Having just gotten in after the 500+ mile drive home from Asheville, I thought you might like to see the set list and hear about the show; Itself an ecstatic release of joy, a spell for power; A mighty stomp dance on the winter solstice. The day when the inner light burns brightest.
Waiting in line in the cold rain when Patti and Oliver jump from the van thats been parked there all along and the crowd emits a series of high pitched cries. Patti rushed in saying ,"Enjoy the show" and "I'll tell them it's raining out here." Lenny followed a moment later and, after a quick sound check, our sodden selves enter into a smallish hall; All floor with stage in back. Capacity about 1500 I'd guess.
It filled up and the show began at 8:22 with 'Kimberly' lively, and Patti as smooth as glass or surface of twilight; And the room already swinging with joy. Patti looked surprised at the welcome and love present. She was grinning and all beside herself; Said "You guys must be really deprived here!"
So I didn't take notes; And being front and center, dancing in and out of
various trances... So I think I might have forgotten some songs and I know
the order is barely approximate, but....
first set
Kimberly
Ghost Dance
Hank [Williams] - ["I'm So] Lonesome [I Could Cry"]
Southern Cross
Redondo Beach
Up There Down There
Dead City
Because the Night
Patti was joyful all the set smiling at the others in the band.
She finally said they were taking about an 18 minute break, maybe 17 or 14
minutes, and then they would return for 'as long as they could take it"
second set
Wicked Messenger
Whirl away
About a Boy
- With tibetan bowl
Clarinet Jam
- Like a Coltrane spirit track, weaving and reaching into subtle harmonics
and rhythms, ending with Patti curved in upon herself twittering and
crooning with the grace of kokopell.
- Someone wished her a happy solstice. "Is it the winter solstice?" she mused.
"Well then, that's a real thing; And so we are blessed."
Blue Christmas
Satta massagana
- With babelogue.
Grateful
- "One day someone said something about my grey hair and made me feel bad.
Usually I don't mind, but that day I guess I had done too much laundry.
Anyway I was feeling bad about it and, well, I closed my eyes and then I saw
him - Jerry Garcia - (demonstrates by holding out a lock of hair and
grinning with glee) and then this song came to me."
Wing
- Patti says "I feel like I am in a rainforest............."
People have the Power
- with shared mic
Who Do You Love?
- That Bo Diddley song with harmonica.
- By now Patt is a whirlwind, a force of nature; More hand trembling than
a convention of medicine people; Just vibratin' with all of us and then
breaking her strings. I thought I saw blood on her fingers. Maybe not.
encore
Rock N Roll Nigger
- With audience microphone participation.
The show was very high and positive, it ran for about 3 hours. The band was
incredible! Oliver Ray was an outstanding presence and guitarist. Lenny
weaving and bobbing in his own groove with Raven on his shirt.
Raven creates the world...
After all these years Patti looked strong and well - better than ever. Still
the same, maybe a little calmer, a little kinder, like the rest of us...
Still telling those jokes! "Well, the people in the back have all left to go
coon hunting..." She told the pie joke too...
Well now I am tired and out of wordage. If over the top, well, thats just
me, a neo-shamanic wildwoman, having a good life.
No apologies.
Solstice Blessings to All.
Lisa Solaris
Copyright © Lisa Solaris 1997