Subject: [hix] Toronto Show Report
Date: Sun, 30 Jul 2000 18:54:57 -0000
From: Jerry Gerard
To: hix@egroups.com

At long last I finally had a chance to see The Man live for the first time last night at the Silver Dollar Room in Toronto.

Any reviews I have read on the Hixlist emphasized his banter with the crowd but nothing could do justice to experiencing this in person.  As great as his music is, Dan is one funny guy.

The show was scheduled to start at 10:00 so my friend and I showed up at 8:00 just to make sure of a good seat and got a nice bonus of catching Dan and Tom Mitchell doing a couple of songs as a sound check.

After the sound check, I went up to Dan and asked him to "Do the fan thing" and autograph my copy of the Japanese import of "It Happened One Bite".  He turned to Tom and said, "What do we charge for autographs?  A buck fifty isn't it?"  He said he hadn't seen the full booklet with all the Japanese lyrics before.  I suggested that he could sign it in Japanese.  When he pointed out that his signature was already on the album cover, I suggested that maybe ditto marks would do.  He didn't really seem too thrilled to be asked for an autograph but he was quite gracious and I didn't press it by doing one of those "I'm one of your biggest fan" numbers on him.

By the time the two of them hit the stage around 10:30 the club was packed.  I didn't attempt to do a set list but it was very similar to other recent reports.   particularly enjoyed the numbers I hadn't heard so much on his albums such as "Peach Pickin' Time in Georgia", "Strike While It's Hot", "Caravan" and "The Piano Has Been Drinking".   The instrumental numbers were great.  I hadn't appreciated what a good guitar player Dan is.

The music was amazing but what was great was the banter with the crowd.  The club was not climate controlled at all and Dan said how great it was to be in Toronto, "a city which apparently hasn't yet discovered air conditioning".  Later on when he was introducing "Payday Blues" he asked if anyone here had a job and added "none apparently in the air conditioning business".  He did a few plugs for the new album.  At one point he said that Rickie Lee Jones, Tom Waits and Bette Middler were all waiting downstairs to make a surprise visit.  One of my favorite lines of the night was when he was introducing one of his early tunes and was talking about the album not exactly reaching platinum status.  "Well not gold either. More like tin foil."  I also loved his intro. to "I Scare Myself" which he said had been "an anthem for a generation".  He said that it was written at the height of the Haight Ashbury scene when he had "been very much in love ... or maybe it was the hash brownie".

He handled the shouted requests for songs with his usual wit.  At one point he said, "Folks, instead of calling out songs, at the break I'll come around and poll each of you individually".  And later he said that they had a set list of songs they had been doing for about 12 years and that any change would really mess them up.

A couple of songs really stood out.  "A Capo on My Brain" was a crowd favorite and I loved his version of "Evening Breeze" doing the Lickette parts in a falsetto voice.  His last encore song was the only one where he actually encouraged singing along.  The first song someone tried to sing along with he stopped the song and said, "Now about singing along ..."  The last song was "Milk Shakin' Momma" and he and the crowd had a lot of fun with it including a little of Dan Dan the Dancing Man.

We certainly got our money's worth with a show that went almost 3 hours.  This being my first experience with seeing Dan live I thought it would somehow leave me feeling more satisfied.  It just made me want more.  I guess I'll have to become the Dan equivalent of a Deadhead and follow him around.  Would that be a Danhead?

Dan, you are the greatest!

Jerry

Subject: Silver Dollar Room July 29, 2000
Date: Tue, 01 Aug 2000 10:43:42 –0400
From: Ken Babinchak
To: shorty@danhicks.net

Down at the corner of College and Spadina, snuggled up close to the Sally Ann's Emergency Shelter-Men's Hostel sets the Waverly Hotel, (home of the Silver Dollar Room). It's the sort of relationship which has served both of these venerable institutions, in a symbiotic fashion befitting both their statures, for a long, sad time.

Into this mise en scene we spilled out of the minivan in the sort of brownian motion that did little to distinguish the three of us, (high on a few pipe-fulls of some sort of brown middle eastern), from the usual crowd out front. After negotiating the Spadina Avenue DMZ, six lanes of traffic plus street car tracks, we mounted the curb in front of the Silver Dollar Room. I assured Elaine that her arms were indeed still attached to her body, and with a small push I propelled her up the stairs of this venerable shrine to the blues. For me it was the beginning end of a twenty-five year pilgrimage, (insert multiple hosannas here), the arrival of the Messiah of both Mood and Merriment was imminent.

At the top of the stairs the Silver Dollar Room revealed its mysteries, worn terrazzo floors in a jade green, nicotine stained pot lighting, red walls covered in murals of blues musicians working their instruments among winding strings of piano keys. A long, well stocked bar to the left, and to the right of this long rather narrow room, the wooden stage raised on a terrazzo platform. Curtains hung behind the stage, bearing the round Silver Dollar Room logo.

Elaine, Dirk and I peered through the smokey haze and found Les and Kerry who had sportingly arrived early to mix and mingle and snag us some prime seating, five stools at the bar directly in front of the stage. Pints of Guinness helped to smooth out the jangly ambiance and the short two hour wait till Dan's arrival proceeded, punctuated by bouts of dancing and discussion. The room was not air conditioned and we collectively discovered our own personal dew points. As the place filled I noticed most of his fans sported receding hair lines, paunches, unrelenting greyness and the men appeared to have fared no better. Forties and fifties with a smattering of young enthusiasts.

Around 10:20 someone appeared on stage with some bottled water and a towel. A murmur moved throught the crowd, seats were filled then suddenly out of the haze appeared Tom Mitchell followed closely by himself, Dan Hicks. Heartfelt and enthusiastic applause naturally followed. Dan introduced himself and Tom. He joked in the familiar manner we all remembered and anticipated, and though we've heard many of the same lines on live albums he makes it seem like every one of those lines is new and fresh and chosen for this particular show.

Since you're all familiar with the body of his work, I'll simply say that all of his tunes brought a satisfied smile to my face that remained there till he finished at around 1:30 a.m. The man is the personification of gentlemanliness, wit, charm, grace and other attributes we all wish we had more of. On the other hand, he uses his humor to keep you away from him on a personal scale, allowing him to really let you know him only through his music. For that I can forgive him.

Dan's tunes take me to times and places in my life and help me sort through the things I've done, things I've regretted and things I'd rather forget, my loves , my awkwardness, even the occasional triumph. He helps remind me of my own humanness and allows me to laugh at it and myself and for that I've gotta love him.

It's unfortunate that an Acoustical Evening with Dan only lasts an evening, there were so many tunes I'll have to hear at future shows. (I hope fans in California appreciate how fortunate you are to be able tohear a more complete repertoire over a few shows.) With the last strum of his guitar and the well deserved thunderous applause that followed, my long personal wait was over. Elaine however knew my evening wouldn't be complete without an introduction, so we went downstairs and waited for Dan and Tom, down the hall from his change room. After a few minutes he appeared, ever the gentleman, extending his hand, remembering my name in conversation and making me feel welcome in my own town. We chatted for a few minutes, got a snapshot or two and then escorted him upstairs. He signed a CD or two for Dirk and Les then chatted with some other fans.

We gathered all our thoughts together and made our way down the stairs into the warm wet night air and headed home. Thanks Dan. Don't wait so long next time.