Jolie Holland is my queen
Saturday July 31, 2004 – 10:57 pmOkay guys and gals. I feel bad for everybody who missed that show, ‘cuz it was incredible. To you, and you, and you, and you and you and you and you and you, and all of y’all (y’all know who you are), I am sorry y’all couldn’t go but now I’m kinda glad I didn’t take you. Because I wasn’t there to chit-chat or to make time with anybody, I had no agenda but to sit there and hear every single note with no distractions. I didn’t know a soul and nobody knew me — except Bruce, the owner of the Empty Bottle who sponsored the show, and this one nice kid who said hi. But as it turned out it was a real good thing I went by myself ‘cuz I had ‘er all to myself, heheh. Well, me and about I’d say maybe 100, 150 other people at most. They didn’t sell out, it was comfortable. Nobody talked, everybody listened, it was a beautiful thing.
I had the perfect view amongst the cross-legged sitters in front of the stage. And she was magnificent. Best singer living today in my opinion, I shit you not. At least if you’re into that kind of thing, which I really am. I’m not denigrating Kelly or Gillian or Lucinda or any other fantastic singer, I just think Jolie has the greatest voice I’ve ever heard. I’m not drunk either, I only had one beer, ha ha!! Her voice, oh my fucking god… warm, supple, wringin’ out emotion with every word. Perfect pitch, lovely little curlicues. The band was perfect too, just a drummer and another guitarist with a hollowbody electric just like mine, but it was an Epiphone.
Okay, I gotta stop using the word "perfect" ‘cuz she’s only human… she was fuckin’ up a little here and there, just like I do, just like we all do. Stopped a couple of songs ‘cuz she couldn’t remember the words or whatever… but who cares, it didn’t matter one bit. Oh my god. Her songs too… oh god. What an inspiration. I want to cry, I love her so much. It’s got nothin’ to do with me, with my music… I like my own music too, can’t help that! And it’s not like I could be anything like that even if I tried, I can only be like myself. But still… she’s an inspiration to me. I will love her forever. That is all.
Oh yeah, I did get to meet her afterwards, she’s a sweetie. She tried to get me to go to some after-show party where she said they were gonna play some music and shoot the shit, but at that point I was kinda tired and wanted to just go home and you know, try to digest what I’d just heard. So I thanked her, told her how much I loved it… not nearly as profusely as I’m doing now because I didn’t want to freak her out, you know? hee hee. But yeah, that’s the shit man. That is the SHIT. Go buy her 2 albums please. Go see her play and if you think I’m wrong, you don’t have to believe anything else I say, okay? I bought both CDs tonight (always best to buy them in person don’tcha think?) so now I have ‘em all. And now I’m officially BROKE AS FUCK so it’ll be no more goin’ out for the next month, no more five-dollar beers, it’s gonna be peanut butter sandwiches and pickle slices and drinkin’ lots of iced tea and water instead of cokes. But I don’t care!! It was so very worth it. Um, I did kinda have to eat that extra ten bucks I spent on the ticket… the guy at the door wouldn’t give me my money back and wouldn’t let me give the ticket away, the fucker. I asked him pretty-please could I donate it to the next person who walked in the door? And he said "I’m sorry, I’m afraid I can’t letcha do that." Eh. Whatever, she got my money and that’s all that matters to me. Man, I sure hope she had a piece of the door and I hope she went over her guarantee, but I kinda doubt it judging by how NOT-sold-out it was.
Anyway… I got a couple of pictures, I hope they turned out. I’m gonna get them posted here in a little bit if they did, and then shut this baby down and do whatever it is that I do when I’m all alone and thinking about great music. GodDAMMIT, she was so fucking good!!!!!!







August 1st, 2004 at 9:13 am
so glad you went to see her!! i caught her a few months ago — more out of curiosity than anything, because i hadn’t heard her record yet — and she blew me away! the records are excellent in their own right, but there’s something really great about the way her voice carries live. we went to school together in houston and she was probably the first real, true, capital A Artist i ever met — nobody really knew what to think of her then, but it’s so cool to see her doing well and obviously enjoying herself these days!
August 1st, 2004 at 12:17 pm
Isn’t she dreamy? What a strange venue, though. Sitting next to the sound board, I could hear every time some guy peed in the bathroom. How lovely! I didn’t have a clue what she looked like and before the show I kept seeing this woman wherever I went. After jogging back from Tuman’s (must have a real beer), I went to get ear plugs from my car and this woman was on her cell standing next to it. Going up to the gallery and the same woman is ahead of me. Oh well, I guess my one talent is creeping out women singers (see Hogan, Case, etc).
She was wonderful, though I always wonder on nights like this, where the hell is the rest of the world…listening to Shania?
Off topic…Will you ever get down to the Bottle to sing with the Hoyle Bros on Sinner’s Hangover Sunday?
August 1st, 2004 at 12:32 pm
What the… HOW COME YOU DIDN’T SAY HI? Did you spot me? You gotta say hi, dude. I was all terrified when I got there ‘cuz I didn’t know anybody. The opening band was… well, good but very loud and I was unprepared for that so I went into the smoking room for the duration of their set. When they stopped, I found a spot to sit and that’s when I relaxed and started enjoying myself. At that point I wouldn’t have wanted to talk to anybody, but before and after, definitely yes.
If you don’t say hi the next time, and I find out about it, I will tease you even more than I’m doing now. :-P
August 1st, 2004 at 12:35 pm
Oh yeah, the Hoyles. See… they never got back with me. I tried, I gave them the list and they never wrote back. I asked Ryan about it, he talked to them and they apologized (to him) and said they were really busy and they were sorry, they’d get back to me for sure. But they never did. I’ve already sent 2 e-mails, I don’t wanna push it any more than I already have by writing about it here and stuff. (I say that as I write about it here and stuff, ha ha…)
August 1st, 2004 at 1:11 pm
I saw you come in and get a PBR as I was getting my last for the night (the dork in the Jesse Sykes shirt). Sorry to hear that you ate the other ticket. Seeing that you were alone, I was too afraid to accost you. I’ll know better next time and the 1st (last?) one’s on me.
August 1st, 2004 at 1:38 pm
I didn’t notice any dorks in any Jesse Sykes shirts, ha ha. But I wasn’t really looking too much at people anyhow, I get shy about staring. I WAS digging the group of guys in the 50s outfits though, weren’t they pretty groovy? Oh, they were dressing up in their cat clothes, and it’s a little bit funny when people do that, but… I still kinda dig it. The "nice kid" that I mentioned was one of those guys.
August 5th, 2004 at 11:29 am
Upon coming down from that high, the utter deliciousness that was that show, I have to amend my statement a little. It’s a bit ridiculous to say that one person, no matter who other than the Christ Himself, ha ha… is "THE BEST EVER EVER EVER!!" I love so much music, there are aspects that just kill me, in the voices and songs of too, too many musicians to be able to make a hard’n'fast declaration like that. Let’s put it this way: I was more blown away by that show than I have been with any other in recent memory. Jolie is something super special, she’s among the greatest I’ve ever heard for what she does — which is a very specific flavor of country-blues material. I like LOTS of music, not just country-blues. I do adore Jolie’s stuff, she is really really amazing and she *is* my favorite artist at this moment in time, that’s no lie. Nice girl too! I hope she gets all the laurels she deserves.
August 17th, 2004 at 9:06 am
Just bought a ticket to the 10/8 Jolie show from Schubas’ website (probably just went on sale).
August 17th, 2004 at 9:21 am
OK, me too. ONE TICKET this time. Heh.