I am DEAD...

... but I have died a happy woman. Oh my, the wonderfulness of tonight's show. There will be a full report tomorrow when my brain has come back online, ladies and gentlemen, but I am too fried to post it tonight. Suffice to say that the B'ys once again pulled off a hell of a show.

I got to hang out with mamishka as well as our two off-LJ friends Fred and Monica, ex-Three Good Measures jammers, and Monica's husband Ren. There was also casirafics, who joined us for post-show hanging-out at Kells, and we also yakked with solcita before the first set and after the show as well. I ran into a guy named Doug from the OKP as I was in line to see about buying a shirt, and I ran into ceallaighgirl as well. And I bumped into writersweekend on the way to Kells as she was on her way out, and gave her a big hello and a hug. ^_^ So much fandom connection! It was very fine. Best of all in all of the conversation was the distinct possibility that Three Good Measures MIGHT BE RESURRECTED. solcita, ceallaighgirl, and casirafics have all made interested noises. This WILL be investigated in further detail. Watch this space for new developments on that front, folks!

Highlights of the show: KICKASS renditions of "River Driver", "Old Brown's Daughter", and "General Taylor". (We were NOT expecting "General Taylor", but the audience spontaneously started singing it between sets, so I'm wondering if that convinced the B'ys to do it in the second set!) Alan and Séan in absolute FABULOUS banter form. Bob in fine vocal form. Kris and Murray doing hijinx behind the other B'ys. And just before "Old Black Rum" during the encore, an impromptu ditty that they must have thrown together in the last two days, all about how they're "really glad to be in Seattle, NO REALLY, we're really glad to be alive". Hee! And Alan joked early in the show about how it had been two whole days without any near-death experiences. It was very fine to see them in high spirits and playing with so much verve for us.

ESPECIALLY given that Alan has now posted his account of what happened with the bus incident on the From the Road page. Reading that tonight, I am doubly happy and grateful that they came and played with us with all their hearts and with all their strength.

More in great detail tomorrow! Off to bed! ^_^

Three Good Measures, take two?

For casirafics, solcita, and ceallaighgirl: The surviving MP3s from the jam sessions of Three Good Measures, circa 2001-2003, can be found on my web page here. All the Jam Reports are now archived in my LJ memories here.

Side note to wingedelf, sarekofvulcan, and howlinhobbit (and actually, anyone else in the local crowd who has any interest in GBS-style kitchen-party-type jam sessions, not to mention the consumption of PIE): there was talk last night of potential interest in a resurrection of Three Good Measures!

So consider this post a general gauging of interest. In TGM's prior incarnation, the way it worked was that we met on Sunday afternoons, generally every other week unless we really needed to practice hard (as we did for Monica's wedding), and hung out for roughly three or four hours, playing music, and having solarbird record us on her minidisc player. Then we'd have pie and review the recording, try to learn from anywhere we screwed up, and decide whether or not we had any publically listenable takes of stuff. If we did, Dara would make MP3's and I'd post 'em!

Since I know that people tend to have busy busy schedules and other commitments--I myself am trying to write, after all--and since Dara and I are now located in Kenmore, I know this might make getting to us a bit tough for some folks. I'm thinking maybe something on the scale of "monthly" might be a nice place to start if we wanted to make a serious effort to do this.

If folks are really interested in this, drop me a comment. I'd also like to invite anyone interested to join the mailing list we still have up for the jamming group, since several of our prior jammers are not on LJ and I would want to get in-depth discussion of any plans going on there.

Great Big Sea in Seattle 2/11/06 (Part 1)

This being all the pre-show meeting up and hanging out and dinner sorts of things! Part 2 will cover the actual concert and post-show hanging out. Highlights here: musicgeeking with Fred, tales of ambush by utilikilts, sticking me in a smuggling hatch, tales of interviewing the lads of Carbon Leaf, and meeting up with other LJers in the audience--and rumblings of a possible resurrection of our jamming group!

( Musicgeeking with Fred at MurkNorth... )

( Picking up Mimi, heading downtown, and Pike Place Brewery... )

( Swag table, getting seats, LJ encounters, and the tale of Three Good Measures... )

Great Big Sea in Seattle 2/11/06 (Part 2)

This being the concert itself, as well as post-show hanging out. Highlights: an excellent acoustic set featuring Alan and Séan in high banter form with an extra level of verve because of the Bus Incident; a positively devastating rendition of "River Driver"; much affection for Seattle and coffee expressed by Alan and Séan; the audience causing a set list change by spontaneously busting into "General Taylor" between sets; Alan delighting us all with a Seattle-themed "we're really glad to be here, NO REALLY we're glad to be alive" ditty right before tearing into "Old Black Rum"; a beautiful unmiked performance of "Old Brown's Daughter"; and after, the B'ys causing a stampede to Kells.

( The venue and audience... )

( The B'ys... )

( Set #1: Folk songs from Newfoundland... )

( Between the sets: oh look, impromptu audience singing! )

( Set #2: Break out the amps... )

( After the show: hanging out at Kells... )

And now, a completely non-GBS-related post

Friday night... I still haven't posted about Battlestar Galactica. I don't think I have it in me to do a decent recap post tonight, but perhaps tomorrow! Picoreview for now, though: wow, but that was grim.

Today, solarbird's friend and our former renter Danny came over to hang out this afternoon, so we went down to Lake Forest Park to have a bit of lunch. While we were there I stopped in Third Place Books to pick up karentraviss's Crossing the Line and rachelcaine's Heat Stroke... but at least in regards to the latter, I was tragically SHOT DOWN because they had books 1, 3, and 4 of the series, but NOT book 2. Sniffle. No more uber-hot David for me quite yet. Clearly I will have to try to stop by Borders on my way home from work tomorrow and see if they have it there.

Saturday miles: 0.8
Sunday miles: 2.0
Miles out of Hobbiton: 693.95
Miles out of Rivendell: 235.95
Miles to Lothlórien: 228.05