Riders in the Sky
February 18, 2000 , Escondido, California
by Cathey Show #4066, February 18, 2000.
The evening began with a horrendous traffic jam on the freeway from San
Diego to Escondido. Bri and I thought we were tricky, since we decided
to go the 'back way' over surface streets and only get on the freeway
just before the bridge over the lake just south of Escondido, but
instead ran into the thick of it. Instead of the usual hour from our
house to the California Center for the Arts where RITS was playing, it
took nearly two. But we had set aside time to have dinner with
friends from my office, new RITS fans, and so made it in plenty of
time. I had stopped on the way home (I had left the office at 3 p.m.)
at Walmart and got a glow-stick to wave at that opportune moment.
The Center for the Arts is a beautiful, new theater with excellent
seating and wonderful acoustics. There isn't a bad seat in the house.
Even though we had gotten our tickets months in advance, we were about
sixteen rows back, since we weren't subscribers to season tickets. We
were in the center, a little to the Too Slim side. Our friends, who had
gotten their tickets only a few weeks before, were way up in the second
balcony. Another member of my firm had tried to get tickets a couple of
days before the concert, but wasn't able to. It was a total sell-out!
Finally, the lights dimmed. The stage was set with the cellophane
campfire, a flurry of stuffed armadillos, a couple of painted cardboard
saguaro cacti, and a big Toy Story II Woody sitting on a big cowboy
boot. The Riders in the Sky banner hung in the background. And then
they were there!
For once, I didn't take notes for the play bill. I just wanted to enjoy
the guys and pay complete attention to what was happening on stage.
They did sing some things I hadn't heard before, either in concert or
recordings. One, of course, was 'Woody's Roundup', and another was
'Jessie the Yodelin' Cowgirl.' The lyrics to 'Jessie the Yodelin'
Cowgirl' are very funny, something to do with her epiglottis, that I
didn't quite understand. 'Palindrome' had an additional palindrome
added, 'Nate bit a Tibetan.' How do these guys do it? They do
essentially the same show day after day, and it's still fresh and sooooo
funny! And they still are having fun, too! In 'You Are My Sunshine,'
Slim sings, 'You told me once, dear, you really loved me . . .'. Of
course, Doug interjected, 'Just Once?' And Slim just broke up. I've
seen them do this routine at least three times and, for whatever reason,
Slim just could not handle it this time. He hid behind his bass,
laughing. The audience was laughing so hard tears were running down
their collective cheeks. So he broke into 'Surfin' USA' and they sang
the thing
almost all the way through! My goodness, it was great!
Right before intermission, after singing 'Rawhide' (and 'Bowlin',
Bowlin' Bowlin'), Slim said they were going to go change their shirts,
and strongly suggested that a few of the audience members do the same.
Question time came around, and a little kid asked what 'Rawhide' was.
Well, that just threw them for a loss, the kid won the cactie, and Slim
came up with, 'It's the opposite of 'Cooked hide'. During intermission,
I went down to the Mercantile and bought a poster for them to sign after
the show and a lapel pin. People were
throwing money at the guy behind the table and he was taking it as fast
as they could throw it. If there had been another guy behind the table,
they would have sold twice as much!
Never before have I ever, ever, seen Woody so animated! (No pun
intended.) He did a hilarious impression of 'Woody Paul Cyrus' wherein
he stalked back and forth across the stage (saying that country western
performers used that trick to distract from their non-existent lyrics),
and gyrated his (non-existent) hips, all the while singing 'You're Gonna
Wear Out Your Welcome, Matt.' He jumped around and wiggled, and I and
the crowd could hardly breathe for laughing so
hard. Then he brought out the rope. He reverently laid it down on the
stage, knelt before it, and began to silently pray. Slim said, 'He's
praying for talent.' Then he did his rope tricks, but mostly got
wrapped up in the rope, making 'real mistakes.'
I think that Doug might have been having some problems with his voice.
It wasn't as strong as I've heard it in the past, and the other guys
jumped in a couple of times to support him. He yodeled just fine,
though, and held that incredible note in 'La Malaguena', too. It was as
though he could sing the notes, but not project very loudly. His
playing was wonderful, though, as was all the guys'. Slim really got
into his bass, and was playing le jazz hot up there, totally involved in
his instrument. You could 'feel' the notes as well as hear them. Joey
sang 'Texas Sand' beautifully and also did his 'Fastest Accordion Player
in the West' bit. I played accordion for eight years when I was a kid,
and never even came close to the facility with which Joey plays. It's
as though his hands glide over the instrument of their own accord, and
the music comes out without effort. I was totally amazed. He uses his
accordion like you or I use our language. It's
not something we think about, we just speak our thoughts and they come
out our mouths. Joey just thinks his music and it comes out,
wonderfully!
All too soon it was over. They sang 'Happy Trails' and I waved my glow
stick - I was the only one in the house to have one, and they pointed
and laughed and Slim said they felt like they were at a Jimmy Buffet
concert. After a standing ovation and two encores - the last, an a
capella version of 'He Walks with the Wild and Lonely,' I stood in line
and all the guys signed Woody (my Toy Story II Woody, not Woody Paul!),
and my poster. I try to notice something different about them each time
I go through the autograph line. This time, I noticed Doug's hands -
they're very delicate, almost feminine, and quite beautiful. It's
amazing to me that he can play with such skill and force with such
finely-boned hands. I asked Slim about little George, and he said he was
a real handful, out of all of the kids, he is the one to get into the
most trouble, the quickest. I complemented Joey on his playing and then
the line moved on, and me out the other end.
On the way out, I noticed the Southwind snuggled up to the back door,
and was kind of flabbergasted that they had driven all the way out here
to the West Coast. The other times I saw them, they had flown.
Needless to say, it was a wonderful evening, and a terrific beginning to
a long weekend of rain and old movies beside the fireplace. Now, onward
to August and Riders in the Sky and the L.A. Philharmonic at the
Hollywood Bowl!
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