| Arlene Schnitzer Theatre On The Road With MaggieMay... After some God-sent coffee, my brain thawed a *tiny* bit and I remembered a few minor details about Wente. A friend wrote me and reminded me that Justin passed on the long ending to Nights at that show. It didn't surprise me and is the singer's prerogative. ; ) I remember considering that Justin may have thought that his breath might freeze on that ending and choke him. LOL Have I said it was COLD at Wente? LOL I picked up the little house program they offered at Wente - very elegant. It contained a listing of the summer's events and TMB were the first performance of their 2003 concert series. The new photo of the three (with GE superimposed on a photo of the Jays) was in their program. I was surprised at Question when a girl jostled me on my right and then even MORE suprised when a tall woman jumped up next to me on my left. Neither of them had been sitting by me! ; ) I didn't anticipate being pushed about at Wente. I hope the quiet couple next to me were not surprised or upset at having a TALL woman standing in front of them and blocking their $480 view! Leaving San Jose the second time was not nearly the trauma that the first had been. I could actually see the end of the security line when I walked into the airport. I lucked in to a front row seat with generous leg room and was even able to prop my feet against the wall. Thank God for little blessings. I arrived at the farthest gate away from baggage claim at the Portland airport, but leisurely strolled there with no need to be anywhere at any particular time. I love casual travel! Wish I had it more often. 
Portland is a lovely city with a great deal of character, filled
with people who celebrate their individuality and revel in their freedom
of expression. It reminds me of Seattle in that way. It's apparent
to me that there aren't many farmers here! LOL Punk is alive
and well in Portland and struts on the street in leather and chains and the
funniest (and most colorful) spiked and shaven hairstyles I've ever seen.
I'm sure they're all nice kids! LOL It reminds me of a wayward
teenager, long ago, who pincurled her hair, pulled it out into a wild afro
and glued little stars all over it. It went so well with the black
nail polish. (Yes, that was MaggieMay!) Um, it wasn't "fashionable"
then and the farmers looked on with dismay at the sight. I see these
kids and think it's a healthy thing.I taxied up to The Heathman Hotel and was treated to a warm and friendly welcome. I hadn't stayed here before and had peeked in the last time SueC and I hit Portland. I had made my reservations with only the idea of convenience in mind. The Heathman is adjacent to the Schnitz and one can walk out the front door and go a few dozen feet and be at the venue. I was VERY pleasantly surprised by The Heathman! The staff is very young, very friendly and could not be improved. I was quite taken with those kids. : ) I walked into the lobby a bit confused - someone had done some redecorating, and I LOVED it. 
The first thing I saw was an Andy Warhol print of a Northwest Coast Native
American mask. I collect Northwest Coast art and it immediately made
me feel that I was "home". The decor was an eclectic combination of
modern, asian and Native American elements and there is NOTHING I like better!
LOL The small lobby had an eastern type mural on the wall and the adjoining
wall had a set of fine indescribable pottery art pieces in a lighted recess.
There were three large podiums topped with green glass lighted underneath.
Cool effect! The personable young gal who assisted me told me they
use a "Personal Concierge" approach, so that one person sees to your needs
in a seamless fashion. She checks you in, assists you with your luggage,
escorts you to your room and brings you ice for your Diet Coke. LOL
Every single staff person I came into contact with at the Heathman was just
lovely. They gave my favorite hotel in Beverly Hills a run for their
money. GREAT place! It's very apparent they ENJOY working there.
The food is particularly good and they serve the same menu in their restaurant,
in the very attractive lounge, in the bar and through room service.
It's a seafood lover's delight! I've been trying crabcakes everywhere
and theirs *required* a second sampling. ; ) One employee
was after me to try the halibut cheeks and whenever he saw me, he asked if
I had tried them. LOL No, I didn't get around to it. I'll
just have to go back. Thursday saw the much-anticipated arrival of Blueglow from Orlando. I needed company for Portland and twisted her arm to join me and I think she did it just to be a good friend. She's a dynamite lady, a free spirit and loves The Moody Blues every bit as much as *I* do! We roomed together in Branson (yeehaw!) and know we can spend a lot of time together without killing each other. 
That's very important. LOL BG was not *glowing* quite as much
as usual when she hit the Heathman. I don't understand why! It
only took her three time zones and 16 hours of travel, a connection and a
train to get to Portland. (wimp!) BG is always up for anything
and everything and we decided to visit the lounge for the evening, despite
the advice of my concierge that the place to pick up guys was just down the
street. I had looked at him thoughtfully, and decided that the *guys*
at any bar he might recommend would probably not be interested in two women,
if you get my drift. ; ) We didn't need men anyway; we'd
be having our fill on stage of the male sex at its finest the next night.
