Blue Darlin's Konocti Reviews, cont. - PART IV - Sat. night's show
Posted by Blue Darlin'
DAY TWO: Morning, Saturday, Feb. 27th, 1999, Kelseyville
I think I didn't mention that the wonderful Nobody Special returned with us to the cottage and crashed (sorry NS!!). She was brave enough to sleep in the colder back bedroom -- we left the stove cranked and trained a breeze fan in there for her, and turned on the bathroom heater, too. She had something like 8 blankets on top of her. But she was so excited and wired on caffeine and CI&S that I don't think she got much sleep - just wrote in her journal a lot and wandered around, even tripping over the fan once, poor dear.
Can I just say how totally AMAZING it was to have JUST MET two people and get along with no problems at all??? We spent 48 hours together and we were just like peas in a pod. Thank you, CI, forever, for bringing such wonderful friends into my life!!! I never ever had all this good pajama-partyin', late-night-snackin', boy story-swappin' fun, not even in high school!!! Thank you!!!
Boy, we were lazy on Sat. am. Just enjoying the bachelorette cottage and having a leisurely breakfast and lots of tea/coffee, and listening to the birds and peeking out at the lakeview. We looked out at the hot tub in the clearing outside and said "We're IN there -- tonight!"
Another curious thing about our room at the resort: There are no phones in-room or any TV or even a radio. The only phone is in a BOX nailed onto a @#$%ing TREE out in the middle of the cabins, in a clearing. (Can you say summer camp?) What a goof. We were afraid to use it. It wasn't a payphone, but a regular phone. We took humorous action photos of it before we left.
I spent WAY too much time valiantly writing copious notes of what had happened on Friday, and then proceeded to only partly use them for these reviews! (Different wording). Oh, well. The girls were verrrry patient with me.
Finally, we decided we'd better hightail it to "town" to get some stuff. So we skipped showers for beauty preppin' later, and motored off up Rt. 29 to beautiful downtown Kelseyville (I think that's where we ended up - it's a little confusing).
It was a 5-10 mile drive, in the opposite direction from the Konocti resort (which is near Lakeville?). Miraculously, we found a Rite Aid and ate at Burger King (eeewww) - and a nasty BK at that (can you say COLD hamburger?).
We got a little silly in the Rite Aid, and decided to buy gag gifts for all the band (kinda my idea, but we wanted to thank Doug and Ross, especially, for their niceness and any assistance they MAY have been influential in the night before). So we're cruising around the HUGE drugstore, looking for the perfect thing. "I'm over here! I'll know it when I see it.....look! look at this! omigod, perfect!"
We eventually ended up with:
1.) A plastic alligator toy for Herschel for his excellent dobro playing (Louisiana bayou sound = alligators, get it?), hoping he'd tape it to his guitar neck or his amp on Saturday night.
2.) A disguise kit for Ross. So people will stop hassling him and he can get his work done.
3.) A package of Super Sweets Cigarillos and/or some candy for Doug -- which I then NEVER gave to him, oooops. I think he smokes....We had some perfect sentiment to go along with it, something Clint Eastwood-like, but I can't remember it now.
4.) A "Rooster Tail" fishing lure for Roly -- so he could hang it on his rear-end and "shake his tailfeather" to lure all the drooling girlies -- har!
5.) Some candy for the helpful security guys who were nice to us 6.) A Reese's pieces "carrot" for the merch-selling guys, also nice people
7.) Special dried (Texas? it was some special kind of) beef jerky stix for Kenney
8.) A squirtgun for Brett - we'll get to THAT later!
9.) And for Chris: "Inspector Binocular" - a kit so you can be a super-spy, or incognito! More on **THAT** later....
10.) Ohhh, and the Easy Cheese - I'll get to that in the after-show part....So, we had tons of giggles, pickin' all this stuff out and we managed to keep the cost low. Sometimes cheap, gag gifts can be the best kind of all! I stocked up on cold medicines and talked to the pharmacist. Because I had woke up that morning losing my voice. Up 'til then, it had just looked like a cold coming on. (And who was the mo-ron who drank vodka and grapefruits the night before??? Uh, that would be me. The one who was now OFFICIALLY sick.)
Now it's mid-afternoon and we had planned to slide by Konocti and maybe be there for soundcheck (we *kinda* had permission, but that's a tenuous thing) and just say hi and hand out the gag gifts right away ('cause maybe no chance again later?).
We get over there and, sure enough, they're gonna do soundcheck in about 1/2 hour. And we're also waiting for the box office to open, so Minx and I can pick up our VIP passes for that night. (I'm not saying who worked that out for us, so don't ask -- but we were/are especially grateful! And this will NOT be a regular occurrence. So don't be nasty to us, any mean or jealous readers! Thanks.)
