posted October 17, 2004 08:49 PM            

So Mamabear was driving me to breakfast this morning, and we passed a billboard advertising the Little River Band coming to our local Indian casino. Well, that got me “reminiscing” about last Saturday, and our latest adventure in Berlin fandom.

Once again, Mamabear, Papabear, and the Chaseter piled in to to the LuvMobile, and departed the dog-infested patch of desert that we call home. Of course, Mamabear had forgotten something at work, so we had to run in for “just a minute”. I took the opportunity to pick up something that I had also left (but wouldn’t have returned for) and we headed off to the donut shop. After scarfing down my share of donuts, and feeding the rest of my brood, we returned to the thirsty car and headed to the other filling station. Dang, gas is sure getting expensive again.

Anyway, we get to the freeway, and the first checkpoint is actually staffed. California has been really good about keeping the Highway Patrol there since they found out how much revenue they were missing out on from “out of state” truckers. One wonders if border-runners had any money if the Border Patrol would be more efficient.

Once through the checkpoint (up until now, they’ve been looking for somebody who bears no resemblance at all to me) we’re free and easy on the open road. And Mamabear misses no opportunity to re-tell this captive audience all the stories that she’s heard on talk radio. No, it’s not Howard Stern, either. After being caught up on all the latest news, I’ve finally had enough, and I gouge out my eardrums with a knitting needle. (not really, but I felt like it)

Mamabear’s LuvMobile gets pretty good mileage, but there’s always a gotcha. Once past Ocotillo, I am rudely reminded of that. As we start ascending the mountains, we are getting passed by old ladies with walkers. And fruit trucks. Man, this sucks.

Once over the mountains, things speed up considerably, and we finish our trek in decent time.

The hotel web site advertises high-speed internet, and I hope for the best. Well, once again, I’m disappointed. Not sure where the access is, but it’s not in the room. In fact, I can’t even find a wi-fi signal anywhere to glom on to. Well, back to dial-up. Good thing I loaded up I-Tunes and some games on the laptop – page loads are incredibly slow on dial-up. Ecch.

Again, I’m traveling with a woman and a child, and well, I hope to get to the venue eventually. We are also holding tickets for Krysta, who is typically notoriously late. Not just fashionably late. The bribes, hand-holding, threats, and pleading must have worked because Mamabear and Chaseter were actually ready so far ahead of time that they were waiting on me.! Wow! Good – let them wait. So I jump in the shower and finish getting ready, and then we’re off to the show. And we are actually there early.

Of course, we’re not the first. As we pull up, we spot Scotto and Tom (Unixshack). The will call window hasn’t opened yet, so we stand around for a few minutes, and Anthony shows up. Well, we figured that he’d be there, and he’s got a new camera. Tony – we’re looking forward to some new pictures! The will call window then opened, and I was able to obtain our tickets, and of course, Krysta’s not there yet. But that’s ok, I expected that she’d be late, so I write her name on her tickets and give them back to the will call lady.

We’ve got a few minutes before they open the doors, and the line forms to the left. Now last time I was there, I knew I had reserved seats, so I didn’t bother to go in early, and just hung out with everybody outside. That turned out to be not so great, as the food is served “first seated – first served” and it also seems to be better earlier. So this time, I went in with the early birds, and was thru dinner long before show time. And it was good, too.

The opening band for the evening was MELANCHOLIEIA. No, I hadn’t heard of them, either. They had finished setting up before I went inside, and evidently, part of their show was to be displayed on a tv. At the head of our table, on the edge of the stage, was a tv set, and it was turned on. Unfortunately, there was no picture, just static. There appeared to be a vcr on top of the tv, but no movie, just static. Not even a blue screen or a test pattern, just static. And, well, getting there early, meant that our table patrons had roughly two hours to look at the tv with static on the screen. Little did we know, that was the high-point of the opening act.

Once MELANCHOLIEIA took the stage, things went from bad to worse. The band evidently had some kind of idea to show artwork on the stage, but it was certainly lost on me. The drawings were crudely produced, and the main poster appeared to convey a message somewhat like unto a label affixed to a bottle of prescription medicine. Perhaps the fatal warning on an iodine bottle would have been more appropriate. At one point we joked that the band had evidently saved money on promotional materials and applied it to lessons.

Unfortunately, MELANCHOLIEIA took the stage and proved us wrong. The band hadn’t spent the money on lessons. And they had avoided vocal lessons, charm lessons, fashion lessons, and worst of all, neglected to hire a sound guy. Nobody I was with could understand a single lyric out of the lead singers mouth. The entire set was muffled, and it was really distracting to watch the guy reading from his cheat sheets. Hard to have eye-contact with the audience when you’re looking down at the music stand. I suppose it was just as well, as the only sounds one could actually discern were the occasional gutteral screams. The sad thing is that the broken tv provided more entertainment. I believe Ron got a picture of the tv, and I hope to see it posted soon.

