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Leo
Nov 25, 2014 1:05:13 GMT -5
t-bob likes this
Post by billhammond on Nov 25, 2014 1:05:13 GMT -5
Enjoyed the Kottke show at the Guthrie tonight muchly, although it sure had its quirks. Opening act Nellie McKay walked onstage with no intro and because last time I saw video of her she was a long-haired blonde, this short-haired brunette carrying a ukulele and placing it on the music stand of the grand piano I figgered was a well dressed stage hand or a theater rep who was gonna introduce the first act. Nellie sat down and played and sang, number after number, w/o saying a word between tunes. I mean, we got a lot of great music, but no connection with the artist. Finally, near the end of her set, she revealed that the airline had lost her luggage and so she had had to go clothes shopping and she encouraged us to stay warm and have a drink and she finished to a good ovation and came back and did an encore that was a piano pyrotechnic display but also a mashup of odd pieces. I love her voice, I absolutely adore her voice, but I gotta say, that was a odd opening performance. She was very impressive instrumentally and vocally but I think she needs to work on her audience connection skills.
Leo talked more than he played. And while the crowd ate it up, I dunno, a lot of his stories were not really that funny or revealing, just bizarre, and often trailed off without making a point. The guy has the market cornered on droll, no question, and he is a hometown hero who can really do no wrong, but sometimes I get annoyed here when audiences laugh over the tiniest provocation from the Big Name, what might be nothing more than a set-up, but they are already committed to loving the payoff. Happens on Prairie Home a lot. Come on, people, wait for the punch line (if there is one).
I guess I am getting grumpy.
Leo looks old, and so do I, I guess. He still plays great. He is singing pretty well, although the geese farting on a muggy day are getting a little croakier. He played way more 6-string Taylor than 12-string Taylor, and he is a charming man. He is a big deal to me, the reason I picked up fingerstyle playing, for sure. So I just wish I could have heard more music and less rambling patter.
But then, I bitched about Nellie not doing enough rambling patter, didn't I?
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Leo
Nov 25, 2014 1:13:37 GMT -5
Post by epaul on Nov 25, 2014 1:13:37 GMT -5
The one time I saw Leo, all he did was talk. Long and pointless patter. Then he would tune up for while and look like he was finally going to start playing something only to start rambling on again about some damn thing again. People should have just left, I wish I had.
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Deleted
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Leo
Nov 25, 2014 5:34:16 GMT -5
Post by Deleted on Nov 25, 2014 5:34:16 GMT -5
Maybe the Guthrie's contracts set a Patter Limit for the evening, and Leo won the coin toss backstage, meaning Nellie wasn't allowed to patter.
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Leo
Nov 25, 2014 8:11:34 GMT -5
Post by millring on Nov 25, 2014 8:11:34 GMT -5
Enjoyed the Kottke show at the Guthrie tonight muchly, although it sure had its quirks. Opening act Nellie McKay walked onstage with no intro and because last time I saw video of her she was a long-haired blonde, this short-haired brunette carrying a ukulele and placing it on the music stand of the grand piano I figgered was a well dressed stage hand or a theater rep who was gonna introduce the first act. Nellie sat down and played and sang, number after number, w/o saying a word between tunes. I mean, we got a lot of great music, but no connection with the artist. Finally, near the end of her set, she revealed that the airline had lost her luggage and so she had had to go clothes shopping and she encouraged us to stay warm and have a drink and she finished to a good ovation and came back and did an encore that was a piano pyrotechnic display but also a mashup of odd pieces. I love her voice, I absolutely adore her voice, but I gotta say, that was a odd opening performance. She was very impressive instrumentally and vocally but I think she needs to work on her audience connection skills. Leo talked more than he played. And while the crowd ate it up, I dunno, a lot of his stories were not really that funny or revealing, just bizarre, and often trailed off without making a point. The guy has the market cornered on droll, no question, and he is a hometown hero who can really do no wrong, but sometimes I get annoyed here when audiences laugh over the tiniest provocation from the Big Name, what might be nothing more than a set-up, but they are already committed to loving the payoff. Happens on Prairie Home a lot. Come on, people, wait for the punch line (if there is one). I guess I am getting grumpy. Leo looks old, and so do I, I guess. He still plays great. He is singing pretty well, although the geese farting on a muggy day are getting a little croakier. He played way more 6-string Taylor than 12-string Taylor, and he is a charming man. He is a big deal to me, the reason I picked up fingerstyle playing, for sure. So I just wish I could have heard more music and less rambling patter. But then, I bitched about Nellie not doing enough rambling patter, didn't I? I'm with you all the way. Some people get a courtesy laugh track. Others fall flat on good material. I guess it's part of dues having been paid. Keillor only has to say "Sidetrack Tap..." and the laughter begins. But then, Wobegon was absolutely brilliant, wasn't it? It's courtesy laughter. Appreciation for what's gone before, with a bit of memory being tickled too.
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Leo
Nov 25, 2014 8:49:01 GMT -5
Post by t-bob on Nov 25, 2014 8:49:01 GMT -5
"Leo looks old, and so do I, I guess." quoted Sage Bill H.
