Upstate New York s own songstress Natalie Merchant just finished up her part of the post-inauguration concert at the Times Union Center, and the crowd, last I checked, was waiting for headliner James Taylor.
Merchant s guitar player did a rendition of Bob Dylan s The Times They Are A Changing,' to a round of applause from the crowd, which appeared to fill about half of the arena.
She also sang a sort of New York classic Fifteen Miles on The Erie Canal,' and noted that It s hard to find topical songs about our state capital.
' The CapCon coverage of Day One has been excellent. Congratulations.
It was disconcerting to see so many empty seats in the TU Center tonight; several people I know wanted to attend, didn t get an e-mail response, and assumed it was sold out.
Comment by devtob January 1, 2007 @
That was Dan Zanes doing Dylan s classic, and the Erie Canal, and the rest, with Natalie. She does Erie Canal on one of his CDs as well.
Comment by teaparty2 January 1, 2007 @
She also siad she was Happy that Spitzer will be Governor for the next 6 years.
Perhaps she believe the Governor serves a six year term or perhaps she s assuming his 2010 relection and a successful 2012 bid for the Presidency.
Either way..
it was a good concert. Comment by albany1998 January 1, 2007 @
Natalie has such a beautiful voice and singing style. Really enjoyed getting to hear her.
Such a pleasure to hear Judy Collins and her crystal clear voice earlier today too.
And then there is James Taylor signing his sweet lullabys. Sweet Baby James!
Comment by Andrew C. White January 1, 2007 @
Merchant s guitar player was Dan Zanes, one of the artists on the bill. By the way, if you were sitting in the upper level seats, the accoustics were awful.
We could not here what Jimmy Fallon or anyone else was saying. They finally corrected the problem before James Taylor went on. James was great, what a great performer he is!
Comment by JT January 1, 2007 @
CapCon cheap seats reporter here.
Many of those up in the gallery and downstairs back of the sold out (with 1/2 to 2/3 dressed as empty seats) and newly minted TU Arena (congrats, staff) complained that they could not understand a thing being said. I asked the family next to me if they could understand what was being said and they were repeatedly saying no (and I no longer have to ask).
I said that it could have been spouting a string of profanities and the people around me said that it could have been, they would not have known (maybe Lenny Bruce truly is rehabilitated). The nice gentleman in front of me said I missed the Rose Bowl for this? I did understand that there was some reference to a TU reporter (which I told them that I thought was Liz).
After repeated shouts from various places in the back, the emotion swing seemed to go from full frustration to near hostility. However, there was a solution. The shake down at the concession stands.
After imbibing their way through the dilemma, the crowd seemed to go from frustrated and hostile to jovial and friendly. They were clapping and singing to what they were able to understand. They also really enjoyed the headliner.
When I asked why the sold out crowd appeared to be as it was, the reality check response was that it was James Taylor for free and thus they hustle for the tickets and decide what to do with them after they were safely in hand. I threw out that perhaps the starting time being moved an hour later (and it was actually more than that) might have helped change the mind of those with small children? Actually, the answer that I got was maybe, but in most cases they didn t think so.
JT for free, maybe it s for me!
And that s the bully, bully report from the peanut gallery. And now TU staff, back to you!
Comment by Saratoga Steve January 2, 2007 @
The sound in the upper level was very bad. Every word sounded like a mumble.
And someone should have mentioned to Jimmy Fallon that he had a gig last night.
He seemed a bit unprepared.
But still, it was a nice event. The highlight was not the concert, but the good food and wine beforehand!
Comment by January 2, 2007 @
James Taylor and Natalie Merchant were terrific. Although I had cheap seats , I was easily able to sneak down to a great seat. The sound was fine from my viewpoint - I could hear the banter - Jimmie Fallon quipped that he was doing Jager shots with Spitz on New Year s Eve.
I was only a couple of rows from Eliot and Silda. They stayed the entire time and you could tell they really enjoyed the music. They were very enthusiastic during Natalie Merchant s and then JT s set.
Plenty of empty seats near me, though. Comment by tillie630 January 2, 2007 @
Anyone know why the free tickets were for upper level only? we were never told this.
We arrived very early, stood in line for an hour, got in first, went to go to lower level and were told that we were only allowed to sit in upper level. Who were the folks that got the priority seating in the lower level sections?
devtob,
Unless you re in the boot-licking business, how can you say the CapCon coverage of the first day of Mr.
Spitzer s administration has been excellent.
