The Loud Family Tour 1998:

From: Chris Burns
Subject: [loud-fans] Philly Style (Pontiac Grill 7/18) [long]

Fans,

After Thurday's Loud Family Experience in New York, we just couldn't resist doing it again. Philly is only 90 mins from us...what the heck!

Does anyone mind lots of details and anecdotes? If so, please refer to this digest: good place, great show, some food, fun loud fans, happy happy, the end.

For the rest of you:

We got to Philly early, figuring it had been years since we had seen the sights, and could kill an afternoon. The area where the club is located, South Street, is a narrow, cramped jumble of people and places; noisy, hot, very disorienting. First thing was to get rid of the car...parking made me a litle anxious so we dove into the first lot we came across. Then we walked around. This area of Philly has Gap and Tower Records snuggled in between souvlaki joints and sex shops. We did hit a few record stores, and found some stuff. (Yes, we checked all "G" sections...nuthin'.)

Then we ran into fellow loud-fans Matthew and Christina Budman! Mary Lou Lord was playing at 8:00, they were going. We decided to wait for Holly Kruse and Mark outside. When I remembered Holly posting to say Mark was tall, balding w/ glasses, I realized we were standing on opposite sides of the entrance waiting for one another. Hi all!! We decided to go eat, and Holly brought us to Jim's, *the* world famous Philly Cheese Steak Sandwich joint. Folks, I gotta tell ya that just thinking about that place right now makes my mouth water. It was wonderful, even tho' I could not bring myself to have the real thing, which involves Cheez-Whiz(!!).

Okay, so we ate and had lots laffs w/Holly and Mark, but it was time for business. We went over to the Pontiac. Mary Lou wasn't finished yet, but the door guy said we could go in now, and hang in the bar upstairs till they cleared the room. (Is this odd: two diff. shows, same place, same night separate admissions? please discuss.) Holly and Mark are on the guest list, but door guy has no list. Sez Louds aren't even there yet. Just as we were about to scratch heads and stroke chins, loud-fan Karen Lever appears, and makes the scene complete. She sez Kenny's in the van (parked illegally) can't find Scott, Gil or Alison, and discovers the band has to "load-in" through the front door! Yikes...a busier street you won't find: sidewalks packed, one snake lane of traffic, cops with bulging citation pads on every corner...what's a loud-fan to do???

This...

Terry and I went into the club, found Gil and Scott at the end of the bar (the no-alcohol bar, this was an all ages show) and Mary Lou was still on stage testifying about Shawn Colvin, even tho' she had sung her last note. A quick update to the fellas and we had a plan.

Oops, nice side bar: Janet put out a call for travel tapes for the loud-vans. Matthew came armed with some killer mix tapes (he even wrote liner notes!), while Terry and I tracked a few discs. Scott, who was obviously wrestling with the onset of an ugly cold, was wowed.

Back to the story: I said, like we all would, "Is there anything we can do?" Karen replied, without pause: "We could use help loading in." Omigod, we're gonna be roadies. And off we went. Terry coordinated with Kenny, popped the hatch on the van, and an army of able (and not so) bodies of loud-fans [Matthew, Christina, Holly, Mark, and your narrator], hustled the contents of the Loud Van through sidewalks crammed with bemused pedestrians. It was great! We had the goods safely inside in minutes.

Retiring to the upstairs bar while the bands set up and sound checked, we all had a jolly time. What a crew! Played shuffleboard/bowling; discussed and argued literature, conspiracies, business and dog shows; waxed pseudo-intellectual; and had a rollicking good time. We went downstairs after the sound check to pitch camp; Terry, Matthew and Christina up front, Holly, Mark and I towards the back. We continued jolly times, and were then delighted by the suprise appearance of NY-based Paula Carino and some of the Regular Einsteins! Paula was striking in a Union Jack top; a true member of the rock and roll fold. Terry complimented the look. Paula replied, "it's my Spice Girl thang :-)." BTW, this was Paula's first visit **ever** to Philadelphia!

(part two - SHOWTIME - coming up)

From: Chris Burns
Subject: [loud-fans] PART TWO: Philly Style (Pontiac Grill 7/18) [long]

(part two) SHOWTIME AT THE PONTIAC GRILL.

