Ottawa Bluesfest!

The first set at Bluesfest (outdoors, on what I affectionately refer to as one of the "sunset stages") was really good, if maybe a little short (I'm not a big fan of the festival-length set - still better than no set though.) Mike pumped it out really hard. I always love to watch the fans in the making, the people being converted on-the-fly as it were. Happens everytime T1G plays, he makes believers out of everybody in the place. He was set up on a moving platform so no time was wasted between the act before him and his set, they just rolled his rig into place & off he went! Time management.. yeah baby!

The next day, indoors at the Barney Danson theatre, was THE best show I've ever seen him do (& this was my 11th or 12th time seeing him). Hands-down and without a doubt. He was on fire. The show went perfectly. One thing I noticed this time was that he was "jamming" on every single song. This has got to be the most perfect balance between written material and improv. Inside the confines of the song structure he's able to pretty much fill in the blanks any way he sees fit, and he does so with effortless abandon, I'll bet that most songs are almost never (exactly) the same thing twice. Lucky for us!

He did stuff that I've never seen him do before, and for me that's pretty damned amazing, I've seen him so many times now. Another thing I noticed this time (and maybe it's not "new") is that stuff was ringing out in stereo, gave a whole new feeling of movement to his stuff. One of the cool things I saw him do this show was while bowing the pipe he was sliding the notes "off" the top end of the pipe, very quickly, making a sort of slide-whistle kind of sound effect. Very cool. Several times my mouth was literally hanging open during this set, I was just in sheer awe that there were still tricks up his sleeves (no magic joke pun intended?) for us all to discover, from the newbies to the hard-core "rabid" fans like myself.

Another new thing this time was the appearance of a "line up" for the show... there was actually one guy in front of me already waiting when I got in line. "A more hard-core fan than ME? No way!!" I said, we got talking and he's another huge fan. Then the couple behind me in "line" (you know who you are, say Hi!) were also followers, I was stunned, people who'd actually seen Mike before and making their way back again like devoted fans. It did my heart good. This was also when I began to realize that Mike's fans are definitely of a higher caliber than most musicians, the people were/are SO NICE!

So now I'm trying to come up with an affectionate nickname for us, you know like "deadheads" that sort of thing, the real hard-core nut-jobs like myself who follow and are ever faithful... the "fanclub" as it were... help me out people, somebody's gotta have a really good idea, usually I'm really good at this sort of thing but for once I'm sort of at a loss. I've been thinking of a pied-piper sort of theme, we follow him like rats, that sort of thing. Now as much as I like the term RAT maybe some folks won't be so unoffendable like me. We follow him like rats, our pied piper. ? Whadaya think? Hot rats maybe? the Hot Rats or something like that? I dunno...

Anyways, I got a few choice videos of his performance this year (thank Jebus!) & I will up them & share just as soon as I can find a wee bit of time to convert them and upload them. Maybe tomorrow, it's my day off. *fingers X'd*

Once again, That 1 Guy has made my Summer completely incredible. Many thanks to Mike & Cherice for a wonderful and truly unforgettable experience. I will never forget that night. Ever.

Looking forward to Clarendon, we didn't know if we were going to be able to make it happen or not, but I think the kids would have murdered us in our sleep if we hadn't figured out a way for them to see their Uncle Mikey again this year. You'd better be coming along too Cherice.. no excuses!!! This will be a "working vacation" for you, sittin' round the campfire.. roasting marshmallows.. that sort of thing. Besides, you HAVE TO meet the kids.

I've got it!! "The Rat Pack!" What a great name for a fanclub!

smooches,
 » Phy³