I didn’t bother to wait for the end of the set to use the restroom. And much to my surprise, at this early point in the evening, there was still paper in the hand-towel dispenser. Although the floor was starting to look a bit wet. I spent as long as I could in the restroom, waiting for MELANCHOLIEIA to finish their set, and after what seemed like an eternity, our suffering finally came to an end.

I really do try to avoid saying bad things about the opening acts that I see, but sometimes, you just have to. Nobody should be forced to sit through another performance by MELANCHOLIEIA. It’s too bad that the Red Cross was busy in Florida as this performance may have been a human rights violation.

Last March, we were treated to a wonderful opening act, Darvoset. And we were all looking forward to seeing them again. Too bad they broke up. But the man behind Darvoset, Stefan the drummer, has put together a new project, called Atomica. And Atomica followed MELANCHOLIEIA. Well, Atomica is a brand new band, and the singer is a brand new singer, and they’ve got a way to go yet, but they are on the right track. Not the same track (yet) as Darvoset, but hey, they’re not Darvoset, they’re Atomica, and they are different. Maybe they’ll be better.

Our first Berlin show was at the CoachHouse, three years ago. So the line-up that is familiar to us is Terri, Mitch, Dallan, Linda, and Chris. We never saw Roger and Warren, the guys that preceded Mitch and Chris. And we felt it a great loss when Linda left the band. Sure, Terri can do it without Linda, and has, but there was a great energy in that pairing. And it made it better for the duets that they created. We’ve also grown quite fond of Dallan. So much so, that we drove to Phoenix for my birthday to see Rock Lobster. So if Dallan is gone, we miss him, too. And I’ve always really enjoyed Dallan picking on the 12 string! We take personnel changes very seriously, and were totally prepared to hate Carlton and to scratch his eyes out if he missed too many licks. Just kidding. Really. Sort of.

After Atomica, and before Berlin, it was time for another trip to the facilities. By this time, the floor was in desperate need of a good mopping up, but there was still paper in the dispenser! As I take my seat, the house lights go down, and the music comes up and the boys from Berlin take the stage!

There were considerable surprises in this show. The show did start the absolute best way that the show can, with Masquerade. Terri was standing near the edge of the stage, looking over our table, and I swear she sang “…partners chosen by Chase…” to the Chaseter. Maybe she didn’t – maybe she did but didn’t mean to – maybe she did on purpose – sure she did! Other surprises – Pictures of You, and World of Smiles.

I was fortunate enough to be at the VH-1 Bands Reunited taping when Terri performed No More Words with the Stevie Nicks interlude. The VH-1 people made her re-do the song, without Dreams. Since, then, Terri has done the song both ways, rocking without the interlude, and acoustic with the interlude. And I like both songs, but the medley just didn’t do it for me, the way it had been done. Well, at this show, Terri did considerably more of dreams, the entire first verse, as I recall, and it was AWESOME! I don’t know why, but adding the extra lines made it all come together, in my humble opinion.

Pictures posted from the recent shows reveal Terri to be in the blue “J-Lo” cut dress, open down the front. Opinions range wide, but at times I was quite close, so I’ll venture my opinion. (Shocker, huh!) You will absolutely not see anything that you’re not supposed to! Forget your filthy imagination. And Terri hasn’t gained an ounce! Dammit! And she looks friggin’ awesome! And the dress was open to …just right there… but held firmly in place with whatever it is that girls use for that sort of thing. Oh, and she smells good, too.

I was a bit surprised that Pleasure Victim was not in the set. Oh well. Absolutely brand new, never before songs were in the set, though. Scream, and Down & Dirty – I think – I gave up taking notes.

Before the show, I was talking with somebody who had seen Carlton at his previous show. They said something like “well, he’s good, but he’s not Dallan”, and I was totally ready to hate Carlton, and scratch his eyes out. But, noooooo, Carlton was great! He played the keyboards, and the guitar, and during the acoustic set, he even played a 12 string. Damn, I love that twelve string ring! So they were right – he’s not Dallan – but he’s damn good too, and maybe he’s just different from Dallan. Nobody has to be “better” when they’re both quite good. Carlton was also quite aggressive on the vocals, and I liked that. Brought back some of the sexual tension that Terri played so well on.

After the show, Terri was extremely gracious and hung out in the entrance and signed stuff and took pictures with anybody that asked and was just very dang pleasant!