Mrs. Crappy Weekend, so far:
1) Eighth-row seats to see Wilco in Athens in April.
2) Dinner at D’s (her choice — honest!).
3) A fun evening at AA’s Living Room. Always a good time.
4) A very productive day at the home and garden show — a good thing, since we now own a home and hope to someday have a garden.
The result? A happy Mrs. Crappy. Thanks to everyone who’s helped.
WHEREAS, Mrs. Crappy, the wife of the proprietor of this blog, has had a kind of miserable week; and
WHEREAS, Mrs. Crappy was forced to endure the destruction of her family homestead by fire on Sunday night; and
WHEREAS, Mrs. Crappy was screwed out of attending a concert by Dark Star Orchestra on Tuesday because she was asked to cover a school board meeting in the place of a reporter who was covering a police standoff in Zelienople instead; and
WHEREAS, Said school board meeting was unproductive and didn’t actually require the presence of Mrs. Crappy; and
WHEREAS, There has been at least one other instance of Mrs. Crappy’s Work getting in the way of Mrs. Crappy’s Fun; and
WHEREAS, We’re going to try to do something nice for Mrs. Crappy to offset the torture and agony of this week; and
WHEREAS, I’m thinking we’re going to need more than a single day to offset said torture and agony; and
WHEREAS, So let’s set it up so we have an entire Mrs. Crappy Weekend; and
WHEREAS, I’m thinking we should just go ahead and start this right now; and
WHEREAS, If you see Mrs. Crappy this weekend, you should be extra nice to her and offer to give her a backrub or buy her a beer or something; and
WHEREAS, If you have suggestions about perhaps meeting her somewhere I’d be happy to make some arrangements; and
WHEREAS, If, alternately, you don’t think you’ll run into Mrs. Crappy over the weekend, you could always leave a nice, uplifting comment at the end of this post;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that Friday, February 27; Saturday, February 28; and Sunday, March 1, 2009, shall be declared “Mrs. Crappy Weekend” in the City of Pittsburgh, the County of Allegheny and Any Other Surrounding Environs Mrs. Crappy Deems Fit To Include;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that anyone who should happen to encounter Mrs. Crappy during “Mrs. Crappy Weekend” in the City of Pittsburgh, the County of Allegheny and Any Other Surrounding Environs Mrs. Crappy Deems Fit To Include is hereby encouraged to generally be nice to her and stuff so that she may be aided in the effort to put this horrible week behind her.
IT IS HEREBY PRONOUNCED, on Friday, February 27, 2009, by Uncle Crappy. Amen.
I was pleased this morning to find a copy of Tuesday’s show had already been uploaded at the Archive. If you’re so inclined, you can download your copy here.
And, as an illustration of how shaky my 42-year-old memory can be, you’ll find a copy of the setlist below. I used to write these down as a show progressed; I might have to start doing that again.
Set1:
Tuning/Saints Go Marching In > Iko-Iko / Wang Dang Doodle / Dire Wolf > Silver Threads And Golden Needles / Mr. Charlie / Lazy River Road / Passenger / Mission In The Rain / Pride of Cucamonga >King Bee > Pride of Cucamonga / Tangled Up In Blue
Set2:
St. Stephen > Two Souls In Communion > Not Fade Away > St. Stephen > William Tell Bridge > The Eleven > New Potato Caboose > Drums > Space > Comes A Time > Throwing Stones > Touch Of Grey > Not Fade Away
Encore:
Let Me Sing Your Blues Away
Last night, presented in pleasing bullet form:
I’ve already written once today about the fact that I might be a bit excited about seeing Dark Star Orchestra tonight.
My excitement has just been tempered a bit by a phone call from Mrs. Crappy, who has been assigned to cover a school board meeting because some clown has barricaded himself in his house in Zelienople.
I’m still going — and I hope you’ll come with me.
Yeah, it’s short notice — as in four-hours-before-the-show short notice — but this could be your one chance to observe Uncle Crappy in his natural habitat.
Showtime is at 8, and I’d guess it’ll go around three hours or so. To kind of limit this to people I’m relatively acquainted with, DM me if you’re interested and we’ll make arrangements from there.
A whole bunch of history and culture could possibly converge tonight at the Carnegie Music Hall in Homestead, and I’m happy to say I’ll be right there in the middle of it.
1. Today is Fat Tuesday, the final day before the start of Lent and a day reserved for excess of all kinds — which naturally makes it one of my favorite days of the year. Although there are Mardi Gras celebrations all over the world, in this country the grandaddy of all Mardi Gras parties is in New Orleans.
2. Early on the morning of Jan. 31, 1970, New Orleans police burst through the doors of the French Quarter hotel where members of the Grateful Dead were staying during a two-show run in town. To no one’s surprise, the police found *gasp* drugs in the band’s rooms and several members of band and its staff spent a long night working out bail arrangements so they could play later that evening. The bust turned out to be a centerpiece of “Truckin’,” the GD song released on American Beauty a few months later. Several lines from the song directly reference the bust:
Sittin’ and starin’ out of the hotel window.
Got a tip they’re gonna kick the door in again …
I’d like to get some sleep before I travel,
But if you got a warrant, I guess you’re gonna come in.Busted, down on Bourbon Street;
Set up, like a bowling pin.
Knocked down, it gets to wearin’ thin.
They just won’t let you be, oh no.
Another line — “Houston, too close to New Orleans” — references the band’s alleged vow to never return to the city again.
3. They didn’t live up to that vow, though, playing three shows at the Saenger Performing Arts Center in 1980 and 1982 and another at Keifer Arena in 1988.
And that’s where tonight comes in. I’m seeing Dark Star Orchestra at Carnegie Music Hall, and I’m betting there’s a good chance we see a re-creation of one of those New Orleans set lists. DSO is a Grateful Dead cover band with a pretty cool shtick — they usually pick a show from at some point in the GD history and re-create it on stage, all the way down to personnel and song arrangements specific to that era. That means extra fun for the audience, which tries to guess the year — or for those who are really good, the specific show — we’re listening to.
I’m betting the folks in DSO won’t miss the fact that today is Mardi Gras, and that they’ll play us one of those New Orleans set lists tonight. I could be totally wrong about this, because there are, after all, about 2,300 shows to choose from, but c’mon — you’re playing a show on Mardi Gras. How could you not laissez les bon temps roulez?
Uncle Crappy 