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SIX O'CLOCK NEWS
"I GOT EXCITED JUST BEING PART OF THAT SCENE"
REVIEWS OF THE
JOHN PRINE IN SPITE OF OURSELVES CONCERT
1999
FLORIDA SHOWS
- 12/04/99 RUTH ECKERD HALL, CLEARWATER, FL
FROM:
Robbie
What a Show! Iris was wonderful as opening act and John rocked! He sang all the
usual songs on the Set List for this concert tour and added "I Saw Mommy Kissing
Santa Claus". He was in a jolly, jovial mood, grinning, laughing and making jokes. He
and the band with Iris simply brought the house down.
The highlight of the show for me came afterwards, when my friend who I went with
(who had worked with John and Billy Bob on the movie "Daddy and Them") got us
Backstage...we were ushered into the Green Room with about 12 other people, we all
anxiously waited for THE MAN and first came Iris, who was sweet, nice, and funny, and then
HE came in!!!!!! He was so gracious and kind, he remembered the first Prine concert I went
to 25 years ago! He signed a few things, we took pictures and chatted about the movie,
Billy Bob, his kids, and I can't remember what else, I gave him a hug and a kiss and then
I floated back to the hotel room...what a feeling to meet your hero for the first time!
Have a nice Holiday All! This girl's holiday is already Great! Off to sing Silient
Night All Day Long
FROM:Jim Hall I wrote this. It appeared in
The Valdosta daily Times and is posted at: http://madjimsplace.com You have my permission
to post it on your site if you wish. It was a great show!
IF YOU CAN WRITE LIKE PRINE, YOU'LL BE JUST FINE:
I had a guitar when I was 18, before I moved to California. I never played it. It was
donated to a church I attended in California City located in the Mojave Desert. Returning
to Washington D.C. I worked during the day and helped my friend Mark Brey with his bands
in the evenings. Mark played guitar and played very well. He got me started playing
regularly. Mark's father played guitar in a folk/bluegrass trio. The first night I saw
them play they performed a song that told the story of a veteran who lost his life to a
drug addiction that came with his Purple Heart called "Sam Stone". I was moved.
I had to learn how to play it. Mark showed me how the song was played and told me
which album to buy for the lyrics. Little did I know that my life was about to change. I
went to the record store the next day and bought John Prine’s first album called
"John Prine." The songs were written so well that I learned "Sam
Stone", "Paradise", "Hello In There", "Spanish Pipe
Dream", and "Illegal Smile". To this day I sing a total of seven songs off
of this album! John is the most famous, non-famous singer/songwriter in the world.
He’s had relatively few "Radio Hits" but his songs are known and loved buy
millions of musicians and non-musicians alike. If I can write like Prine, I’ll be
just fine. This past weekend I saw John perform at The Florida Theater in Jacksonville Fl.
Having seen him once in the "mid-seventies" I was ready for another dose of my
favorite singer/songwriter. Iris Dement opened for and sang with John. With only a guitar
and a crystal voice she delivered her songs to the audience. Her writing was superb and
her performance was captivating! John came out in a black suit with a black shirt (no tie)
in his black cowboy boots and kicked off "Spanish Pipe Dream". The audience
immediately started singing like a choir that had heard their cue. With only a bass player
and a lead guitarist (who played everything from mandolin to dobro) he proceeded to play
his most popular songs. In between tunes he mentioned his fight with throat cancer which
had kept him off of the road. "I got some good doctors and they fixed me up." he
said to an audience full of people who obviously missed him tremendously. Iris came back
out and sang some songs with John off of his latest CD "In Spite Of Ourselves",
a collection of duets done with various female singers. (You can go to:
http://www.ohboy.com/inspite.htm to hear clips from the CD or to order a copy.) Chills
cascaded down my spine through the whole show. Hearing songs that I have been singing for
years in a theater with a few hundred folks who knew the words as well as I was a treat.
John would start playing a song and I’d hear someone in the audience sitting around
me say it’s title before he started singing the lyrics AND THEY WERE ALWAYS RIGHT!
The applaud was deafening when he left the stage. The audience was on it’s feet
asking for a couple of more songs to hold them over until he made it back next time. John
stepped forward and shook hands with the folks at the front of the stage after ending his
encore with a rousing rendition of "Paradise". If you have never listened to any
of John Prine’s songs do yourself a favor and buy one of his CD’s. You
won’t be disappointed.
FROM: Emmerjay
Well Girls--let me tell u it was awesome!! It was a beautiful day here--sun shining-blue
skies and at 4:30 we headed to Jacksonville.....got there exactly at 5:30 parked and went
to the side door......2 guys were sitting outside and since I had met Nutt once before I
thought I recognized him so I said---are you Nutt.... he said Who wants to know---I said
Emmerjay!!!!! I said to the other dude ... and you must be Crusher.....right on both
tries!!!!!!! Well, we all went to the BIG guy at the door and Crusher asked if we could
come in for sound check---no problem!!!!! We went in and we were on the stage--Eric said
we had to go sit in seats so we hopped off the stage and had ourselves a private TREAT!!!!
