"You Know The World Could Be Your Oyster" Part One - Oysterband (& Great Big Sea) At Hugh's Room In TO (video)

ETA: Thanks to a few people for the heads-up on the fake Twitter page. I'd found the blog comment of the "creator" before I even knew about the page, since she was so stunned  as to make that comment about the page within scant minutes of making up the fake Twitter ID. Dear God, talk about a need to get a life...not to mention the priceless irony of being told to "get over yourself" by the same person who has just gone to the time and trouble to create a fake fool persona in your name and make up a series of counterfeit "tweets," neatly begging the question as to exactly who it is who needs to "get over" whom. Perhaps "Twit-ter" is a most appropriate name, after all.  I still say I could write straight nonfiction about fans and be told by every publisher I encounter that the plain, unvarnished truth strains credibility to the breaking point.  One more example of the absurdity these men have lived in the midst of for nearly all of their adult lives...if they ever tried to write about all they have seen and endured, they'd have to call it fiction, for sure.

Not much at all to say that's positive about the skill of this writing attempt, but at least she did get one or two facts straight:  I am indeed quite fond of Alan's soul...and of his pants as well. And that is the sum total of interest I can muster in yet another of the endless series of Fan Wars skirmishes, a decided lack of interest which I see as a good sign in and of itself. Progress.

Back to the sane part of the GBS world:

Non-weekend hotel rate-changes are the force behind a room relocation for today, and since I'm not assured of reliable internet access in tonight's more fiscally responsible choice of accommodations, I've been trying to get my video files from last night's splendid Oysterband show at Hugh's Room to upload. Still working on that up until checkout time here, but the one frigging huge file - the most important one of all, to my own way of thinking - is finally finished. I'll put it up now, and then add what I can as the other files finish, with words and a few (very dark) photos to come at the very end. Words and pictures I can do from the airport tomorrow morning, if  need be, or, if all else fails, via my dialup when I get home tomorrow night.

For now, the very best moments of the evening, at least the very best moments of the onstage part of the evening:

When I'm Up/Bright Morning Star, Oysterband & Great Big Sea, Hugh's Room, Toronto, April 2008      (400 MB)

The file is gigantic and a bit wobbly in places: they segued straight from the first song to the second, and I was standing on a chair with the camera held as high as I could reach; but if it shares one-tenth of how glorious it was to see these men on stage together, it was more than worth the effort making it, and it will be more than worth the effort downloading it.

More to come, all of it wonderful, if perhaps not quite so wonderful as this.

Comments

[Laura]

That's a GREAT video. It must of been a wobbly chair too or were you the wobbly one? :P Sean looks excited to be with Oyster Band! :D

The fake Twit thing proves what I said before about how childish this crap seems to me without me needing to do any more arguing. I still wish Sean could have found a way to communicate with somebody other than the most self absorbed of all the fans.

When you talk about Glenn he always sounds like a nice guy. I think it's good if Sean sounds like him. What about the other brother?

L.

[lynda]

Hey, Laura - I'm sorry to take so long to answer. I spent such a long time responding to comments on the entry after this one that by the time I was done, I had something else I needed to do and one thing kind of led to another and I didn't make it back here till now.

Sean was a hoot to watch on stage with Oysterband; there, he looked like a man who's been spending a lot of quality time with a toddler, and it was very cute to see. The wobble in the video is nearly all the chair - no way I could have kept my balance up there if I hadn't been leaning back against the wall too - since I'd had only a couple of pints of Hugh's signature oatmeal stout, which I am still not sure if I like...I keep sampling it each time I go to Hugh's but still have not yet decided.

Honestly, I think the fake ID thing with Twitter is something that would be likely to happen no matter what program/medium was being used. It has happened, as a matter of a fact. Think about it. There was the nutjob who pretended to be a man on the OKP for months (and look where she wound up) and when the Fishtank first started up, another nutjob signed up with my name within a few hours. False identity and underlying psychoses are old buddies in this group of people, the online ones most of all. So it's not at all fair to think more of the same is anything specfic to the Twitter application. The childishness/craziness comes from some of the users of the tool, not from the tool itself.

