Once again, my best story from this show happened before it even started. The hidden gem of the Jefferson Theater is a tiny crepe shop around the back, next to the stage door. The place is little more than a shack with a take out window tucked next to the building, but, as we discovered it produces the most delicious, heavenly crepes I have ever tasted. We had heard rumor of the crepes before we even arrived at the theater. By this point our group had swelled to include Becky and Ryan, bringing our total to eight and we made a merry little crew, hanging out under the awning of the theater all afternoon.
About mid-afternoon, Becky, Heather and I headed down the street in search of crepes. Unfortunately, we timed our trip badly, and arrived at the corner of the back of the venue at the exact moment the Johns and Marty were returning from a radio appearance. They were all hopping out of an SUV right on the corner. We jumped back and attempted to hide around the corner until they had gone inside. However, we discovered that when attempting to conceal your presence, it is best not to hide behind a plate glass window. Apparently, we all failed to notice that the "wall" we were attempting to hide behind was, in fact, a window, that wrapped all the way around the building. Doh! A minute or so later, Flansburgh appears around the corner and gives us a knowing look. "Hello, ladies," he said, in a tone that clearly implied "I've known you were standing there the whole time and I am quite amused by your futile attempt to hide." "We're looking for crepes!' said Heather, attempting to justify our presence. Flans just smiled and kept on walking up the sidewalk. And thus the #crepesnotcreeps hashtag was born for weeks of humor afterward.
The fun didn't stop there though. We found the crepe place and ordered our tasty treats. And then had to wait for them to be ready for several minutes. Meanwhile, it was clear that we had chosen the exact moment to get crepes that the entire band was reporting to the theater for soundcheck. Marty walked back past us collecting the rest of his drum equipment that he had taken with him from the curb. Pretty much all the crew filed past us going back and forth from the venue to the bus. Danny appeared wheeling a large red suitcase to stow away under the bus. Dan showed up and I rather stupidly told him that I needed his autograph on my Join Us vinyl I has gotten the previous evening. But which I did not have with me, so I am not sure what the point was of me declaring this fact. He was nice enough about it and told me he's do it the next time he saw me. Maybe I don't actually sound as stupid as I think I sound when I say things to the guys, and they aren't really secretly thinking what an idiot I am. But it sure is easy to convince myself that later, when I am re-thinking the drivel that has nervously poured out of my mouth. Anyway, regardless of the embarrassment caused by our timing, the crepes were delicious (I think I got a peanut butter and jelly one if memory serves) and it certainly made for a good story.
I'll also tell this other story, just for Becky since she enjoyed it so much, even though I wasn't planning on it. There was a little restaurant next to the theater. A Mexican place I think. And the person working there was very nice about letting us use the bathroom. Well, I went in at one point and the bathroom was occupied. So the proprietor directed me through the connecting door into the theater to use the bathroom in the lobby. Which I did. But then I couldn't back into the restaurant and I had to exit the theater through the front door where all my friends were waiting. Meanwhile, they were watching me walk out and had all these crazy theories about how I had gotten inside the venue. I think they expected some awesome tale about how I had snuck in or been invited in by one of the guys or something. Sadly, no, I was just using the bathroom. I swear!
A kindly venue employee came out and gave us all posters for the show to keep as souvenirs while we were waiting outside. Mine is currently decorating my bedroom door. We could vaguely hear the soundcheck through the walls while we ate our crepes. If the weather had been a little nicer, it would have been a perfectly lovely afternoon. As it was, it was pretty damn good.
This was Jonathan Coulton's final show on this leg of the tour, as he needed to go home to prepare for his cruise. He finished the run with a very solid set and gave Heather an Artificial Heart record to match mine.
