Temp Stuff

Okay, I took Joe's boots and ran them through a 30 band equalizer, compressed when needed and normalized. I haven't done all the tracks yet, but I did do the new songs. I'll be updating this post tomorrow when I have the rest of the tracks eq'd.

01 - NLYG

02 - Crystal Baller

05 - Palm Reader

06 - Jumper

07 - Don't Like Me Now

08 - Break Me

11 - SRV

"Thanks so much...I did see your review on the bulletin board and I've spent some time on your web site. Looking back at all those old shows brings back a ton of memories..."

The quote above is part of an e-mail from another longtime member of the "pauper" community. He had been unable to attend this show because of work, so had contacted me about the performance. And, as I was pondering a theme around which to frame this newest entry in "The History of Michael McDermott" (at least the live show segment of that), these words popped into my head as an interesting place to start...one seeming even more appropriate given several discussions on his forum "Pauper's Sky" have dealt lately with the McD history topic. For example, one fan pointed out that it was 15 years ago this month that Michael's debut album was released, another has been compiling a "press archive" (a limited one of which already exists here) -- and just days after the show about which I'm writing took place, a photo appeared of Michael's appearance on the Conan O'Brien show in 1996.

What's more, the impressions offered on the bulletin board by various people in attendance at this show were widely divergent, and I have to admit that in making a few statements of my own there immediately arriving home from it, I purposely dodged any real definition of this show's "quality"...simply because I honestly didn't feel it "measured up" to several -- even the bulk of -- Michael McDermott performances I'd attended in the past. And yet, having experienced no Michael McDermott performances for more than a year prior to it, and being deeply grateful for this very brief (8 song) set, I was deeply hesitant to say anything that might be misconstrued as an implication I felt his ability had in any way diminished, that he wasn't putting forth his "old" level of effort, or any other untrue negative appellation...especially since he himself, up there on the stage with things going a bit awry, was arguably the one enduring the experience's worst effects.

With all of that in mind, the above e-mail quote reminded me of how much of the past each of us brings to our assessment of things happening in the present. Having seen something like 30 McDermott shows prior to this one, it's impossible to stop the mind from categorizing it in some way -- alphabetizing it, if you will, in the A to Z listing of the greatest performances, slightly lesser, not quite up to "par" ones, etc. And, given Michael's rare consistency in finding that place wherein the intangible reality of great art lives, there is no doubt that having witnessed him at his best on so many occasions, anything less -- though still very good, don't get me wrong -- conjures the double-edged sword of memory...a (wonderfully full and welcome) bit of baggage newcomers to his work have only begun to pack.

As a clarification to all that, and an addition to the McD history topics noted above, you can click here to visit a partially reconstructed page from the version of Michael's bulletin board in existence in Jan. 2001...a page (the posts from which are shown word for word as they first appeared) detailing one of those McDermott history highlights...the 1-27-01 show at The Point. (Also, appropriate with regard to how far technology has evolved since this "distant past", if you visit the review page for that show [linked at left] you'll see how primitive the page/photos are commemorating it!).

Back to the present, I got an e-mail from a pauper in another part of the country asking about the recent World Cafe live, to whom I privately gave my honest impressions. Part of the response to this stated, "After you wrote me my own personal "review" of the show & then I read the others, I thought to myself,
how would Michael perceive this show? So I found his recent blog on myspace very interesting.
Seems he agreed with your assessment..."

The reason I mention that isn't to pat myself on the back for accurate insight by any means, but rather to point out yet another way history -- and technology -- have changed since my early days in attending Michael's shows. Back when that 2001 performance took place, there was no www.myspace.com on which to "blog" at all. However, if you click on the aforementioned bulletin board "archive" link above you'll find "the old fashioned way" Michael once used of sharing his own impressions of shows with paupers...a little surprise representing something "new" to McD community newcomers -- and a warm bit of nostalgia for my fellow pauper "old timers".

In conclusion, then, here's to one thing that evolves and changes, but invariably stays the same -- the immense level of Michael's talent. And, of course, here's to the triumphant history I have no doubt is even right now in the making.

After you wrote me my own personal "review" of the
show & then I read the others, I thought to myself,
how would Michael perceive this show? I remembered
the last time, when you wrote on the website that the
show wasn't up to par, and he wholeheartedly agreed ~
both personally to you, and then on the site. So I
found his recent blog on myspace very interesting.
Seems he agreed with your assessment! Didn't surprise
me.

