"Oh Yeah" Part 3.1 - The Story Of A Band To Be Proud Of: GBS Raises Funds For Daffodil Place & Rises Above Circumstance At The Bowery Ballroom

The most fascinating and moving story to be found on any stage, in the eyes of this reader. 

Sometimes it feels like I spend more time worrying about what I should write - or shouldn't write - than I spend actually writing. My preference is always to write about the Wonderful and the Loved, but the Wonderful and the Loved lives in a world that can often be confusing and cruel, a world in which unrelenting demands and disappointing outcomes can make for hard times and harder choices. None of which means that the Wonderful and the Loved is not still right there, still as bright and beautiful and still as deserving of respect and admiration, as well as of loyalty and affection, as it has ever been and will always be. All it means is that the howling and buffeting of today's storm has made it difficult to clearly see that brightness and that beauty, for a few brief moments only. This storm will blow through, as have all the storms that came before and as will all the storms to come after; the time spent waiting for clear skies to return is a very good time to recall the Wonderful and the Loved at its best and most proud moments. It's a very good time to remember that which is so worth the wait.

I've been going back and forth about what show's pictures to be working on, since I've managed to get myself halfway through several of them at once, the Bowery Ballroom show, the Great Big Christmas show, and the Grey Cup show. Then there's a second Vancouver casino show still undone, not to mention the Borderline show and those two wonderful Tonder shows. Pure personal preference would cause me to choose the second Tonder show, which comes close to being my favourite Great Big Sea show ever, largely because it was so far removed from (literally and figuratively) and free of the customary bullshit of The World Of GBS. After that, I'd head straight for the Grey Cup show because it was a performance triumph from start to finish and because it featured the sexiest, most gorgeous beard I have ever seen, conveniently situated upon the sexiest and most gorgeous of faces. Next up could be the brand new music, as well as the slightly sodden sweetness and silliness, of the Delta show.

But every time I've started to work on photos, I've been drawn back to the Bowery Ballroom show, an insistent tugging I keep stubbornly resisting because, in my opinion, this show was as troublesome in its surrounding circumstances as are my photos in their technical aspects. The Grey Cup was gorgeous triumph, Tonder was unfettered delight...taking on the Bowery show means lots of hard work to put together an entry that winds up saying some things that I don't believe hardly anybody (on stage or off) really wants to hear because those things might intrude on the "Everyone was happy; everyone had a great time" GBS-show afterglow. There's not usually much reward to  be found in telling a story that hardly anybody wants to hear, not even when it's an important story. Maybe most of all when it's an important story.

Still, I keep going back to these photos, inescapably curious to see if the impression I had gotten during this show - which really was a great show in terms of performance power and audience impact, but which also appeared to be a show that required an impressive effort from the players - would still hold true when I looked closely at the images from the show. And that initial impression has held, all still completely subjective, of course. The Bowery Ballroom Show I saw was a difficult one, still great and breathtaking and totally enjoyable, but difficult nonetheless. Even before Alan so kindly explained about this show being a showcase for an artists' presenters convention, even before there was any inkling about the possible importance of those empty reserved tables upstairs, this show looked to be one filled with subtextual significance, along with all sorts of sharp edges which weree poking and cutting and, most of all, hurting.

What I saw at the Bowery Ballroom - again, with the requisite arse-covering "in my opinion" qualifier - was a band who came out onto a stage and for some reason found justifiable cause there to feel genuine disappointment, a band who then worked their way through and past that disappointment and went on to put on an excellent performance (with special credit due for both Alan's and Sean's efforts), showing character and courage and stubborn defiance in accomplishing something worthy of respect, admiration, and most of all, pride. By the end of the Bowery show, I was more proud of Great Big Sea than I have been in quite some time. I have felt that same pride before in the past, and I am choosing to believe that I will feel it again in the future.

I haven't gotten all of the Bowery photos finished yet, and I don't have enough time to do so. The photos that can be found here in this entry and the next are as far as I've gotten - up through Ordinary Day. With the exception of the introductory photos, I'm putting them up in show order from top to bottom, thereby beginning and ending with Ordinary Day, fitting since it was during this song that all I had seen throughout the show was visible in its clearest and most distilled aspect, as well as its most achingly beautiful aspect.

