thelonious Monk cover)

He Still Carries A Torch For Her

Confection

Cause for Concern

 

Dedication

 

It was a nice little theater, and the show was fairly well attended. I asked for Thurstonius and Cause For Concern and was surprised that they played both AND Blood Drawing for me. The crowd was an interesting mix--the woman next to me was in town for business and just bought a ticket on a whim. I expected her to leave after the first few songs, but she stuck it out, and I even helped her pick out a CD I think she'll enjoy, since she told me she liked the jazz portion of the show but not the rock. I feel a little bad, because right as they were coming back for the second set, she leaned over and asked me when they were going to start singing, and I barked "NEVER!"

 

There was a taper next to me. He's going to let me know when he gets the show posted.

 

My photo set from the week is here, and I'm uploading my last video to youtube right now. The videos aren't great, but the sound quality in all of them is good. I taped a few minutes of Thurston County in Columbia, and part of He Still Carries A Torch For Her and almost all of Vamp in Asheville. Thurston County will be on Nels's new solo album, and they haven't recorded Vamp yet, so give them a listen!

 

I just realized I have a left arm tan from all the driving I did this week