Anaheim, CA
October 2, 2002

Click here to go to the show now or forever hold your peace.

The set list is here or if you’re an MC5/Wayne Kramer fan, click here.

I liked this background so much, I'm usin' it again! :)

Also, before I get started, I just wanna apologize for those annoying as hell pop ups. One of these days I'll have a site without those.

I hope.

From now on I’m gonna stop telling myself that my little CT excursions are also about a full night’s sleep. Zach’s sleeping has been up and down. I know he’s got it in him to go "Through the Night" but a series of ear infections have kept us all up many a night. Part of the reason I look forward to these trips is because I tell myself I’m gonna get some rest.

After the first show, I didn’t get to sleep until 3 and at 5:30 am my eyes popped open, never to close again.

DOH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh well. The good thing this allowed me to catch a little time with my buddy Katie before she was out the door for work. She teaches theatre at a private school. God, I’d love to be a fly on that wall. :) She’s fabulous and has thank you notes/gifts galore from parents and students. Who knew back when we were taking classes that some day she’d be teaching them herself?!

Her husband Bob (another high school buddy) got back in town while I was gone the night before, so it was nice to have the chance to spend a little time with him before heading back to Anaheim.

Unlike Tuesday, the weather today was gorgeous. Plenty of sun and not too hot. Gotta love it! Once again traffic wasn’t too bad, so I guess I’d picked a decent time to get to that side of town.

Back in line it was the usual suspects. You’d think that after spending so much time together, we’d run out of things to talk about, but noooooooo… I had no problem talking on and on and on. In fact, it became a running gag of the day. Somewhere "You Talk Too Much" was playing. ;)

Of course we planned to take advantage of the "pass the line" deal again, so Celina, Janice, Dawn and I had a late lunch. And I continued to talk my fool head off.

Sure Sign You’re Talking Too Much #458: everyone else has finished their meal and you’ve only had a couple bites.

LOL…

We heard from Craig and Laura, who’d been in the balcony the night before that the guys from Lit were there. They’d sent drinks over and the band returned the favor. Pretty cool! I love their video for "My Own Worst Enemy." F***ing brilliant.

Once again the day flew by. When Danny and Mindy showed up they were with Mika (AKA: "Tokyo Carla" LOL!) who’d come in from Japan that day. Great to see her again!

BTW - I scared the $hit out of Danny at one point when I rolled my Homer sign into a megaphone and said, "Sir, please go to the back of the line!" He jumped about a foot. LOL! WKBWL!

When security prepped to open the doors, I wondered if they had a sense of deja vu. We were practically in the same order. :) Cheap Chick’s Pam Cheatersome and I talked a bit before the doors opened. She called Nance in Minneapolis and handed me her cell so she could "run in" with me. I’m sure security wondered who the totally uncoordinated dumbass was. LOL!

Despite that I scored a spot right between Rick and Robin – my favoritest place to be for a show. Janice was kind enough to buy me a drink. Thanks chica! I was happy to be up front surrounded by so many friends, but it was bittersweet since it would prolly hafta be my last fix for awhile…

*sigh*

This was soon forgotten when Carla emerged with something for the fans who, as she put it "were pissed off at Jeri Ryan." LMAO! She had some after show passes and we all did our best to see that deserving folks got them. I spent the rest of the evening frantically checking my pocket to make sure I hadn’t dropped mine. ;) Celina and I were next to each other and we kept looking at each other, grinning like idiots every time. LOL!

Because of what happened the night before, I came prepared with two eyeliners so Robin would have an option. LOL! I never thought Carla would actually come asking again, but low and behold, there she was. Of course I was happy to help out "my favorite singer in the whole wide world" again…

Although I’m kicking myself now because I didn’t ask if I could deliver it myself. ;)

I got them back just before Wayne Kramer took the stage…

WAYNE KRAMER

Hell yeah, Wayne Kramer!!!!! There’d been a rumor that the MC5 guitarist would open, but I didn’t know for sure until the curtain opened.

He was hands down the best freakin’ opener I’ve ever seen. God, it was cool. He sounded great, played his ass off – as did the others on stage with him. Forgive me for not remembering the names, but there were 2 younger guys -– one on drums, the other on keys/ guitar/vox, plus one bad ass bass player.

I could see Dave and Collin jamming offstage. I don’t think I’ve ever seen them pay much attention to openers before. I don’t know how anyone could not pay attention to the man. What a great set.

He played some new stuff… "Adult World" had me laughing my ass off… "Talking Out of School" and a song that started with the classic lyric, "Brought a knife to a gun fight." I love it! Of course he played some MC5 stuff – "Kick Out the Jams" among them. He got us all going with a 3 part round that he said was "like "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" only way the f*** more sophisticated." LOL! Another quip of the evening was "What? These are the happy songs!"

He also mentioned the MC5 documentary that recently debuted in Chicago – "A True Testimonial." It’s making the documentary circuit these days – hope to see it some day.

Side note - just before I’d left for this trip, I watched a documentary on the ’68 World Series that had MC5 in it.

THE SHOW

CT took the stage about the same time as the night before, 9:15 pm-ish.

FASHION REPORT

SET LIST

RN SEZ

Along with the usual stuff he’d mentioned the night before (new album, the recording for Westwood One) Rick elaborated on the movie shoot they did on Monday. It’s called "Daddy Daycare" and it stars Eddie Murphy. For those of us who wondered where Uncle Dick had wandered off to, he said that he would be in the movie as well. In fact, they had to send Uncle Dick out beforehand. "So that shows you how we rate!"

He told us all that they’d be taking a few weeks off before some dates in December, but they’d be back in 2003 to release a new album, tour all over the place "and kick ass!" Of course this drew a huge cheer from the crowd.

MISC.