Nat brought us two glasses of a local sparkling wine and we toasted Blueglow's
10th anniversary of being a Moody Blues fan! The conversation, the
champagne and the hors de oeuvres were wonderful, but the most momentous
part of the evening was my discovery of the heretofore unknown Mango Margarita.
I have discovered one of the perfect items in life! Slightly sweet,
a tiny bit pulpy and with a sharp tang that I really like. Said sharp
tang apparently masks the underlying tequilla and did such an excellent job
of masking it that I felt moved to order a second one. Ah! That
was quite unfortunate! LOL MaggieMay was tipsy! We blew
that popsicle stand and retired to our room where I took up clever IM-ing
with anyone who would have me. I only regret that all the reviews were
caught up. I'm SURE I would have written the most obnoxious and offensive
descriptions of the artists, the venue and the audience ever seen, and enjoyed
every moment of the alcohol-assisted experience. I wonder how the Mango Margaritas are HERE! Heheheh Perhaps the Band is obligated to perform clear and sober, but I'm not sure I have to suffer the same obligation. After all, no one pays to read what I write, and I'm not about to start paying them. BG uncharacteristically fell into bed and this too was regretful. She woke up at the miserable hour of 7am, ready to go. ACK!! We had lunch and took a walk around the block to stretch our legs. 
It was very reassuring to see The Truck (there were two in Portland) and
The Bus. It's always good to know the equipment is THERE and that we're
in the right town on the right day. We found ourselves at a little
sidewalk table, sipping coffee and watching the world go around. I
noticed a police car with its lights on down the street near a crowd of people.
I thought a riot might be taking place! This group of people was walking
up the street toward our hotel and toward us. As they got closer, I
saw signs and realized it was a demonstration: Justice for Janitors.
I wish them the best in their struggle against The Man, but I did wonder
just *who* was doing the cleaning that day. After a lovely dinner with delightful company (and a very pretty *view*), BG and I strolled up to the Arlene Schnitzer center, READY to rock 'n roll! THE VENUE I only have a few pieces of the history on the Schnitz. The theatre has been recently renovated and my guess is that we have Arlene to thank for putting the Big Bucks in to have it done. 
It's a design reminiscent of the old Fox theatres dotting the American urban
landscape and they did an excellent job with theirs in Portland. A
friendly security guard gave me one piece of information which answered a
question that had been tormenting me. If it's the Arlene Schnitzer
Theatre, then why does it have a large sign saying "Portland" in front?
LOL He said the theatre has had several different names in its history
and Portland was one of them. An older lady in the front row (older
than ME at least) told me as I passed her that she had been to the theatre
65 years ago. I'd guess it was built in the 20s.The theatre is pretty, even elegant. The walls are beige and have a number of ornamental carvings. Romeo could romance Juliet from the ornate balcony-like structures high up on either side of the front of the theatre. The inside of the venue reminded me of a Lenox vase, monocolored, delicate and intricately carved. Both sides, near the front also had an oval stained glass piece set into a beige structure that was placed where the royal boxes would usually be. The theatre has a sloped floor and a large balcony without wings or cuves to the front of the structure. As viewed from the stage, there were four lighted round openings in the overhang of the balcony and a large oval lighting *hole* behind the four. The ceiling of the theatre was a large, lighted, opening with lattice work. There was no central hanging chandalier, but the walls had four hanging glass lamps accented by stained glass work and 4 sconces of a similar design on both sides. Very pretty! The sloped floor of regular seating of blue plush permanent seats (starting with row A) was fronted by a two row pit area in front of the stage. These temporary hard plastic chairs were deeply bowled and I found it hard to sit on the edge of my seat without going for a little ride back down to the bottom of the chair. The regular floor was split into 2 sections with a middle aisle. The pit rows ran across without a similar aisle. The stage was again, of the Fox theatre design, suitable for Broadway performances and there was plenty of room for the Moodies set up. Luckily for fans in the pit, the stage was pretty shallow from front to back and the mikes were pushed up to about 4 foot from the edge of the stage. It was a nice, friendly distance! ; ) The stage was between 3 1/2 and 4 feet high, and on the front row you could see *boots* (always a good thing as those boots see a lot of action) and you didn't have to break your neck. There was a flying set of long speakers on either side of the stage, rather than the curved set seen in recent tours, and a box of 5ft by 3ft speakers on either side ON the stage. The friendly guard told me that maximum seating capacity was 3500. He didn't know the ticket count for the evening's performance but said that a lot of walk-up sales were anticipated. The crowd looked pretty good at my glance back and more IMPORTANTLY was vocal, appreciative and just happy to be at a Moodies concert. I like those Portland crowds! Only 2 bottles of water were seen at Justin and John's places, reminding me that this wasn't a desert venue. LOL THE FASHION REPORT GE - Jimi Hendrix shirt first half, Hula shirt second half, black slacks JL - White long slvd pleated/bib shirt first half, identical black on second, leathers, boots JH - Blue long slvd shirt with small ruffles, black jeans, no change at half Norda - Dark green iridescent sleeveless vnecked top, black hiphuggers Bernie - Black see-thru top, black slacks Gordon - White shirt with black pattern first half, leather shirt second half, white slacks Paul - White long slvd shirt It was a great hair night in Portland for the Jays, but Justin's stands out. 
