Reply To: JoCo in NYC!
Hey, forums!
It really was a great concert. I was in the NYC area staying with my sister, so I got to go to a non-DC event for the first time. I can echo a lot of what Mitch & CoolJammer said about the acoustics — they were excellent, and the whole place just oozed performance-supporting expertise. Joco was in good voice and a great mood; P&S were rocking it out, and the ukes were awesome.
Since so many videos are up of the performance, I’ll try to add bits about the background stuff that haven’t been commented on yet.
Mitch & Bry & I ended up hanging in the line outside the venue together, mostly I think because we’d all read this thread before going and wanted to avoid seating problems, so we were first, second, and third to arrive. Mitch had seen P&S going in, and at various points we saw uke people arriving with their tiny instrument cases and going in as well.
The Highline is in the middle of an office/industrial warehouse kind of city block, right next to a market called Western Beef. So our line stretched from the venue entrance along the sidewalk down to the market entrance, and then beyond it for some length that I never really could see from where I was. It looked like it went to the end of the block, though.
Two entrance manager/ bouncer types were at the door — very smart funny guys, who gave us information about procedures & seating layout, and so on. They even awarded Mitch a nickname. 🙂 As we waited, they laid out stanchions with retractable belts to define the line space, and began staging big flat traffic barricade things in the street.
The lightboard guy came out for a cigarette, and we chatted with him for awhile. He cited some big names who had been at the venue — the only ones I recall were McCartney & Tori Amos. He was curious about the acts we’d come to see, since he’d never heard of them & seemed kind of surprised to see so much apparent fan interest in unknown musicians.
As Mitch was entertaining us with stories, I saw a car pull up right behind the Chevy Malibu that Jeff the light guy’d been leaning against, and JoCo jumped out of the driver’s seat and pulled a guitar case out of the back seat. He was in a t-shirt & shorts, and gave the line a quick wave and a “Hi, thanks for coming to see us!” as he went in the door. Shortly after that he came back out, pulled the yellow tote (same one that starred in Behind the Beard, parts I-V) from the trunk and went back in with it.
I’d been handing the JoCo website bookmarks out to line-standers and passersby who asked what the line was for, and we ended up having Mitch stick them under the wiper on JoCo’s car and the one next to it, in the place a parking ticket might be. When he came out to go park the car, he didn’t notice it, but came back to the venue in a few minutes brandishing the bookmark with a grin and asking “Who put trash on my car?”
Also at one point, a female came up with a companion and told the bouncers that she was JoCo’s assistant, and was there to henchman the Merch table, so that’s how we were able to scope out Scarface. (She’s pretty much a sweetheart, IMO, although I never heard her call anybody anything.)
Mitch went back along the line at one point, looking for forum members — I think he said that CoolJammer was there, but no one else had responded to his callouts. When 6:30 (or so) arrived, the line barrier was opened up and we went into the venue.