I think the same is true about the self-absorption. If Sean (or any of them) were attempting communication via smoke signal, there would be those who truly believed the wind was blowing those signals their way and their way alone. Self-absorption by definition takes care of itself and cares only for itself.

To the "most self-absorbed of the fans," whatever any member of GBS does is going to wind up being all about them. Go read most of the comments on Alan's and especially Bob's journal entries and you'll see the self-absorption in response to Sean was a foregone conclusion.

But at least he does not have to see that self-absorption if he chooses otherwise. If I understand the application correctly, Sean has the option either to view or not to view any Twitter replies to his entries (the @greatbigsean ones) made by those reading his tweets; just because you read someone does not mean that person is forced to see your replies to him, and I think having that choice is really a good setup for Sean.

The application apparently does seem to get used by some for a great deal of vapidly pointless announcing of the most banal daily occurrences, but it doesn't have to be limited to that. I've seen some Twitter pages that focus on information and links, others that are more a series of witty rejoinders. As is true about so much in life, it does appear to be what you make of it.

So far, I like what Sean's been making of it. He's been hilarious with the Tosh alter-ego and touchingly honest in other respects, such as the sheer tedium of and also the body-image concerns over the video/photo shoot (and the unabashed delight over being able to jettison those concerns with Leo's fish and chips and airport lounge junk food) and the references to the difficulties of living two separate lives. I think it's really cute what a big Wild fan he is now too. Maybe I'm silly for this, but I also enjoy hearing that Sean is safe and sound and happy to be home, curled on his couch with his dog watching BSG; it's not something that would be any of my business if Sean did not want to share it publicly, but if he is willing to do that sharing, I certainly enjoy knowing it.

Most of all, Sean appears to be enjoying the act of communicating, at least for now, and that's the best of all to see. From what he said, he began the Twitter stuff by his own choice, after finding out about it from his brother, so it's not as if it began as a fan-appeasement project. I hope it remains something he can keep on getting enjoyment out of.

Maybe there really is a risk that Sean could reveal too much information for his own welfare, or the welfare of others, given the sanity levels of some of his readers, but the same could be said on occasion with Alan too. I cringed a bit when Alan gave such a detailed description of his car recently. I have been asked outright by dozens of nosy people if I know where Alan's house is - and his home address is another of the many prying search-engine hits I get on this blog - and some of those people asking clearly have had an idea of the general vicinity if not the specific house; I can't see giving that kind of person any help at all with details as being a particularly wise course of action.

Even I have grown very wary of giving out much personal information that could possibly impact the people who would be stuck dealing with potential fallout, but I figure if I have learned to do that, then they must have learned all of this way better and much longer ago, so it comes back down to it being their choices in what they do or don't say. I'm just going to try to trust them and keep on hoping for the best for them. Probably worry about them too, but there's not much avoiding that part of it.

I've never met Sean's youngest brother, only seen him and been near him at a few shows. First impression at a glance is that he's a sharp fellow who's got a lot on the ball. Glenn is one of the nicest guys I've ever met, and, yes, it's very much a credit to Sean whenever he reminds me of Glenn. There are quite a few other GBS-tour-world people who think really well of Glenn too.

He is such a nice guy that I'd probably punch someone in the nose for hurting him - there are times I get so goddamn pissed watching the predator fans blatantly trying to use him in any way they can to get to his big brother and the rest of the band that I come precariously close to doing just that. Those are among the times I do not do well with the fan shit, not at all. But even when I worry about him getting used or hurt by the assholes sucking up to him while on the GBS tours, it's always good to see him there. He remains real and genuine and very sweet, and that can be such a rare and appreciated commodity at such times and in such places.

Somehow, Kevin gives me the impression that while he could be just as nice as Glenn, I don't think I'd have much need of worrying about his getting hurt or used by asshole fans. I think he's probably pretty darn good at dealing with assholes all on his own, maybe even better than biggest brother does. Too bad he can't come along on tour too; I think I might enjoy watching how that could all turn out.