FraKctured

November 23, 2000, Thursday, Thanksgiving Day -- Metropolis / Montreal,
CanadaI was so happy, back about two months ago when I looked through our
itinerary, to see that we would not be in the United States on Thanksgiving
Day. For me that is the saddest day of the year to be on the road.
Thanksgiving is THE best holiday in my book. It is purely about being with
family and friends. When I lived in New York City we used round up all the
stragglers who had no where else to go for Thanksgiving dinner. It was
always one of the best days of the year. Good food, good wine, great
conversation with old friends and deeper connections with new friends. And
then.... Pictionary or Poker. Yes, I will kick your swarthy arse, matey!

So, to see that we were going to be in Canada made my little heart feel a
bit more comfort. I have spent Thanksgiving in the past in too many crummy
little diners by myself while the whole city, around me, is with their
families. Ugh, it is awful. But, Canadian Thanksgiving was a month ago, so
it will just be a normal day in Montreal.

Well, a normal day for me is hardly a normal day for most people. I will be
on-stage with the Mighty Crimson tonight. And you, my friend.... well, I
don't know where you will be. But, about 1500 of you will be on the other
side of the stage from me.

Let's doooooo eeeeeeeeet!---------------------hmmmmmmmm.....

Good show -- Bad Show. I couldn't really say. In some ways
it was very good show. In other ways it was one of our worst. Right when we
walked on, some drunk jerk through his beer cup on to the stage. Not a very
omen, is it? We kicked into Larks' and knocked everyone of the floor. The
house was rocking and we were kicking it out.

Things were progressing nicely until we hit one of the Vector segments.
These are our transition segments -- a clearing of the air, to set up the
next power hit. However, tonight we completely lost the audience during the
second Vector segment. And I mean completely. NO ONE was with us. And
eventually WE weren't even with us anymore. This is a very hard place to
recover from. I can't remember what piece came next. I think it might have
been Vrooom. But, it was horribly flat. I mean EMPTY, EMPTY, EMPTY. Oh God,
is that depressing? To be only sixty seconds into a piece and knowing that
there is no hope of it coming to life. That's not to say that it didn't
sound great. I'm sure we did sound great. And I think the audience still
enjoyed it. But, it certainly had none of the characteristics in it that
make me want to play music.

On a more upbeat note: We often notice the air drummers and air guitarists
in the show. We don't always have these particular types of enthusiastic
fans, but often we do. And when we do they generally....uuuhhhhh.... make
their presence known. (Am I being discreet enough here?) However, tonight
there was really quite something else going on. There was this young man
who was air-playing along with me in The ConstruKction of Light, and he
completely nailed one of the more difficult parts right with me. It was in
the interlocking guitars section (uhhh... I just realized that says
nothing, because the whole piece is based on interlocking guitar parts.
doh!) Well, it is in the 'more discipline era' sounding section (let's call
it the twinkly guitar section where Adrian and Robert are each playing in
different time signatures on top of each other instead of alternating the
notes between themselves. Am I getting clearer here, yet? let me just carry
on.) It begins with C#shots and then we kick into the C# section. Then we
have shots in E and an E section. Then we modulate to G minor. At this
point Robert and Adrian are in a... oh hell... I have no idea what time
signature they are in. But Pat and I move to 11/8 meter. We play two big
phrases in 11 and then we hit these wicked stabs. Then back to another big
phrase and another series of stabs. The stabs stay in 11 grouped in 3+3+5,
but the bass and bass drum hit on the last slot of each of these groupings.
(Am I making any sense here?) So you have: dee-dee-bomp, dee-dee-bomp,
dee-dee-dee-dee-bomp / dee-dee-bomp, dee-dee-bomp, dee-dee-dee-dee-
'space'. ('bomp' being the hits.) ANYWAY..... it's fairly obtuse, yet this
guy totally nailed it. I mean he was right there. Quite astounding.

But, a sad end to the night. Several flashes went off in the encores and I
even saw a guy with a really nice Hasselblad camera take some pictures. He
saw that I saw him and he instantly gave off the 'guilty vibe.' But did
that stop him? No, he had to take another shot. After the second encore
Robert left and went down to the dressing room. He was done. And we still
had three more piece that we wanted to play. Plus, the crowd was going
crazy. Eventually went sent Laurie down to get him -- outvoted, on this
one, I'm afraid. We only played one more piece and there was no hope of it
having any presence. But, at least we appeared to make the effort.

I think all in all it was a good show. I spoke to several reliable sources
who said that the show was outstanding. Soooooo.... sooooooo.... so what?
Nothing I suppose. Just a sad ending to the night.