Hello America, Rob here.
We’ve just finished day one of two days in Chicago, also the second of four shows we’ll be doing with Rebirth this tour. We play a lot of shows with The Rebirth Brass Band, and it’s always nice to play out-of-state shows with them because they attract multitudes of stray New Orleanians. Tonight was especially fun because I got to see so many former Tulane students, ranging from good friends to a dude I recognized because he worked the door at Bruno’s for three years. However, my favorite part of the evening happened during Rebirth’s set.
It wasn’t just that they played well. I’ve seen Rebirth somewhere upwards of a trillion times, and while they truly are excellent musicians, I’m past the point where I’m going to marvel at their playing just because they can’t really surprise me anymore.
Or so I thought.
They’re playing their (infinitely superior) version of Gerald Levert’s “Cassanova,” a selection that they rarely omit from their setlists. They’ve invited all of the women in the venue to come dance onstage, as they are known to do on occasion. All of a sudden, something happens that I’ve never seen before. With all these women onstage, Rebirth just stops playing music. Apparently, some gentleman has decided that the invitation to “all you ladies” to come onstage was actually addressed to “all you ladies plus you, that dude over there.” This is a grave transgression, and Rebirth has gone so far as to stop mid-song in order to exact justice. Over one of the four microphones spread across the front of the stage comes:
“Awright everybody, awright. You know what we gotta do. You gotta get off here, man.”
And then comes the line:
“They got apples, you got a banana. Ladies only.”
Outstanding.
We’re having a good time. So far this has been a pretty hectic tour. Lots of drive, play, sleep, drive play, sleep. We’re bedded down in a hotel in Chicago tonight, and we don’t really have to drive tomorrow, unless you count getting up at 8 in the morning to move Vandalf out of a metered parking space. I’m looking forward to seeing a bit of Chicago, maybe, if I can catch up on enough sleep. We’ve been getting recommendations about where to go while we’re in town, ranging anywhere from a boat ride on Lake Michigan to a hot dog stand operated by women who curse at you when you order and may or may not flash you if you cough up twenty dollars and order a “chocolate milkshake.”
At any rate, I’d say we’re doing pretty well so far. St. Louis was cool, Oxford was cool, Shreveport was cool, Chicago is cool. All in all, The Revivalists are having a good time.
And now this entry is done. Chicago again tonight, Minneapolis tomorrow, and then a long driving day before we ransack Dave’s home state of Ohio. See you around!
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