jonnyjonnyh

A Night of Music and Poetry for Progressive Action, or No Sleep Till Denver, then Boulder again

On Wednesday I woke up after working a split on Tuesday, and watched the snowfall like mad, and later the World Baseball Classic. These games are great(as I type this Korea is up 2-1 in the 8th on Mexico, the Anaheim crowd is going nuts), and much better then any Spring Training game I have ever seen, and believe me, I have seen a lot of Spring Training games(6 different vactions).



Later that evening I met up with my buddy Dan and we went to the airport to pick up Thurston Moore. Dan, Luis, and I are the organizers for the April 22 show, and we put it a ton of work on this show as well. Dan and I discuss our plans to get Bright Eyes to play the earth day show in detail, and we are giddy with excitement to pick up Thurston.



Once we get to the airport and wait for Thurston to get there Dan and I keep saying, "Oh there he is". Dan does it in a very convincing way, and I jump each time. I instead chose to point out people that obviously were not Thurston Moore and saying like, "Oh there he is, see, in the green coat" and it's really a huge woman in a green coat. At one point Dan says that he will have a guitar, or maybe two. A little while later this guy who is like, 5'5" and bald comes around the corner with a guitar, and I point him out as Thurston(who is really like 6'5" or so).



So we meet Thurston, and wait for his checked bags. We drive back to Boulder, and we listen to the Strangers Die Everyday CD. He has agreed to jam with them. He says, "Oh man, they are so orchestral. I'm afraid I'll ruin it." Dan and I asure him that he will be great.
We then went to dinner. Turley's was closed so we ended up at Wahoo's Fish Tacos and had margaritas. Dan and I told him about the Aprill 22 Earth Day show, and what organizations we were giving to then, and that we were hoping to get Bright Eyes to play. He then said that Conor's roommate and Bright Eyes' booking manager was the same booking manager for Sonic Youth and that, "Conor is really into that stuff, I'll give Eric a call before I leave." Dan and I were floored.



Orginally I was only picking up Thurston from the airport. In the days leading up to that it was decided by Dan(who is the events coordinator for the Student Union of Naropa) that I needed to be the one to take Thurston around while he was in town. We needed to be around to make sure that everything went perfectly, so the April 22 show would go off without a hitch. We have hopes that we can start a non-profit in the future putting on benefit shows for different causes and organizations, and bring in great music that we want to see.



After Dan and I dropped Thurston off at his hotel, we headed down to Pearl St. to flyer for the show. It was freezing, and we were exhausted, so we just put posters around all of the kiosks that line the pedestrian mall. We didn't venture into any of the bars. We kind of wanted to give them a break too, so they don't hate us. We had handed out over 5000 flyers over the previous three weeks. We did that and went home. I chatted with Andy, and he's a big Sonic Youth fan. I asked him to be the MC for the April 22 show, he said yes.



On Thursday I took Thurston to Dot's Diner on the Hill for breakfast. I had eaten already while I was waiting for him to call. I was trying to spend a little less money then I realized I was going to over the next few days, so I stuck to the yerba mate. I suggested something on the menu to him, and he got it. I'm pretty sure our server knew who he was. He was very big eyed and bushy tailed whenever she talked to him. Maybe she just thought he was hot, I don't know. Earlier in the week Dan had hit up Dot's to flyer, and lots of the staff there were really excited about the show.



Thurston and I got along great. We had great conversations, and I remember at Dot's we talked about Built to Spill, who are one of my current musical obsessions. At some point we talked about record companies, and he chimed in a little bit on bigger companies, and sort of how that works. The album Sonic Youth just finished recording is the last one on their deal with DGC. He said he has no idea what they will do next. I mentioned that Pearl Jam's new album is coming out on some label called J Records which is through Arista somehow.



We spent of that day going through used book shops and record stores rummaging through vinyl. Dan and I had brought up some aspects of Joanna Macy's "The Great Turning" in a conversation with him coming back from the airport, and at Red Letter that afternoon he said hey, "What was that ecofeminist's name?" And I found a copy of Coming Back to Life, and he ended up getting it.



