Anna's 5/22/04 GBS review (part 2)!

[annathepiper]

Once the B'ys left the stage, it took us a few minutes to stagger back up to rejoin Geri, Amy, and Monica. Not because it was any great distance to travel four rows' worth of seats, mind you, but more because by that point my legs appeared to have transformed themselves into noodles and my back, while not precisely in pain, was letting me know in no uncertain terms that muscles that had recently undergone a major chiropractic adjustment were still just a wee bit too tender to take on a rigorous evening of Vertical Movement without some stiffness.

Well, that, and there were about ten million people between us and the seats where the others were, too. ;)

Geri passed me my stuff, doublechecked to make sure that my PDA (which had previously been riding around in my hip in my cute little beaded purse) was in fact with me, and apologized for stepping once on my newly purchased pink GBS shirt. No big--I was going to wash it anyway, as is standard procedure for purchasing new garments. Thusly re-equipped with all of our possessions, we checked with one another about what to do next: whether we were too tired to go anywhere, and whether Dara would be able to handle a pub. (She has issues with Not Breathing if she's around too much cigarette smoke.) We settled upon the plan of wandering over to the one local pub Monica and I know anything about, with the idea that if it was too smoky we'd just bail.

Out in the lobby I bumped into cadhla (Seanan), which was pretty cool. I'd first seen her at a show in 2001, when mamishka, ssha, and I had been in the line belting out the lyrics to "Consequence Free", and she was in front of us. She'd turned to us and cried, "It's a filk convention!" We exchanged hugs and a bit of chat, before my group took its leave. HI SEANAN!

And off to our destination we went. It's a good little pub; not too pretentious, and one room for restaurant-y foo and another room that's more for the live music and the bar. We claimed a booth in the former of these two rooms, and as we sat down, a guy at the table next to us sitting with someone else tried to tease us about it being "theirs". We laughed it off, and got comfy. It took us a bit to figure out whether we would need to make a foray to the bar to get any drinks, or whether anyone would come to us; it turned out to be the former, and Amy went on point for making the first drink run.

I saw Lynda going by our table, so I waved a hello to her and we chatted a bit. She was on a mission to give someone a videotape, so we didn't talk too long. HI LYNDA!

A friend of Monica's by the name of David showed up at the table, and settled in for some laid-back conversation with us. Since he had a bit of an accent, Dara and I told him he reminded us of Giles from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and assured him that this was in fact a Good Thing, as Anthony Stewart Head has that whole 'rumpled, distinguished, but surreptitiously handsome' thing going on.

And there I was, sipping at my shot of Bailey's Irish Cream and casting thoughtful glances around the bar, when I spotted a familiar-looking figure in a light blue shirt--and my brain went, "Hey. That's Séan."



Imagine if you will that at this point, the canonical little angel and little devil popped into being on either of my shoulders. Now, this is me we're talking about; there's not that much distance, philosophically speaking, between my shoulder angel and my shoulder devil. You could probably tell them apart by the one having a white hat and the other having a red one, and I'm pretty sure my shoulder angel would be the one carrying the piccolo, while the shoulder devil has the bouzouki.

They set off quite the argument in my brain. It wasn't put into words at the time, but if it had been, it would have gone something like this:

Anna's Shoulder Devil: "Eek! Should we go talk to him? This is the chance to find out for sure what key "John Barbour" is in, from the man who sings it himself! If we get the key, we can get the chords! And learn how to PLAY IT!"

Anna's Shoulder Angel: "Um, um, is it a good thing or a bad thing? I mean, we don't wanna look like a drooling fangirl, right? And it's a bad thing to hassle famous people too terribly much... and we do have at least half an ear ourselves and did already kind of figure out the key from Kathryn..."

Devil: "But he's RIGHT HERE! In a PUBLIC PLACE! We're not going to get another chance, most likely!"