Nielsen Hubbard, the same opening act as in NY, and to follow through the rest of the tour, is a guy you can't appreciate until you see him. I know a lot of you have stumbled upon his record, "The Slide Project," but trust me when I say that Neilsen puts so much into his songs, that the record should really come with some video. Seeing is believing, he's very genuine.

As Holly concurred, "He does emote, doesn't he?"

[Hi kids, Terry here. I really liked these guys. They were sweet and funny and rocking and so happy to be there. You can't see Nielsen and not think of early (early) Brian Wilson - before the de rigeur silly hair. NH drummer Mike and bass player Jason (who drew a dead-on caricature of himself on the CD I bought) were swell. Lead guitarist Chuckie Hatcher (resplendent in unruly black hair, embroidered cowboy shirt, dark suit and heavy black-rimmed Buddy Holly-esque glints) knocked the power to his guitar from the outlet during a particularly sincere Hubbard-crooned solo number. For Brownies attendees, this was the song which some of us thought took b***s to perform within the set, and some merely dismissed as pathetic. But like I said, I found these guys endearing. Anyway, after looking all around for the problem with his guitar, Chuckie sheepishly plugged back in. The crowd was delighted, and encouraged this response: "well, y'all will have to wait for my tubes to warm up. In the meantime, we can use the stage for devotionals."

When the crowd simply smiled politely, Chuckie realized that he was in the north - and explained that devotionals were a Southern thing, where folks come up and testify to the Lord's work in their lives, etc. The crowd replied with some well-placed hoots and amens, Chuckie broke into a blistering lead snippet to test those tubes - and they were off again.

We bought the NH disk, and listened to it today on the (interminable) ride to Chris' obligatory parent company picnic. After arriving home (NJ) from the show last night at 4:15 am; we left at noon for Smithtown NY, which took (3!) hours with beach traffic and nearly $15 bucks in tolls. Aaaargh. But we had a chance to listen to much music - including the NH disk. Fair warning for y'all. As Matthew Budman (who had the disk before hearing the band) pointed out, the vocals are higher, sweeter and more melodic than they pull off live. I asked the bass player about this, and he explained that the touring group just didn't have the vocal chops to blend with Nielson's unique and unchangeable vocals, so they re-arranged stuff. They come off as more of a grunge-y bottom with a high high lead than on the record. It works better live the second time around.

I think loud-fans will enjoy 'em though, as a good appeteaser to our heroes. You know... something to entertain you while your pre-show adrenalin and anticipation rises 'cause you can hardly believe that the Loud Family is gonna be playing in just a few minutes. Right there. On the stage. Not through your headphones, car, 'puter or living room speakers. But live. All loud, all the time. Yikes. Whoops, my gregariousness is in danger of spilling into the dreaded perky zone. Or was that manic? Gotta go. Back to Chris...]

Before the show, Terry's hand shot up when Alison asked for a volunteer for the merchandise table. Somehow I knew I'd be part of this, and began to think of ways to describe to our customers the expert craftmanship and rich corinthian leather of the Loud Family T-shirts.

On to the show...[thought we'd never get there, didja?]

Scott wore a simple brown pullover (perhaps shiny rockstar clothes were worn out from NY & Cambridge?); Alison was charming in floral skirt, teal top and nose ring; Gil's T-shirt du jour featured Charo (!); and Kenny had also jettisoned the shiny stuff for a more subdued ensemble featuring a big swingy shirt. After all, this *is* Philadelphia.

Yup - if you went this far, you know there are spoilers coming...

Basically the same set as has been mentioned throughout the tour - which is of course way, way cool. And why didn't we grab the set list? doh!

We counted the crowd at about 60. The majority were clearly GT and/or LF-knowledgeable, and very responsive and appreciative of the hard-rockin' Family. More males than females in attendance. Good banter from the band - most notably Alison and Scott. GT songs were met with delight; and Scott's trademark rockstar/our hero/self-deprecating position in the firmament is secure.

