Song of the Day - Day 488

Today's song is...


Albany


Awww, my very first venue song venue. Such fond memories. The Egg isn't just a venue, it's an experience. As you drive into Albany, you turn a corner and there in front of you, a space ship has landed in the middle of the city and been incorporated into the architecture. Or at least that is what it looks like. But don't get distracted and miss the entrance because you'll have to completely exit the city before you get another pass at it. Play your cards right and the bored attendants in the parking garage might mistake you for road crew and give you free parking passes. Your journey into The Egg begins in a spacious lobby, where an early arrival might grant you a glimpse of a whistling John Flansburgh in an orange pea coat carrying far too much gear. You ascend into the body in an elevator, much like I imagine the experience of riding up the launch tower to reach the space shuttle must be like. Except on this launch tower, if you get out at ground level, you might be confronted with Dan Miller talking on his cell phone by the door leading out into a courtyard of contemporary architecture and sculpture. If you venture out past the courtyard you will find that the city of Albany is completely deserted for a mile around on the weekend and a mere slice of pizza involves a strenuous uphill hike. And when you eventually return to continue your ascent into the futuristic orb, if you are really having a good day, the elevator door will mistakenly open a floor too early during your ascent, right onto the green room, where Ralph Carney will wave cheerfully at you as if nothing were amiss, and Danny Weinkauf will stare at you wide eyed with surprise and with a face full of Pad Thai, before the doors close on you once more and allow you to complete your journey. The lobby is a velvet lined, inward curving lounge that would not seem out of place in 1974. And all of this hides a stage with some of the most fantastic acoustics you'll find in the eastern United States.

And I really feel like the song somehow encompasses all of these features. Include the WTF factor that is ever present at The Egg. There is something utterly confusing about this venue which I feel Flansburgh captured flawlessly in the song. It isn't even my favorite venue song, but it has so much sentimental value, it will always hold a special place in my heart.