| Sean Altman House Party & Trip Review Ann Arbor and West Bloomfield, MI June 14-15, 2002 |
| I want to start by saying that I may have missed some details since I'm writing this a week after. If I happen to remember details, I'll pop them in as appropriate. Otherwise this was my weekend... I drove up to Michigan to see Sean play two shows. It was a 6 1/2 hour drive up to Ann Arbor (including having to wait for the tractor-trailer accident to be cleared and the idiots gawking at the burnt-out mini-van on the side of the road...both of which I ran into before I even got to Dry Ridge, Kentucky). Other than getting turned around on I-94 temporarily, I made it to my motel fine. I was really happy I had reserved the room cause they gave out the last one to the guy ahead of me in line. Apparently, there was a NASCAR race over in Brooklyn, MI that Sunday and Ann Arbor was the closest place with anywhere to stay. Finally, I get back on the road, after making sure I didn't totally look like I had been in the car all day, to head over to the gig. Of course, no one ever mentioned to me that Michigan has that no left turn thing going on. Instead you get to do U-turns quite a bit. So I ended up getting directions from a helpful fellow motorist who informed me that I couldn't turn left at the light we were sitting at and to turn around in the bank parking lot a little further down so I could eventually go the way I wanted (mind you, I had noticed the big no left turn sign after I stopped at the light ready to turn left). So, I make it to the house (after missing the next to last street since it was set back off a service drive). I saw a small car with New York plates parked in the drive way and thought "Yay! He's here!" So I parked my car and head for the door. I ring the doorbell and whoa! Sean answers the door. I honestly was expecting Ann, the person hosting the show to answer, but... My mom accuses me of speaking faster than most people can comprehend when I'm on TV or am nervous about meeting people, and I'm sure Sean can attest to this. I looked at him and said something along the lines of "I was lost, but I found you cause I was looking for you so it's ok now." I think his brain shut down trying to figure that out based on the look he gave me. I know somewhere after that I mentioned that I came up from Kentucky and introduced myself to Sean. Sean let me into the house and explained that I was the first person to get there and he was in the process of warming up. He was pretty amused by the fact that I had been on the road since noon that day just to come see him. So everyone (about 10 people) shows up and Sean finally starts singing ("Are You A Man?" was the first tune) around 8ish. Wow. I knew that Sean has a strong voice, but damn he's got some serious projection too. He did 30 songs total (I think that was the final count according to Inna) which included damned near everything he's recorded (well, at least that I own). It was rather odd vibe though. I felt kind of awkward since I didn't really know anyone there and no one really said anything. Poor Sean. He did take requests, which elicted some interaction, and played two songs with Ann's son who plays bass in a jazz band. They did "My Home" and another song which is totally eluding me (I'm thinking it was "Unworthy," but don't quote me on it). Sean did request audience participation on two songs: "Too Old, Too Ugly" and "The Notion." The first was fine cause we were to "point and yell 'Too ugly!' with great disdain on our faces" and we seemed to do that ok. For "The Notion," Sean instructed us to sing "like little elves." Now, put yourself in my place. You've been up since 7am, had 3 hours worth of mind-numbing classes, driving 6 1/2 hours, and you have someone telling you to sing like little elves. It wasn't so much the fact that Sean requested us to sing like that, as the mental image of Ernie Keebler and the rest of the Keebler elves leaning out of their damned cookie and cracker factory tree to sing in high, squeaky voices "the notion of you." It was pretty hard to not just burst out laughing at that, but I managed to helpfully (not quite sure how on key I was, but who cares) sing the chorus like an elf. I got my request of "Hazel Eyes," one of my favs off his first disc, as one of the last songs of the night. A couple of songs that caught me off guard that he did were "Follow Me to Heaven" and "Peanut Shell," both of which are on Rockapella's Vocobeat. I had seen a couple of the webcasts he's done and neither song was on any of the set lists, but I was happy that he did them. But the biggest happy surprise was his singing of WITWICS. That was cool. He introduced it by saying "I wrote this song and I think some group may be able to hit it big with it." Sean finished singing around 10:15 or so. I had him sign my copy of SeanDEMOnium and said I'd see him at the show the next night in West Bloomfield. He said cool, I'll see you tomorrow night. I told Ann thanks for hosting the show and talked to her for a few minutes before I took off to get some much-needed sleep. I don't think I've ever really been happy to see a hotel as I was that night. I didn't want to drive any further and pretty much collapsed after I watched the weather on the news and fought with the room's air conditioner. |