Saturday, April 30, 2005

Glen Tilbrook, Bob Walkenhorst, at the Hurricane, April 29, 2005

(Posted at the Rainmakers message board)

Glenn Tilbrook and his band (the fluffers) are nuts. Definitely nuts.

I mean that as a compliment.

So, they play for a while. And they are pretty good. I liked them. Then Glenn says something to the effect that they are going to take a 10 minute break. Now, usually, when a band says that or "a short break" or such, that means the standard 30 minute break. But, I got the sense that Glenn (and yes, there are two Ns in Glenn) actually meant just that.

So, I'm there chatting with Sharon and Connie during the break, sitting at a table right next to the front door of the Hurricane. It hasn't been all that terribly long since the break started. Not long enough for us to wonder when they are going to start up again. Well, suddenly, there's Glenn Tilbrook walking by our table playing an accoustic guitar. Followed by his band. The keyboard player had a keyboard that you blow through. The bass player a shaker. And the drummer a tamborine.

Now, for those not familiar with the Hurricane, there are two rooms (in the main part) with basically most of the wall in between being open, rather than actual wall. Kinda like an big wide archway, without the arch shape. One of those rooms is square and has the stage at the far end. The other room has a round bar in the middle, and part of the room has round walls. It's this part of the bar where the front door was.

So, Glenn and band are playing and singing, unamplified, in this area. They walk around the bar partway, and then they go into the area behind the bar (with the bartenders). They walk around the circle there. And then... they climb up on the bar. And walk around in circles on the bar, playing and singing from there. It was funny and cool and way memorable. They did a couple songs up there, pretty much a singalong thing, and then they went back to the stage.

I really enjoyed Glenn Tilbrook. I'm glad I went and stayed for Glenn. (I might not have gone if I hadn't thought I'd like Glenn Tilbrook. Not that $15 for 45 minutes of quality music isn't a good value, but, well, when one can get the same music $3 for 2 hours, that makes the value more questionable.)

He did two songs I actually recognized. One a cover, "These Boots are Made For Walkin'". The other "Tempted" (I'm told that's the title. It goes "Tempted by the fruit of another. Tempted but the truth is discovered".). So, I actually do know a Squeeze song. One of those songs I never attached a band name to.

I enjoyed it and stayed for the whole show. Actually, I didn't like the encore as well. Got into a kinda sound I don't much go for.

Oh, and his opening band wasn't too bad either. :)

Bob Walkenhorst, unlike Glenn Tilbrook, I could actually connect his band with a song back in the 80s, and knew Bob's name enough to recognize it. So, that puts him slightly ahead of Glenn in the 80s singers from bands I didn't become a fan of (back then) category. :)

Bob tried to quit after a half hour. Someone came up to the stage and said something, and Bob said that the guy said if they don't play more they don't get paid. So, they played another 15 minutes. Bob gave his end of the show thank you again. There were calls for an encore from the audience. And Bob says that someone (Bob gave a name as I recall) told them to play longer. (Noone had come to the stage right then, but it could have been hand signals across the room or some other not so obvious means of communication.) So they did a few more songs. They played a little under an hour.

Mostly all originals (plus "Information"), but they did do "The Times They Are A Changin'". That I believe was just after the first false ending. Started with "Downstream", ended (the 3rd and final ending) with "Let My People Go-Go". "Jan Vermeer" was in there, I remember.

Bob did some talking between songs.

He introduced Gary and said that Gary invented the Westport music scene.

He said something like it's good to have two talented songwriters from the 80s. I forget the exact wording. He said, "Glen Tilbrook... and Jeff Porter". He said a song Jeff wrote recorded by the Skatalites is a hit in France. And, he further said that that's actually true. So I researched. And, sure enough, looking at allmusic.com, on their most recent album From Paris With Love (2002), one of the songs, "Thinking of You" lists as the composer "Porter, Jeff".

Ska, for any who don't know (as I didn't as of this morning) is related to Reggae. Apparently a predecessor to Reggae. As for the difference between ska and reggae, I don't rightly know. Apparently, tempo is a part of it. I offer up this quote borrowed without permission from the message board at the Skatalites website. "if you hear Reggae you want to smoke Ganja and sit down with friends, but if you listen to Ska you want to smoke Ganja and DANCE with your friends" (ganja = marijuana)

Bob said something about him having won a grammy. I think he was having us on there. I couldn't quite tell what he said, I heard 5000 category, but didn't catch 5000 what. 5000 albums sold? If so, that many? ;)

And that's all I remember. It was a good show. Of course.

Oh, wait, I remember a little more. A non musical note.

It was odd seeing Bob performing with white stage lights on him. :) He also looked like he's been out in the sun.

After the show I went to Cheeseburger in Paradise (near my house) and got to hear about 50 minutes of the Nace Brothers. A darn good band. And today I saw the Elders outside Wizards stadium. Er... Arrowhead that is, the Wizards playing there. That was good. And I got to introduce my husband to Steve and Ian. Actually, I think they were more interested in meeting him than vice versa. Kinda makes sense if you think about it... their perspective... husband of someone they know. My husband's perspective, band his wife likes that he's not interested in. Some of the Elders went to the game. I didn't see Steve or Tommy. Wasn't surprised to not see Steve. (Tommy I don't know much at all.)

And after the game my husband and I went out to eat and then to see the movie Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy. :) Which was enjoyable. :)

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