The stage was quite narrow (although Scott said it was better than the last time he had played there - when the club was called J.C. Dobbs, and there was some sort of pole in the middle which required a three-level setup of the 5-piece band, a GT iteration, I believe). The band set up with the usual Alison/Scott/Kenny L-R up front; but Gil was pretty far back in the darkness (but rocked the band and drove it along, natch). Kenny popped way up front, although he was poorly lit, for many of the chorale-like vocals, but also spent some time joining his percussive partner Gil in the cavelike bowels of the stage.

Whoops - did we forget to mention how nice the band is? Every time we see them? Four unique personalities with a common thread - brilliant, gracious and the kind of people with whom you wish you could spend more time/are pleased to be in the same room.

In NY and Philly, Scott uses a Rolling Rock bottle in first song. For those South and West, we want to know - what is his second bottle of choice? Gotta be a longneck...

[Terry again, wresting keyboard from Chris. I couldn't resist shouting for my aforementioned current fave DfD cut - #15 - when Scott started singing it. Alison appeared nonplused then amused, then continued her swirly physical, vocal and keyboard work. Then, of course, it was Crypto-Sicko time. Speaking of which, anyone who has read this far must be wishing Kristine would step in with some quiet...so I'll go back to lurking.]

Non-Brownies additions to the set were yet another reward for having made the trip to Philly. And they were:
Second Grade
Carol & Alison
Mauritania (Steve, check the set list, was this done in NY?)
Like a Girl Jesus (so great, such high notes, such emotion, such splendiferous delivery...INSIST that Scott does this when he comes to your town)
Sexy Sadie (wow wow wow) - which was introduced as a song by My Bloody Valentine (did we miss any, fellow attendees?)

Scott said something about doing "My Superior" (which set Terry's knees to trembling as she has had a major TTOOL thing going on lately), but it didn't happen.

The show went late and great.

We sold 13 Tshirts and several CDs, bumper stickers, and Alison singles. Can't tell you how neat it is to have someone you never met (and assume you never read a post from) ask for three T-shirts, sign the mailing list and ask Alison to sign the single he just bought).

There were some very nice b/w handbills which we tore off the building (and the whole band signed). A nice touch from the Pontiac Grill.

LOUDFANS...

Need we say this again? Catch a show. Meet some loud-fans. Have a blast. SEE THE BAND.

Love from NJ,
Chris & Terry Burns

From: "Holly Kruse"
Subject: [loud-fans] Notes From Philly/LA Query

I'm not going to recount the show, the set list, or anything like that, because basically, I suck at it. Perhaps one of the other loud-fans who was at the show (the delightful Terry and Chris Burns -- or, as we've begun calling them in "Simpsonian" fashion, the Snrubs -- Matthew B., or Paula) will step in... or maybe they already have, since I'm on digest and therefore a little behind the loud-fans-times. The band sounded great, although the crowd was rather small: but from the perspective of those of us in the audience, it meant better air-conditioning circulation for those of us who were there!

On-stage banter was pretty minimal, so I can't add anything to the raging sexism controversy. I can say, however, that Scott now has a truly nasty cold and felt incredibly lousy when they hit the road this afternoon, so that probably contributed to the lack of banter. In any case, hopefully the few days of no shows before D.C. will help him recuperate.

And speaking of shows... as luck would have it, I'm going to be in L.A. when the Louds play Spaceland. Well, that's not exactly right: I'm going to be staying with a very non-music friend in Orange County (Fullerton) on the night of July 30, so I'm not sure I'm going to be able to make it to the show, but I'd like to try. Any loud-fan's going to be there? (It sounds like all the band S.O.'s will be coming down for that show!) And I imagine it's quite a schlep from Fullerton to Spaceland, but any enlightening specifics are most welcome.

TIA!

Holly Kruse

From: Matthew Budman
Subject: [loud-fans] Another report from the Philly show

Some of this will duplicate the Burns' post, so skip those parts.

First of all, we had no idea how much the show might cost, or when it might be. It didn't help matters that the haphazard Pontiac Grill management didn't know either. The guy at the door charged $10 for entrance to Mary Lou Lord's set and was utterly vague about whether a separate $7 admission would be charged for the Louds' set. "It kinda depends," he said. The LF show was posted for 10 p.m., but since Neilson Hubbard had been told to go on at 11:30, no one seemed to know who would be on first. Lord plugged the LF show a few times from the stage ("Stick around for the Loud Family") but seemed unsure as well whether it was that easy.