We walk in the main showroom, no problem, and the waitstaff is starting to set up the room with china and all. I see Herschel onstage and he is noodling on the dobro. I walk up to him and say, "NICE job on the dobro last night, Herschel." and he looks up and says hi. Luckily, he didn't look annoyed that we were barging in on a kind of private moment.
Mind you, I was the pushy one -- Minx was a little reticent to go in there or go up front. But that's just me! I say, "Sorry to bother you. We just bought a bunch of gag gifts for the band, and wanted to hand 'em out before tonight. ---------- said it was okay for me to stop in during sound check."
And I rifle around in the bag and pull out the 'gator and give it to him, with the dobro/LA bayou comment/explanation. He says "Cool!" and puts it on his amp, and says I will definitely see it tonight onstage somewhere. And tells the story again of how he just picked up the dobro. I ask him if he'll be playing it again tonight, but he doesn't know for sure.
We go out and wait 'til we hear them really playing, not just sound-checking individual instruments/sound. Usually, they will have to play 3 full songs or so. When they're underway, we go back in and stand off to the side, under the side balcony and watch (which means we had to walk across the entire room and down to the front - probably the first screwup).
They're playing some oldies but goodies -- Dancin', I think (ask Minx) -- anyway, it was nothing I had heard played in the set the night before. And he played some goofy bit of something that I didn't recognize. And they were joking around with each other, too. It was very casual and low-energy, kind of like a jam. Just business as usual.
CI was wearing jeans and a nice vintage two-tone blue? gray? shirt with a vertical line of a contrasting color through it on one side (Minx, help me out here!!). He looked nice! I LOVE him in casual wear. Yum, yum. Casual hair and all. Oh, such a cutie!
I thought everything was cool, but I think MAYBE I was not blending into the woodwork enough, in many ways (intentional or not). I was wearing my red, black, and gold super-cool vintage Hawaiian shirt and black jeans and a Paladins wifebeater and cherry earrings, and I had kept my Hollywood-type sunglasses on.
But I stupidly gave a half-smile to CI a couple of times, while looking over his way. And then he muffed something on a song during soundcheck, I think. And someone in the band corrected him. And I think maybe he was in a bad mood already. And he saw me looking and listening (with the stupid half-smile, maybe thinking I was making fun of him???), and all of a sudden I hear over the PA: "Ross, any extraneous people in the room who are NOT working for the resort, please escort them out immediately." (Geez, and I thought he had been looking at me in a FRIENDLY way. Whateverrr.) Even when angry, he uses the BIG words!
OUCH!!! Hot shame filled me through and through, as a lightning bolt of sick fear stabbed from my stomach to my nether regions. I grabbed my @#$%, nodded my head, and walked quickly for the exit, apologizing to Ross as he headed toward me. I said, "Don't worry. I'm out of here. I heard the word." I had to go grab the Minx because she was in the ladies' room when he said this. She had to GO BACK to grab her coat and stuff, and I hid out of sight in the hall near the ladies', still totally embarrassed and smarting.
Then I booked for the main exit, while SHE saunters, slowly, with attitude, to the big exit door all the way across the room. It was hilarious, actually. I looked back at her and watched her doing this. The expression on her face was just priceless. She was not backing down. And CI watched her walk, the whole way across. (Probably laughing in his mind at my pathetic ass scurrying out of there like some spooked deer.)
We went to the box office, where I proceeded to lick my wounds while we were picking up the VIP passes/tix. And dejectedly returned to the resort with the bag o'gag gifts. We tried to figure who @#$%ed up, and how. (My fault - my fault.....!)
So then we threw it all off and had dinner and made smoothies and got into the hot tub, all three of us at once. It was a strange experience, sitting in the hot and bubbly tub, with the cold rain droplets falling on the exposed parts of you (and yes, we were wearing bathing suits!). Innnterrrresting feeling, though. The smoothies were incredible (I abstained from any spiking of drinks that night) -- with fresh mango and stuff. Minx concocted them. Ummmmm, decadent. We snapped some pictures to remember the occasion.
Then we had to hurry and get ready for the show. We all critiqued outfits and helped each other out. I accessorized everybody, and pasted a body jewel on Minx's halter'd back. Nobody Special wore the most gorgeous gun metal blue/grey shiny button up shirt which I totally coveted. It was a very Blue Hotel-ish kind of shirt! Then Nobody curling iron'd my hair, while Minx attempted to paint my claws Borghese red (I promised to do all the dish-washing in return). And voila! - queen for a day! I wore my electric blue vintage dress that hits all the right curves, my '40's black suede mules, and the black onyx bead necklace, earrings and bracelet combo again. The hair came out pretty good, considering.
