Third Picture Post- On With-a Da Show!

At last, the appointed hour approached. We headed back from a restaurant about three blocks away from the onetime Palace Theatre, now known as the "Reg Lenna Center," named in honor of the Reginald and Elizabeth Lenna Foundation, one of the original major donors to restoring the early 20th century jewel of vaudeville and cinema. Harry Chapin turns out to have had a connection to the restoration; he performed a benefit there just before his tragic death in the summer of 1981.

The reno's over the years included replacing a ton of the seating, stage and infrastructure, the restoration of the artwork that graces the ceiling and balcony, and, at some point, updating the marquee:



They look better in person than in pixels.

My dinner companions had gotten the tickets for the eighth row on the aisle-



-programmes were procured-



- and after a short but much appreciated opening set from two alumni of Rusted Root-



- the four founding Maniacs, their two later arrivals, and their backup singer took the stage.  Opening with "Maddox Table," a then new-to-me song from long ago that I mentioned earlier-



- they went through the setlist and stories of the music that brought them fame, fans and finally home.

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I got to snap a picture of that list after it was handed down to a front-row fan when it was all over:



They didn't need the full titles. Mostly, neither did I.   I recognized each from Jerry's first beat except  the "Maddox" song I now know; "(Pit) Viper," (which goes back to their locally pressed Secrets of the I Ching from 1983 and for which we saw the site of the music video and Steve's fake strangulation earlier in the day), "Angels of Stone" (a John and Mary carryover I'd heard the band do at Town Ballroom for the first time), and the penultimate encore, the Cure cover "Just Like Heaven."

And "Rob's Song," which they also played at Town and which Steve introduced again this night.  During COVID, he came upon some Maniac memories at home, including a cassette labeled "Song Ideas" in the handwriting of their late guitarist Rob Buck. This instrumental was one of the songs on it; their vocalist took ten while the remaining five jammed it out as a tribute and preview of its likely inclusion on their soon-to-be 15th album:



(I video'd about 37 seconds in it which I will try to add to this post. Later.)

Most songs were from Natalie's era, but they did their "More than This" cover and the first track from their first Nataless album Love Among the Ruins, titled "Rainy Day."



Continuing that theme, they also did "Like the Weather," an upstate anthem if there ever was one, starting with The color of the sky as far as I can see is coal grey.  Which it, of course, was- before and after the show and for most of what would prove to be a long and difficult drive home which I will, yes will, get to tomorrow.

The show "ended" with "Hey Jack Kerouac" and its lyrics of You've gone away without say-yay-yay-yay say-yay-yaying goodbye. But this isn't my first time at this rodeo; hell, I've now driven through Gerry with a hard G, home of the oldest consecutive rodeo east of the Mississipi.  There would be encores. First, the boys came out and John Lombardo took the mike to belt out "My Mother the War" in all its fury; the song was, sadly, more timely than ever between events a hemisphere over and those in our domestic war a week earlier and 70 miles to the north:




But we ended, as they always do, with the keeping of faith, and hope, and love of "These Are Days," which Mary sings as beautifully as Natalie did and yet uniquely.

They took the obligatory bow, including the horn section that joined for the final songs up to "Jack"-



No, my friends. Thank you.

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A final before-the-show moment I knew about but didn't see until later.  My Amherst friends and I were three of the UB Law School graduates of about the original Maniacs' age in attendance. A fourth, who we'd never met before, came up from where she now lives in North Carolina, but she is also a Jamestown native.  She made a project out of creating a memory book, of stories and photos, from fans from all over to thank the band.  My contribution was short (and shortened)-



- which was among the over 40 pages of such tributes. After the event, fans behind the event posted about the presentation of the book, which was kept secret from all but Jeff the n00b of the group who'd figured out something was up but didn't know what. The joy and appreciation they felt, seeing this effort from people paying to see them that night, was still on the stage when we got there hours later:



(I believe that's Laurie's blonde head in the right foreground;)

Eleven years ago around this time, I helped put together a similar tribute book, a project that began in the back of another Southern Tier city's courtroom when I learned of the sudden too-soon death of a fellow Mets writer. I know from that what an effort Laurie made, on a much shorter turnaround, but for a happier occasion. 

You told us we are blessed and lucky, and this moment makes clear that the feeling among these Maniacs is mutual:)