Part 3.1 (this entry) will be on top and Part 3.2  can be found directly below, with 3.3 following right after. this seems the better way to tell the story, or as much of that story as is ready to tell. I'm still switching back and forth from colour to black and white, with more of the latter for this show because of the low lights and  pervasive backlighting, though even a few of these wound up looking good enough in each format to warrant including both. I'll put up the rest when they're done and when I have the time....then I think I might not be able to resist going back to that sexiest and most gorgeous beard on the face that is its equal in both. Though Tonder was indeed very sweet, temptingly so. Perhaps doing both at the same time would be a great version of (Alan-In-The-)Middle Ground.

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Every face tells a story...some are true and some are false. Some are fascinating and complex and compelling...and some are not. Rare enough are those faces which tell a fascinating story filled with dramatic flourish and tender nuance, the kind of story that intrigues the mind and claims the heart; most rare of all are those faces in which the plotted paths of a myriad of stories can be traced. Alan's face is its own Schezerade In The Stagelights, telling wondrous tales of 1001 Newfoundland Nights. I can look up into Alan's face and see the story of the crowd, of the show, of the band...most of all the story of the man and the place where he belongs ; his face is mirror, window, crystal ball - revelation of the present moment proceeding from the past and plunging straight ahead into the future, never looking back.

At the Bowery Ballroom, it took less than a minute during Ordinary Day for a summary of this show's story to reveal itself on the most eloquent of faces.

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Now for that same story, chapter by chapter.

First up, a brief mention of the opener, Reid Genauer, who perfprmed a good-natured set of nicely written Paul Simonesque-type tunes.

It was short and sweet and he left with many in the crowd still cheerfully willing to hear more from him...the perfect (and very smart) gig opener.

Great  Big Sea Bowery Ballroom Show set list, with thanks to Cheryl.

No pictures from Donkey Riding; I was much too busy reading the opening chapter for photography. Second up was Tonight, and here is a re-post of the link for that video (I'll try to get all the videos up into the Download Links soon):

Tonight, Alan Doyle/Great Big Sea, video download link

Again, no pictures during Jack Hinks; my attention was still caught by what I could see in a very expressive face, actually in several expressive faces. It wasn't until they were into When I'm Up that I began to take pictures of what I was seeing.

Lukey

 

After Lukey, Alan talked for a short while, saying only a few words about how they've been working on a new CD and thanking those who had turned out on this in spite of the threat of snow, adding that there could be no better band to wind up with if it did in fact snow heavily, but that he thought the number of inches of snow forecasted for that night sounded more like the amount of snow Newfoundlanders would "brush off the cat". Then he pointed to the strategically situated access pass on his left thigh and said "Check it out - I'm with the band." Sean, who along with all the rest of them sported no such access pass, immediately retorted, "Apparently you're the only one."

The brief comments about working on the new CD were the lead-in to Walk On The Moon. I'm not sure who was doing the sound at the show, but the reverb on Alan's vocal sounded kind of cool..a bit like a precursor of hearing this song sung at rink-rock shows, albeit with warm feet this time around.

Walk On The Moon, Alan Doyle/Great Big Sea video download link

Sean came out with a Paddy Murphy intro I hadn't ever heard: He carries the dead man around in his pocket "like a voodoo doll".

I think that's enough for this one entry; stopping here makes it possible to start the next entry with When I Am King, and I always like to begin with with my favourite Rock Star Guitar God.

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Last, but certainly not least, for this entry is this: The final tally of funds raised for Daffodil Place at the Great Big Christmas Show.

Jan. 23 Telegram

Great Big gift for Daffodil Place

The Telegram

Great Big Sea’s Great Big Christmas Concert benefit on Dec. 28 raised $46,481.18 to help with the construction of Daffodil Place in St. John’s.

The members of the popular Newfoundland band topped up the amount to $50,000.

