I knew the Savoy would have suited you well, but they best I could do was the Railway Hotel-- Mike Batt

I actually had pbaub�s phone number on my notes, and had thought about calling him to see what he was up to. Then I thought "You know, I don�t want to start him sending me any more creepy notes. I�m not into him and his games with his harem". Underlying was a sense of disgust in "fan politics" (and in spoiled people who can�t take care of themselves, I thought as I turned down the salty carb-laden snack crackers the flight attendants offered me) and I reminded myself I was here for the music, not the social by-play, or bitchy fools. I crossed pbaub�s phone number off my list.

I came out of the airplane gate. No Cindy! Thank God for cell phones, I rang her up, we rendezvoused at the luggage claim, I passed a Tootsie�s in the airport! A very good guitar performance going on in there, I wanted to stop, but we were supposed to be somewhere that night, and I was anxious!

Cindy and I had called back and forth as I traveled, and I had checked the Internet right before I left at 8 am PST for info about Justin playing solo, assuming someone would say SOMETHING on line. I checked four newsgroups, NADA. What the hell is this fan club coming to? Of COURSE Justin is playing somewhere. Well, I wanted to see the Bluebird anyway: Cindy said they were "tight lipped" at the Bluebird, and mentioned a "special guest". I could tell pbaub was lying on Blue Gypsies, but that was all I could tell. Damn him, why are people so protective of Justin? It�s WEIRD. Short notice was certainly not time enough for every stalker in the country to hop on their brooms and ride into Nashville for such an event.

I hadn�t seen Cindy for 10 years (she flew out to Tahoe once, we terrorized the place, riding the elevators with Gordon�. telling Tom Jones jokes, mocking John�s caddy��.) anyway we loaded Godzilla into her car, and decanted my stuff into her lovely little home in Goodlettsville. (Very cute home, she has it painted burnt orange inside!) I was shaking by now, but politely met her six cats�. John-Kitty was the most polite, and even bowed when he heard his name, and another did too. The cats liked me! I was so shaky after the flight I would not have been surprised if they spit at me. Anyway we got it together and headed off for the Bluebird.

There was indeed a line forming when we got there (this after being lost, doing several scary maneuvers in the streets of Nashville, YEE haw Cindy!) calling frantically so they didn�t cancel our reservation, me waving my charge card in case they wanted that to hold our table. Etc. But the line just didn�t have the same feel a Moody Blue line does. Too civilized for one. No goony behavior. "Are we sure we�re at the right place?" I whispered. Cindy and I both have had bad experiences over the years with other fans, and were both ready to dive behind each other in case we saw them. Cindy referred to her fans she avoided as "goat herders" from Minnesota.

They let us in, the seating was in the round, and there were some gorgeous lovely guitars, one looked like a James Olssen, another was deeply encrusted with sparklies and mother of pearl. The musicians meandered to their seats, while we ordered sandwiches, and I got a beer.

There were four musicians in a circle. We fully expected Justin to saunter out from behind a screen, but as the night went onward, it was plain that this show was on another level than a "Moody gathering". I got the feeling "Justin is out there somewhere, and here I sit with these people I don�t know" I would have bolted out the door and run the streets looking for him, had I not been sitting one chair away from the VERY talented artists. It would have been rude, and besides I really WAS enjoying the music. Curb thy Moody hysteria, Christie.

The format must be pretty standard from what I heard of the Station Inn show the same night. These guys sat in a circle in the middle of the room, the tables were around them, and then an aisle for the waitresses, and then a bunch of folks lurking in the shadows against the walls.

THEY WERE FREAKING AWESOME.

Meanwhile and far away (across town):

I don�t mean this to puncture Justin�s ego in any way, as I am about as moon-calf simple about Justin as a woman can be. But I�m really really glad now that Cindy and I were at the Bluebird, and not at the Station Inn. I�ve seen plenty of Justin solo shows (sat under his feet once during the Santa Barbara shows) and (ok don�t take this wrong) I really wasn�t overly impressed with the video�s that someone posted on Youtube.com of this Justin show. For one, the guy sittin� in with Justin (Harley?) REALLY set my teeth on edge. After the polite company I kept while in the South (especially the pleasant, soft spoken attitudes at the Bluebird this same night), this guy was just off-color and crude. I didn�t like him at all, and wouldn�t bother with him if Justin weren�t on the same stage. If Harley is indicative of Moody Blue Grass, I would prefer to do without them. I found it doubly disturbing that so many apparent Moody fans were laughing like hyenas at the dubious humor.

