Canal Room Pics and Reviews -- Post Here!

[Sharon (sdbrins)]

There aren't alot but here are a few pic I got at the Canal Room.

[Sharon (sdbrins)]

And this is one of my favorites, Marty & Me

[Sharon (sdbrins)]

velvet said:

sdbrins

I think we may have met on the corner outside the venue. I was hanging posters with Yerba. I'm so bad at remembering everyone I met. There were so many nice people there. Since I don't post here often some of the names weren't too familiar to me. Anyway, it was nice meeting you, great review

thank you Velvet, nice meeting you too.

Sharon

[my0bsess10n/my0]

Hi velvet it was nice to meet you on line that was one of the best parts of the day, I finally meet sharon and needy whom I have spoke to for 5 mos and finally got a face to face with them it was to cool and special to meet them, also met chk who is great and hubby who was so kind through the whole thing and I bet he thinks we are nuts....hee hee. and mondegreen who has a great sense of humour and we had some good laughs that I will never forget.....thank you all for adding to the excitement of the day.............just love LH fan girls

[chk]

Canal Room, NYC
Okay, this concert turned out to be kind of strange for me. Seeing the band outside Chicago was somehow non-plussing, perhaps because I got so used to the Chi-town fans. Anyway, a number of us gathered for a pre-concert dinner in Little Italy then decided to beat a path for CR so that we could stand in line just to get a good spot inside. Met lots of great hammerheads including Sdbrins, MyO, Needy, Yak, Hammer Me, Mondegreen, Julia, Diva, Jodie, and countless others I am forgetting. Big thanks to everyone for all your kind words about mc.org – you lurkers can join in the fun anytime, you know! It was great chatting about the site, RS:Supernova, LH, and everything else. MyO, I am still laughing about your “I almost ran over Marty Casey with my car” story.
While we were waiting Billy came out and waved to everyone. He was heading to the hotel for a short kip before the show (that’s how early we were standing in line --he had time for a nap!). He gave big hugs to the street teamers and was on his way. Randy and Dan were outside later. Randy told us that the band had arrived quite late in NYC after some wrong turns en route. He looked tired but was still enthusiastic. He also noted that the CR would not let fans send pizza into the band (at previous shows fans have provided pizza, lasagna, etc as pre-show meals.) Then we spotted Bobby and Dino across the street. They also waved to everyone then seemed to head for a bodega for a snack or something. Marty quite wisely stayed out of sight.
Okay we got inside and ended up about 3 deep from the stage on Billy’s side. My husband brought the vid camera and I decided since he would be busy taking pix and video, I’d take few pictures and instead just concentrate on enjoying myself. This is my way of explaining why my photos suck. Fixer opened and were pretty good. They really had me for about 4 songs and then it just seemed sort of loud and repetitive. I will say this, tho, they looked good. After Fixer’s set, which lasted about 45 minutes, they cleared the way for LH. At one point the lead singer thanked Marty Casey for showing up, “because if he didn’t we wouldn’t be able to play.”
Once Randy and Dan have it all set up for the Hammers, Bobby, Dino and Billy take the stage and start playing Ultrasound and the crowd, as they say, goes nuts. Somehow Marty sneaks onstage (sunglasses, Love and Rockets T, black shirt, bandana, white pants with belt and suspenders) and starts singing “we control your radio…” FANTASTIC.
It is truly unbelievable how close to the stage I was – I could see just how tired Marty looked, but the crowd, which was a couple hundred strong and totally into it, seemed to really energize the band. They played (in no particular order) Straight As An Arrow, Call of Distress, Yes it Do, Clinic, Tunnel, Eyes Can’t See, Hold On, Ring of Fire, Trees, Wish You Were Here, Clouds, Let’s Get Wasted, This Town.
I was completely and utterly overjoyed as this was the first time I have heard Clouds performed live. It was really amazing. The arrangement is slightly different and during the vocals there is a beautiful pause in “I hope you’ll catch….me” that for some reason tore me up. There were 3 or 4 of us linked together swaying and singing along. Then WYWH, I saw tears from my fellow fans. A great moment.
Some fun moments: Marty talked about how happy he was that the crowd knew the lyrics to all the songs, not just Trees. “I was going to cut my hand off if you only knew Trees. It would suck to lose a hand.”
He also asked if everyone had their previous CDs, not just MCLH. When it seemed that about 99% did, he laughed and asked how did we all get them –cause they might be owed a few dollars. Marty also said that he hoped there was no curfew on Tuesday nights in NYC and said how much they liked the Canal Room. “We usually play in s%*t holes. This place is nice – we had to dress up to play here.” At that Dino looked down at his T-shirt and laughed, then brushed his arms while Marty fixed his own shirt collar. He also called an audible and added Let’s Get Wasted to the list. When Billy played the first chord, Marty stopped them and said he first wanted to talk about Fixer. “We hear a lot of bands. Sometime 4 or 5 bands come on before we do. They’re all okay, but Fixer f&*ing rocked.” Then he looked at Billy and said, “Now we can commence.”
Best of all was that I decided to not worry about pix and just really enjoy the show. At least 3 times Marty looked directly at me and sang and I looked right back at him. (Call of Distress, Ring of Fire were my fave eye contact moments). I seriously would have thought I was imagining it except that strangers were high-fiving me in congratulations.
The show was a blast and ended way too soon. Only 2 things disappointed me –the weirdness of fans stroking Marty’s leg during the show (come on, now, ladies, it’s uncomfortable for everyone to see), and fans calling Marty Marty Marty (not Hammers Hammers Hammers) after the show – it seems to me disrespectful of the other band members, especially after everyone whooped in agreement about the band being Lovehammers not MCLH when Marty talked about it earlier in the show.
Okay, after the show we didn’t stick around too long. Which means, in essence, that I STILL haven’t had my Marty pic/hug. But I did talk to Dino. I asked him to thank all his band mates for mentioning my daughter’s video in the Rain on the Brain contest and for awarding her a prize. He was so sweet and said, “Don’t thank us. She did all the work, we just liked the video! Please tell her thank you from us.”
Then of course, the usual post-concert magic happened. Girls with big hair and little dresses appeared from nowhere to hang all over our fave bass player who seemed to somehow have enough arms to hold them all at once. From now on I will refer to him as The Octopus.
A million thanks again to the Hammers for a fantastic show and to all the fans for being so cool. Can’t wait to see you all in October.