Angel: "But it's Séan McCann! Y'know, the guy whose belting out of 'General Taylor' is in fact powerful enough to distract us from The Doyle? I'm not buying we're going to be able to say word one to the man!"

Devil: "Not gonna know unless we try."

Angel: *whimper*

Devil: "Besides, we want an apple tini, damn it, so get up, go to the bar, and go talk to Séan on the way!"

Angel: *panic*

So I got up, squared my shoulders (well, figuratively speaking, since my shoulders were the farthest thing from my conscious brain right then), and ducked over to where Séan was chatting with another girl near the doorway into the other room. En route I saw Alan as well, right near Séan and chatting and looking laid-back. Right about then, the Shoulder Angel executed an emergency bypass on my brain to block out conscious awareness of Alan's proximity--'cause if I'd paid any more attention to him being right there, I would have been severely distracted from my mission.

(And that's saying something about the level to which "John Barbour" has seized me as a song. The desire to ask Séan about that ditty distracted me from Alan.)

That accomplished, the Angel gave up the last of her self-preservation and ducked under my ponytail with a squeak of panic, leaving the Devil chanting in my ear, "DO IT! DO IT! DO IT! DO IT!"

I reached Séan. I waited for him to get to a break in what he was saying to the other girl, and he looked over at me.

I blurted, "Can I ask you something?"

And he looked me square in the eye and said, "No."

That made the Shoulder Devil squeak too and duck under my ponytail to join the Shoulder Angel--treacherous little traitors, both of 'em, for this left me on my own to panic. My brain balked and I thought in rapid succession, Oh god! Now what do I say?! and Is Séan an asshole? and Ack!

And just as I was trying to figure out a relatively graceful way to withdraw he added, deadpan, in a voice that sounded deeper than I expected and yet had that same accent that has begun to grow familiar after watching the Great Big DVD a couple of times, "But you can insinuate."

I could not possibly have come up with a good comeback to that--I am nowhere near glib enough. The man is a MASTER. ;)

It is very possibly a minor miracle that I did not panic more visibly on the spot, for all that I'm sure my panic must have registered on my face; if it did, Séan didn't give any sign of it. But I managed to keep from fleeing, and babbled out something about wanting to "insinuate" about the key of "John Barbour", which is what I wanted to know. I told him it had been driving me batshit all day, and I was trying to learn it. He confirmed what I'd already learned from Kathryn--it's in B flat.

I babbled out something else about trying to learn the chords, which were hard; Séan suggested I capo up to the fifth fret, and I don't think I quite connected with what he was saying, since it sounded like he was talking to me about the vocals and I was thinking more the chords. So this made for a slight dislocation in conversational connectivity; I actually said the words "I can't capo my voice" to Séan, and looking back on it I groan sheepishly at my Shoulder Devil trying to slap in the unspoken addendum of "... you silly man". ;) But by then both the Shoulder Angel and the Shoulder Devil were pulling at my hair to get me to flee, so I thanked Séan and fled bar-wards to get that now desperately needed apple tini.

(That dislocation aside, Séan's recommendation to capo up to the fifth fret does actually sit well with me. That'd take the song up into C--which means I can hit that low note in the verses easier. I think that must be right around the very bottom of my range; I can barely hit that low D in the key of B flat. It comes out sometimes, and other times it doesn't. I'm solid on the E, though!)

While at the bar, Dara jumped up from her seat at our table to tell me to get her either a strawberry daiquiri or a shot of peppermint schapps--and that I had missed Alan coming to our table. ARGH! :) He apparently shook hands with everyone, and Geri is still enthusing to folks about how she actually uttered a coherent English sentence with Alan Doyle's hand in hers.

Monica reported that David blew the whistle on her by telling Alan about her issue with the second verse of "Lucky Me"--so she wound up, even through her chagrin about having that actually conveyed to Alan, debating with him briefly about that verse. She informs me that Alan stands by his lyrics based on his own life experiences; Monica stands by hers, so it's a bit of an artistic impasse for her on that ditty. But she did joke to the rest of us that perhaps Alan will think of her when he sings that song again. Heh.