They picked and jammed and I was so thrilled... some chick came down the aisle and Crusher
said that's Iris---she sat down from us a bit and listened-then went onstage and sang a
ditty or two w/ jp=== WOW-----about 6:30 they were satisfied w/ the setup and took a
break.......I told Nutt I may seem calm but I was just too jazzed!!!!!! The show started
at 7:30 w/ Iris doing a solo set for about 45 minutes...then another break....then John
and his musicians tore the place up.... the crowd was great ---- they jammed til about
10:30ish...... Anyway it was terrific....I got a purple pick --.....bought my boyfriend an
Oh Boy cap......it's 1:15 am and I have got to hit it..--- emmerjay PS Taryn (my14 yr.
old) had a blast!!!!! ~With Love and Smiles from Southeast Georgia
FROM: Blake Andersen
You gotta love him. As usual, I doubt any John Prine fan walked away disappointed and I
expect more than a few in attendance were converted. In a solid two-hour set, John covered
many of his best from Sam Stone, Grandpa was a Carpenter, Fish and Whistle, All the Best,
There She Goes, That’s the Way the World Goes Round, Christmas in Prison, I Saw Santa
Kissing Mommy, Let's talk Dirty in Hawaiian, Dear Abby, Illegal Smile, Picture Show, Unwed
Fathers, Sabu, The Late John Garfield Blues, Angel From Montgomery, Lake Marie, and a few
others – along with three or four duets off In Spite of Ourselves with Iris DeMent --
who sang like an angel, but seemed a bit self-conscious sharing the stage with someone of
Prine’s stature and following. Who could blame her?
Though John was slated to play one 85 minute set, following the
45 minute Iris DeMent opener, and a 25 minute break, he seemed to want to give a little
extra to make up for some pestering sound problems (a bad pickup on his Martin or a short
in the cable that left him truly “unplugged” through two or three songs).
Characteristically, he took it all in stride: "It would be a shame to burn a
Martin" and raising his guitar to the mike for amplification ala Johnny Cash:
"if it's good enough for Johnny Cash, it's good enough for me!" Ever the
gentleman and gracious performer, he thanked the audience for “sticking with
him” through the problems. What a refreshing change from the standard fare of
self-absorbed, affected posing we see on stages these days.
One of my favorite parts of the show was listening to the running
commentaries of the sweet 70+ year-old (predominantly female) volunteer ushers’ at
Ruth Eckerd. They were not quite sure what to make of this “John Prine guy,” or
his following. A bit perplexed, a couple ushers asked me to describe his music –
“Uh well…he sings about real life, he writes great songs, and he is pretty
funny,” was the best I could do. One usher panned, “Can you understand what
he’s saying?” during Let’s Talk Dirty in Hawaiian. Finally, lest anyone
think that the humor and tell-it-like-it-is style of Prine was lost on these gals, I spied
more than a few knowing smiles and heard some chuckles during “Let’s Invite Them
Over Again,” and “In Spite of Ourselves.” John, I hope you checked your
tour bus for stowaways.
FROM: John Sponseller
John Prine w/Iris Dement - Unbelievable is how I sum up this one, the
fourth Prine show I have seen over the past 15 years. It also helped that I picked up a
last minute ticket for 4th row center - thanks Judy G.!!
John, David, and Jason opened the show, reeling through the latest
standard set for his shows, Spanish Pipedream, Six O'clock News, Souvenirs, Fish &
Whistle, Picture Show, and Far From Me. John's faithful renditions of these songs worked
magic on the audience and left us all wanting more of the same. Of course, John did not
disappoint anybody in the house tonight.
Continuing to deliver the standards, John breezed through Grandpa Was a
Carpenter. The next song, All the Best, provided one of the funniest improvisations of the
night by John. Having some technical difficulties with his guitar pick-up during the song,
John strummed his guitar as he held it up to his microphone, commenting that "If it's
good enough for Johnny Cash, it's good enough for me", "I'll come back and play
the guitar part later", and "I hate to set a Martin on fire". Wrapping up
the first set of he show, John performed Angel From Montgomery to the delight of the fans.
John's solo set started off with the first holiday theme song, I Saw
Mommy Kissing Santa Claus, diligently working his way through the complex chord
arrangements of the song (or so he made it seem based upon some of the faces he was
making). John followed up with a another tune that I cannot recall witnessing before, The
Great Compromise. I loved that he sang it, it's my favorite song to sing when I'm fishing!
Dear Abby came next, this time it was "re-married". Illegal Smile was a great
sing-a-long for the audience, with the last chorus being all audience and no John, I think
his sister is now an "Italian Nun". The next seasonal song was a wonderful
Christmas in Prison. John then moved to the silly doing Let's Talk Dirty in Hawaiian, a
song that he felt was difficult for him because "he had to sing badly in two
languages". Sam Stone was next as David and Jason rejoined him to close the song.
John and the band were then joined by Iris Dement for some songs from
the new album, In Spite of Ourselves. Unexpectedly on my part, they launched into
Milwaukee Here I Come, a song John performs with Melba Montgomery on the album. Iris fit
in just right. They then performed We're Not The Jet Set, introduced by John as one of his
favorites when he first heard it, due to the rhyming of martinis with weinies. Let's
Invite Them Over was a crowd pleaser, as was the next non-Iris duet from the album, When
Two Worlds Collide. John and Iris wrapped up the duet set with In Spite of Ourselves, a
song John introduced as "Iris' hit single". The crowd loved the song.
Set four started off with the rocker, Bear Creek Blues, John pounding
through the song with some serious electric pickin' by Jason. Ain't Hurtin' Nobody and the
Sins of Memphisto came back to back with more pickin' by Jason and pluckin' by David. Lake
Marie closed out the last set before the encore.
The encore saw Iris rejoin the band for the final three songs. A great
version of Unwed Fathers was done very poignantly in a duet style. John next surprised us
with Sabu Visits the Twin Cities Alone, another first for me live, and no, he did not tell
the story again! Finally John, Iris, David, and Jason closed out the night with another
enjoyable rendition of Paradise. Again, a fantastic, unbelievable, marathon of a show!
"YEAH LITTLE BUDDY GONNA GET YOUR
CHANCE -
MAKE THE PUBESCENTS ALL WET THEIR PANTS"
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