Friday, June 13, 2014

Janglin Souls


Way back in February, and just in time to be the best birthday present ever, Lou found out that two of our favorite bands were doing a concert together at one of our favorite outdoor venues in Ohio! For a big chunk of a nasty winter, that end of May concert sat on the calendar like a big sunshiny promise of love & happiness.

So, Jack Johnson - totally the soundtrack for the earliest days of Carri & Lou. His first album came out the year we were married.  "Better together" was released when we were in the peak of our pre-kids, two Schneiders, still pretty newly-wed days. His Curious George soundtrack hit the airwaves just in time for Josephine to arrive on the scene and those sweet songs take us back to the days of wearing a circle track in the carpet of her bedroom downtown while we bounced & walked & sang her to sleep with Jack Johnson on repeat. So, suffice it to say that Jack's music has some sentimental value for us. It had been years since we saw him live at Deer Creek and we were really looking forward to a repeat performance.

And then there's Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros. I was introduced to their music by a summer intern a couple years back. They popped onto my playlist during a time when I was actively seeking new music and I was instantly hooked. Those of you who know me well know that I'm a tambourine girl in a traveling band in my dreams, so it didn't take long for me to be all-in on the peace, love and happiness vibe of ESMZ.  Those of you lucky enough to know the version of Lou that I know are aware that he's all rainbows and sunflowers under his suit and tie. We have a long history of chasing around live music (our first date was a David Byrne concert), so we were REALLY excited about another opportunity to see ESMZ after what was an amazing show at the Taft last year.

Yeah - so they were playing TOGETHER! At Blossom! In May! After a hellacious winter! And we had tickets!! And my parents volunteered to have the kids overnight! And ROADTRIP!!!!

After dropping the girls off in Xenia, we made the 3 hour drive up to Cuyahoga Falls. It was a gorgeous day and wonderful drive and we were super giddy!  Blossom is in this amazing little pocket of wilderness. Just a couple of miles from the venue, we sat in stopped traffic because there was a giant tree with at least a dozen heron nests in the treetops. They look itty bitty here but they were huge and each had a big 'ole heron perched on top. It was pretty spectacular. (So spectacular that ESMZ's Alex Ebert even mentioned them during the show.)

Then as we were walking into the venue from the super faraway parking lot, a little rainbow appeared. Good times were a 'coming!

After some pretty spectacular sushi from a food truck & a giant cold beer, we headed down to our seats in the pavilion. SAY WHAT?! We had FRONT ROW!!!!  We had no idea until we got down there. Needless to say, we were super pumped!

It wasn't long until ESMZ took the stage. Meet Alex. Some of you may know him as Edward, which is okay, but he's in fact Alex Ebert - who has recently gotten increased attention for his Oscar win for the score of the Robert Redford movie All Is Lost. Anyway, I digress. But this matters more in a minute.

The band sounded great and we were having so much fun!  We were a part of the small but loyal cadre of people who were really there to see ESMZ and it was a blast!

AND THEN THIS HAPPENED! GAH!!!! You guys, they played "Man on Fire" (the song with the line in the photo at the top of this post) and I made eye contact with Alex from the stage and wouldn't you know he hopped off the stage and before you know it I was singing with and dancing WITH Alex Ebert (and hugging, it's true, it happened automatically)!  Clearly I thought this was the best thing in the whole wide world. (Poor Lou, I think I said about 250 times the rest of the night various versions of "Umm, remember when I sang with Alex Ebert" and "Hey, pretty sure I just hugged someone with an Oscar.")  So, yeah, I superfan-geeked-out and it was awesome.

Blossom is beautiful and if you live ANYWHERE near there, please go there to see a show! (And why doesn't a place like this exist in Cincinnati?)

During the set break we ventured out for another beer in the woods, watched all the people passing by and thanked our lucky stars for front row seats!

Then it was time for Jack Johnson. Seriously, I could've walked away from that show totally happy after ESMZ but we still had another whole show ahead of us. And it was great! I'm still not sure how he crammed in so many songs to one set - maybe because I'm used to 30 minute Phish songs & not 3 minute love songs.

Lou and I did our fair share of "remember whens" as we were listening. Soooo many memories attached to these songs. It was a really great night. (Sidebar: This is a pretty good pic of the set-up. These peeps are in "the pit." We've been in the pit before for Phish and it is a pretty badass place to be, but it definitely has it's disadvantages. Now, don't get me wrong, I wouldn't turn down a pit ticket, but we were uber happy in our front row SEATS - with actual seats and our own dedicated space and a little waist-high wall between us and the fools falling all over each other in front of us.)


And then, look who came back. The whole ESMZ crew for a few encore songs!

And check this out - they covered Rocky Raccoon & I Shall Be Released!

And ended with "our song" (and likely "the song" for about half of the crowd).


So yeah, it was a really really really good night. Great music! Time away for the two of us! A beautiful night to kickoff the summer! And all around awesomeness. Oh, and I danced & sang with this guy!

And even if that guy has an Oscar and could use a new tambourine girl, I couldn't be happier that my real life includes this guy - 


THANKS SO MUCH LOU FOR BEING THE ONLY OTHER PERSON IN THE CROWD WHO KNEW HOW TO CLAP ALONG TO 'NOT FADE AWAY,' FOR KNOWING THAT IF YOU DIDN'T TAKE A PICTURE OF ME WITH ALEX THAT I WOULD'VE KILLED YOU, FOR MAKING ALL THOSE MEMORIES ATTACHED TO JACK JOHNSON SONGS AND FOR SINGING & DANCING WITH ME UNDER THE STARS ONCE AGAIN. HERE'S TO MANY MORE!

(Postscript: Something sucky actually happened around this show. After a few weeks of noticing a curious absence of Jade from ESMZ  shows & after attending this show thinking she was sick and just off this tour, a couple days after the show the band announced that Jade had been asked to leave. We are SUPER thankful that the news came out after the show because there's just no way we could've enjoyed it in the same way had we really known what was going on. In fact, not sure what exactly is going on, but it hasn't been fun to watch unfold. This is my favorite version of my favorite song she sings: Fiya Wata. So yeah, that sucks. Guess it can't all be peace, love and sunshine all the time. Hope they all get back to that place again soon! We have more dancing to do!)