I had a blast the first night, but this night was hands down the better of the two. There was so much fun stuff going on on that stage. I don’t think I ever stopped smiling. Or jumping around.

I forgot to mention the lights in my first review. On both nights during a couple songs they used spinning star gobos that showed up on the stage floor. I think the first night Robin smiled and pointed it out to Rick.

Not sure during which song, but Rick found the members of Cheap Chick in the crowd (Pam and Riff) and pointed out the button to them. Needless to say, they were thrilled. :)

There were a couple signs in the crowd that Rick read, but I’ll be damned if I can remember them now… Towards the end of the show, someone tossed a tshirt up to Rick from a local ice cream place called Archie’s Ice Cream or something. The logo was a rip off of CT’s. :)

After "8 Miles Low" Rick walked over to me and said, "Here hold this for me," then HANDED ME HIS CHECKERBOARD CHANDLER GUITAR!!!!!!! Dave was cool and didn’t come running for it right away. Tom saw me with it and motioned that I should make it go away. LMAO!

Just after this Rick introduced "Words," I cried tears of joy. I can’t help it. I’m queer. This band and their music make me so happy. And although I don’t have anything to do with their songs or their talent, sometimes I just feel so damn proud. Dawn looked at me and I asked her if it was too late in the game to claim postpartum. ;)

I guess some folks were offended by the Jeff’s guest spot on "Surrender," but I thought it was hilarious. I don’t know which was funnier: his antics or watching the guys not knowing what to do with him. It was particularly fun for moi because I’d just recently got hooked on "Curb Your Enthusiasm." Apparently Jeff is the co-star of the Eddie Murphy flick.

Rick tossed the pick he used for "Ballad…" over our way and Tony snagged it first. Doh! I guess I looked pretty pouty because he gave it to me. ;)

Ha, ha! Works every time! :)

It wasn’t until I got a good look at it to notice that the freakin’ tip was gone! Damn! That’s how hard the man was playing! Thank you, Tony – you’re a sweet guy to let me have such a great souvenir.

Although Tony got a pretty cool souvenir himself. I think Rick saw him reaching for his set list, so he kicked it off (without tearing, might I add!) so Tony could snag it.

BEC SEZ

It was either before or after the encores when he approached the mic and said something like, "Let’s hear it for Rick!" I’d never seen (heard) this kind of thing before. Maybe sometimes he says goodnight but that’s about it. I thought it was very sweet of him.

I did the "we're not worthy" thing from "Wayne's World" which got a smile from Rick.

POST SHOW

This show left me feeling so happy and lucky that I wanted to pay back some karma and make others happy, too. Anyone who looked to be in search of a Rick pick got one, if I had it to give. While I was doing that I met (or should I say, re-met) Laura: a long-time fan who’s working on a book about music. She’d been interviewing folks earlier in the day. I look forward to seeing the book when it’s finished!

Those of us lucky enough to get passes headed up to the balcony for a meet ‘n greet with Rick. We were all lined up in the house left side of the balcony and he went down the line shaking hands, chatting with everyone. He smirked and asked us what we thought of "Surrender." LOL… Which led into us asking questions about the movie. He wasn’t sure of a release date, but it should be next year.

I didn’t catch the name of their band but there were two 20-somethings there to give Rick a copy of their new CD. It was cute to see these young musicians talking to someone they obviously admire very much.

Thanks to Rick and Carla for spending some time with us. It really meant a lot!

Afterwards there was the usual post show group in the bar. I got to talk a bit with Mark and his boss Pat, as well as Mika (who gave me a new Cheap Track pick! Woo hoo! Thanks, Mika!) and CT’s former sound dude, Lee. We figured out that we both worked for companies who did stuff for the Stones latest tour. When I asked him who the hell thought of doing a tour with 3 stage configurations, he said, "Someone up until 4 or 5 am on a crack bender!" or something like that. LMAO!

(For those of you who don’t know, the Stones are performing in stadiums, arenas and clubs on the tour that’s out right now, which requires 3 different set ups! Riggers and roadies on that tour are earning their money, let me tell ya!)

How’s this for high praise: Lee said of the hundreds of bands he’s worked for, CT is the only one he goes back to see.

For the second night in a row, they kicked us out of the bar. "Alright folks, you don’t hafta go home, but you can’t stay here!" LOL!

Outside of the HOB we mingled a little more until it was time to say goodbye. I really didn’t want to… by the time I gave Kim a hug I was crying like a twit. It had been such a fun time, it was hard to see it end…

Once again, Flis and I found ourselves gabbing in the parking lot. :)

It was an early flight the next day. Rt 1 back to LAX was surprisingly clear and I swear I only had to walk about 100 yds. to get to my gate. Two minor miracles in LA! Although my flight was a little late getting into Midland, I can’t complain. The whole trip had gone very smoothly.

Once again insomnia had struck the night before so of course the moment I got off the plane life was frantic. After picking up Zach, Tim and I had to get ready for this roast thingy he emceed. I promised to be like Ed McMahon and laugh at all his jokes but I did a better job of nodding off in my cheesecake. :P

Nevertheless it was great to be home – although I had a blast, I missed Tim and Zach very much.

THANK YOU

I’d like to take a sec to thank some folks…

To all the fans I met for the first time or saw for the umpteenth (Kim! :D): it was a pleasure. The wait for doors to open was long, but fun thanks to so many good friends. I thought it was so cool how we all held each others spots during the rotating breaks. CT fans are good people.

To Katie and Bob: thanks for your hospitality. When you come to Texas, I’m gonna make it up to you!

To CT and their staff: thanks for the gifts of your time, talent and music; you make life good.

And of course:

Tim and Zach: thanks for letting me out for a bit. I love my time away, but I love coming home better.

Thanks for reading!

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© 2002, Lisa Jebsen