And I thought Justin upheld his honor with real class............ listen to the soundtrack and you'll get it. (you da man, Jus!) The line up was "Troubadour", then Justin�s next go around was �Meanwhile� (done CW) and he said it was used on the video game �Grand Theft Auto�. (Justin�s reaction was great �maybe it will turn on some kid somewhere�), "Who Are You Now", "Are You Sitting Comfortably", and finished with "Nights". Each singer/song writer took their turn, just like at the Bluebird, a nice format. A very enjoyable boot.

The video of Justin and Norda doing "Nights" was nice (and showcased Norda�s voice very well). But the little girl getting up and singing gave me some bad flashbacks. (My own mum tried to get me to do that when I was that age, and it�s embarrassing: I actually bolted and ran when my folks had company and Mum went near the piano). This little girl was a very cute, she WAS on key, but her voice was shaky, the poor kid was really stressed. It came over like a home movie you are polite about, but secretly want to escape. (I know that sounds mean, but I just saw a School play with 1st thru 3rd grade, and at least three of them had excellent performing voices, even that young, up in front of the whole school, very brave little folks).

I WOULD have liked to see "Troubadour" because Justin does a very showy little slide down the frets for that, and it�s an awesome piece of work. Apparently they did "Who are You Now" and another one (you�d think all those jerks bragging about seeing it would at least post a set list�.. ) I wonder if that will eventually pop up on youtube.com. Oh well, I have the live performance on video somewhere, from the 90�s. It was perfect for Nashville, no doubt.

Anyway if everyone had a nice time at the Station Inn, it�s cool, and especially if it was good for Justin. I noted he seemed to have his wonder Martin with him, and it sounded great (on listening back to the audio boot, I'm not sure it WAS the Martin, the pitch was a teeny bit high in the audio... hard to tell. Different amp than the live performance too I suspect). When I found out about this show, I called Cindy and gave her the news. She screamed like a panther. "The Station Inn? That place is a DUMP. It�s lower on the scale of things than Printer�s Alley (local red light district) they have cinder block walls" etc��� Jeeze she really went off on the place. Now you have to understand, Cindy is a bit fastidious, and is very familiar with Nashville hot spots. And remember, reputation is a very important thing in the South. Cindy acted like the Station Inn was a good place to pick up crabs, so everyone had better check their drawers for riders! She said The Station Inn made Tootsies look like the Ritz, and a lot of local artists won�t go near the place.

The photos of the Station Inn seem to uphold Cindy�s feedback, it looks a bit like the inside of a old manky Moose Lodge. I could be wrong, I wasn�t there. People gush about things the Moodies do sometimes, and then you find out it isn�t at all that wonderful after all (I�m still processing the person who thought Justin was wonderful in Hershey. He was almost deliberately rude during "Nights" I thought. Sorry getting ahead of myself)

After finally getting a copy of the boot for this show off the Internet, I was very very impressed with the woman singing with the act. No one has bothered to mention her name yet on line, so I have no idea who she is. Wow what a voice and dynamite songs! (and playing too).

Anyway Harley came over as seedy on the video, the venue was seedy, and pbaub and his brigade were ACTING seedy (what with pbaub�s lying like a dog to me). Speaking of which, they have a saying in the South "laying with the dogs and getting up with fleas". Thankfully Justin is the sort of guy that can raise everyone up to his level with his wonderful songs (that "rose in the landfill" effect). I hot tubbed with a nice chubby nerd in Chicago who was talking about how when we lift the pond scum up, we lift us all up, and when we put others down, we drag ourselves down to that same level. Even so, sometimes I wonder about things Justin gets involved with (Howling IV leaps to mind). His publicist needs to scope this stuff out better in advance, and she/he REALLY NEEDS TO GET THE WORD OUT TO THE INTERNETS! Geeze. (They also could have set up reservations, that would have taken the pressure off those afraid of being cut out due to overcrowding!) (Duh). It wasn�t just a matter of Justin showing up with a guitar spontaneously, it was planned in advance, and he was on their calendar.

I bet no newspaper covered the Station Inn either (and I bet they DID the Bluebird), why didn�t someone call The Tennessean? Justin needs more exposure and marketing to get his new recordings to market. The Moodies aren�t in charge when these things happen. Oh well, there will be more solos from him even if the rest of the Moodies don�t rise to the occasion, and I will be there to plonk down my dosh and see him.

