Re: Show d'Thurzday

["Fiona Webster" <fi>]

Mitch writes:
> It's funny, I was there Tuesday and it was about my *most* favorite show,
> but at the same time I can see just what you're saying.  It's like the seeds
> of a real bad mood were just starting to sprout on Tuesday.  Patti said
> a few cutting things, then smiled and said she didn't really mean it,
> or something like that.  You could see a storm coming off in the distance.

I heard the whole cybercast on Wednesday night.  I was struck by the 
fact that early on, Patti asked if there people in the audience who'd 
been there on Tuesday, and then apologized to them for her "language" 
the night before, saying really penitent things like "there's no call 
for that."  Then she proceeded to say "fuck" and "fuckin" many times 
throughout the show.  She did seem to be in  a pretty good 
mood--especially, as others have commented, when Robert Hunter was 
on stage--but also seemed (to my listening ears, at least) to have 
herself in check a bit, as if she were holding back from being angry. 

I thought her suppressed anger gave the show a lot of intensity, and 
was pleased with it.  I've always thought of Patti as a ragin' gal.
Rage can be a good thing for art, if it's channeled right.  It's a 
tricky mood to handle, though, and Patti has always had her 
moments when the rage turns whining and/or nasty.  I'm not defending 
her being that way, but I do accept it, even fancy that I understand 
it a bit.

I think of Patti as a whole spectrum of performances and moods and 
artwork, not any one night or one poem or one album.  Everything she 
does, adds to a complex and shimmering whole.

			--Fiona