At 4 we went to the Boulder Theater for the soundcheck. Dan and I met with the booking manager there, and had a great conversation about the April 22 show, he wants to make it a weekend with 2 shows. Dan and I express our interest in starting a non-profit, he thinks that's awesome. He gives a lot of advice on booking shows, and how things work. We look forward to working with him.



Dan and I pick up mixers for backstage. During the afternoon Dan and I(mostly Dan) dispense another 500 flyers. I run home and eat something, anything.And Amy comes with us back to the theater for the show.



The show was awesome. So many of my friends were there. Andy and Alys were there, which was so great. I hadn't seen Andy in almost 2 years. Amy later said, "I really like his hair now."

There were 7 or 8 coworkers of mine who came out for it. Including an extremely trashed Seth(Who made sure my drinks were paid for, which was nice), and Jen K- who reads this, and is super awesome.
Erik came to the show, and then went and worked the grave where he was up until 8:30 in the morning. What an awesome dude.
Then there of course the regular SGCO crew who was there in full force. I was sitting with them when Thurston gave me a shout out from the stage, since I loaned him my acoustic, and they yelled out "Yah Jon!" They have been greatly supportive during this endeavor, and Rick's enthusiasm in particular was a great source of energy to keep going out and flyering until 1am every night.



At the end of Thurston's set Strangers Die Everyday came out, and their collaboration was certainly the highlight of the evening. It really blew me away.
Then Jello Biafra came out and did his thing. My friends started to leave, and Amy and I went backstage and hungout. Dan and I sat on a couch and further planned the Aprill 22 show, and talked about how when he gets back from Chicago in a week we need to sit down and plan our next show.
He giggle and drink, and say, "I can't believe it's happening. This is so great!"


We end up hanging out in Thurston's dressing room with Anne Waldman, her son Ambrose, and random others who wonder in and out. It ends up with Thurston playing my guitar and Dan singing Sonic Youth songs. It's amazing. Some random people say, "Thurston sing something." and he responds, "I think Dan is doing a great job." And so it continues.


They had to flash the lights at 1:30 to get Jello Biafra off the stage. The theater's permit only allows them to have stuff going on until 1:30. He had been doing his thing for almost 3 hours.
Dan and I finally leave the theater with all the rented equipment at about 2:30. Dan had a flight to Chicago at 6:30am.


Dan slept through his flight, and instead was flying out at a time close to Thurston's outgoing flight. Dan, Thurston, and I had breakfast at Turley's, and we talked about the show. We asked if he would come back and play the Earth Day weekend, but his March and April are very busy, so he can't. He told us that he would love to come back. He then mentioned maybe do a Sonic Youth show. We went to Bart's and saw Jonny, who was a little star struck, and I bought some Bonnie "Prince" Billy 7 inches.


We went to Anne Waldman's for the rest of the afternoon. She has some amazing art, and lots of great pictures of her and Ginsberg, and various others. Just listening to Thurston and Anne talk about poetry and the New York scene was just amazing. At some point I noticed Anne's watch as she sat on the couch next to me, and we were running extremely late and needed to go.


Striaght from there we stopped at a sandwich place and went to the hotel to get his things. Dan ran off to take back the rental equipment and then he and the ride to the airport got to the hotel at the same time. Thurston gave me a hug and said, "Thank you for everything." I told him that I had a great time.


I then went grocery shopping, and made dinner. I picked up Amy from work, and I had her drive home, because I was deliriously exhausted, and sleep deprived. Then later that night we went to Denver and saw Whispertown 2000(I picked up their CD), Willy Mason(he's on Team Love), and of course, the reason I bought tickets- Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins. We saw Lacey and Jo(h)n there. It was at the Bluebird, and Amy and I were right up front. It was a great show. Finally, at about 1am, I went to sleep, and I didn't get up for a very long time.

The next show is Saturday April 22. I do not know who is going to be there yet, but I guarantee you that it will be a good time. I hope to have the lineup finalized in the nont too distant future.