best weekend ever

ALO came to town on friday armed with a new album and ready to liberate the animals of asheville for the first time with california beach funk love.

it was keyboardist zach gill's birthday. i happily provided some balloons and cakes in the shape of dogs, straight from ingles. they all made it to the stage of the orange peel later.

also 2 of 4 members wore skippy haha vintage shirts on stage. if it's free i'll take it!

go to their site. buy their new (awesome) album. (sounds like this) and go see them live if they come to your town! you will smile. and dance. and feel one with humanity. and happy to be alive. and smile some more.

livin in a plastic bubble and it's GOOD!

time lapse video of the making of their backdrop. 

next night was jack white. guitar master. rock god. hotel yorba sing-a-long. all girl band. no photos allowed.

believe the hype.

sing alongs

the wood brothers put on a great show. 

gotta love when they call for an encore sing-a-long and the crowd is not too pretentious to oblige. 

orange peel on wednesday night such a thing happened. 

so damn heartwarming!

runnin' is useless, fightin' is foolish
you're not gonna win but still
you're the luckiest man
you're up against
too many horses
and mysterious forces
whatcha don't know is
you are the luckiest man

friday

yesterday i ran my left pinky toe as hard as i could into a concrete step.

i get no sympathy from a person whose pinky toes are permanently in this position, i'm told i don't need it and i kind of agree.

i killed a small black widow spider. on the freakin couch.

i wore a skirt for a dress. not outside the house.

i saw gilian welch & david rawlings. 

my soul was stirred. there was banjo but it was low, slow & sincere & i liked it.

it was dangerously hot in the orange peel until we weaseled our way under the giant ceiling fan. dangerously hot. 

i'll fly away!

orange peel redux

last time i wrote about the orange peel it was after feeling unfairly violated by security at an ozomatli show two years ago.

i went back last night for the lucinda williams show and am THRILLED to report that entry was smooth and easy and my civil rights remained intact. everybody was friendly and there were no harsh searches or pat downs or anything. it was amazingly refreshing.

lucinda williams. her voice is one in a million. she makes me believe she's had a grizzled life and lived to sing about it. she was on.

she did a 3 song encore. and after that came BACK OUT for one more - cover of buffalo springfield's 'for what it's worth.' she left the stage triumphant yelling 'peace love and revolution.'

the vintage empress in me thinks it was too bad she and her lead guitarist were wearing basically matching blue bandanna style western shirts.

dylan leblanc opened for her. this kid is GOING PLACES. mark my words. 21 years old from shreveport louisiana. looks like townes van zandt. great stage presence. haunting emotional raw voice a la jim james, proficient moving finger style guitar, he'll be back at the orange peel in june opening for the drive-by truckers. don't miss it. his cover of bruce springsteens 'i'm on fire' was imminently memorable and smoldering.

north mississippi allstars

ventured out last weekend to see the north mississippi all stars play at the orange peel. i was amazed and relieved and gleeful that the guy at the door took my ticket, stamped my hand, and let me inside. no pat down. no opening my bag. no rifling through my pockets. no opening up my wallet and change purse. it's the first time i've been back to the orange peel since being rabidly searched at the door last year and i was so impressed with how pleasant it was to enter.
the show was pretty good. of their first 5 songs, 3 of them heavily involved "SHAKE IT" in the chorus. most of the instrumental noodling sounded like the allman brothers' 'jessica' on repeat. i know about 6 of their songs and they played them all.

orange peel update

i got a sincere, thoughtful response from Dana, manager at the orange peel, after my bitching about the recent invasive bag search i encountered there at the ozomatli show:

Hi Heather,

I'm sorry to hear that you had an uncomfortable experience with our door staff at the Ozomatli show. I actually took the night off to attend the show and, you're right, it was great. We really try to encourage the staff to be considerate of both the customer's experience at a show and the security of the club. It is not an easy job and sometimes, in efforts to protect the club, a staff member can go overboard. We have reminded all of the staff that the thoroughness of pat downs/searches, unless otherwise dictated by the band's management, do not need to be quite so extreme and we think we have come up with a policy that is clear and noninvasive.
... I appreciate you emailing us as we are always trying to improve and constructive criticism is always welcome.

Sincerely,
Dana Redfield
The Orange Peel, Manager

i am happy with this response and plan to go back in the next couple months, and will bring my bag like i normally do and report back on the depth of search.

ozomatli + chali 2na

ozomatli + chali 2na, originally uploaded by skippy haha.

i went to the orange peel last night and the show was great.

we got there about 10 minutes before the band went on and the place was already pretty full. i showed my ticket to the guy at the door. i showed my license to the guy on the stool inside the door. then a girl behind him about my age said she had to look in my bag. it was sideways across my body so i started to open it up to show her the insides. she said no take it off and put it on the table. so i did. she asked if i needed to go put anything back in the car, any drugs or alcohol. i said no. she proceeded to open, unzip and unvelcro every pocket, took out my wallet, opened it, opened the change purse inside my wallet, pulled out my chapstick, tampons, keys, physically handled every single thing in the bag. i felt completely violated, especially since she asked if there was anything in there and i said no. i have been to many festivals and rock and jamband shows at big arenas with tight security and have never been searched so invasively as at the orange peel last night. it left a rancid impression and in this recession where i'm already cutting way back on shows i see, to avoid further hassle, privacy violations, and excessive searches, i will not be back to the orange peel unless it's a dire emergency (ie tea leaf green is playing).

orange peel

orange peel, originally uploaded by skippy haha.

does this appeal to your prurient interest?

the black keys

the black keys, originally uploaded by skippy haha.

the black keys from akron ohio rocked the shit out of a sold out orange peel last night.

two guys. one guitar, and one drummer.

so much sound!

www.myspace.com/theblackkeys

xavier rudd

xavier rudd, originally uploaded by skippy haha.

a great way to spend a tuesday night is jumping and smiling at a sold-out orange peel while xavier rudd plucks and bangs and blows on his gadgets and sings about peace and love in a real real real way.

great news

friday september 19
tea leaf green
the orange peel

balloon drop orange peel

balloon drop orange peel, originally uploaded by skippy haha.

toubab krewe - dick clark countdown last night, here come the balloons!

guerilla go go gang

guerilla go go gang, originally uploaded by skippy haha.

these ladies came out & did a tweener set at the dubconscious - afromotive show on saturday at the orange peel.

they do choreographed dances to michael jackson's "bad" and the gogo's "we got the beat" and all kinds of good stuff like that.

they came out on stage with afromotive for a good bit of their set too.

their myspace is myspace.com/ashevillegogo




see em in the back there? good stuff.

wild weekend bits

i met a friend of a friend who rode his bike here to asheville from nashville tennessee last week by himself in 4 days with all his stuff in saddlebags, i think 380some miles.

i went to see porter batiste & stoltz at the garage at biltmore and was impressed with everything, the music, the place, the reconstructed vintage clothes store attached to it, all cool



wheels chipotle got a tarheel tattoo - tar tattooed onto his heel


he said it didn't hurt at all and we agreed that it's magical


i went to see dan zanes rock out this afternoon with some '21st century all ages folk music'


and lande lost a tooth at the orange peel!

drive by rock n roll

the drive by truckers sold out the orange peel here in asheville last night. it was nonstop rock.


this was at the end of a blistering 7 song encore.

rock n roll means well but it can't help tellin young boys lies.

june 23, 2007

smashing pumpkins first of 9 shows at the orange peel, lined up down the block 10 minutes before doors