Kathleen Edwards at The Village in Dublin

by Michael S. Kaplan, published on 2005/11/18 03:31 -05:00, original URI: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/michkap/archive/2005/11/18/494195.aspx

As much as I hate to quote Eric Cartman -- this show kicked ass. :-)

The venue did unfortunately have no elevator. Their workaround? Four bouncers literally lifted me and the scooter in one package up the flight of stairs. Cool!

I decided early on that I would be up near the front, to the right. The reason is that this is where Colin alway stands, and watching his fingers during some of these songs is just mesmerizing.

Anyway, Joel Plaskett opens up for Kathleen and does a cool set. I have never heard his voice before yet it seemed vaguely familiar?

Kathleen comes on and the house is full, or it seemed like it at least. They did an awesome set with songs from both Failer and Back To Me. I realized that I had never seen her do a live non-acoustic show, and I have to say it was a great experience. Colin especially but the other guitars too, it was simply phenomenal.

The crowd kept inching up closer, so I did too. Finally at one point the scooter started beeping (I hate when that happens!). She joked about someone needing to go back to work, but then when she looked and saw who it was she just laughed and said never mind. It is always nice to be remembered. :-)

After the show I bought another copy of Back To Me and asked Kathleen to sign it for a friend (Cathy). I told her a bit about Cathy and she then wrote a note to her that I am not supposed to read. This should be interesting when I am back in town....

Now there is no real way for me to get to Edinburgh or Glasgow for her next two shows or I would try, they are definitely worth seeing.

Ah well, I will catch her next time she is in Seattle.

But a worthy first night experience in Dublin....

If you have a chance to see her, either acoustic or with the full band, I highly recommend it.

# Eric Lippert on 18 Nov 2005 2:15 PM:

A friend of mine just turned me on to Kathleen Edwards yesterday. I'm not enough of a musicologist to put my finger on what exactly it is, but she has a very classic northern-ontario sound. Definately I'll check her out next time she's in town.

# Michael Dunn_ on 20 Nov 2005 12:51 AM:

Four guys carring you up the stairs must have been quite the sight ;)

It's funny how some things in other countries look out-of-place. When I was in Denmark, I noticed right away that a lot of shops had steps at the entrance and no wheelchair ramp. Someone in a wheelchair would have no way at all of getting inside. I noted this to my friend that I was visiting, and he'd never thought about it; I had to explain what I meant by wheelchair access.

# Michael S. Kaplan on 20 Nov 2005 5:14 AM:

Hi Mike --

Yep, the USA is very far ahead of a lot of other countries in this regard (Japan is woefully far behind, for example). Europe is getting better but there is not a whole lot of retrofitting going on, since there is no ADA around to enforce it happening....

# Michael S. Kaplan on 20 Nov 2005 5:41 AM:

I hear you, Eric. I actually did look into flights to Glasgow and Edinburgh but there was nothing that would not either cost 300-400 Euro or route me through Heathrow and take eight hours for a 40 minute flight. I decided that there were times that common sense had to prevail....

So I'll be waiting for her to hit Seattle again, too. :-)

Someone even took a picture with her holding the CD, I will post it after I get home (I did not bring the cable to get stuff off the camera).

# Miles on 20 Nov 2005 7:51 PM:

I was at the show at the Village, at the front near you. I heard what she said to you from the stage. I also heard some of the conversation after the show while I was waiting for an autograph. I have one question for you. Can you do a blog about how to meet musicians socially?

# Michael S. Kaplan on 21 Nov 2005 5:00 AM:

Hello Miles,

Hmmm.... all she said from the stage was something like "its you! how did you...?" (I am pretty sure she was wondering how I made it upstairs!).

Later on we were chatting but she was chatting and friendly with everyone. You said you got an autograph, you could talk to her too. :-)

I can't really do a blog entry about how to meet musicians socially because it has been a while since I have actually met one socially where it was not an accident! Generally I meet them (when I do) at concerts and thus I am classed as a "fan" which is fine but socially I think they are looking for friends, not fans.

The only other level I know of is when you are doing work for them like street team type stuff or web site work, and that is usually done through mangement; they may never even hear about it! Definitely not a social thing....

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