In the meantime, my Shoulder Angel is still wailing, "We missed Alan?! Waaaaaah!"

My Shoulder Devil, however, is parrying with, "But we talked to Séan. Shaddup!"

I'm with my Shoulder Devil, I think. If there's any good reason to have to narrowly miss an opportunity to shake hands with The Doyle, it's asking the Shanty Man a music-related question. So all in all, I am content!

The Angel is also busily trying to whap the Devil with her cap, pointing out that I should also have remembered to tell Séan happy birthday to his face and tell him exactly how much I really LOVE his rendition of "John Barbour", but the Devil is retaliating right back that I was barely able to manage the basic music-geek question, much less anything else. ;)



After that little bit of excitement I did in fact manage to acquire my apple tini, a drink with which I have begun to grow pleasantly acquainted courtesy of the aforementioned Kathryn. Thing is, I had not really realized how much she's been cutting back on the vodka for me when she makes 'em. The pub made the drink rather stiffer than I was accustomed to, and it was probably the vodka that gave me enough courage to try to see if I could find Alan and ask him the music-geek question I've been wanting to ask him, which is, "So how do you tune your bouzouki, anyway?"

(The reason for this, you see, is that I've got mine tuned to G-D-A-E right now because #1, I like that high E in the sound of my instrument, and #2, my little hands seem to be best used to the chords in that tuning, and I can't figure out yet whether G-D-A-D or A-D-A-D, both of which I am given to understand are popular tunings amongst bouzouki players, might be better tunings for me to try for GBS ditties.)

The Shoulder Devil made another brief appearance, encouraged by the vodka and by Dara telling me, "Do it before you lose your nerve!" So I got up again and made a single sweep of the bar, to see if Alan and Séan were still around. They weren't, it turned out. But I did pass Carbon Leaf's bass player, and told him they'd put on a great show. :)

I also bumped into another OKPer, Mel, and stopped to chat briefly with her. HI MEL!

We hung out a bit longer, then around 1:30 or so decided we'd better scram for the sake of still making the bus back to the University District. Monica promised to meet us at our house, since David had offered to give her a ride. So off to the bus stop the rest of us went.

On the way home I learned something about myself: a shot of Bailey's Irish Cream and a single apple tini is in fact enough to make me officially drunk. My physical coordination started getting impacted on the way home, and so did my speech, just enough to make me have to think hard occasionally about what I was saying. I also got too loud on the bus, and had to be shushed by Dara. General note to self: next time I have an apple tini in a pub, drink it more carefully and follow it up with more water. ;)

I did, however, entertain Amy and Geri with the Tale of How Anna Made Duck Noises As a Child and Her Uncles Still Haven't Let Her Live It Down--and Amy and I swapped brief explanations of stories we're both working on. Yet more things to have in common with Amy, yay!

Dara zoomed ahead of us to make it home first (let's just say she had a pressing need *wink*), and Geri, Amy, and I followed at a more leisurely pace. We discovered Monica had beaten us there, too. And we all hung out for a bit sleepily (and a bit drunkenly) chatting, exchanging occasional bouts of swoonish giggling, until at last Geri begged to be allowed to collapse as she had to get up fairly early to be able to drive her party (Amy and their other passenger, Mandy) back up to Vancouver.

I rolled out the hide-a-bed for Geri and Amy, bid Monica a fond adieu and urged her to come back to the Murkworks and play with us some more, and at last staggered upstairs to my own bed for a heavily-songvirused-by-Séan-in-my-dreams slumber.


To sum up: I'm still very tired, even on Monday afternoon two days after the fact. But it gives me warm fuzzies to know that even at a show that I was barely able to hear, even two days after the fact I still have that warm afterglow that comes from a great GBS show!

Comments

[fleetfootmike.livejournal.com]

You sure Séan didn't mean capo up to 5, and play in F (since F capo 5 is Bb?)

