Shadows & Light (& Nancy Whisky) In Cleveland: Alan Doyle & The Beautiful, Beautiful Band, Music Box

Dancing Like We Did Last Night 00:00 / Testify 04:31 / Lukey 10:22 / I Am A Sailor 14:37 / Nancy Whisky (for Kendel) 17:55 / My Kingdom 19:10 / Welcome Home Instrumental 22:49 / 1st Time In Cleveland (Rib Cookoff & The Flying Wallendas!) + GBS Medley 23:19 / Nancy Whisky reprise & Kendel on the violin 31:22 /Picks & T-shirts & Hard Old Hands for Mom's Day 33:38
On any given night, every person present - on stage and off - has their own individual, unique experience. That lesson was underscored for me at this show in Cleveland. It was a really good show in a sweet little venue located in a cool area, with people there who I like (some expected, some less so) on a beautiful sunny day. It was also the first show back to this venue where someone who's been a fixture at so many Cleveland GBS/Alan shows was no longer present, neither he nor his wife,
One of several deciding factors for me when it comes to which shows I go to (because, contrary to prevailing myth, I don't go to all of them) is that there are certain cities and shows I try never to miss because of the people I know I'll see there - with Cleveland, for a long time,that's meant coming to see Terry and Karla...then sadly, it became coming to see Terry and now...well, I nearly skipped Cleveland this time around,, even though I'd already bought a ticket, because I was afraid it would just be too sad. But then it felt more like going it would be in their honour and memory, and so to Cleveland I came.
And it was good. Others who had come because of Terry and Karla were there, along with more folks I've seen there before, plus some who had travelled in. It was a intimate, "clubby" gig (worth the price of admission for Alan's rendition of Nancy Whisky alone), and even though I'd had to buy my ticket from an airplane internet connection some hours after the show had first gone on sale, I wound up with a seat at a table with the same great folks I'd sat with last time. I had a cool view of not only the stage and crowd, but also of some fascinating shadows of the performers as they played, as well as my seat being right in front of a support pole I could stand up and wedge myself against to video without blocking anyone behind me who wasn't already blocked by the pole.
My individual, unique show experience was doing fine, until my phone started buzzing like mad during Alan's solo encore. I had the ringer off, but the phone was in my pocket and starting to feel like a vibrator with the insistence of whoever was texting me. I checked quickly during song changeover to Ordinary Day and read a text of terrible news and a plea for immediate help from a distant friend. An un-ignorable plea.
So I did something I don't think I've ever done before at an Alan/GBS show: I left before the show ended. Said my goodbyes to a few people and tried to skitter out as quickly as possible. Wound up walking back to my hotel room through a somewhat sketchy area (the same area I'd decided not to walk back through at night when walking over in the sunshine) while talking to the friend. Nobody bothered me, and I hope I helped the friend in some small way. I felt bad about walking out of the show - still feel bad about it - though I also still think it was the right thing to do.
So that was "my" Cleveland show, a good show bookended with difficulty and loss. It was memorable but not in the usual, expected way. I suppose someone who saw me leave at the start of Ordinary Day might have wondered why that silly woman was being so rude in leaving before the last song of the show, or maybe they kindly assumed there was some sort of pressing reason for a hasty exit. Or more likely everyone was so caught up in the moment - so caught up in their own unique, individual experiences - that nobody even noticed. I like that last thought best.
The Music Box Supper Club, Cleveland, Ohio. May 12, 2024. In Honour and Memory of Terry and Karla and Friends in Need.

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Wade Bowen har skrevet med meg en stund og utgjør seg for å være Alan Thomas Doyle