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I haven't quit grinning since the 25th of August...!!!
OK, OK...here's the story on our experience at John Prine's concert at Chastain Ampitheatre in Atlanta...as has been told, I took my daughter as a 16th birthday present for both of us...seemed like such a long short time ago that she'd been in such a hurry to get born...and that long ride home without her and John Prine singin' Spanish Pipedream on public radio (Anyone remember WRFG...Radio Free Georgia...and a show they called "Spam 'n Grits"...with "country music like you shouldn't ought to hear...") A Celestine experience to say the least...
We showed up early for the show hoping to get a close parking spot (Chastain is an outdoor venue)...man, it was warm in Hotlanta...95 degrees...so we wandered around a bit...
About this time this limo pulls in and John gets out! After I recovered from my heart attack, we made introductions and he signed our stuff, but he was running late, so I didn't want to ask for a picture, too...we did manage to get some shots of the soundcheck...
Our seats for the show were next to the sound board, and I started a conversation with a couple of people who had come from Greenville to see the show. As it turned out, they had come as guests of someone I was supposed to deliver a message to, and since that was such a weird coincidence, they ended up sitting next to us for the show. I love makin' new friends that way!
Richard Thompson played first...yes, he was tremendous and his Mock Tudor CD is definitely being added to my music collection...He and JP did not play together, however...probably because of Chastain's policies with their curfew...otherwise we'd have had those guys there all night...
John came onstage around 9:00 with Jason Wilber on guitar and David Jacques on bass...Opened the show with, of all things... Spanish Pipe Dream! Happy Birthday, Heather! Here's the set list:
Spanish Pipedream/6 O'clock News/Souvenirs/Fish and a Whistle (with a great story about cornering Andy Griffith on the set of "Daddy and Them" so
he could play it for him. "...he hasn't got back to me, yet..." Classic!)/Grandpa Was A Carpenter...
OK, now forgive me if I'm having a memory lapse here, but I think all of the following were JP solo: Far From Me/All The Best/Angel From Montgomery/Dear Abbey/Big Ol' Goofy World/Jesus, the Missing Years/Sam Stone
Then, Jason and Dave came back, and along with Iris DeMent did: Milwaukee, Here I Come/Jet Set/Let's Invite Them Over Again/In Spite of Ourselves
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Then John, Jason and Dave finished out the show with: Bear Creek/I Ain't Hurtin' Nobody/Sins of Memphisto/Lake Marie
ENCORE.....Paradise!
Which is where Heather and I were sent, when the couple who sat with us turned to us after the show and gave us their backstage passes!!!!!
So, we got Jason, Dave and Iris to sign our T-shirts while we were waiting to go back and see JP...we were hanging out with an older couple who apparently knew him in Chicago
...We ended up being the last group of people in to talk to him...Heather took some pictures with me and John, and when I went to take some of her with him and he offered to hold my "In Spite of Ourselves" T-shirt. "Hold it?
Sign it for me, too!" says Helen. He said he hadn't seen the new shirts yet, so it was kinda cool for us that ours were the first he saw. He also said he was going to have to go back to autograph school, 'cause he spelled thank you with two k's on my shirt... (I didn't tell him he could have written "I hate your guts" on it and I would have been thrilled). That was when I told him I had to report back to the Shrine and he said: "Be sure to tell Reeda we had a curfew [Chastain does], or she'll think we cut the show short..." (Chastain is in a very "upscale" Atlanta neighborhood, and they want the riff-raff outta there as early as possible.) I said, "Hell, if I'd known that, I'd have had you guys come over and play in the living room!" He looked at me and said, "Yeah!"
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Well, I'm sure he was just being nice...what else was he going to say, "Not on your life"...?
Then everyone bid each other goodnight....AND I SCREAMED ALL THE WAY HOME!!!!
Outside of the arrivals of my 3 children, and marryin' Craven (ya'll remember my husband...Craven Moorehead?), I believe that was one of the finest evenings of my life! Heather was absolutely blown away. She had JP autograph her dad's Great Days booklet, she bought Lost Dogs and Mixed Blessings and he signed that for her, along with her shirt. On the way home she turned to me and said, "Thanks for taking me, Mom. No wonder you love him so much!" Amen to that, little sister...thanks for being you...
AAAAIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!
Helen Back
©HB2K
