This was so neat! It was like having them play in your living room! The photos will show how small the place was. The seating area was about 6 chairs wide, with an aisle down the middle. The stage area was just another part of the room, and at the same level. Poor Bobby was stuck in the drum room, though. This being a recording studio, think glassed-in room, just like you see on TV when they show recording studios. On the right of the seating area was the glassed-in control room, with the HUGE mixing boards and other goodies. At the far back of the seating area was an open area with munchies and drinks for the guests at this little party.
All the musicians were really enjoyable.
Jen Porter--her voice made me think "Melissa Etheridge with a piano".
She told a joke that brought the house down, too. She wanted us all to join her in a toast. It went like this: "Let's drink to the birds that bring babies. To the stork, who brings the good babies. To the raven, who brings the bad babies. And to the swallow, who brings no babies at all." ;D
Scottish MacMillan--amazing stuff on the guitar. He was using one acoustic guitar to make not only normal guitar sounds, but also bass and percussion sounds. Plus he sang a song about writing a song, and it was hilarious! (Note to JD Fortune--a song about writing a song CAN BE FANTASTIC!) Scottish lampooned every songwriting cliche there is, and had the place in stitches!!!
Sarah Potenza (I hope I spelled that right)--BIG voice, and so soulful. I would love to hear her play in a jazz club late at night. I liked her stories about starting her band.
They had question and answer sessions with all the musicians that were quite interesting.
Finally there was this comedy troop called Lovehammers. :wink:
They had the place up for grabs with their patented Chicago-boys-bustin'-on-each-other routine, and nothing amongst the 4 of them was sacred.
Dino was saying that he couldn't do something because he couldn't feel half his left hand, and the others completely razzed him over that. Marty said, "Yeah, any time that Dino doesn't want to do something, it's "Oh, my hand, my hand!"" Someone said, "He'll be lying in the gutter drunk, but HEY, he can't feel his hand! Can't feel anything else, either!" (Hysterical laughter from all band members) Marty said, "I think you're getting a feel for the real dynamics of this band!" Their friend from Blackmaker was there, and when Dino credited him with making him (Dino) want to play in a band, their friend ran onstage and gave a graphic mock-demonstration of an act that would probably actually have traumatized poor young Dino for life, not make him want to play in a band! It can't be described outside of the Tunnel (other than--what is Dino's favorite phrase?), but let's just say that shrieks of laughter ensued, and then I really did feel like I was at the funniest party I'd ever been to! (Too bad we don't have a 'laughed until I cried' icon!)
Oh yeah, this comedy troop also had instruments, and played, oh, 3 or 4 songs..........
times 2 or 3! :shock: 8)
Trying to remember them all, and this is not in order:
Clouds, Hold On, Trees, SAAA, Velvet (Marty started to sing the 'forbidden verse', then changed it on the second line to the tame version), Eyes Can't See, Yes It Do, at least one or 2 more that I can't remember at the moment, and ALL OF DRIVING BLIND!!!!! Oh holy crap, that is one great song!!!!!!! It starts out quiet and mellow, then it just builds and builds! I had a HUGE grin on my face by the second half of the song--they are really taking it up several notches with this one, and I was so proud of them. If you think Clouds does this, just wait until you hear this one!!!
They sounded so good, and were clearly having a great time!
Oh, and Marty had some interesting news for us. He said, "We're pretty excited, because Dino kissed some major ass at Summerfest, and it looks like we might be going out on tour with Collective Soul!" WOOOHOOOOO!!!!!
Time for these guys to be hammering the world live again!
After the show, Marty and Billy left right away, but Bobby and Dino hung around to talk to the crowd and help us all kill the rest of the Heineken. :wink: I got to talk to a lot of Hammerheads, as well as folks who were there for the other musicians. I hated for the evening to end, but we had to get on the road and drive into Wisconsin yet that night. At least the traffic wasn't bad at that hour!
Not sure how my photos will come out. I had to shoot most of them with the flash off, because of their house rules. When Marty went into the crowd during SAAA, though, it seemed like everyone in their turned their flashes on and went for it. So I gave it a try towards the end of the show. I won't have them until the middle of next week, though.
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HY wonderful pics and Stephanie your friend Susie took some wonderful pics too!!
LOVEEEE the video of LH doing "Eyes Can't See"!! Thanks for sharing it with us! And of course i love all the pics 
and great reviews as well. take care all!
