lifeblood: listlogs: 2002v05n224-news

ig-news-digest        sunday, november 17 2002        volume 05 : number 224

today's subjects:
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  [ig-news] paul melancon and igs  ["diane weidenkopf" <dweiden@ix.netcom.co]

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date: sat, 16 nov 2002 16:14:48 -0600
from: "diane weidenkopf" <dweiden@ix.netcom.com>
subject: [ig-news] paul melancon and igs

[sherlyn's note: this message was originally sent to the indigo
girls mailing list at netspace.org.]

paul melancon, who opened for the girls in florida has some intereesting
comments on the shows in his tour diary. i'm pasting one entry below,
there is more at his website:

http://www.paulmelancon.com

diane

__________________

0 november 2002
  saenger theatre (pensacola, fl)
  w/ indigo girls

  first off... that storm that blew through the southeast, spawning
tornadoes all
  over alabama? we drove home in that. we didn't know that it was
happening.
  well, i mean, we drove home in the middle of a monster storm that
never
  seemed to stop, we just didn't know that it was some massive storm
front that
  we were following all night, and that there were tornadoes touching
down all
  around us.

  i don't think i can really wrap up the whole experience of the tour
well. but let
  me try to talk about the pensacola show... it's possible it wasn't
the best show
  of the tour, or our best performance. but it was probably the best
response we
  got in what was a string of pretty strong responses. when we started
(with "hey,
  california") people were still audibly talking through the show, but
further into
  the set there wasn't any of that. so either they finished what they
had to say or
  we hooked them.

  the saenger theatre is another movie palace like the florida theatre
was. a
  beautiful old room that has recently been saved apparently from
destruction. we
  got in and went through the usual load-in and setup process, by now
it was a
  very quick thing we did without much thought, really. we finished the

  soundcheck and went down to eat. amy, andrea and stacey were
downstairs
  talking daemon stuff, which i tried to overhear without much success.
we ate
  and got ready. i met russell carter for the first time, who for some
reason
  looked nothing like i imagined.

  the show went well. like i say, it wasn't our best, but the
differences between
  the shows as far as performance were really just nuances. it was a
good show
  for us. i felt energetic once we started (i was close to falling
asleep beforehand,
  we drove six hours to get to pensacola) and i think i was good with
the crowd
  and good moving around. we all seemed a bit more energetic overall,
pushing
  the last bit of energy out for the last show. since i hadn't had any
sort of chance
  to talk to amy or emily before the show i didn't know for sure if
they were going
  to come out to do the cover ("the air that i breathe," by the way)
again, until
  the cheers went up just before the chorus and i knew they must have
just
  walked onto the stage. i tried to take everything in during the song,
looking
  around at both of them and the crowd and trying to remember what it
felt like to
  be there. the crowd was very responsive, especially to the little bit
of
  radiohead's "creep" that we do in the middle.

  the song ended and it was out to hang out by the merch table, signing
cds and
  talking to people. when the girls started their set i headed
backstage. andrea
  told me i should really go ahead and practice the melodica thing for
"closer to
  fine," even though i really didn't think after the night before
they'd want that
  again. but i stood in the hallway and tried to re-learn the part in
the correct key.
  at one point during the set emily left the stage and headed down by
the
  dressing rooms and so i asked her if they wanted me to do the solo
again and
  she smiled at me and said of course but added, "are you going to do
it in 'a' this
  time?" i liked the moment not just because, yes, they wanted me to,
but also
  because there's enough of a relationship there now where she's able
to pick on
  me.

  i know that reads awfully weird but it was a very cool moment.

