JEB (and me!) in ME, VT & NY! (pt. 1)

[Bjørn Ciggaar <ciggaar@warande.net>]

Hi,

I reckon there sure are better things to do for me then sitting here typing 
this e-mail since after my arrival home I have a lot of essays to write and 
stuff if I want to pass this semester. (I wish I could follow The Who & the 
JEB for a living!)
And I need to clean my damn room too (all I do here is work, so it's a 
mess, papers and books all over the place).

But for those interested...

My amazing journey started getting on that plane from Bangladesh heading to 
JFK. Christian Miller (from Virginia) picked me up and we drove up to 
Boston and to Portland, ME the next day, where the JEB played. When we 
arrived at the venue we learned that there was a matinee madness (we 
freaked out in a kinda "Wayne's World-party-time-excellent"-way). So we 
bought our tickets for that.

Browsing the shops of Portland for Who-posters and vinyl we bumped into 3 
kids that where going to the show as well. We informed them about the 
Matinee Madness and told them they should go. They did not want to spend 
the $$$ and I told them they where fucking stupid if they didn't. So they 
did (aaahhh, how you can influence youth).

And so the madness began... They where soundchecking alright. Was I the 
only one (of 12 people) shouting "YEAH!!! THE OX!!!" when John came on???
One of the kids to whom I said he should go even got up to the stage and 
sang "The Real Me" with the band... After that Christian and I where 
debating if one of us should do that the next day in VT.
They played "Endless Vacation" as well. After that I got to meet the band. 
I actually didn't speak to JAE at all during that. Just said "Hi!" and 
talked to Godfrey and Steve for a bit.

The Portland show: only 200 people or so... They played "905"& "Love Is A 
Heart Attack". Ofcourse they played more, but IMO, these tracks stood out. 
Nice crowd. I was actually on the last standing row (that is, there where 
only 2 standing rows, and behind me where seats).
I shouted "Love Is A Heart Attack" and Godfrey looked at me saying: "Yeah, 
we knew you where coming, we're doing that one.". And they did. They also 
anounced that they where a bit tired from being on the bus for 5 hours, but 
that was not comparable with, like say 8 hours on a flight from The 
Netherlands. And then they said there was actually someone in the audience 
who did that. :-) And they said: "There's Bjorn Ciggaar!!!".

Great show, great sound, IMO. The Ox could've been turned up a tad higher, 
but no real complaints here.

Next day we headed to Winooski, VT. Crossed New England and drove through 
the beautiful green mountains of VT. To discover that the venue in VT was 
*REALLY* small! I was looking forward seeing the band here!!! *PLUS* 
another Matinee Madness!!! WHOOO-HOOO!!! We drove up to Kevin O'Neal's 
house where he, his wife Tania, Jeff House and Kevin's dogs and cold beer 
awaited us. I love VT. :-)
The soundcheck was great. We where the only ones standing in a group near 
the stage while the band played. Christian got up the stage and sang the 
Real Me and did a very good job! I didn't have the guts and I knew I'd 
forget the words... Now if they'd let me sing "Love Is A Heart Attack"......

After that we went out to dinner and saw quite a bit of the 
Winooski/Burlington. The show started and there where a lot of young kids. 
In NYC I asked the band which show they liked audience-wise, and they 
(Godfrey, Steve & Chris Clarke) told me they quite liked the show in VT. 
The crowd was young and insane (i.e.; they where like me). Kids headbanging 
and going crazy, must be a great sight for the JEB instead of a bunch of 
old guys who actually preferred to see The Who.
Again "Love Is A Heart Attack". Unknown song to many people, but the ones 
who heard it for the first time now liked it. Halfway during the song they 
break into "Eminence Front". It rocked.
Kevin was hoping for "Cousin Kevin" and wrote "Cousin Kevin?" down on a 
napkin. He couldn't get John's attention, handed me the napkin (I was in 
front of John) and I shouted out: "JOOOOOOOHN!!!" and showed him the 
napkin. With an amazed look he gave me the "no way" sign (fingers crossed 
sign).

Right now I'm really tired, more stories later... (jet lag, the worst I 
ever haaaaad)

Next up is the NYC show and "what I missed telling ya about those ME and VT 
shows".

Cheers,

Bjørn Ciggaar
http://www.warande.net/~ciggaar

"You're all fucking stupid!"
- Pete Townshend (MSG, 7th of October)