JoCo setlist: Code Monkey - Sticking It To Myself - Mandelbrot Set - Good Morning Tucson - Still Alive - Je Suis Rick Springfield - Shop Vac - Re: Your Brains - I Feel Fantastic
TMBG setlist: Charlottesville - When Will You Die - Celebration - Birdhouse In Your Soul - Judy Is Your Viet Nam - Damn Good Times - Never Knew Love - The Guitar - Battle for the Planet of the Apes - Old Pine Box - Cowtown - Snowball in Hell - Mr. Me - Ana Ng - S-E-X-X-Y - Careful What You Pack - Pandor Jingle - Paranoid - Spoiler Alert - Cloisonné - Withered Hope - We Live In A Dump - James K. Polk - The Mesoptamians - Fingertips Encore - How Can I Sing Like A Girl? - Can't Keep Johnny Down Encore 2 - Where Your Eyes Don't Go - Istanbul
I always think it is a tiny bit odd when they do a Venue Song for the right city but in a different venue. But I suppose it is excusable in this case, as the Starr Hill Music Hall is no longer in operation (or not as a music hall anyway). Regardless, it is an excellent excuse for Linnell to use his faux country accent. Also it was written on the setlist as "Starlight." Heehee.
Linnell on Dan Miller after his solo at the end of Damn Good Times: "He's filled with rage."
Flansburgh: "Holy shit."
Linnell: "I don't know what somebody did to him, but he's mad." (Meanwhile, Dan just laughs.)
Flansburgh seemed to really like the venue. He remarked on its positive qualities several times. And he also noted the crepe place, where the band had apparently gotten crepes as well. The Johns also noted how much nice the Jefferson was than Trax, the venue where they used to play in the area.
Flans: "A lot of people have fond memories of Trax. We just have...memories."
Flans described standing on stage next to a circuit board where the circuits were duct taped on and the exit door behind him was locked. "Good times. The 'x' in Trax was for get out of here."
Flans dedicated Never Knew Love to all the guys who were just finding out that Valentine's Day was two days ago. "Truth burn. With some calendar sauce on it. Throwing some calendar sauce on the truth burn. The cruelest sauce of all."
I only vaguely remember the Avatar segment in Snowball in Hell that someone on the wiki mentioned as a highlight. Much of it was the same, but I do remember Paul telling Blue that he couldn't see him through the window when he got up to make a sandwich and he wanted to cut open his stomach so he could eat the sandwich. The puppets are getting violent!
One of the highlights of the primary Avatar appearance was the appearance of the US Supreme Court (via a cut-out picture of the court stuck to a stick). The eyes on all the members were blacked out. They informed the Avatars that they had found their supply of Pandor in the green room and had taken all of it. This was giving them a very bad trip and claimed they were vomiting from their eyeballs. The Avatars told them they needed to go lie down. The other highlight, for me anyway, was Blue's impression of Arsenio Hall, using Flans' other hand.
This tidbit might not make sense if you never read my recap of the show in Cleveland in '2011 but I do believe there was another sustain pedal incident at this show. I believe I recall Ryan filling the role of handing Dan the cable for the sustain pedal this time around, probably for Cowtown. He can probably correct me if I am wrong. But it amuses me that they keep forgetting to plug that thing in.
By this point in the tour the 123 band intro had evolved into less of an introduction and more an opportunity to feature each member of the band. They didn't actually introduce any of the members, just took turns playing a little solo bit. Dan's was especially entertaining. He played this squealing noise on his guitar and pointed his finger up and down as he adjusted the tone up and down. I have a great series of pictures of this that look like a flip book if you look at them quickly in succession. The other guys in the band were pretty entertained by his antics too.
Sadly, I don't remember anything else of this one. I do remember thinking afterward that is was a really, really good show so I must be forgetting a ton of stuff. Perhaps I should look into hypnosis to retrieve those memories.
Post script: sometimes I go to add the pictures into a recap when I am done writing and discover I have left myself some helpful note in the description of a picture. I was attempting to frame the following shot, when Flans started to walk away. Then, and I swear this is what appeared to happen though I suppose it could have been a coincidence, he noticed that I hadn't gotten the picture and went back to his previous pose with Dan until I got it. Thanks Flans!
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