March 7, 2008 John Prine at the Orpheum, Memphis TN. Guest Artists: Kane Welch Kaplan. Back up Musicians: Dave Jacques and Jason Wilber
By: DonnaDonna
 What a night! Memphis usually gets one snow a year, and sure 'nuf it came the day Johnny was comin' to town. Like he said, he's not gonna complain about snow cuz he's written alot of songs inspired by it! He was so nice to thank us for facing the weather to come to the show and wished us a safe journey home at the end.
God bless presale tickets! My son, Eric and I had third row center, aisle seats. I thought about my friend Crusher - only the best aisle seats for him! I remember my "noticketdonna" days when I'd take my chances on gettin' a ticket and always ended up with the best! Columbia MO show was my fave I guess, John had a ticket waitin' for me at the box office and Crusher sat in the balcony with me. That's when we discovered he had pictures of his sons on the table behind him, remember that?
Ok, back to the present - I tend to wander in and out of Prine memories. Eric and I were "audience watching" and I told him I often wonder what their life stories have been knowing that everyone of us sitting there have lived alot of life with John's music a major part of whatever we were going through. Eric said something that I thought was pretty profound (of course, he's my son so I think EVERYTHING he says is pretty profound), but he  said John's music was his "childhood soundtrack". Pretty cool, huh?
John was in a super good mood and his voice was in great form! Maybe it had something to do with him saying that Fiona, his wife was meeting him Saturday in Little Rock.
Jason and Dave were great, as usual. I always love watchin' Dave play his bass', the look on his face is like he's makin' love to his instrument (or is he thinkin' about his wife, Lemesa? giggle).
Jason's guitar licks are just the best. I love bein' around people that haven't heard him before, they react in such awe!
Here's the set list ('specially for you, Char):
- Spanish Pipedream
Picture Show
6 o'clock news
Speed of the Sound of Loneliness
Please Don't Bury Me
Souvenirs - my favorite - go see my tattoo
Fish and Whistle
Glory of True Love
Takin' a Walk - Dave and Jason sang great backup, made the guy sittin' next to me gasp and sigh
Angel From Montgomery
Aw Heck
All The Best
You've Got Gold - mentioned that he cowrote this with Keith Sykes and Keith couldn't be there cuz he was stuck in the snow somewhere. Eric and I wondered about his presence, cuz Keith is always at the Memphis Prine show.
How Lucky Can One Man Get - I think that's what it's called, from the Pink Cadillac album.
Sam Stone
Bear Creek
Sweet Revenge
She Is My Everything
Ain't Hurtin' Nobody
Hello In There
Lake Marie
Encore -
Killing The Blues
Paradise (
Muhlenberg County) - Jason sang the second verse.
 Opening act, Kane Welch Kaplan were way cool! There was some great chatter between audience and them, and they commented that John Prine brings just the best kind of audience (I'm paraphrasing). Their harmonies were exquisite, Fats on the big mandolin because he didn't have the Turkish Udu (?) with him was just amazing. I highly recommend you buy their cd's! They did a meet and greet in the lobby and were just the nicest guys. I told them the picture Eric was taking of me with them was gonna go up in the Prine Shrine. Y'all just don't laugh when ya see it, looks like I'm makin' a bucky beaver sort of face - oh well! haha
The show seemed shorter than most others I've been to in the past years, and not near enough of the stories we all love to hear. There were more short intro type stories. But, as many of us have said, if he just stood up there and read the phone book, we'd laugh, cry and be happy enchiladas!
He was in such a darned good mood (Fiona on his mind? giggle). He was so animated with some his songs, and in his usual way made you feel that he was singin' directly to you.
But, gotta tell ya - I've seen John tons of times, most of those with my Shrine friends, but last night when he sang Hello In There, I had an epiphany. The theatre was so quiet you could hear a plastic drink cup fall (and we did) when he sang that song. The message was never stronger to me than last night. I realized that he could have been singing about himself AND many of us now. It felt to me that he was singin' it with a sense of urgency for us - "Be Nice, please, it's very important" was how it felt. I will never forget that particular performance.
Crusher, Eric said to tell you hi, Mitch too. I had a brief chat with Mitch. I've got a little surprise from me to you, so look for it in the mail. I'm gonna try to hold off till your birthday, but don't know if I can. Well, I can tell ya, I won't mind doin' chores today - got a Prine song in my head, a flutter (thanks for that word, jpp) in my heart, and some happy feet! BigOleDeltaHugs from a snowy Memphis Midtowner. Reeda, pics on the way. Pray for Peace everyone, DonnaDonna
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