Cleveland 7/21

Cleveland: Beachland Ballroom

I’ve played here before. It’s an old social hall with a bar in one room, an auditorium in one room and a separate venue in another room. Downstairs is a vintage store. It’s a great place.

On almost every tour I can think of there at least one time when I will drop too much money at a music store. I just got a record player and only have Alice Cooper Live at my place in Brooklyn. The rest are in Kentucky. So, to bolster my collection I bought:

Bruce Springsteen The River – In the movie, Copland, Sylvester Stallone comes home after a shit day of work being a pushed-around sheriff. He lies on the couch and listens to this record.

Paul Williams Just An Old Fashioned Love Song – I wanted to hear Lucky Old Sun on vinyl. He wrote the Muppet Movie songs.

Harry Nillsson A Little Touch of Schmillson in the Night – A fellow came up to me after the show and told me I reminded him of the English Music Hall genre. Coincidentally, the cover songs on this album may be in that genre.

Def Leppard Pyromania – One of the perfect albums. I should have it on vinyl.

Beatles Sgt Pepper – Another perfect album. Same reason.

Keith Emerson Nighthawks Soundtrack – I like Emerson, Lake, and Palmer and Powell. And Stallone.

ELO El Dorado – I love ELO.

I ate at the diner on the corner. I had a potato/pork strudel slice and dumplings. Real good.

Next door, my friend was playing. He was in the Polyphonic Spree with me. Real nice fellow. Dan. He was playing with another Spree member, Annie. I wasn’t in the band when she was. She’s got a wonderful voice. She’d bought the Wizard of Oz on vinyl downstairs. I bought her cd. It’s really good. She’s real nice. Her band is called St. Vincent. You should see them sometime.

I had cut my set to 30 minutes the night before. Flans wanted me to do forty-five or at least go on later because the gap between me and them was too long. As an opener, I was wary of going on 45 minutes. I thought the 30 minutes was a decent amount of time. So, this night I would extend my set a little longer and also go on later so that I could make the 10:15 mark. Doors were at 8 and I was to go on at 9:30. I was anxious. Very anxious. It was hard to wait. I went on stage at 9:36. I added Angel to the set. Didn’t really want to. I felt I had crafted the perfect opening set and Angel would taint it. It was a poor decision. Last minute anxious decisions usually are.

It was a pretty good set. A couple of hecklers. I didn’t mind. Some of the people had been standing for an hour and a half already. It sucks to stand that long. Most were very gracious and patient and polite. My accordion went out a couple of times. I think it went out almost completely at the end of the set. The cord was messed up. I’m glad it wasn’t my accordion. I took a picture of the crowd from the stage at the end and my batteries fell out. I pretended it worked.

I can’t drink before I play so right after I got a Shiner Bock. My favorite beer. There’s a bbq place in NYC that Smokey-and-the –Bandit-ed some Shiner. It’s probably gone now.

The Giants went on and the power went out after their first song. So precise with the end of the song it looked staged. Again, Giants fans are real nice and dealt with it. Some were angry. I saw them. John and John are brilliant showmen and came out and did an acoustic set. Meanwhile, the house was scrambling to find a fuse. Some people left. Most waited and it was worth the wait. They put on a fantastic show. True showtime heroes are TMBG. I got to play Particle Man again. I had a late dinner and washed my dishes. It sucks to be in food service and then be done and then have to wash more.

It was a great crowd. Old as eighty, young as five. All having a good time. I like Cleveland. A lot.