That is my favorite line from the review of the Ramblin' Jack Elliott concert we went to in Ft. Worth this past weekend.
"Short on songs but long on stories."
That's the truth too! During the entire second half of the show, Jack only played four songs. And throughout the show there were long, elaborate introductions to songs or even short snippets of songs, but Jack would get distracted during the introduction and then introduce another song or tell another story. Despite his rambling (or maybe I should say because of them), we thoroughly enjoyed the show.
When I say "we" enjoyed the concert, I am talking of myself, Andy, our good friend Kenneth who rode with us for the concert, and our friend Bob who we met in Ft. Worth.
Throughout the evening, I was able to get some cool pictures. The McDavid studio where the concert was held.
Ramblin' Jack's guitar, complete with the nine year old set list taped on it, which he by no means followed, but would randomly look at during the night as if to get a good idea for a song to play.
But since Ramblin' Jack hates photography during his concerts, I couldn't take any pictures during the show. I probably had four different people working the concert ask me not to take pictures during the concert. So, I figured I could just snap a few pictures of us with him after the show. When the show was over, we waited and visited with Jack for a minute or two while his road manager was nudging him to leave and get some rest. We left and I never got the pictures I really wanted - a picture of us with Ramblin' Jack, the folk legend.
But then... We got a call last night from our good friend Andy Wilkinson. "Jack is on his way to Lubbock right now. Want to come over and hang out with us?" Sure thing! We wrapped up Perspectives and headed over to the Wilkinsons, and from about 10:30pm to 12:30 am we once again soaked up Ramblin' Jack's ramblings. But this time it was over a kitchen table.
What did I learn? Mostly things about sailing, bronc riding, and cowboys. But my favorite fact of the night was this: Dave Van Ronk says if a venue charges you more than 15% for cd sales, you just shouldn't bring your cds to sell at all.
And, I finally got the pictures I wanted all along.
4 comments:
Oh...that's awesome. I wish I could've come. That's my kind of show: stories and songs! And great pictures.
oh what a fun story!!! i love that in the end you got pictures of him! he looks like such a jolly old man! and you are just beaming! :)
jennifer
oh that's cool! that's awesome that you have pictures of yourself with a legend....i know you guys had fun!
For you hardcore Ramblin' Jack fans, here's his set list from the concert, as best as I can remember it:
First Half
1. San Francisco Bay Blues
2. Anytime (a snippet)
3. Walking the Floor Over You (a snippet)
4. Talkin’ Sailor
5. Old Shep
6. I’m A Stranger Here (very short snippet of a song from the forthcoming album)
7. Salt Pork, West Virginia
8. The Cuckoo
Second Half
1. Stewball
2. Diamond Joe
3. Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright
4. Engine 143
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