Friday night the whole 1 York posse (minus 3 guys) assembled up in Guelph for a party to celebrate Thompo and Devo's birthdays, but also the results of a big accounting exam a few of the boys had just written. A couple of the guys passed, but a couple failed, so I guess we drank the blues away and also drank to celebrate.
It was a memorable night. At least the parts I remember were memorable anyway. A few highlights were: Matty waking up of the train tracks with only one sandal on; Dale falling on me and Cersdawg, which resulted in a painful morning for me; a topless chick in the hottub back at Thompo's place after the bar; and me getting booted from a bar for being "too drunk". (I said too drunk is a relative term, but the bouncers didn't want to listen.)
Dale's note in the morning was pretty hilarious too. He left the following with a $20 bill on the kitchen table:
My old man came to town around noon to pick me up and head back to London for the rest of the weekend. I was ridiculously hung over all day, but I met up with Mike and we managed to get some stuff done for finding a place for the fall. I also did some running around with Arden, trying to find that damn Harry Potter book for less than $45.
My dad spent most of the day in the park where they had a music/craft festival thing going on. We saw Blackie and the Rodeo Kings, had some dinner, and then headed down to the JLC for the night's big event - John Fuckin Fogerty.
The opening band was pretty good, I think they were called The Payolas. It was a weird combo of a band, two old dudes and three younger guys. I think the old guys must be the originals, and the others were temporary fillers or new members (seeing as Matt Good's drummer Pat Steward was in the band.) They had one song that I knew, called Eyes of a Stranger, but the rest were pretty solid despite the fact that I'd never heard them before.
Then I heard one of the most bizarre things I've ever heard at a concert - the music being played between the sets. It was actually pretty good stuff for the most part, but 2 of the last 3 songs before Fogerty took the stage were fucking Fogerty songs! I couldn't believe it. The whole crowd was rockin' out to the recorded songs before the show even started. Very weird.
The man of the hour busted onto the stage with Travellin' Band wearing his patented blue plaid shirt, and he played the thing really fast. He did that with one or two other songs as well, and though my dad didn't like it much, I thought it was good cuz those songs were a little higher in energy. My dad also didn't like the kick drum that rocked our bodies for the whole two hour set, but that's probably just because he's getting old.
Speaking of old, the only time I've seen a more geriatric crowd was a few years back when he and I went to see Garnet Rogers and another dude in Toronto at some little dive of a venue.
But there was a good share of younger kids too. Fogerty songs aren't the kind that just fade away after a decade or two. I'm actually amazed that he wrote that many mint tunes in that short time when CCR was around. Legendary shit.
I'd say about three quarters of the songs were CCR material, which was pretty much what I was hoping for. But his solo stuff is pretty solid as well, don't get me wrong. For the classic song Centerfield he busted out the most ridiculous guitar in the shape of a an actual baseball bat. I have no idea how the stings are attached or manipulated, but it was pretty damn cool. This pic isn't from the London show, but at least you can see the thing:
I was amazed at how talented this guy was with the guitar. I've always thought of CCR songs as fairly simplistic, but you shoulda seen his fingers move as he did a solo intro into one songs - I swear they looked like they were made of some kinda goo or liquid rather than skin and bones. Amazing talent. Respect factor: 10 out of 10I was also surprised at the length and energy of the set, considering this guy was in his prime in the 60s and 70s.
He's actually got a new record coming out soon, titled Revival. Not very creative really, but I'm sure it'll be pretty mint regardless of the title.
And after the encore, whadda ya know... they played another one of his tunes as the crowd filed out. Again, pretty damn weird!
After the show we met up with some friends at a couple of bars, and it took me about 3 beers just to get over my hangover. We were both pretty tired so we left and crashed by about 1 I guess.
The next day I dealt with more house stuff, found my cousin's wedding present at the festival, and hit the Beer Fest downtown with a couple of friends and my old man. And after another set of music in the park we went out for dinner and I fell asleep pretty early out of exhaustion.
I think I'm still recovering.
And this coming weekend is going to be even busier.
2 comments:
Hey,
My girlfriend and I were actually at the Toronto show with Pat.
That was my first time seeing the Payolas. They were pretty good, except everytime I looked at the guitar player's hair I thought of Alcona.
Apparently Forgerty is a dick, but man, he's definitely written some great songs.
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