ominous seapods, lobsterpalooza, 6/7/08, washington park, albany, ny

a few months back (precisely 1/12/08) the seapods did a reunion show at revolution hall in troy, ny. all was fucking awesome. little did they know there was a show promoter in the audience they had completely blown away. so one day he calls up teep and says he HAS to have the ominous seapods headline the one and only lobsterpalooza (the way that paris hilton HAS to have her valtrex), a day long annual lobster festival that rocks the socks off of washington park in albany- and that he'd pay them actual money to do it!

seapods + lobster = ROCK LOBSTER

i listened to the yanks game vs. kc on the drive up and thanks to this handy dandy little link, i was able to switch local affiliates and get crystal clear reception the whole way up. so it was an emotional rollercoaster. it was also 95 fucking degrees out, so we were in for a scorcher or at least a "two shirter" if you will. i arrived and parked next to valentine's as pettitte assploded (for only the 3rd time that game) and the royals tied it up at 6 in the 7th inning. i was angry. i was very very angry. luckily the seapods were only a couple of blocks and a few hours away.

holy fuck it was hot out. oppressive even. gabe called while i was parallel parking to say that he had spotted a marty racine. i brought the pecan chocolate chunk cookies i promised teep (humus = cookies, but this time the humus was lobster, so the lobster was life, which we were eating = cookies), but i wasn't sure how they'd stand up in the heat (answer: very well).

the lee boys were onstage when i got there, and they were a cool bluesy soul jam rock. my buddy sean had told me about them when he saw the lineup, the conversation pretty much nails the description:
S: they're kind of like robert randolph
LG: i get tired of robert randolph after 5 minutes, it's like musical wanking
S: exactly, but the lee boys are what robert randolph should be*

i met up with the fancy rockstar lads who were feasting on lobster and/or surf 'n turf. the VIP tent was a weird scene. dumbledore was there and so was johnny depp but stranger even were the multiple miss albany lobster contestants. i am unaware of who was crowned queen lobsterpalooza. marty fed me some (lobster) tail doused in salty liquid butter (droooool), he also broke his cracker (because he's so strong, you see...) so he had to use his hands and pure rage to pull the beast apart!

i donated some sunblock and baby-wipes to the boys, and scampered (actual scampers) off to find gabe and the venerable g3, who is currently on his quest to drink 100 cups of coffee. both gabes were conveniently checking the yanks game and providing updates- at that point the yanks were still losing (again), but shortly afterwards came back (again), then they were losing (again), and then they came back and WON (this is unnerving). the updates allowed me to stay angry at robbie cano which is very important these days. we got some fresh squeezed lemonade and saw a fried-pickles vendor... but when at lobsterpalooza, do as the lobsterpaloozians do. hence my very own lobsterpalooza.


then we walked around and found some crazies milling aboot, namely josh (aka st. steve), the bourbon cowboy, big daddy seapod, eventually big mama seapod, actual seapods, and a smattering of little podlings. crazy. kat, jack, and (father-to-be) johnnycat (i'm scurred) and the seapods bust out smokin'!

setlist courtesy of the hardest working man in showbiz, marty racine (he's the one wearing a shirt):

Blackberry Brandy, Sad Sad Corner > Adirondack Blue, No Time Like The Present, Jet Smooth Ride, Somedays, Cary Suite, Hope I Shall Arrive > Sneakin Sally Through The Alley, Waiting 4 da Bomb To Drop, Leaving The Monopole.
Encore : Rock & Roll

'blackberry brandy' was nice and refreshing in the hot sticky weather. it proved to be prophetic, the sun started easing up and while it wasn't very cold, a cooler wind (breeze) started blowing on our necks. 'sad sad corner'-> 'adirondack' was fun, and holy shit they pulled out 'cary suite'! it got a little messy in one part but the rest sounded just perfect and beautiful. i think around this time was when the crowd crossed the line into classic seapod madness mode- many folks sitting in the sun and drinking beer all day waiting for this-- it was definitely LOTS of fun. the same way i wanted to hear 'cary suite' is the same way i still want to hear 'josephine's grand motion', so for the next sporadic (you like the sound of that? sounds better than "reunion", yes?) show i hope they will pull that out of the box. 'hope i shall arrive' (to which i had texted the lyrics to the 2nd verse to them in the morning) sounded great. 'sneakin' sally through the alley' with max on lead remains the best cover of this WIDELY covered song i've EVER heard. it's sick. 'monopole' was awesome and i wish the set could have lasted longer, but they pulled out 'rock & roll' and an albany curfew pulled the plug on what could have possibly gone on for hours more. once again, i was slightly disappointed with the choice of encore (a cover??? again? really? REALLY???), but it was a family friendly event, so i can understand why they didn't do 'mr. blood' (although the lobster possibilities were endless). oh, and no old tp songs, so maaaaybe they could have rocked out 'anythings possible' or 'seymour'. they will have to save that for next time.

the folks from the waterhole trekked down (sans a sasquatch-like billy allen) along with the waterhole flag which they were dancing around with. i finally got to meet brandon devito and he tried to card me before offering me a bartending job up in saranac. lemme tellya, it's pretty fucking tempting these days. just an fyi, saturday night some douchebaggers broke into the waterhole and stole $10-15k worth of sound equipment... and a bottle of tequila. so if you hear any rumblings, please report it to your local friendly po-po occifer. apparently the suspects look like a bunch total assholes strong enough to carry off $10-15k worth of sound equipment (and a bottle of tequila).


marty passed out cookies as we hung out and said goodbye to everyone. i realized that max drives a minivan full of children now. that was a bit weird.

it was getting late and you're not supposed to hang out in washington park after the sun sets, because you might die (no, seriously- it's pretty fucked.) so we took off. i was pretty gross by the end of the show and i toyed with the idea of seeing raisinhead afterwards at valentine's, but i'm old now, and all i really wanted to do was drive home and take a shower. so i did.

ominous seapods, 6/7/08, lobsterpalooza: 9.5 HUZZAHS! awesome show, guys! i think you should play moe.down!!!* show isn't up on archive yet, but there was definitely 1 taper (tapir?) there

1,2,3- SLIDESHOW!

full gallery page for hi-res downloads: http://picasaweb.google.com/lynnguppy/OminousSeapodsLobsterpalooza6708
(new camera, btw- olympus stylus 1010- chose this one over the nikon coolpix, hope it was the right decision).

* this is the IM conversation that just happened when i needed to confirm description (for news-worthiness) with sean:
S: well the best of that group is the Campbell Brothers...they are most traditional and best
S: ...they are the guys on all those sacred steel cds
S: the Lee's are slightly less than that
S: Randolph comes from the same kind of church (in east orange)
S: but he is all hendrixed out
LG: totally
S: too much jam band...and not enough gospel
LG: i could see that
LG: too much wanking
LG: not enough soul
S: exactly
S: that could be the damn t shirt

**"i'll play moe.down if they ask me." - max verna / "tell them we'll play for a no-thumb handshake." - dana "ribs" monteith