Solo
I missed 1-2 songs at the start of the show.....
*1.) Bring 'em All In
*2.) ??? Bourbon Blue
Cheap Motel Bed
3.) Antique Store
4.) Never Going Down Again

Break, then band set
1.) Arm Yourself
2.) Hold Back a River
3.) Sword of Damocles
4.) Gonna Be Good
*5.) Out of My Head and Into Your Heart
6.) Sweet Rapier
7.) Day Like Tomorrow
8.) Unemployed
9.) A Wall I Must Climb
*10.)Into the Mystic
11.)[Solo piano] Murder on Her Lips
*12.)[Back to full band] If I Should Fall From Grace Again
*13.)The Whole of the Moon
14.)Need Some Surrender
15.)Everything I Got
16.)20 Miles South of Nowhere
17.)Bells???

Bring 'Em Alll In (Mike Scott)
2. Spark
3. Cal Sag Road Song
4. Don't Think Twice (Dylan cover)
5. Mystic (Van Morrison cover)
6. Irish Eyes?
7. Unemployed
8. Gypsy (traditional Irish song) - Von, help me with the title
9. Long Way to Heaven
10. Can't Sleep Tonight
11.Wall
Break
12. Fisherman's Blues
13. Summer Days
14. Irish song
15. No. 49
16. Pair O' Brown Eyes
17. Twenty Miles
Encore: Just Like A Woman (Dylan cover)

*1.) Fisherman's Blues (Waterboys)
2.) Arm Yourself
3.) Hold Back a River
*4.) When Doves Cry
*5.) Irish song for which I don't know the title
*6.) Another Irish song
7.) Never Going Down Again
*8.) Pogues song
9.) Gonna Be Good
*10.) The Whole of the Moon (Waterboys)
11.) My Sweet Rapier
12.) Ooops, can't read my writing....
13.) Need Some Surrender
*14.) Happy Birthday (to Michelle and someone else)
15.) A Wall I Must Climb

BREAK
*1.) Irish song
*2.) Irish song
3.) Everything I Got
4.) Junkie Girl (note: big-time crowd favorite)
5.) Bells (major crowd pleaser. we sounded good I thought)
6.) 20 Miles South of Nowhere
7.) Drink You Off My Mind (new)
8.) No. 49

Earlier this year my husband and I became the proud owners of a pet rat -- not by choice, precisely, I must admit; rather, on a particularly wintry day early spring day we discovered the poor creature shivering on a patch of grass between a parking lot and a busy roadway. Fearing a bad ending pretty much inevitable if we left her where she was, my husband tentatively reached down to pick her up by the scruff of the neck...and, to our amazement, this odd little being stood up to very willingly meet his hand. Within seconds it proved obvious she was both familiar with and fond of people, as she made no attempt whatsoever to bite or otherwise show aggression. And once we'd located a small bucket in which to temporarily house her until we could get her home, she made it clear she wouldn't argue about that arrangement -- despite the fact she also made it very clear she vastly preferred my lap.

As she nosed around a bit, nibbling gently on my sleeve, etc. we realized she was most likely hungry, and stopped to purchase a small bag of "party mix" made from cereal, pretzels, nuts, breadstick bits, etc. The cereal proved a particular hit, and she eagerly whittled away at several pieces, carefully holding each between her two very tiny cupped hands. Tearing the bottom portion from a soft drink cup I happened to have with me, I offered her a drink of water, which she likewise eagerly accepted.

We also called the vet to find out what she really should be eating, and just a bit about her care in general, and were told us that rats do indeed make wonderful pets, they eat most anything -- cat food, dog food, people food -- and theorized that someone's girlfriend had quite possibly "lost" the pet a boyfriend had acquired as a likely explanation for her sudden appearance in the very unlikely spot where she'd turned up.

But, whatever her past, for the present we took her home -- already just a couple hours in falling quite in love with her -- the adorable tiny hands with which she held each bit of food, and the gentleness of her demeanor overall. And, (having already dubbed her "Molly") we watched the lost-and-found section of our paper for several days, finally deciding she was indeed ours -- and can't begin to express the relief and pleasure which accompanied that realization.