Lord, smoking and five months pregnant, played pool upstairs before her set, drawing largely from her new album. The record is really good, but it's unclear why: As made plain in her performance, she doesn't play or sing better than anyone you or I know, forgetting lyrics and chords; she doesn't even write or co-write most of her songs. At the Pontiac, she apologized for butchering Richard Thompson's "1952 Vincent Black Lightning" before, indeed, butchering it, and closed by wrecking Shawn Colvin's "Polaroids." And yet there's something quite charming and pleasant about Lord -- she makes you smile. Maybe it's just that she's nonthreatening (If *she* can be a rock star . . .) and that other musicians (Elliott Smith, Kurt Cobain) seem really taken with her. Scott M. opened "Spot the Setup" with "I used to go out with Mary Lou Lord" but noted, postsong, that he had caught her set and, while she was playing, "she did make my life OK."

We chatted with Neilson Hubbard for a while before the show -- he was thrilled that we own his album and talked about the tour and plans for recording the follow-up. Nice guy, though he did that Southern-guy thing where he completely avoided eye contact with my wife. Very odd, and very noticeable.

We had just caught the tail end of Hubbard's New York set so were happy to hear the whole thing this time. The NH record is pretty good, though, performed live, many of the songs sound indistinguishable, with familiar Cm-to-Bm-to-A chord progressions, full-out strumming, and falsetto warbling. The band couldn't seem to get its sound mix down right, perhaps because the lead guitarist didn't think to turn down his cranked-up Les Paul; his to-the-audience remarks might have explained it, but they were completely incomprehensible (though the bassist was hilarious). Harmonies were spot-on but unfortunately infrequent. Terry and I speculated who moon-faced Hubbard reminded us of; the closest we came was Brian Wilson.

Got to spend quality time with Mark and Holly and the fabulous (and well-read) Chris and Terry, which was the real highlight. (After Friday's e-call for LF driving cassettes, I compiled two mix tapes; the Burnses brought four.) Mindful of Gil's back, we all helped unload the illegally parked LF van and carry in equipment (I always wanted to be a roadie!) Only 50-odd people were in attendance by the time the Louds took the stage, around 12:30. A typically somber Philadelphia crowd (Lord had nervously remarked several times on the audience's quietness), with a handful of rabid fans.

Spectacular, high-energy set, of course, despite Scott's declining health (possibly exacerbated by the Boston gig, which he described preshow as "the hottest show I've ever played"). The only disappointment: Scott's plain T-shirt, rather than Thursday's glitzy rock-star outfit. The main set change from the Brownies show: The Louds played "Here It Is Tomorrow" only as a soundcheck, and they substituted "Why We Don't Live in Mauritania" (IMO the highlight of D4D) for "Businessmen Are OK" ("We were driving over," Alison told me, "and I said, 'Hey, why don't we play 'Mauritania' tonight?"). Harmonies seemed more precise than in New York, but maybe I was just closer to the monitors.

After the main set, they came back on to play a rousing "The Second Grade Applauds" and "Like a Girl Jesus" (my request) and Scott graciously returned ("Well, since you went wild") to play "We Love You Carol and Alison" (also my request -- I *was* standing right in front), and Kenny and Alison came back onstage to add harmonies, though Alison admitted postshow that once in front of her microphone she forgot what to sing. Scott brought Neilson Hubbard's drummer on to play tambourine during a full-blown rendition of "Sexy Sadie" ("This is by My Bloody Valentine," Alison misleadingly announced) and that was it. The crack Burns team did a brisk business in T-shirts and CDs.

Actually made it back to New Jersey (at 3:15 a.m.) from the dying city of Philadelphia without a single wrong turn -- a first. Got very specific but, as usual, inaccurate directions from an on-the-street policeman who *was* nice enough to mention the enormous fire just west of I-95. Way too helpful.

See y'all in 2000!

Matthew Budman

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