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Leo
Nov 25, 2014 8:54:55 GMT -5
Post by drlj on Nov 25, 2014 8:54:55 GMT -5
I saw Leo many years ago in Chicago at the Quiet Knight. Anyone from Chicago knows that was a long time ago since that venue has been closed a long time. He was riding the "6 and 12 String Guitar" fame and I remember funny stories but a whole lot of playing. He was using a Martin 12 string and he offered about 3 or 4 times to trade it for a B-45 Gibson if anyone had one. No one did. Well, I did but it was home in IN and I was not going to drive home to get it and then back into Chicago. I should have, maybe. I wound up selling the B-45 years later anyway. Trading it to Leo would have been a cool story to bring up way too often. Last time I saw him, a few years ago, he talked a lot but he also played a lot and I thought his face was showing the years. Then I looked in a mirror and decided that was ok.
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Post by Lonnie on Nov 25, 2014 9:22:59 GMT -5
Maybe the Guthrie's contracts set a Patter Limit for the evening, and Leo won the coin toss backstage, meaning Nellie wasn't allowed to patter. I once heard Lowell George ramble on between every song about how tough his life was. ...The pity patter of Little Feat...
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Leo
Nov 25, 2014 9:38:44 GMT -5
Post by billhammond on Nov 25, 2014 9:38:44 GMT -5
Maybe the Guthrie's contracts set a Patter Limit for the evening, and Leo won the coin toss backstage, meaning Nellie wasn't allowed to patter. I once heard Lowell George ramble on between every song about how tough his life was. ...The pity patter of Little Feat... OK, that was funny right there! (Funnier than anything Leo said last night, in fact)
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Leo
Nov 25, 2014 11:43:15 GMT -5
Post by Russell Letson on Nov 25, 2014 11:43:15 GMT -5
Leo looking old? Don't know what you guys are on about--he's my age.
[pause to look in mirror]
Oh.
Well, shit.
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Leo
Nov 25, 2014 12:15:34 GMT -5
Post by Marshall on Nov 25, 2014 12:15:34 GMT -5
Maybe the Guthrie's contracts set a Patter Limit for the evening, and Leo won the coin toss backstage, meaning Nellie wasn't allowed to patter. I once heard Lowell George ramble on between every song about how tough his life was. ...The pity patter of Little Feat... I'll bet Patti Patton likes your pity patter. (as well she should)
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Dub
Administrator
I'm gettin' so the past is the only thing I can remember.
Posts: 19,838
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Post by Dub on Nov 25, 2014 12:16:22 GMT -5
You young guys are all the time complaining.
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Leo
Nov 25, 2014 22:45:05 GMT -5
Post by Village Idiot on Nov 25, 2014 22:45:05 GMT -5
We sae Leo about ten years ago. Kim knew I liked him, she no clue who he was, so surprised me with tickets. It was a cold cold night to be out and driving, but we made it to Cedar Falls and heard him in the Black Hawk Hotel.
And she loved it. He told rambling stories while he tuned his guitar with some contraption at his feet, but it was the rambling she liked. Straight music, she wouldn't have liked it so much. I'm bringing this up to say that babbling about stuff is part of his schtick, and if other audience members are like my wife, that's what they're looking for. He's got a show, he knows how to perform, and if people want the talk, he's got it for them.
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Leo
Nov 25, 2014 22:47:40 GMT -5
Post by millring on Nov 25, 2014 22:47:40 GMT -5
We sae Leo about ten years ago. Kim knew I liked him, she no clue who he was, so surprised me with tickets. It was a cold cold night to be out and driving, but we made it to Cedar Falls and heard him in the Black Hawk Hotel. And she loved it. He told rambling stories while he tuned his guitar with some contraption at his feet, but it was the rambling she liked. Straight music, she wouldn't have liked it so much. I'm bringing this up to say that babbling about stuff is part of his schtick, and if other audience members are like my wife, that's what they're looking for. He's got a show, he knows how to perform, and if people want the talk, he's got it for them. You sure used an awful lot of words to say that. Maybe next time you could intersperse your wordy posts with a few music videos?
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Leo
Nov 25, 2014 22:52:24 GMT -5
Post by Village Idiot on Nov 25, 2014 22:52:24 GMT -5
You want me talk like Tonto.
Leo music good. Talk good. Show good because he tells stories.
Better?
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Deleted
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Leo
Nov 25, 2014 23:04:57 GMT -5
Post by Deleted on Nov 25, 2014 23:04:57 GMT -5
I was going to say more or less the same as you VI. Had a similar experience when I took a not guitary woman I met in a café in Tucson to a Leo show there.
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Leo
Nov 25, 2014 23:06:13 GMT -5
Post by Rob Hanesworth on Nov 25, 2014 23:06:13 GMT -5
You want me talk like Tonto. Leo music good. Talk good. Show good because he tells stories. Better? Quit babbling! Kemo Sabe has something to say.
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Leo
Nov 26, 2014 1:30:08 GMT -5
Post by RickW on Nov 26, 2014 1:30:08 GMT -5
To be honest, that seems to be a necessity for an acoustic instrumentalist, to be half comedian and showman. Look at Tommy Emmanuel. But it does sound like he was a bit over the top. Got to be some balance there, somewhere.
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Leo
Nov 26, 2014 6:56:02 GMT -5
Post by millring on Nov 26, 2014 6:56:02 GMT -5
You want me talk like Tonto. Leo music good. Talk good. Show good because he tells stories. Better? I'm still not seeing any music.
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Leo
Nov 26, 2014 9:52:16 GMT -5
Post by dradtke on Nov 26, 2014 9:52:16 GMT -5
You want me talk like Tonto. Leo music good. Talk good. Show good because he tells stories. Better? I'm still not seeing any music. You can see music?
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Post by millring on Nov 26, 2014 10:00:37 GMT -5
I'm still not seeing any music. You can see music? Synesthesia. gesundheit
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