The New York BLEEPING Post and Frederic Somebody Kicked The Snot Out Of U. Dicker BEAT THE TU on the story about taxpayers, that s you and I, continuing to pay for the Patakis security details in Purchase and the North Country.
The TU got its BUTT KICKED from the dawn of the day on a story that I had been harping about for months, a story the TU DECLINED to pursue.
And I loathe Frederic Dicker, Roger Ailes, John Podhoretz, and Rupert Murdoch. I adored the TU of Harry and Dan.
Damn, it hurts to see a twerp like Dicker BEAT THE TU LIKE A DRUM on this story. Comment by ExperiencedCynic January 2, 2007 @
The dirty masses were only allowed to view the show, and their betters from the peanut gallery?
How Democrat.
The Republicans would have done the same thing, but it would have been the conservatives viewing the show, and the lobbyists from the cheap seats. Comment by guymontag January 2, 2007 @
I had inaugurationny.org tickets and they were not in the upperdeck.
Let s not perpetuate any misimpressions. Comment by slilly January 2, 2007 @
I downloaded my tickets online also but I was in the upperdeck and could not hear most of what was said. The only act that was audible for me was the James Taylor set.
Up until that point I felt as if I was stuck in the middle of a sardine can with ear plugs on. I m glad I didn t pay for the tickets. I m just not sure it was worth the gas I used.
Comment by jcd2060 January 2, 2007 @
Sounds like the Democrat party planners didn t take into consideration that normal folks had to hear the show too. I hear the audio/visual from the floor seats were second to none for the lobbyists/bigwigs.
Comment by gary condit January 2, 2007 @
I m one parent of young children who was kept away by the later time.
An hour later was just too late for my 3 elementary age kids (especially since I had a feeling it would be more than that), so there s 5 empty seats accounted for. One other note the ticketing process online was far from ideal. I know of couples who got a ticket for one of them but not the other, we got an email after we had already printed our tickets saying that they d be available at will-call, and answers to questions were impossible to come by.
Oh well Comment by pastorsteve January 2, 2007 @
We got our tickets thru inaugurationny.org. They would not let us sit in the lower level section.
They wouldn t explain who got to sit in the lower level sections. None of this was mentioned when the ticket giveaways were announced. We were led to believe that this was all first come first serve.
It seems the common man was not allowed to sit on the floor or in the lower level sections. I thought Day One this all was supposed to change. So, who got to sit on the floor and lower level sections then?
Comment by JT January 2, 2007 @
We also were in the upper tier. At 6 p.m.
nearly all of the upper tier seats were full, while the seats in the lower tier and on the floor were half empty. My guess is that some of the better seats were given out through the online lottery and some were given to supporters, politicos, etc. We were at first on a waitlist to get tickets online and then a message arrived on Dec.
28 that we could download them. It s always a problem when you give out free tickets people can decide not to show up without penalty. It was worth all the discomfort, however, just to see and hear JT again.
Comment by njw January 2, 2007 @
Had a ticket, didn t go, decided not to sit all the other performers to get to the JT portion of the concert. Though I m sorry to have missed Judy Collins too.
I must say, though, that James just gets better and better with time like a fine wine.
His hair may be gone but he s still got it.
Comment by scrambled_eggs January 2, 2007 @
ExperiencedCynic Gee, boot-licking is a bit of a stretch, don t you think.
I was referring to the dozen or so stories, including this one, posted here during Day One, most of them filed almost contemporaneously.
The stories gave people who did not attend the inauguration events an almost play-by-play rendition in almost real time.
The stories were not based on investigative reporting or some source dropping a dime they were based on several reporters being there, from pre-dawn to well after dark, during the most politically significant day in NYS in 12 years, and getting professional stories online within an hour of the event.
Dicker got a great story, but he has always had better sources than anyone among Republicans who think Pataki has betrayed conservatives, and therefore want to make him look bad.
These sources know that such stories play into Dicker s well-known animus against Pataki, and will get prominent play in a newspaper that also thinks Pataki is a traitor to the cause.
And, EC, what s with all the shouting? Don t you know it s rude?
Comment by devtob January 2, 2007 @
I asked about the empty seats and was told they were for people who didn t show up. I got my tickets online and I sat in level lower seating. The concert was great.
Natalie Merchant is fabulous. In spite of the problems, I give kudos to them for trying to have something for everyone - does anyone remember the extravaganza put on by Pataki s crowd in 95? Talk about high falutin !
You couldn t get near it unless you were one of the $elect elite. I think it took years of lawsuits to get them to account for how and who paid for it. Comment by kansas alias January 2, 2007 @
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