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March 13, 2005
The March 4th CD release of "Send The Moon" at The State Theatre was incredible!
We had about 500 of my closest friends show. I played with my usual suspects, Lenny, Doctor, and Stixx, with the icing of John Jennings and the sprinkles of Jon Carroll. Actually, from now on, I'm referring to Jon Carroll as "Sprinkles."
Beforehand the manager came over and told me
there was no place to sit for the 25 family and friends that had
just trekked up from my hometown of Richmond...eeeash. But they got
out two long banquet tables and, since there was no place else to
put them, placed them right on the dance floor. (As my brother Jack
said, "You're not singing a note until we get a seat," then he
wrestled me to the floor and gave me a noogie.) Luckily they were
seated, fed, watered and the show went on...even if they were
sitting there like an enlarged version of Simon, Paula, and whatever
the other guy's name
is, it was so nice to have my peeps front and center.
I walked on stage for the first set and
the crowd was so awesome -- even the balcony was full. It looked
like so many folks that I actually got a little vaclempt... "clap
amongst yourselves"...but I started out with songs from the CD,
first "Should I Let You Know," then "Fifth Gear," the U2 song
("Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For"), and then the title cut
"Send The Moon." My friend Desi brought up a beautiful bouquet of
flowers which I found hard to put down, but had to if I wanted to
play the guitar. Aaaaand since no one ran out with a tiara, it was a
bleak solo ensemble...kidding!
The first set went by
beautifully, albeit a little low key, then the break, and then the
second set was the real kicker...we played Zeppelin ("Over the Hills
and Far Away"), and "I Can't Stand the Rain," "Cry Love," then
mellowed it out with just Sprinkles and me on "Stop In The Name of
Love." Lenny came back on stage afterwards and said that we made him
vaclempt too...it was an emotional night for everyone stage right.
Maybe there was a gas leak...
Another cool part was when
Sprinkles, errr, I mean Jon Carroll sang "I Got a Line On You Babe"
and my two student-buddies, Mary Ellen Early and Danielle Kane,
joined me as background singers...way fun!
Besides my family
and the other Richmond folks posting, my Greenbelt Dog Training dog
school people (about 10 of them) came, and a group of 40 under the
name of Don Clem... no relation to Mike Clem from Eddie From Ohio,
even though he co-wrote the title track "Send the Moon." This sort
of magnified the fact that he certainly could've sent out a few more
of his family and friends if he'd just been thinking straight. (By
the way, I just saw Eddie From Ohio playing at Jammin' Java in
Vienna, VA the other night. They gave all the money to the place to
keep it afloat...two sold out shows! Man are they nice or what??)
So back to the show. We also played "Here I Am," "Many
Rivers to Cross," and "Gimme Shelter," then encored with "My
Imagination" and "Georgia."
Afterwards, I made my way over
to Clyde's at Tyson's to see my friend Tim McMillan -- I think he
knows Don Clem and sent out the big crew with his supportive eVite.
God bless all of you that made it and continue to allow me
to do what I love for a living.
Much Love and Gratitude!,
Mary Ann
P.S. Thought you would enjoy reading some
reviews of the new CD that you aren't likely to see anywhere else...
"You're such a funny person, when are you going to write
something that's funny?" -- Carl Settlemeyer
"This record is
brilliant! The last one was SO over-produced." -- Gordon from
Eastman Strings
"Why isn't our name on there?" -- Kelley and
Mark from Bark Busters, Northern VA
And my personal
favorite...
"You're a dirty, rotten, stinkin' whore!" --
Julie from Eddie from Ohio
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