Playing Piano in the Rain

Had a very surreal Saturday. It was one of those cloudy, rainy days where all that you can do is stay inside and play Playstation 2. (NCAA Football 2006 is nearing the level of crack equivalent. Dude, they have music in the game from NOFX, Guided By Voices, the Pixies and De La Soul. It might not fully recreate the current college experience but the soundtrack clearly mimics mine. Throw in some Blake Babies and we’d be good to go). Anyway, this is Kansas City rain, where we get two inches in an hour. Which is a slight issue since I had tickets to an outside concert at the historic City Market.

But I figure, hey, it’s stopped raining and the tickets say “Rain or Shine” and it’s Ben Folds and Rufus Wainwright. I’m a huge fan of Rufus and it would be cool to see Ben so I drive there and park about fifteen minutes before show time and there is a huge crowd lined up outside the gates. As in the line to get in is six blocks long. Which is amazing given that it was a) going to be a cold and rainy night and b) it’s Ben Folds and Rufus Wainwright. I mean, did I miss a memo or something? Ben Folds is a known name but certainly not that big of a name. I make my way to the end of the line and figure that the 7:30 ticket time is going to be gate time and we’ll start making our way in soon and I’ll be able to get a drink.

Fifteen minutes pass. A half hour passes. My attempts to strike up a conversation with the really cute girl standing in line with me just completely miss the mark. She just wasn’t buying what I was selling, which made the next forty five minutes of waiting even more unbearable because she was really cute. I mean, if you ever need to know the type of girl who I’d propose to on sight this was it. And given that she was wearing a rain poncho at the time might make it more amazing how quickly I was attracted to her. So, basically I stood out in the rain for an hour until they finally opened up the gates at 8:30 and I was finally able to pay five bucks for a Bud Light. You know, I was at the point where I wasn’t even going to bother complaining.

Apparently, the weather put them completely behind schedule so the opening act was canceled and Rufus’ set was almost canceled. Which, if that took place, would have caused me to start a riot. Don’t know if anyone would have joined me but I was going to break something, that’s for sure. Rufus put on a strong set, though it was clear that the majority of the crowd didn’t know who he was. He did make my day by playing Halleluia, screwing up the words at one point and swearing. Made it that much better.

So, Ben Folds takes the stage and I need to explain that both Ben and Rufus play piano. Well, it was raining pretty much the entire time. Pianos really don’t take changes in weather very well. As we found out when on the second song Ben’s piano broke a string. And a piano isn’t like a guitar where you can restring it in five seconds. They decided to go on with a piano that was missing strings. He put on a good set, covered a Cure song that no one in the crowd recognized (did I mention I was probably the only person there who didn’t graduate from high school in the twenty-first century?) Here is the one thing that struck me from Ben’s set. He played his song Brick. Great song, very touching, important and meaningful song. Crowd sang along in parts, which was cool. Portions of the crowd, probably not coincidentally the portions who feel that wearing Kansas State football jerseys is making a fashion statement, started hooting and hollering. You know, if there is a song that you shouldn’t go “Yeah, woo!” to it’s that song. Anyway, can’t say that the show didn’t give me any stories.

(Oh, and Super, here are the rest of the sources of the quotes. Or at least, as many as I can remember)

8/29/94: The Police
9/2/94: The Police
9/9/94: No idea
9/12/94: Lyle Lovett
9/14/94: Sarah McLachlan
9/19/94: The Radiators
9/23/94: Zachary Richard
9/26/94: Not sure, Matthew Sweet maybe?
10/5/94: Every bad fantasy movie ever made. I can guarantee you that I had a test that day, though
10/17/94: The Drovers (who I have to write about some day)
10/19/94: Sting
10/28/94: Harry “Piano” Smith (I had to look that one up)
10/31/94: Absolutely no clue
11/9/94: This was from some local Champaign band. For some reason the name Alex Chilton is popping into my head but I’m almost certain that’s wrong.
11/14/94: Veruca Salt
11/18/94: Correctly assumed that I had the Veruca Salt lyric in my head
11/21/94: I’m guessing Sting
11/23/94: Absolutely completely no clue
11/28/94: A very old Robin Williams stand up routine
11/30/94: Has to be a grunge band, just not sure which

The 5 random CDs for the week:
1) Jay Bennett and Edward Burch “The Palace at 4am (Part 1)”
2) The Flying Burrito Brothers “The Best of the Flying Burrito Brothers”
3) Loreena McKennitt “The Mask and the Mirror”
4) Allen Toussaint “Connected”
5) Victoria Williams “Musings of a Creek Dipper”