[Otclassof1973] TRUE BLUE

[Mindy Schwartz]

Marvin,
Just got home from the Stones concert and you are in for a treat.  I won't 
spoil it for you by giving you any details, but it was possibly the most 
amazing show I've ever seen in terms of stage and special effects.  Mick and 
the boys can still rock better than youngsters half their age (or younger). 
Let's discuss after Sunday.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <neufsaid at juno.com>
To: <otclassof1973 at eris.njit.edu>
Sent: Friday, November 11, 2005 11:16 PM
Subject: [Otclassof1973] TRUE BLUE


> This is long overdue.  I've promised some observations about the 33rd
> Annual SF Blues Festival, celebrated back on the weekend of Sept.
> 23rd-24th.
>
> "Weekend of" festivities always start with the big, free Friday kickoff,
> lunchtime concert in the Financial District's Justin Hermann Plaza, just
> a stone's throw from the bay (no actual stones were thrown).  This year's
> theme was West Coast Harmonica Jump Bands - quick translation into
> English: bands with featured harp players -- harp being slang for
> harmonica (little known fact: the "P" in the word "harmonica" is silent,
> but becomes audible when you shorten it to "harp" - PSYCHE!).  Friday's
> harp players were Lynwood Slim, RJ Mischo, Birdlegg & John Nemeth - and
> they were all fantastic.  This is always the big draw for the downtown
> lunch crowd and the drive by tourists who probably think this kind of
> stuff happens every day in the City by the Bay, the City that Knows How,
> this Oz that we call San Francisco.
>
> Who am I to make tourists think otherwise?
>
> Saturday morning jumped right out of the box bright, shiny, clear and
> temperate.  There was even the faintest breeze wafting in the air.  You'd
> expect this kind of weather in the movie version of the Festival, and can
> only wish for it to happen in the real world, particularly in San
> Francisco where we say if you don't like the weather, wait five minutes
> and it'll change (microclimates, dontchaknow).  And OMG, it stayed that
> way ALL THE LIVE LONG DAY!  With weather that good you just can't do
> anything wrong and each act took the stage, pulling out every stop and
> putting on one damn fine show.
>
> James Harmon (harp player extraordinaire) was there with his band.
> Sidebar: James Harmon was featured on this year's SF Blues Fest T shirt -
> not that you'd recognized him today from that picture, which was taken 30
> years ago when he was a skinny sumbitch (and weren't we all).  Today he's
> one well fed, long haired, bearded gnome who looks more than anything
> like he should be playing with ZZ Top - with the irony being that he DOES
> play with ZZ Top, occasionally.   True story.
>
> Quick show of hands, how many people remember what ZZ Top stands for?
> Let's let someone in the back answer this time.  Right, Zig Zag and Tops
> rolling papers.  Remember, this is all going to be on the final.
>
> Anyway, when Harmon went over to the CD booth to sign autographs and
> SWMBO said she was going over to have him sign her Staff T, I pulled mine
> off over my head and had her take it over with her.  What she brought
> back had me on cloud 9 all weekend.  It wasn't just signed, it was
> personalized, "To Marvin, John Harmon."  Sometimes we men have simple
> needs and pleasures.  That surprise left a full on happy across my face
> that burly professionals working in tandem with crowbars on a schedule
> couldn't have pried off.
>
> And suddenly it was time for the headline act, Huey Lewis & the News to
> take the stage.  The headliner is the closing act and Huey plays one
> blisteringly wicked harp; but everyone knows his forte is Rock & Roll,
> not the Blues.  Frankly, I was more than a little worried about how he'd
> go over with the die hard blues fans.  In his defense, he did open with a
> couple of passable blues numbers before launching full bore into 6 or 7
> of his "old" hits from the 80s.  I slapped my hand to my forehead, sure
> everyone would run for the exits; but not a single person left anything
> but their seats as they rose to their feet, swaying and waving there
> arms, hips and heads while singing unabashedly along to songs with titles
> like Heart of Rock & Roll, I Want A New Drug and It's Alright.  Wouldn't
> you know, EVERYONE in the world knows the words.  Even people who didn't
> realize they knew the words, knew the words.  I want to give The News
> their due, they're one tight, poised, polished and practiced band who are
> no strangers to eldritch art of infectious harmonies.
>
> When the first day ended the sun was just starting to slant down behind
> the Golden Gate Bridge.  The Festival location is perched on a meadow
> with an unobstructed view overlooking the marina, the bay and the bridge.
> Then Tom, the Festival producer, took the stage and told everybody to
> come back on Sunday and everyone headed for home as one, with that dreamy
> kind of look on their faces that people get after a really memorable
> event.
>
> And that there was just the first day.  Sunday's weather, unbelievably,
> was even better.  Stick around Spartans and I may yet get around to
> describing Sunday (it could happen).  For now, I'm getting all warm and
> tingly, because Saturday morning I've got free tix to a sneak preview of
> the new Harry Potter movie and then Sunday there's that little matter of
> a Rolling Stones concert to attend.
>
> Work, work, work.
>
> Marvin
>
> #9#9#9#9#9#9#9#9#9#9#9#9#9#9#9#9#9#9#9#9#9#9#9#9#9
> Get me out of these wet clothes
> and into a dry Martini.
> Robert Benchley
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