[chk]

I thank Dino for being cool to my daughter. He looks for those hot fangirls....



I finally get to hear Clouds live:



can't believe what's happened to you in 1 year.


Got a bomb in the belly as she carried me...




We control your radio

[lisafaith]

great review chk and loved your pics. your daughter is beautiful btw. loved-->big hair, little dresses=The Octopus!! LOL Thanks for mentioning the weirdness of groping, it is uncomfortable to watch. Rock on.

[Sharon (sdbrins)]

Hey chk *waves*

so great to meet you and to get a chance to chat it up a bit over dinner. you & hubby so sweet. the show was great, the guys were great, all in all a great night (my 2nd time) I agree thanks for mentioning the rubing Marty's legs during his performance. I actually saw him shove someone away. I was told he did that more than once. I could be wrong but I wonder if that affects whether he comes out into the audience, which he didn't or if he does encores, which he didn't.

Sorry JMO, nuf said.

luv ya chk. see you at HammerJam

Sharon

edited for grammar

[wendyc122]

"Got a bum in the belly as she carried me..." funny, I always heard "bomb in the belly" ... does anybody know?

Anyway, in retrospect, especially after the Toronto and Buffalo shows, I think the Canal Room itself was not the best venue. Really slick room, classy, upscale, but the stage was the size of a postage stamp and not high enough, which would partly explain the leg rubbing. Isn't it amazing that some people don't realize how dangerous that is, especially when there's already enough stuff on stage for Marty to trip over?

There also wasn't enough room for Marty to really move around and do his thing. No official m & g, either. We hung out downstairs by the bathrooms! And I heard that that band was hassled by Big Hair Girls when they tried to leave.

I hope all this doesn't turn them off to playing here again. I know Marty loves NY but I want the whole band to feel that way!

[Kari]

Wendy,

You can find the lyrics here.

www.lyricsmania.com

[ndavis021410]

Hey there my Chk....Now you know why I cried when I heard Clouds live....Just a magical song, with such strong meaning, and to hear it sound so perfect, strong, and LIVE was just TOO much for this old thang.....Thanks again for your Rockin' Review....Later Nancy

[longislandgrl70]

Never mind the leg rubbing onstage, when I went downstairs for an autograph, there were girls rubbing up against him! Needless to say, I got a quick siggy, and said Hello, and went to talk to Dino. I felt out of place to say the least.

[wendyc122]

It's too bad the NY groupies were out in full force for this show. It's not really suprising, since this city attracts a lot of wannabe's who crave attention. But how stupid is it to be grabbing Marty when he's on such a small stage covered with all sorts of stuff ... he already didn't have enough room to move around and couldn't get away from them even if he wanted to.

And then there was no encore, and no formal m&g, which was frustrating because there wasn't one after the Avery Fisher or CBGB's shows, either. Maybe it's the laws here.

Of the four shows I saw last week, this one was my least favorite. And this is my home town! I'd rather be in a grungy club with a good stage than this slick, trendoid bar that doesn't give the musicians enough room to do their thing. I hope their next experience here is better, mostly for their sake.

[longislandgrl70]

Well, I consider myself a "groupie" but I certainly wouldn't rub up on him LOL!! I guess since I am 36, and a mom of 2 little girls, I had to have some decency huh?
I agree, while the club was clean, and nice, I would prefer a dive bar, and some good conversation.
I of course would love for them to come to Long Island

doubt it would happen, but there are a few clubs they could perform in. Ahhhhh I can dream.

[beachgirl]

Wonderful reviews ladies! I love to hear every tiny little detail of what happens to everyone. It amazes me how not jaded they all are. Chk, great photo of the eye Marty gave you. Thanks everyone for sharing.

[rachael]

Thanks to everyone for sharing your experiences, reviews and pics! Love reading and seeing it all!

[ratdigger]

Actually, I was pretty impressed that alot of the women where well restrained about touching Marty. We were right next to the stage, and we had our hands out, but off just to keep him from falling. He fell once. And we were holding onto the speaker. I thought it was gonna fall on us. There were maybe one or two, who rubbed him, But I think the "no touch" post helped. Plus, Marty wasn't real touchy himself that night. He patted Hammerme's and someone elses heads, but he didn't really grab hands like CBGBS.
Does anyone know why they didn't do any encores that night? Theyve done them other places. Especially since it was a sold out show.

[ratdigger]

Marty in the shirt I got him


i45.photobucket.com/albums/f82/ratdigger/66d2798d.jpg
[/IMG]
the unsung hero

[ratdigger]

[lilucy]

Hey "ratdigger"!

Your photos are AWESOME!!!

OXO
Lucy