A project of the Canadian Cancer Society, Daffodil Place will offer accommodations and services designed for people undergoing cancer treatment. Construction is scheduled to begin in the spring.

“We were so impressed by how much support there is for this project,” said Alan Doyle of Great Big Sea.

“On behalf of the band, I would like to thank everyone who attended the show and helped make this a success.”>Doyle is also a member of the Daffodil Place Campaign Cabinet.

Cabinet chairman John Steele said, “(Doyle) is a great ambassador for the project and has worked tirelessly in the public and private sectors to gain support for Daffodil Place.”

These are the men who have my admiration and respect. This is the man who is the wonderful and the loved. What they gave at their Great Big Christmas show, and what they accomplished at their Bowery Ballroom show, are accomplishments that should cause anyone who cares at all about them to feel very proud of them, as well as accomplishments which deserve to be written about. And remembered.

Comments

[L]

wOOt! Good stuff here. I'm loving watching the GT vid over and over. I don't get such a good view of Sean's crowd control often. :D

It's intrigueing about the NY show. I wonder what's really going on? Alan has a face like a weather map You can tell the rain from the sunshine easy enough. Do you think it's the show not working out the way they planned?

L.

[Lynda]

Hey Laura. Yes, Sean had the Bowery crowd completely in his hands during GT. I'm glad you get to see it too; I know you love that part of any GBS show.

I honestly don't know if whatever-the-trouble-might-have-been at the Bowery is something limited to the one show. I'm sure there are lots of people who would be equally convinced that there wasn't even anything wrong during this show, let alone accept the possibility/probability that there could be something wrong that goes beyond just one show. It's all how you look at it, as Bob said in his most recent journal entry.

All I can do is see for myself and speak for myself, and, yes, I am concerned. There were some expressions on Alan's face - and a few very fleeting ones on Sean's - during this show that caught my attention and caused me to worry about what might or might not be going on with them. A few of those expressions were actually painful to behold, and one or two of those show up in the photos; again, to my eyes and filtered through my own perceptions and affections.

Time might or might not tell, depending on how things play out. I can do perfectly well with not knowing what, if anything, is going on, so long as the outcome is things working out the way that makes them the happiest. Yes, for me that means Alan happy first and foremost, but best of all if what makes Alan happy could be what makes the rest of them happy too. I suppose hoping for that outcome means I am not really all that much of a pessimist these days, after all. I might even still qualify as a long-lost relative of Anne Of Green Gables in hoping for that one.

[Jenn]

It seems like a lot to be coincidence with still no word about the CD being out or tour dates. They just put up a second date but it's only Patty's Day shows that might not have anything to do with a bigger tour instead another one of the weekend of shows. Alan didn't say anything about a new CD in his journal this last time and Bob didn't either.

[Roger]

Maybe GBS'll wait and announce tourdates after the S&D3 Cruise so more will go on that instead of waiting to see them closer to home?

[Ellen]

Another freaking pair of weekend shows in the Northeast? Are there really that many more people there willing to see them in the NE than anywhere else? Are they building something there or are they just overplaying one place that's a short hop from home?

[Lynda]

Jenn, Roger, and Ellen...hello. I am sorry to take so long to respond.

My opinion only, but I think for the immediate here-and-now, it's more likely to be scattered dates. Yes, Ellen, there have been a lot of those short-hop North East Stateside dates; it does make sense when they just go out for a weekend set of shows. Geographical imperative, I suppose. Those of us who live on the Left Coast have sometimes benefitted from that same imperative with other bands.

Interesting theory, Roger, though I'm not sure holding off on announcing currently booked shows (and risking those shows not selling out because of that late notice) would be worth it as a measure to encourage cruise attendance. If they want to encourage cruise attendance, all they need to do is announce their presence on any cruise months in advance. They'll get the attendance, regardless of wherever else they might be playing.

Jenn, I think the CD is going to come out later than a lot of us thought, very possibly later than they thought too. I don't think it's something they have control over past a certain point in the process. They might not even be sure of the release date themselves. The new CD is currently in Label Land, and paths can be convulted there.

Thanks again for the comments, and more apologies for the delay in posting and responding.