09-30-2007, 12:41 AM
Jimmy Herring replaced George McConnell as lead guitarist - McConnell has been filling the shoes of Houser (aka Panic) since his death half a decade ago. Herring, of course, was with the Allman Bros, and one of Phil's longstanding Friends. The band has a heavy hippie sound, guitar heroes with jam band sensibilities. There was a fine jam over Floyd's One of these days baseline and a nice Cream Puff War encore. It was enjoyable but not captivating.
The crowd was on its feet dancing all the way through. There's nothing like a sold out house of writhing hippies. One guy was wearing a shirt that said "hippies smell". There were a lot of great costumes, a lot of ravy stuff, a lot of dreads, a lot of typcial jam band t-shirts and jeans, not nearly as Old Navy as before, some fine exotic stuff like belly dancer outfits and short skirts with big furry boots, a few elves, some pseudo B&D outfits, a couple vinyl goths, and one horribly garish tranny. Bat belts (leather or nylon belts with all sorts of holsters) are all the rage now. I'm resisting following that trend; it just wouldn't work for me anyway. They have a Renn Faire feel to them. Years ago I might have gone for it, but now I think it would make me look fat.
The Paramount was the star attraction. It's such a beautiful venue. I think the last time I was there was with ED for Tom Waits. That was like over a decade ago, was it ED? Hell I can't remember. I remember it was an awesome show tho. One of the etched glass door panels was broken last night (this was a three-show run); I heard it would be a $4000 repair.
I didn't plan to go at all tonight. I was considering crashing DMB @ SLA because Stephan Marley was opening but I was contacted by two of our psych crew, including the doc running the show, and told if I could come, I should. So I did. I guess I'm glad I did. It was fun to waltz through the front door without a ticket or anything and be completely welcome by the staff, despite few of them knowing me.
The crowd was on its feet dancing all the way through. There's nothing like a sold out house of writhing hippies. One guy was wearing a shirt that said "hippies smell". There were a lot of great costumes, a lot of ravy stuff, a lot of dreads, a lot of typcial jam band t-shirts and jeans, not nearly as Old Navy as before, some fine exotic stuff like belly dancer outfits and short skirts with big furry boots, a few elves, some pseudo B&D outfits, a couple vinyl goths, and one horribly garish tranny. Bat belts (leather or nylon belts with all sorts of holsters) are all the rage now. I'm resisting following that trend; it just wouldn't work for me anyway. They have a Renn Faire feel to them. Years ago I might have gone for it, but now I think it would make me look fat.
The Paramount was the star attraction. It's such a beautiful venue. I think the last time I was there was with ED for Tom Waits. That was like over a decade ago, was it ED? Hell I can't remember. I remember it was an awesome show tho. One of the etched glass door panels was broken last night (this was a three-show run); I heard it would be a $4000 repair.
I didn't plan to go at all tonight. I was considering crashing DMB @ SLA because Stephan Marley was opening but I was contacted by two of our psych crew, including the doc running the show, and told if I could come, I should. So I did. I guess I'm glad I did. It was fun to waltz through the front door without a ticket or anything and be completely welcome by the staff, despite few of them knowing me.
Shadow boxing the apocalypse