His hair was very lovely, and can only be described as "fluffy" and
soft looking. : ) Just VERY nice! THE CONCERT It was a great concert! The 2003 setlist was played in its entirety with a 20 minute intermission. The Moodies are in full swing, confident and relaxed and seem to be at a high energy level. The differences between concerts these days are small and very subtle. The performances are uniformly excellent. The one thing I noticed at the Schnitz was the sound. Yech! It was plenty loud, but sounded muffled, not clear like *I* like it. I cannot understand why this happens in a Fox-style theatre. Maybe they weren't built for amplified sound, and too, it might have sounded great midway back. <shrug> I just put a couple of earplugs in to soften the sound distortion. There were a number of moments of light feedback this evening too, never lasting very long and perhaps generally unnoticeable. (I noticed them!) At one point during a Norda moment, the sound cut out ENTIRELY. I had problems hearing the flute at various times, and had moments of hearing keyboards, particularly in high parts, VERY clearly. I see that Paul is always busy over there, but don't get to hear him as often as I would like. The sound system provided an um...DIFFERENT aspect to the concert tonight. 
As soon as LTSY started, my chair began to VIBRATE! Violently, I might
add. It seemed to pick up the bass like there was no tomorrow.
BG's seat was taking on a mind of its own too, and at one point in the evening,
we looked at each other and said simultaneously: WOOOO! LOL (As
you can tell, I've been on the road a bit TOO long.) BG asked a couple
of fans at the end of our row if they had the same "problem" and the answer
was, No, can we sit over there for a minute? We ignored their request
and kept our seats to ourselves. I don't know, but I suspect I should
probably send JL flowers today, with a card something on the line of: Thanks
for a lovely evening, hope to see you again SOON. We were feeling more
than a nice girl should in a public place!There were a few minor things, almost unworthy of mention. Justin started off his LoM Strat solo with a REALLY off note, causing everyone, including him to make a face. He laughed it off as professionals have to do and continued on. JL has been playing air violin at the beginning of WYS and sometimes adds air flute and heck, air cello too. : ) JH was noticed fiddling knobs during SZ, but became satisfied with it and began playing again. At one point, a fellow in the audience yelled "I miss Ray, but Norda's all right". I think that describes exactly how I've come to feel about things, too. (all right meaning a good thing both onstage and offstage. She's a keeper and does Ray's music proud.) English Sunset rocked, great jam (and under my nose) and had the LONGEST ovation I have ever experienced, for ANY song. 
It's one of my all-time concert favorites, so that made me feel very happy.
IKYOTS had a missed lyric, but then he felt like singing again. LOL
I noticed (and felt) the bass part in The Actor tonight. Lots of eighth
notes used similarly to grace notes on the bass line which gives the song
movement. The second half began with a broken D string on the black Guild early on YWD, but Justin carried on beautifully. He tried to pull it down out of his way. Despite the atrocious venue sound, the guitar part on H&H sounded WONDERFUL tonight. It's not possible, but I swear it sounded even better than it always does. Up a notch or two. I've run out of adjectives to describe it and "wonderfuller" is not a word or at least not a word *I* use. How was it better? Um...crisper. More exact. Spot on as my English acquaintances say! LOL Graeme's H&H performance can be described in one word: exhilarating! H&H is always fabulous, tonight it was a masterpiece. It was a great crowd in Portland! It certainly did its part in pushing the performance up, and it showed. At one point, Blueglow leaned over to me and said "Can we stay here forever?" I told her "yes" (I lied), but I wish that we could have done just that. The end all too quicky came, but it ended on a spectacularly high note for one thrilled fan. Justin elegantly offered his guitar pick to the admiring Blueglow, whose shaking fingers respectfully took it out of the Fender's neck. He even added a wink to it! MaggieMay I feel the rhythm of the earth In my soul tonight. May it never fade away… Photos on this page courtesy of MaggieMay |
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