LOCATION: Heidelberg College
LINEUP: Brian, Karin, Linford, Mike
REVIEW BY: Bruce Lachey
The on-campus venue was really nice, a ~small~ theatre type setting with a balcony. Imagine if you will a 1/8 scale Emery, and you get the idea. Maybe 12 rows of seats tops, discounting the upper level. Lush red curtains. We found the place and strolled in by "Everyman's" and took our seats; maybe 70-100 people were there; pretty good considering all of the notice we had. As you can see from the set list, some of the tunes are new to this configuration of OtR. "Birds" was phenomenal; mildly reworked with a Beatles-esque keyboard bit throughout the verses; think "Strawberry Fields". Mike's bass for the middle 8 bit was really loud, just as I've imagined it ~should~ be! "Go Down Easy" was pretty great too. Linford did a nice, fairly dark original poem called "Going Down" or something before GDE; it was really nice. He read an Anne Dillard section before "All I Need" too. Before "Birds", Linford had to work on setting the keyboard to "flute" or "recorder" mode or something, so he asked Karin to talk awhile... She elaborated on Linford's description of where everyone in the band was from (Mike = Kentucky! eek!), and about some members of Brian's family and Linford's family (therefore hers too!) being at the show... It looks as if they've been having Mike practice some other new ones too, as on a "tentative set list" that Brian had at his kit there was Ubiquitous Hands and Miles written but scratched out... This was definitely the oddest crowd setting I've seen the band in in quite some time. It was ultra-intimate; it made Emery feel like Wembley. When they introduced "Latter Days" as the last song of the night, a guy in the front row asked if they could play "that drowning song" after it. Linford politely said that they're retiring that song for awhile, and he got ready to play. Another voice from the front asked "when [they] were gonna be on Jerry Springer". Karin said that they didn't have enough domestic problems (!!) to be on his show. (pause). Or transvestites. Then, she added, that Mike was new so they weren't sure...and that they call Mike sometimes and a certain "Connie" answers, which could be his alter ego... Ms. Bergquist then expressed amazement that this was the first OtR "Question and Answer" session ever, and decided to ask one of her own... She questioned the crowd about Heidelburg's mascot, which is amazingly "The Student Princes" and is up for vote soon. She suggested they be named "The Mascot Formerly Known as 'The Student Princes'"....and Linford prepared to play. Someone sitting near me then voiced up and asked if the melody to "Latter" was borrowed, because it seemed really familiar, like a song from a long time ago by someone else.. Karin fessed up and said she stole the melody from the Scorpions. ...and Linford prepared again to play. Karin said something like "just start playing already!!" and the song was off and running... There were more questions in there, I just can't remember what they were. After the show, I spoke to Linford about the live OtR CD, and he said it's still being kicked around. I put my two cents in for the live Bothered that featured the whole band, played around winter 94/95. He remembered it, and I asked why a certain song like that wasn't played that way more often.. He said sometimes it was just a case of one person not really feeling comfortable with an arrangement, etc... So I asked him if ~he~ liked that arrangement. I think he brainwashed me, because I honestly don't remember his response... I also enquired about "Within Without", because I remember it being played in my early early days when I didn't like the band, at Sudsy's.. He said the version played in early '92, etc wasn't that different than what made it onto Eve, maybe a little shorter. He said he has a killer "Love is a Fever" live, featuring the loud LOUD keyboard (does anyone else remember this?!). Can't wait for that one! It takes it from the realm of wimpy sounding sap hotel-bar blues to the real thang. During the show, Karin said that on 20 June they hope to be unveiling the new lineup of OtR at Bogarts... Ummm. I also asked Brian about Monk. It seemed odd to me that he had re-joined OtR but was still in Monk; conflict seems to be in the mix for a setting like that. He said he had quit Monk to stay focused on OtR's schedule. Pretty shocking, really!