We took pix and whizzed off to the gig. We ended up missing Eric Martin's set, AGAIN. Oh, well, beauty calls.....haha.
Thank goodness, CI wore the blue suit this time! Finally, I get to see a different suit after, like, 5 gigs. Jeez. It fits him verrrry nicely and I love the pattern. It is SUCH a good color on him. I dub it the "space suit" for all the swirling, galaxy-like patterns. I was really jazzed to see that suit.
They played so well. The best part about that show was that I got to SIT at a table for awhile during the set, in the 2nd or 3rd row, front and center, with these 3 really drunk chix. They had polished off 4 bottles of red and they were ripped! They were lusting over Chris. They were very nice to let me share the table for a while. I got some kick-ass pictures with both my disposable and Minx's excellent camera.
One funny thing that happened was that again, when I was doing that standing, then kneeling thing near one of the tables (to get a pic), CI looks over when I'm starting to kneel down again and says, "Hey, where you goin'?", all the while with a twinkle in his eye. The drunk gal behind me starts talking back to him, and I think he meant her, 'cause we're both in his line of gaze. But, y'know, I sweartagod he was talking to me, when I thought about it later. At the time, I was like, looking behind me goin' "You mean me??", and looking from her to him, and getting embarrassed to be singled out. And he's still lookin' at me. I kinda hid behind the person I was kneeling near. (Well, I was still paranoid from that afternoon booting we got!)
I did spend SOME time in the VIP section, but I was excited about getting some pix of CI in that suit! And we had an ever-growing table of really obnoxious TALKERS next to us in the VIP section that night. (Sample: "Hey, see this guy? He's ------. He owns an ISLAND in the lake. Shake his hand!" -- this was said to me at one point.) And not as good seats on Saturday, 'cause we got there so late (probably due to me, actually, sorry gals!). And you get tired of only profile views of the band. And I was still looking for some other BH'ers, too.
I also stood at the different side walls/aisles for a bit. And then I got....a completely empty table, during the encores, right underneath CI, in the very front against the stage!!! oh.my.god. The people occupying it had obviously left early, before the show ended, and it was mine, all mine, haha ;-). I was trying to get in position for Bonnie Bee and had it IN THE BAG. I already had got the nod from Brett earlier in the set that it would be ok to come up and dance on that song.
CI was singin' Only the Lonely and Blue Darlin' and Sweet Leilani and then -- he launches into Western Stars. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. My face is crackin' with a smile and I'm patting my heart and thinking it doesn't get any better than this! And every now and then during a break in songs I'm trying to stand up and spot the Minx and beckon her over.
I daren't leave the table because some mega-bitches on the side are eyeing it and trying to jockey into position for THEIR chance for Hootchie Mama status onstage. I couldn't see Minx because of my position, and a pole and some cords were in the way, and a speaker, and the stupid, plus-sized, record shop-ownin', mean look throwin' lady who was sitting next to our table up there in VIP was blocking Minx from my sight line. #$%@!! Damnation! Frustration! So I just got pix and grooved and felt really guilty. I tried to spot Sister Christian and Nobody Special too, and then finally gave up, hoping they'd spot me.
The band launches into Bonnie Bee and I wait to get the nod. 'Cause I'm not gonna be rude and just throw myself up there. No way. I finally get the nod (and at first it looked like they weren't going to let ANYBODY up there that night). I wasn't the first up there, even so. And I managed to hoist myself up in an ungainly fashion in that tight dress, exposing a wee bit too much thigh, if you ask me.
YAHOO! After 3 years of waiting, finally, I'm shimmying my thang to BB! I just enjoyed the tune, and did some fancy footwork (I'm no Hootchie Mama). I was near CI, but I didn't hang onto or bug any member of the band. I just enjoyed the moment. I didn't think it would be right to be zoomin' all over the stage and tryin' to grab attention, so I just held my spot. Except for one brief dash to pat Brett in thanks for letting me up. He's so cute and smiley.
And then it was over and we did our big "Heeeyyyyyy" bow and all. And that was it, lights up, show over. Please descend from the stage. Kinda like that moment after "Happy New Year's!" every Dec. 31st. Confetti drifting down, "it's overrrrr" :-(, instant letdown.
And this is where we'll end Part IV. Because even more coolness is to come with the conclusion of Saturday night: the autograph session, the picture session, hangin' out in the bar, and the handing out of the gag gifts!
Ciao for now.
Your ever-intrepid reporter, BD.
Cheers!
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