Soulsavers Featuring Mark Lanegan
Friday, September 18, 2009
One Eyed Jack’s
New Orleans, LA
USA

Sony PCM-D50 (internal mics) > WAV > FLAC > Dime > You

01. Ask the Dust
02. Ghosts of You and Me
03. Some Misunderstanding
04. Jesus of Nothing
05. Death Bells
06. You Will Miss Me When I Burn
07. Paper Money
08. Kingdoms of Rain
09. Rolling Skies
10. Unbalanced Pieces
11. Jesus Just Left Chicago
12. Hit the City
13. By My Side
14. Revival

Total running time: 58 minutes (roughly)

Notes:
Left the recorder on the stage and got a pretty good recording as a result, methinks. I hate it when people say methinks. Incidentally, the band is selling a tour-only CD that was recorded live in ‘07 in Los Angeles for $10 at these shows—pick it up if you know what’s good for you.

This was kind of a magical night. I wanted to perform at a local open mic show at the only comedy club in town cos I have a crush on a fellow comic and wanted to show off in front of her—such an act would’ve jeopardized my chances of seeing and taping this show…long story short, the object of my desire didn’t even make it to the open mic (or at least I didn’t see her), but I was there with an ex-lady-partner anyway, so it’s probably for the best. Short story somewhat longer: I asked to go on first, did my thing and then hauled ass across town to get to the Soulsavers show, which had started an hour earlier than the open mic did (I wasn’t kidding when I said I was jeopardizing my chances of seeing and taping this show!). The doorman kinda knows me (he nicknamed me mack daddy for reasons unknown to me) and he also knows I am often late (I’ve missed many, many shows at One Eyed Jack’s due to my notorious tardiness), so he decided to have a little fun with me by saying I’d just missed the entire show. I nearly died. Thankfully, he broke character and informed me Soulsavers had yet to go on. Phew!

This show was sparsely attended, especially for a Friday night in the French Quarter. The only paying customers were a handful of goths…and the bassist for White Zombie! (I saw that bitch AGAIN the next morning while driving down Magazine, which leads me to believe she is stalking me. It could never work, baby girl, we’re from two different worlds!) Oddly enough, no Fat Greg Dulli (I was certain he would pop up, seeing as he owns a bar in the area). This is probably the understatement of the century, but I’ll say it anyway: Mark Lanegan is a total bad-ass. One of the highlights of my entire life was watching Lanegan wave off a guy who tried to give him a shot in-between songs—he was gracious yet unwavering. No words were exchanged as he politely declined that alcoholic beverage. Like a I said, a total bad-ass.

Walking down the block to meet my ex-lady-person after the show, I spied a street performer playing a very special song, one that brought a twinkle to my eye (the good one). I stopped to tape his impromptu performance, but my recording got marred by a couple who decided to have a convo with me right there on the sidewalk. Rats. My ex-lady sniff and I shared a Xanax, some booze (Sparks for me, High Life for her), some pizza and a hotel room at the end of the night, but we slept in separate beds and I was probably no good for anything at that point anyway, so nothing interesting happened. But don’t you worry, I did get to see her in her underwear once more and that was exciting. (Don’t you hate it when you break up with someone and then the person becomes, like, a thousand times more attractive and won’t have sex with you now that he/she is lookin’ his/her best?! Me too.)

Bonus material in this torrent includes a handful of crummy cell phone pics to give you a taste of what you would’ve seen had you been on a date with me and a brief recording of a guy pickin’ ‘n’ singin’ on the streets of the French Quarter after the Soulsavers had finished savin’ souls. Feel free to abstain from downloading these things. It won’t hurt my feelings. I don’t even have any feelings!!!

PLAY LOUD.

Don’t sell, don’t down-convert, don’t stop believing.

Recorded by Joseph Larkin.

joseph@josephlarkin.com
http://www.josephlarkin.com
http://www.also-ran.com