November 6, 2003 - Atlanta, GA
| Welcome to the DECEMBER Tour!
Or, in *this* case:
WELCOME TO ATLANTA! On The Road With MaggieMay... We found ourselves an inadvertent part of a rock 'n roll caravan as we drove to the Hilton at the JAX airport. It was oddly reassuring (though bizarre) to find ourselves on the highway with the Moodies limo leading the way and the van bringing up the rear. We got to the airport without incident, and Blessed the Wings that took our favorite rock 'n roll band off into the skies. We drove thru the airport looking for Hertz. The Never Lost operator told us that location was open until 1, so we decided to high-tail it to a beckoning Waffle House. We had barely walked in and a young waitress pointed at us and said "I want your shirt!" It didn't matter that she had no idea who The Moody Blues were. She just thought they were cool. We ate our usual midnight breakfast and then dropped our luggage off at our hotel. The night clerk was bored and chatty and wanted someone to discuss the difficulty he was having quitting smoking. I thought it a little odd that he was smoking Misty 120s! ; ) I didn't have time for his problems right then. The clock was ticking and we wanted to dump our beloved Lincoln and streamline our morning. The airport was almost deserted at 12:45am. We found the Hertz drop off, but there wasn't a soul in sight. In fact, there was nary a mortal in the entire parking garage. Nothing was marked and we argued where the airport was, but I spotted a sign (Airport THAT way!) and we went in hoping to find Someone In Charge. We patted the Town car a fond goodbye. sniff It's the first and only rental car either of us have ever gotten attached to! LOL It didn't look like I was going to be leaving Jacksonville the next morning. I had thrown on my December denim shirt and it caused an incredible ruckus at security. I knew things were different there when the guard behind the conveyer belt leaned over to me as I was hoisting my laptop up and whispered "Tell that guard to leave me alone!". I looked down at the fellow she indicated and I didn't much want to do that. He was a big guy! As I was walking thru the metal detector, another guard pointed at me (lots of pointing lately) and said Hey, look at this! I stopped confused and a second guard yelled out "THE MOODY BLUES"! Where are you going to see them? He was crushed to learn the Band had played in Jacksonville the night before. I rarely get a really enthusiastic response about The Moodies from a 20 something black guy, but there it was. He was just killed to have missed them. The Moodies apparently are VERY big among Jacksonville Airport security. I walked over to get my stuff from the x-ray and sternly told the big guy to leave that girl alone (at which he sweetly smiled) and was tapped on the shoulder by yet ANOTHER guard who was a big fan and HAD been at the performance at the Florida Theatre. He was very excited to have met a fellow Moody fan. LOL I could see SueC on the concourse, tapping her toe and finally pulled myself away from those crazy rock 'n roll fans. Security at the Jacksonville Airport - I salute you! It's just too bad that The Moodies rarely fly commercial. It would have taken HOURS for them to have gotten thru there. We had a pleasant flight to Atlanta. It's a darn shame Delta couldn't have just tossed us out of the plane and let us avoid that nightmare of an airport. sigh It took us almost as long to get thru the Atlanta airport as our flight had taken from Jacksonville. We couldn't figure out how to get in to the luggage corral and THEN couldn't find the taxi stand. I'm surprised that we didn't come across travelers who had just given up and laid down on the carpet to die. We made it outside and discovered it was HOT and muggy. We were pretty well done in. It was a LONG taxi ride to our hotel. Atlanta is a nice city and a beautiful place to be in spring, but the traffic is among the worst in the world. I hate it with a passion. My sister lives there, and guilt compels me to reciprocate her visits. I love her, and the only other thing that can get me to Atlanta is TMB! We crawled out of our taxi and I found it took a Herculean effort to smile pleasantly at the bellmen's curettes and enthusiastic Good Mornings. I could have been much more friendly if one of them was holding out a frosty can of Diet Coke. SueC took on the check-in chores as I collapsed on a couch in the lobby. I had the lovely opportunity of meeting Joan W who was passing through the lobby and stopped to say "hi". Joan has been good enough to email me regularly over the past several tours and has sent her good wishes and encouragement in my career as an amateur rock 'n roll reviewer. LOL It was great to finally meet her, and Joan, I hope your sister has a WONDERFUL time at her first Moodies concert at Rosemont. : ) We had passed on Birmingham, Alabama (I have painful memories of Birmingham) and spent the evening instead at a big family dinner. My niece had brought her boyfriend to meet me and I felt obligated to behave. Briefly! It will be nice to have another accountant in the family. The lounge/bar was packed afterward and our table next to the three piece band made conversation impossible. We had a good time anyway. SueC and I went up early, and I thought how great it was going to be to sleep in. sigh Naturally, I woke at 6:30am. I left SueC to get her sleep in and set up shop by the fireplace in the lobby. The battery in my aging Gateway laptop just won't hold a charge these days, and I'm forced to suck current where ever I can find it! I'm sure the hotel security has wondered what I'm doing as I carefully examine the lamps, move the furniture and peer below the tables. LOL A huge tip kept the coffee coming with a smile and I wrote us up to date. SueC came down as I was finishing. She had a wild look in her eye and was heard muttering "coffee...coffee...cofffffeeeeee".  We
had enthusiastic company for our evening outing to the Tabernacle.
My sister Cam didn't hesitate at my invitation to join me and SueC on the
front row and my niece Kay is up for anything. We had discussed dinner,
but thought it might be best to scout out the venue (and the traffic) first.
