The Never Ending Pool

i attended a concert by the man himself just a few days ago. one of my favorite venues, this little church that doubles as a venue for folk, blues, and general "roots" music. near-perfect acoustics, capacity of about 250, a place where i've had the good fortune to both see and meet richie havens (twice), honeyboy edwards and jack once before.

he played two sets this evening. a couple songs in, he started having trouble with his guitar (something about a battery needing to be replaced) and after trying to fix it himself for a while, it was taken backstage and tinkered with, allowing him to just sit there and tell stories. he talked about clarence white, meeting lead belly, talking with earl scruggs, 'dylan days' in hibbing (at which he is to play this year), the history of his old guitar (the one that was currently being fixed backstage), letting his dog drive a volvo (but how you should never under any circumstances let one drive an RV). to my surprise this actually disappointed some attendees (someone behind me said something to effect of "he better play a song cause if he just keeps talking i'm gonna leave". i also overheard someone outside during intermission talking about "the worst set i'd ever seen&quot, and i noticed the pews in front of me to be a bit sparser after intermission. they shouldn't have been there anyway.

i got to meet jack himself during intermission (one of the many things i love about this venue is the fact that the artists usually come out into the social room to talk with people and sign autographs). i was planning on complimenting him on his version of 'tom thumb's blues' from the 'i'm not there' soundtrack and then asking him about the last time he saw bob, but the lady next to him (he later said to be the wife of guitarist roy rogers) was trying to move things along as there was a sizable line. i did however managed to get a handshake and "r. jack elliott" signed on my copy of 'i stand alone' and asked him to play "pastures of plenty", to which he said "well sure, that's a good one".

i found out during the second set that he had a few requests, namely "jack of diamonds" and "912 greens", which he apologized for not being able to remember and offered to play "219 blues" instead, from which he said "912" was partly derived. after those he went back into the list of songs he had planned. at this point i thought he had forgotten "pastures of plenty", but at the end of the show he pointed to me in the audience and closed the show with the song! i think that warrants an exclamation mark.

i jotted down the set on a church donation envelope, here it is for anyone interested--

san francisco bay blues
leaving cheyenne
freight train blues
sadie brown
don't think twice, it's all right

-intermission-

jack of diamonds
219 blues
stewball
ol' shep
pastures of plenty