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Re: pike 27

I apologize for taking up space with my own band on another band's
list, but I thought I'd answer a couple of things:

Dan Temmesfeld wrote:

> musically, they were more rootsy than country, but the vocals were
> just way too twangy for my tastes- especially when the electric
> guitarist or bassist sang... 

Yep, Bob (guitar) and Jon (bass) are much more twangier than me.
They're both bluegrass guys who've migrated into this roots
rock/alt.country thing. If anyone is interested hearing more about
the Cincinnati/Northern Ky bluegrass scene, feel free to contact me
offlist.

> and for the most part, i couldn't understand a word the lead
> singer was singing.  i wanted to know what happened to that deaf
> guy and the train. but their whole set the music drowned out the
> vocals, or the vocals weren't enunciated, or something...

Believe me, I was enunciating! The Southgate House is a weird venue
for vocals because it's so big and boomy. It helps to have the
band's record or to have already seen them. I'm proud of my lyrics 
and like people to know what I'm saying.

The story with the song you mention (I didn't tell the story because
I didn't want to take up too much time with it) is this: when we
were living in Chicago, I read a sad story in the Tribune about an
old WWII vet who was killed by a train one morning. He'd been a
gunner in the war and subsequently went deaf -- he also suffered from
vertigo. Every other morning, he'd take the same suburban train (the
METRA) down a couple of stops to get a few groceries and run some
errands. One particular morning, he thought he was late for his
train, so he began walking along the tracks -- because of his
vertigo, it was the only way to insure that he wouldn't get lost.
Unfortunately, it was the train that was late, not him, and he was
killed instantly. 

As a daily commuter on the L (the city subway), I was always amazed
and saddened at the level of passenger hostility during rush hour
delays. It didn't seem to matter if it was a tragedy or not, people
just wanted to get to work on time. I found myself getting sucked up
in it even after I wrote the song, which was meant to be a commentary
on the callousness and loss of humanity we're developing in these
insanely hectic times.

> there were some enjoyable parts to their set, but i still
> think they played for too long... :)

FWIW, we contractually agreed with VOL's manager to play 50 minutes,
and I believe we clocked in at 52. I don't mean this to sound pissy,
but it's worth noting that if it weren't for us, the show wouldn't
have happened. I set up the show myself, and our drummer, my wife,
and I promoted the show out of our own pockets. Fortunately, there
was a great crowd for a Wednesday (*thanks sincerely* to everyone
who came out, and Rick, it was great to meet you), but if the show
had done badly, we would've been the ones taking a loss on it.

Next time you find the opening act less than thrilling, you ought to
go to the upstairs bar and talk to Junie the barmaid (I'm serious
here, not being sarcastic!). She's a wonderful gal who has about 50 
years worth of stories. Bill & Jacob told me they had a great time 
hanging with her.

Thanks again, y'all. And sorry for hogging the bandwidth about my 
own band. I'll shut up now.

Cheers,
Dave

***
Dave Purcell, newport at one_net
The Riverside, Magus Productions, Pike 27 are all at:
http://w3.one.net/~newport/
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