LeE HARVeY OSMoND

So, Friday night we go to see Lee Harvey Osmond at the Casbah. Not the place where the Beatles were born but not unlike that little club. The tickets say the show begins at 9pm, so we arrive a bit early to get a good seat...however there are very few seats at all, and they've been claimed by others who arrived even earlier. We post ourselves next to...well...a post, so we can lean against it. We're not as young as we used to be, and both of us have back issues. The first band comes on just after 9pm. Tom Wilson and Brent Titcomb are here, we see them wandering around all night, but this is not Tom Wilson who takes the stage, it's a buxom young lass in a red dress with a couple of associates who perform one of the least professional acts I've seen in a long time. She holds a Seagull acoustic guitar and strums it from time to time, her partner on electric guitar seems content to show off his psychedelic jazz guitar licks throughout the song, playing things that are irrelevant but flashy. The bass player and drummer are...forgettable and suit the songs well. It's a long first set. I wish I drank more!
After she's done and her personal fan club has congratulated her Tom and Brent and a few other Osmonds appear. But the band that takes the stage is Rattlesnake Choir. It's now after 10pm. I know I'm going to be turning into a pumpkin. People around me are yawning. It's contagious. Rattlesnake Choir are a sort of weird country-Celtic band with a hot redheaded fiddler and a percussionist who plays the Slinky, and musical saw! Normally I would think this was cool, but I find myself sliding down the post which is the only thing holding me up. I'd like to see this band under different circumstances. I'm glad that my boss declined our invitation now!
Finally, some time after 11pm Lee Harvey Osmond comes on, Tom Wilson swears and comments that he's glad they arrived at 6 o'clock for a sound check, since the on-stage monitor isn't working. He speaks sharply to the soundman. Am I the only person who remembers that Rattlesnake Choir asked for that monitor to be turned off? By song 3 the monitor is turned back on.
At least the sound that we're hearing is better for LHO than for the openers. This is a great band. They play through the new CD, and add some Wilson solo material, a song by Brent Titcomb, one or two from the guys from Huron and just in general rock the joint. The day is done, I am sinking even lower against this post. We go home and miss the end of the night.
Never one for the bar scene, I am still embarassed to admit that I left before the end of the show. I'd go see them again though, any time...hopefully with an earlier start!