Amy, Sue, Paula, Liz and I arrive at the Neptune Beach club at 3:15 for the 5PM show.
Because of the crappy weather, there is no charge to park (normally $10) and no cover charge for entrance (normally $5). We take a quick walk around the club to see if I can locate Jill Sobule. It is pretty empty and she is nowhere to be found. We get some drinks and wait by the bar. Jane, Tony and Kenny show up about 4:15 and we all hang out together by the bar. Sometime later, I say, "Hey, there she is!" Jill walks in the front of the bar and Jane says, "Oh my God." (Well, what else did you expect her to say?). Reza shows up about half hour later.
Paula and Liz keep trying to make me go over and talk to Jill, but I tell them that I am not one of those people who put people on pedestals. When Jill walks by a number of times, they try to push me into her. Good try. We move to a different area of the bar when we see Jill go through some private door that is probably some private lounge. When she comes out, I touch her shoulder as she passes by and she looks back at me probably wondering who the hell I am. I notice that she looks a lot prettier than she did at the other shows. She is dressed more casual (cutoff shorts and T-shirt) as opposed to the Catholic school girl dress from the other shows, and far better ensemble (that word is for Bill Misita) than on the Tonight show.
Jill comes on stage a little after 5:30. I was a little surprised that she was going solo; not even using the one accompanying guitar player she used at her other acoustic shows. She dedicates her first song, "Don’t Fuck With Me" to the people who are at the bar being loud and obnoxious, who are obviously only there to drink and be merry. After the song, some girl approaches the stage and asks her to do "I Kissed A Girl." Jill says, "A little later, dear." What a bimbo. Obviously this chick is there because she heard it on Z-100, or some other crappy radio station, as opposed to someone who is there to see the show as a whole. Once again, what a bimbo. I take this opportunity to put my plan into effect, and see the results.
Background of plan: At the NY shows she did a cover of the Mott The Hoople song, "All The Young Dudes." In CT she said she was going to do a cover and asked for requests. I missed my opportunity to yell out "All The Young Dudes." Someone beat me to it, and she said, "Hey, it looks like we have some repeat offenders here tonight."
Plan: I would yell out "All The Young Dudes," and see what reaction I would get. I figured on one of three responses:
Well, you couldn’t have asked for a better response than what I got. She puts on a BIG smile, looks right at me, and says, "Yes, I am going to do that one later." I give her the thumbs up sign.
A couple of songs later, some drunk guy yells, "I Kissed A Girl." She put him right in his place by saying, "I think I have a better chance of kissing a girl than you do young man!" Ouch, that hurt.
And now, the unbelievable happens. She looks at me, points to me, motions me to the stage and asks me to sing with her on "All The Young Dudes." The part that I was going to leave out was that she asked for another volunteer to help sing also, who turned out to be Kenny, but I was the one she requested. Written words cannot convey my excitement, so I won’t even try. You’ll have to ask me for the display in person. She asked me to sing the chorus, and I am glad, because I really didn’t know all the words. During the chorus we were about a foot away looking right into each others eyes. Wow!
When she finally did "I Kissed A Girl," she asked for the big hunk, and I approached the stage, but she said, "No, you are the nice one, I was looking for the steroid guy."
For her final song, she asked if we wanted to hear a funny song or serious song, and the funnies won. She told us a story about how this song has a double meaning; One for adults and one for children, who this song was originally meant for. It is about the clitoris. Yes, that famous female part of the anatomy that rhymes with Delores. It was hilarious, and the crowd loved it.
After the show she came by, grabbed both my shoulders and thanks me for coming down. She then proceeded to play basketball on the deck for half an hour. I wasn’t going to be a pest, so I didn’t go over.
I was glad that Reza was there so that he could back up this story for me. He said that he would deny everything I say, but he’s a good guy and I know he wouldn’t do that.
I was thinking about going to the show on Tuesday at The Bottom Line. Now, I must!
I did!
Tuesday night at the Bottom Line, I am accompanied by Bill. Seth and Bernard meet us there. I run into Deni Bonet, who opened for Jill Sobule when she opened for Robyn Hitchcock. I am speaking to her when I see Jill stick her head out from behind stage. I wave, and she puts on a BIG smile and motions me over. Little did I know that she was motioning Deni over. Oh well. Bill said his heart was pounding real hard because he thought she was really motioning me over, as did I.
On stage, she starts telling her "Karen By Night" story and I yell out "Karen!"; She says, "Yeah, you’re right" and proceeds to play it.
After the show Bill and I wait by the stage and Jill comes out. I walk over and say hi, and she seems happy to see me, shakes my hand, but does not acknowledge that she knows me from Neptune’s. No big deal, I am happy nevertheless, and am now off cloud nine with my feet back on the ground.
She is playing July 18th and 19th two shows each night, and I must go again. Stay tuned...
I can’t find anyone to go with me to the show on the 18th, but am able to sell the ticket. I get there at 6pm, just as the doors open. There are about 30 people on line ahead of me, which allows me to get a seat right by the stage, in the same spot that I sat at the first show opening for Robyn Hitchcock. As I walk in, Jill is on the telephone right in front of me, and I don’t take advantage of the oppurtunity. I sit down and test out my expensive camera for some shots that I will be taking tonight. I strke up conversation with the people around me and wait for the show.
She does NOT start out the show with "Don't Fuck With Me." As a matter in fact, she doesn't do it at all. She also passes up on "All The young Dudes." Of course, she would have done it if I requested it instead of.....Clitoris!
She looked in my direction, gave a puzzled look with a big smile and proceeded to tell a story about how she tried to play this on the air in Las Vegas, but they wouldn’t let her do it because of what it was about. She looked back over, and said that she would do it, after asking her guitar player for the words. She must have been wondering how somone in the audience knew about this song unless she is on drugs. After all, why didn't she mentioned that she played it in the Hamptons?
Wednesday, Bill went with me, and the show was uneventful. Same set, with the exception of the lack of "Clitoris." However, she did end the show with "I Will Survive" from Gloria Gaynor.