{"id":63,"date":"2008-07-20T15:14:56","date_gmt":"2008-07-20T19:14:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.elsweb.org\/nsftmfx\/?p=63"},"modified":"2023-08-27T07:06:10","modified_gmt":"2023-08-27T11:06:10","slug":"psalms-556","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.elsweb.org\/nsftmfx\/2008\/07\/20\/psalms-556\/","title":{"rendered":"Psalms 55:6"},"content":{"rendered":"

I said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Oh, that I had wings like a dove!
\nI would fly away and be at rest.”<\/em><\/p>\n

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As an addendum to my post on concerts<\/a>, I would like to announce here that I managed to catch none other than the Squirrel Nut Zippers<\/a> as they played a free show on the New Haven green last night. I found out about the show a couple weeks ago on the New Haven website, & it was a part of the city’s attempt at boosting their economy & improving the area in general. New Haven, you see, is a lot like DC – a couple incredibly nice areas surrounded by pockets of destitution & murder & places where you don’t want to step outside at night. (I, in fact, have followed this rule just a couple nights ago, when I realized I should go to CVS on the corner to buy some sugar, but thought harder about it & decided to just wait until morning. Silly of me? Hard to say unless you live here as well.)<\/p>\n

Anyway, the Zippers went through an incredibly messy break-up about 10 years ago, managing to release one more album<\/a> in 2000. Members sued the band for various rights & money & the joint-lead-singers Katharine Whalen & Jimbo Mathus went through a bad divorce when Jimbo left her for another woman. The band, apparently, is still in pretty bad debt, despite Jimbo’s solo efforts (of which, Songs for Rosetta<\/em> <\/a>is definitely worth picking up). Thus, they announced they were going to tour again last summer. So the band is a bit different this time around, but Jimbo & Katharine were still there, along with the original trumpeter & I believe the drummer as well. & even though this isn’t the ideal way to see a band – when they’re on a reunion tour to pay off their debts – it was a free show & it was a band I have been waiting more than half my life to see live. Needless to say, I was there on the lawn ninety minutes early, front & center.<\/p>\n

I will spare you every detail about the show, because reading about concerts is not fun unless you were there as well. But the band was very good, playing solidly for an hour & a half, & they still got it, no doubt. Whalen’s voice is a little deeper, much older, but whatever that’s what age does. Highlights: Whalen played the electric ukulele (one of my instruments of choice) on many songs, & Jimbo picked up a trombone out of nowhere for “Suits are Picking Up the Bill.”<\/a> Weird atmosphere, though; free lawn show, so it was a lot of moms & dads with lawn chairs just kind of sitting there drinking beer. I was one of the few people who was there for the band, not just the music (there is a difference! free shows attract people who just want something to do on a saturday night, & I do not blame them or squawk at them in any them. I myself have been in their position several times in my life. Oh, those many many days of Cajun festivals at Deer Trap with my mother…some good memories there). Anyway!<\/p>\n

The show ended with the band, in place of an encore, picking up various percussion instruments & Jimbo with a trombone & parading through the New Haven green, trudging through the crowd to a steady Sousa-like march. It was glorious, & made for some awesome pictures. Here, maybe I will try to include a couple.<\/p>\n

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I mostly just wanted to make this post, though, because I have just found a video of the Zippers on Sesame Street<\/a>, from who knows when. I suppose it must have been ’96-ish, when “Put a Lid On It” was released as a single. <\/p>\n