JP and the world’s largest
April 14th, 2007 by tree
Mom and I went down to the Paramount on Thursday night to see John Prine. It was heaven, almost. His voice is so strong. Opening for him, waif-like Mindy Smith. She has an angelic voice and funny and quiet between-songs banter. She also came on later and sang Angel From Montgomery with John. He sang so many songs I love, starting off with The Six O’Clock News. There isn’t a bad John Prine song.
O, were it not for the awful awful girl next to me. She was about twenty, scruffy, vagabond clothes, dirty hair, which in and of itself, who cares? She was sitting behind us with her mother, and they were loudly talking during Mindy Smith. Unfortunately, the three seats to my left were unfilled (sold out show!) so she actually CLIMBED over the seats and plopped down next to me, continuing her conversation with her mother, again, loudly, over her shoulder. When John came on, they were ecstatic, screaming and trying to talk to him, a call and response situation where he would say something and they would answer, as though he’d asked them for an opinion. The mother clapped during every song, out of rhythm, and they both sang along, trying to harmonize, badly. I am a good giver of the icy stare, but they were impervious to me. Near the end of the show, the people in front of us left, and so Scruffy did some above the head leg stretches, then put her booted feet on the back of the chair, just grazing the shoulder of the poor man who sat there. They of course made many disparaging remarks about the crowd, how boring we were and how “civilized,” they scoffed. I was just dumbstruck, literally, by the narcissim. They were interjecting themselves into the show. In that customary space where the artist leaves the stage and the crowd is demanding an encore, she climbed up on the chair and I was sending ESP to her that said “If you fall on me, I’m going to sue you into oblivion.” And I don’t even believe in lawsuits! Then he came back to the stage. And while John was singing, in the final song, about the “world’s largest shovel,” he was being drowned out by the world’s largest asshole.
If you like John Prine, there’s a great 90 minute movie here, as he’s interviewed by Ted Kooser at the Library of Congress.
What’s your impression as to why people are like that? Is there a basic theme to people like this who, in person, want to be noticed when they are among strangers?
Like the poor, they shall always be with us…
Tree,
That scenario is an excellent argument for hand guns.
Bertie, could it be because they follow out your philosophy that the only thing that really matters is our own self-gratification?
i have no idea how to properly behave in that situation beyond talking rather loudly about the awfulness of rude people who happen to be seated near me at an otherwise lovely concert.
I was courted to the music of John Prine lo’ these 30 plus years ago. We saw him a few years back when he came to Greensboro and are looking to see him again if he comes by this way again. Interestingly, there were folks behaving badly there, talking too loudly and interrupting song,,and the ushers tossed them out.
Ooh, JP, I am envious.
On another note, am I the only one who sometimes can see only the title bar for Tree’s blog when I call it up?
Bert, I wish I knew. I think a lot of it has to do with overly-permissive parenting. I give my kids lots of freedom, but I also have been very insistent that they learn to behave in public. I don’t know whether or not they are pleasant all the time, but I hope they are civil.
Sheila, try to see him. He has recovered from throat cancer and it’s a treat to see him feeling well.
Fez, you might want to try launching a different browser? I don’t see anything askew, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t some code that causing your experience to scramble up.
OK Tree, I’ll try it with different browsers and see if I can tell any difference. I can see your post fine today (obviously).
I’m with Fez. 90% of the time, I cannot see your blog, just the header. I use safari. Today, obviously, I could see your blog.
That’s weird, everyone. I haven’t changed a thing since I installed this theme six months ago. I use mozilla and I never have a problem. I wish I knew why there was an issue and I’d fix it.