THE SHOW MUST GO ON!
John Prine with Pat McLaughlin
Sept 5, 2003
The Virginia Theatre
Champaign, IL

by Reeda Buresh, webmistress of the John Prine Shrine http://www.jpshrine.org

Now we're really rockin and they wail out the bluesy Ain't Hurtin Nobody - I can't keep still. Jacques and Wilber's instruments are alive and ripping the place up. 

My friend Jessica and I get a personal kick out of The Sins of Memphisto as its delivered because we had met at the Catholic girls school, St. Mary's Academy, that had 3 huge bells on the lawn aptly named  The Bells of St Mary's and as the song goes, nothing can stop, nothing can stop, nothing can stop, the sins of Memphisto. We did our best to sin.

"This is for my Aunt Libby, she's 93 who asked me to play it at the family reunion last weekend. I pulled my chair up real close to her and I sang: Hello In There". Sweeeet.

John introduces Dave Jacques as "The babe magnet from Worcestershire Massachusetts. Jason and I are happily married so we live through Dave's experiences" He points to Jason Wilber, and in a ringside style introduces him "And on this side hailing from Bloomington, IN is Jason........ "Shorty".......Wilber." No intro for himself, I think we've figured out who he is, although, I have always been partial to the simple and sweet "and I'm Verna Prine's son - Johnny"

We've made it to song number 24: Lake Marie "It's a history lesson" Prine says "by Carl Grayson." (Carl Grayson was an old gray-haired, bespectacled, sober-as-a-judge, local Chicago TV/radio newscaster on WGN in the late 1960. He hosted "Night Beat," a news show that came on after the late movie consisting of one guy sitting behind a beat up old podium recapping the day's events. No video clips, no 'live at the scene'  cutaways, no bouncy bleach blond co-anchor, no nothin' except  Carl Grayson). Prine belts out the words "Oooooh baby we gotta go now" at us - wave, bow. wave and bow some more and exit the stage.

The audience is at it's feet. clapping, stomping, whistling, and cheering until they return to let us have just a little bit more.

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