[annathepiper]

I'm not a hundred percent sure, because the mini-conversation we had didn't get that detailed. :) I was extrapolating based on knowing that the song's actual key is B flat, but he and Alan both were playing with their capos on the third fret.

Giles!!!!!

[roisindubh54.livejournal.com]

A friend of Monica's by the name of David showed up at the table, and settled in for some laid-back conversation with us. Since he had a bit of an accent, Dara and I told him he reminded us of Giles from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and assured him that this was in fact a Good Thing, as Anthony Stewart Head has that whole 'rumpled, distinguished, but surreptitiously handsome' thing going on.

Ah, not only a sister sf/f person & GBS fan, but yet another Buffy fan who can appreciate Giles' sexiness. I've always found the character wonderfully appealing, much more attractive than either Angel or Spike, although Spike's right up there, too. I read somewhere that ASH told Joss, when he read for the part, that he saw Giles as a sort of mix of Hugh Grant's Four Weddings and a Funeral character, Prince Charles, and Alan Rickman. Sounds like a good mix, to me (Well, I'm Irish-American, so he could have left out the Royal. :D ) Of course, it might be my advanced age or the fact that I remember ASH fondly from all those coffee commercials.

Re: Giles!!!!!

[annathepiper]

I very vaguely have memories of ASH in those commercials! But yes, I do totally agree that he has a certain understated appeal about him--and a lovely voice as well! I about fell over the first time he sang in a Buffy episode, and when he sang in the musical--oh, those lovely low notes he hit. It was clear that he and the actress that played Tara were the ones with the music clues in the cast. :)

Shows you what I know!

[(Anonymous)]

First - I think "you silly man" was a perfectly logical conclusion to your comment about not being able to capo your voice.

And second - I never once surmised until I read this (and its first half) that the school beauty queen's "blessing" was actually supposed to be ending up a mother at 16. I figured the bastard had probably left her and managed to get custody or something, which had seemed disastrous at the time, but THAT had actually freed her to have a life after all and been the well-disguised blessing. *sigh* I actually managed to overestimate Alan! Does this "growing up" thing ever end?

Love, Columbine (not a LJer, but you know where to find me!)

Re: Shows you what I know!

[annathepiper]

*giggles merrily* I think I'd have required that apple tini BEFORE talking to Séan in order to have the necessary chutzpah to call him silly to his face. ;D As it happens, I'm already afraid to think about what was going through his brain when this panicked-eyed blonde chick with a ponytail and a hat came up and babbled half-nonsensical questions at him about his song!

As for "Lucky Me"--the way I personally read the lyrics was that the blessing in the verse is supposed to not necessarily be that she's a mother at 16, but that the child is the blessing. Because, well, kid. I realize that that is a very small difference, but it is one in my head--the difference between the situation you're in (teenage motherhood) and the innocent person who's in that situation with you (the kid).

And I'm fairly sure one never actually grows up. ;)

Re: Shows you what I know!

[(Anonymous)]

But Seannie takes pride in being a silly man! And he most certainly is - in the old Hebrew sense of "selig" or blessed, a gift to humanity to keep us from forgetting to live out of the box.

I can still enjoy "Lucky Me" in a sense a little different from the one you came up with - blessings being the homegrown things that they are, you sometimes have to decide that what you're stuck with is a blessing, and make it so out of sheer bullheaded determination. But it's made me fall out of love with Alan - turned him from a half-unknown half-fabricated fantasy character into a very believable person whom I think would still be a wonderful friend. So, a blessing there too. Because I say so.

Love, Columbine

Re: Shows you what I know!

[annathepiper]

Hehehehe... trying to actually ask a musician I passionately admire a musicgeek question was about as much of a step outside of my box as my poor brain could handle. Any further, and I might have exploded. ;)

And yeah, I agree--there's something good to be said about Alan being a bit more Real.