The longer I�m in this fan club, the more I admire Justin for the things he does, and that is no lie. Having said that, I�m rather glad I was elsewhere for that night. (Nashville is a wonderful place to nightclub). The crowd sorta reminded me of some of Justin's solo shows in the 90�s. Justin is not an exclusionary sort of guy, he indeed plays for all. Nice job, Jus.

When Cindy called the S.I. a few days later to ask about the House size, she said some snotty broad yelled off phone "Hey when that Hayward guy was here, what was the House?" like Justin was some sort of second rate performer. Grrrr. Does our band really need this Sinistro Bistro stuff?

Meanwhile back at the Bluebird: The main star for the night was Phil Madeira. He was a gruff ol� fella, wearing a skinny brimmed hat with a fishing feather in it. (Cindy was quite smitten by him). He said he had been asked to round up three other songwriters for that night, and he brought with him some younger folks, Wayne Kirkpatrick, Jessi Alexander, and Leslie Satcher. They just went around in a circle, each choosing a song of their own to do, apparently totally unrehearsed. They picked up harmony lines vocally and on guitars at random moments, but sometimes it was just the songwriter solo. Incredibly polite audience, as we seemed to be in the presence of greatness indeed. I should have hit the record button on my tape player, but was too chicken, besides it seemed rude. But what a live album this would have made!!!!

From what they said, I think there were some EMI executives in the House (like the old guy in front of me probably, in a suit and white haired about 70). Cindy swore she saw John Prine in the audience (and I don�t know who he is).

Phil Madeira: has written for Alison Krause. As the night went on, he played some of the most mind bending Blues harmonies I have every heard in my life. He mentioned an album called Shock and Y�all which must be incredible if this was any sample of it, and it�s on my list to purchase. At the end, he sang a song "If I was Jesus" which was pretty funny actually. The words went something like this "If I was Jesus I�d walk on water just to mess with your mind, if I was Jesus I�d come to the party and turn your water into wine".

Wayne Kirkpatrick: younger than me, he was the one with the Olssen (Leslie asked him what sort it was, I was right). Wayne has written some Eric Clapton songs and Wynona Rider songs too. I jotted down some lyrics; "If only I could reach the stars, only in my dreams, if I could only change the world�.."

Jessi Alexander-- I kept thinking of her as the "young pup" a very pretty young blonde who looked like all other pretty young blondes, which I think miffed her. She went around and around about a song she had written "they bought it but for someone it was totally wrong for" on and on�.. They finally got her to admit she had written the theme song for an upcoming Hannah Montana movie! "Now everyone calls me Hannah Montana" in a very annoyed voice. It was a nice song, when they finally got her to play it for us. She also had written a song "Sands of Time" (?) for Willie Nelson. Her guitar skills were on a level below Justin Hayward, but of performance quality, she stuck to simple chords.

Leslie Satcher: she was a funny gal (dry Southern drawl), she had the guitar with the encrustations all over it, her main axe apparently. I didn�t catch what songs she had written but WOW what a voice! She had this thing, she�d be telling stories, and she�s say "wait, that�s a great line for a song, let me get a pencil" you know, while washing dishes or something. She�s a real character. She actually had this gag about collecting "characters, like charms on a bracelet" which was a cute analogy. She started heckling Jessi about some "Hannah Montana money" and got a big laugh.

So yes, I was not worthy at all to be there, and all I could think of with my lame brain was "I wonder where Justin is?" A very very enjoyable evening. I don�t think I would have had that great a time at the Justin show, and besides I got to miss all the "fanny" types in action, waving their cameras, schmoozing and such. It was sheer bliss withOUT them.. The Bluebird holds a smaller audience than the Station Inn, and for that reason only it was a good thing for Justin to have had the other venue. (He might have even filled it up had anyone known). The Mojo moves in mysterious ways. Y�all missed one helluva show over at the Bluebird, and that�s a fact!

Cindy and I zoomed for home in a fog after that, and we sat up talking until about 2 am. We fought over who was going to get the couch (I lost, she twisted my arm and gave me the bed!) and finally fell over asleep. Cindy had six cats on top of her, but apparently wasn�t disturbed as we slept through a 5.1 earthquake (centered in Illinois) that was felt even unto Nashville, and rattled her parents out of bed early the next morning.

The Earth moved. (It moves it moves---Galileo)