Re: Albany August 1st

[bobocap]

What a great show this was! Let me tell you about my night. I went to the show with a group of friends, some fans, some coming along to see what I have been talking about for all of these years. We arrive at Valentines and one of my friends points to someone in the crowd and sure enough, it’s J! So I approach him and introduce myself and ask permission to have my picture taken with him. J says that’s fine and my wife takes a couple of photos. One of my joker pals is getting a kick out of seeing me so excited that he gets behind J and does rabbit ears over J’s head! Very amusing.

J goes off into the back for a while and returns with a backback on and goes onto the stage. J then proceeded to set up his own equipment, you know, the pedals and all. He sits down on what look likes someones old kitchen chair and he takes a stuffed monkey out of the backpack and rests that down on the floor next to him. He tunes his guitar and the show begins.

The setting was perfect. Valentines is a small club with an easily accessible bar and the sound was awesome. J’s set rocked! My favorites were Little Fury Things, Waistin and Repulsion. This was my second time seeing him. Both were great, but seeing him in such an intimate setting made it that much better. I took a few more pictures during the show and I dropped my camera and the back opened up. I picked it up, closed it and it rewinded back to frame 1. I kept my fingers crossed that some of the pictures would come out.

After J’s set concluded one of my friends who had a seat on the side of the stage was going to grab the set list that J had on the floor, but either J took it or someone else grabbed it. So she goes up and takes his water bottle, puts the cap on it and hands that to me. A funny keepsake from the show. I stuck around for a while and talked to people for a bit and then we decided to go. We walk outside and J is standing out in front talking to a group of people. Once again I approached him. I told him that it was a great show and he was very cordial. I am a golfer and I know that J is too, so I asked him if he has been golfing much. He told me that he has played a bit this year and the next day he was going to Brattleboro (which is in Vermont) to play. We talked about what kind of clubs he uses and how good he really is. I asked him if he was planning a tour with the Fog in support of the new release and he said he didn’t know yet.

Well I had the film developed and luck was with me that night because some of my pictures did turn out okay. I had a couple of enlargements made and J’s picture now graces the wall of my downstairs family room.