First Feelies Reunion Show: June 30th, 2008

Last night was the first Feelies reunion show, and it was awesomeeee.
Ohmahgah, for serious. So I'm going to attempt to describe it in some sort of a proper fashion.

Ok so my dad left around 3:00 to go to Maxwell's for a to pick up Dave (Weckerman) and drive them to a sound check and an interview with Jim DeRogatis, a rock critic. Jim also recorded the show along with Bill Million's nephew, who was videotaping it.

My mom, my brother John, my Oma (my grandmother), my friend Nicole, and I left at 7:30. My mom dropped my Oma. Nicole and I outside of Maxwell's and went to go look for parking. When we got there, I went and said hi to my dad who was eating with Brenda (Sauter), her husband Richard, and Bill. Then I went outside to meet up with some of my other family and greeted Glenn (Mercer) and his family. Parking was murder and my mom had to stop again in front of Maxwell's to ask my dad where she could park.

Anyway, Nicole and I decided to wait outside and walked around Hoboken a bit cause it was crowded even in the restaurant part of Maxwell's. When the rest of my dad's side of the family arrived, we went inside. At the entrance to the back room, the man at the door asked, "Are you on the list?" I said, "Yeah, I'm Stan's daughter." and he said, "Good enough for me!" and stamped mine and Nicole's hands. I just thought that was freakin' hilarious.

When we got in, Nicole and I made our way to the front and waited for the show to start. The rest of my family and the families of the other band members were either on the side of the room or towards the back. The band got on stage about 20 minutes later and, after a very warm reception from the audience, started playing. It was just amazing. I was ridiculously happy. It was like all the stuff I grew up listening to and hearing stories about and watching videos of was happening right there in front of me. I started snapping pictures with my DSLR and Nicole taped two songs ("The High Road" and "Away") for me on my digital camera. Granted, the video won't be great, but it suits my purposes. However, most of the time we just stood there enjoying the music.

About an hour later, the set ended and the Feelies walked off the stage. The room erupted in applause and cries for more. Nicole and I headed to where my mom and John were standing and found our Drum Corps teacher from high school (whom my dad had invited), Tim Alworth (drummer of Thing-One). Soon, it became a steady clap for an encore. A minute or so later, the Feelies got back on stage for a three-song encore, including a cover of "Paint It Black." When that was done, the crowd managed to convince the band members to do one last song. After that, the show was over and I headed outside and was introduced to several people who proceeded to tell me how great my dad is. One of them was Glenn Kenney, who had played in a band with my dad in my dad's college days. Glenn is also a very good movie critic and a really nice guy.

I didn't mention to these people, though, how my dad always calls himself a "legend" at home and has been talking about his "comeback" for years (jokingly, of course). By the way, it was so funny when I read all these articles about the Feelies' "triumphant return," and think about my dad and all his sayings at home. After the show he even mentioned something about how "his people," had come for him.

Overall, it was one crazyyyy night. It was so much to take in all at once that by the end of the night I found myself very jazzed up. I didn't get to sleep until after two A.M, after a conversation with my dad about how well the show went and how relieved he was to have everything go smoothly.

By the way, on the front cover of the Arts section on the New York Times today is an article on the Feelies and a photo which was edited to make it look like another Crazy Rhythms cover. And F.Y.I. : My dad was wearing a brown shirt that day, not light pink. (hahaha) :D

Ok, so that's it for today. I'll post a link to where more pictures and the videos will be up online when I get a chance to. Also, I'll be writing something on the highlights of the shows today and tomorrow and of course, the Fourth of July/Sonic Youth show. And thanks to freakgirl.com for linking to my blog and calling my writing adorable! :DD