It was rush hour, but Kay is fearless, no doubt as a result of dealing
with the traffic in Rome for a year. She weaved in and out and managed
to cross 5 lanes of stopped traffic to get us to the HOV lane. I
saw a sign for The Varsity and remembered it from a pre ball game visit
30 years ago. It hasn't changed! They still have the best chili
dogs and frosted orange around. I asked my sister if they had a drive
thru, and she suggested brightly that we pull up and have car hop service.
I haven't done that since I was a kid. We stuffed ourselves with
french fries and other junk food and moved on down the street to the venue.
THE VENUE  The
Tabernacle is a large old church that has been moved out of one religion
business to another. I had heard the neighborhood was awful, and
that the venue is a dump. It looks like efforts have been made to
clean things up, and the venue is maybe half a block from Centennial Park.
I wouldn't recommend walking around there after dark! We found a
parking spot just feet away that looked safe enough, and we could see Ted
Turner's buffalo restaurant down the block. I looked up and
saw the most incredible sky - buildings in a heavy mist against the moon.
I have never seen so many cops outside a venue before - there were easily a dozen guys in uniform. One policeman was on a fascinating upright personal vehicle. He told me that it was great for sidewalks, that it did a max of 12 mph and would not tip over. It had a zero turning radius and he seemed to be having way too much fun on it. The Tabernacle (formerly The House of Blues) must have been an impressive church in its time and still clearly looks like a place of worship from the outside, but is very worn down. "Dump" is exactly the word that comes to mind. The INSIDE almost defies description! It's very dark, (no doubt to both add ambiance and hide it's forlorn condition) and painted very badly in every hippie motif imaginable. It looks like a group of dopers were locked in there for a week with paint, brushes and hash and told to go to it. Steps led in to the venue and more steps took you to the venue floor. A guard told me The Tabernacle is usually general admission for the floor, but seats were put in for the Moodies sometimes geriatric audience. There were 4 short floor sections (my section had 9 seats across) in front, but the two side sections were almost entirely past the stage. Like the HoB in Vegas, there was a bar on both sides of the floor. Again, the venue was very dark, and the thing that struck me and SueC almost simultaneously was that our feet were sticking to the floor. It was the worse case of "cineamuck" that I had ever experienced! The floor was full! My guard told me that The Tabernacle seats 1800 with chairs and a whopping 2300 during GA events. He said that ticket sales were between 1600 and 1700 for The Moodies. In addition to the floor, there are two balconies. The upper balcony is straight across the back, more or less, but the lower balcony had wings that extended all the way to the back of the stage.  That
would be an interesting view! The stage looked pretty small.
It was about 4 and 1/2 feet high and it was 5 feet from the front row to
the stage. There were 7 speakers, 2 front fill and and a curved set
flying on both sides of the stage. The mikes were an intimate (and
welcome) 3 feet from the edge of the stage. The usual white 4 panel
backdrop was behind the stage, hiding pipe organ pipes behind it.
The wall behind the stage was painted dark blue with clouds and stars.
The ceiling was white with large asterisks on it. The lower side
walls were red and had Indian motifs and religious symbols. The side
walls above the white/asterisk balcony were also red, with black spaces
where the large windows had been during the venue's service to God.
It's freakin' HIDEOUS! LOL I was relieved when the lights went out so I wouldn't have to LOOK at it. There's a hint of evil about the place, as if it has been desecrated. <shrug> I've finally found a venue that out does Kahunaville for poor taste. I had to put the venue out of my mind in order to enjoy the concert. THE FASHION REPORT JL - Black tank top, white linen overshirt, leathers, boots, 2nd half black long-slvd shirt with bib/ruffle, untucked JH - Pink pinstripe long-slvd shirt, black jeans, shoes, 2nd half white cattleman's shirt GE - Red shirt with white blocks (giving it a vest effect), black slacks, 2nd half Hula shirt Norda - Black strapless top, black ruffled skirt Bernie - White suit, black top Paul - White long-slvd shirt with stripes THE CONCERT The Tabernacle is *not* a nice place, and no one in their right mind would come there to sip a glass of wine and kick back to David Sanborn. You come there to rock 'n roll, and Thursday night's crowd in Atlanta came to do just that. The full house was up at the first note and stood through Gemini Dream, finally easing down for Tuesday Afternoon.  One
wild southerner shouted out WELCOME TO ATLANTA, and liked the effect so
well that he repeated it a couple more times throughout the show.
IKYOTS was also performed to a standing house. We had to tolerate
a number of pro photographers (no photography allowed for the PAYING customers)
who walked back and forth in front of us. Thank goodness the Moodies
limit their activities to the first three songs.
Patrons were not permitted to leave the venue during the 20 minute intermission, and I had the impression it was more for our safety than for any other security reasons. The ladies room was a treat! It was dark and freezing in there. I'm surprised the attendant wasn't an ice cube by the evening's finish. It was decorated...well, you had to see it for yourself! LOL!!! SueC and I caught up with all our southern belles, who were all as sweet and lovely as we had remembered. : ) The second half was on the same exceptional par as the first half. The only thing of note was Graeme's awesome performance of Higher and Higher. I had insisted my sister and niece get up with me and SueC for the evening's big treat. Graeme put on a great show, and picked out this particular evening to stop directly in front of my older, MUCH more conservative sister and repeatedly BANG his crotch with his tambourine. I fear she will never be the same! The concert ended in wild Tabernacle fashion with a gal getting up on the stage with a little help from her friends. She stood up, did a victory dance and got back down. It was that kind of evening! MaggieMay Get it on Bang a gong Get it on! Photos courtesy of SueC |
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