  anyway, i ran through it a million more times and went up on stage.
just before
  they began emily sort of motioned that i could just come out before
the part, but
  then amy caught my eye and just called me out to sing along, too. i
sang and
  nailed the solo, using up every lucky break i had left, i think. the
place went up
  when i started (and that's something, because they're always really
loud for
  that song, every single person in the room is singing, and it happens
every
  show) and i can't imagine that the first half of the solo could even
be heard over
  the noise. but it was incredible. they both smiled at me after it was
done before
  going into the last verse. i waved and left the stage after the song
was done and
  amy took the time to thank the band and mention us all by name. i
went back to
  waiting to do "kid fears" which was in the encore for this show. they
introduced
  me again and the crowd gave me a good cheer and i sang my bit. i know
it
  sounds so clinical when i try to describe it. i loved doing it. every
single time.
  pensacola was a little extra because i knew it would be the last time
i'd do it
  and i watched the crowd and watched the girls as i did, trying to
squeeze every
  last bit of the experience out of it. they thanked me and the crowd
cheered and
  i waved. they started "galileo" and i headed back out front to the
merch table
  one last time.

  we sold as many cds in pensacola as we did on our other big night in
  jacksonville. i never would have imagined we would do so well, before
we left i
  had thought if i could sell 10 cds a show i would be in really good
shape. that
  was really underestimating things, it turns out. i signed a lot of
cds, which
  became a very zen thing after awhile. i tried to talk as much as
possible with
  people as they were standing there, i hate for it to just be some
sort of factory
  line. i find, though, that some people want to talk and others seem
like they
  think they need to get in and out. it's a weird thing to be on the
other side of, for
  me. i thought i did well, though, for being someone who is so shy
about talking
  to people. during the set lee had mentioned the whole "kissing my red
hair"
  thing from the tampa show so several people came up and asked if they
could.
  one day i will make lee pay. then again, i had two really cute girls
who wanted
  a picture taken with me, and since i was already sitting at the time
they ended
  up on my lap, so maybe i shouldn't complain.

  look, i typed that last line and i'm still laughing at myself. it was
just
  bewildering and so unbelievably flattering. i can't even put it into
words. i am
  really a pathologically shy person and i have dealt with the whole
musician
  thing for a long time as if it were just sort of a character i play,
a "me" that
  happens to be extroverted. but being surrounded by this sort of thing
just
  pushed it into the bizarre, and while it was happening i just kept
thinking how in
  the world did i end up here with these two girls on my lap?

  i'll never be able to explain. the entire experience of the tour is
just one long
  experience like that. it's hard to comprehend that it happened. the
long,
  delirious drive back doesn't help matters and, since i slept through
most of
  monday, as i write this i still feel as if the show just happened
tonight, but at
  the same time it feels like it didn't happen at all.

  i'll tell you one more thing for free... it's not as if we were out
palling around with
  amy and emily during the tour. lee seemed to actually know them a
little, and
  they'd chat from time to time, but overall we only saw them just
before they
  soundchecked, and then when we'd go downstairs to eat. sometimes we'd
see
  them after the show for a bit, too. but they had other people around
them as well
  and so i never tried to insinuate myself into that. i tried to grant
them a certain
  amount of space, maybe that was a mistake in some ways but i also
know they
  have more than their fair share of people who want to be "close" to
them. so to
  me it seemed like the most respectful thing to do. but even so they
were
  constantly kind to us. i had never even met emily before and she was
so
  friendly. they both seemed to genuinely love what we were doing and
really
  wanted us to have our decent chance to win people over. cynically a
person can
  think that amy has legitimate business reasons for getting us
exposure, but it
  never felt that way at all and i would argue the point with anyone
who tried to
  suggest it. i could go on and on and already have, really, but they
just were
  amazingly kind and helpful the entire time and i could never begin to
thank them
  enough for the entire experience. i feel the same way tonight as i
did when i
  was 20 and sitting on a stoop in downtown atlanta coming off my first
acid trip
  (my apologies to my parents if they're reading this), the world
looked completely
  different to me and i still feel as if the experience colors my way
of thinking.

  i am notoriously unable to 'surrender to the moment,' i think it's
safe to say,
  but for the past eight days i was living in an alien world and
everything that
  happened felt magical, and frankly i don't care how unbelievably
silly that
  sounds.

  well, okay, i care just enough to point out that i don't.

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