America Day: Pavilion Park in Liberty Lake, WA

Freedom isn’t free.  It costs folks like you and me.
And if we don’t all chip in, we’ll never pay that bill.
Freedom isn’t free.  No, there’s a hefty fuckin’ fee.
And if you don’t throw in your buck-o-five, who will? 

If you don’t throw in your buck-o-five, who will?
Ooh, buck-o-five.
Freedom costs a buck-o-five.

What did you do for America day?  Did you light up the Christmas tree?  Read your favorite story about Christopher Columbus discovering America?  Did you get a basket filled with Cadburry Creme Eggs, Peeps, and a chocolate bunny?

If you answered “yes” to any of those questions, you’re an idiot.  Everyone knows that you save all three of those activities for St. Patrick’s Day.  Dur.

Our America Day was an action-packed exercise in patriotism, anti-terrorism, and abidition.  Leading up to the gig, we were a little curious as to what the crowd would be expecting of us.  For example, the press release in the entertainment section of the local newspaper tagged us as a country band and described how excited the promoters were to book a country band for their America event.  In that same article, they also mentioned how we sound like Barenaked Ladies, RHCP, and Maroon 5–three not country bands.

I’ll admit that while we do have some country sounding songs (“Abercrombie,” “Alright Tonight,” “I Make My Own Money,” etc.), I don’t think we could solely be labeled as a country group.  But that’s just me.  Therefore, we were a little worried that the Pavillion Park crowd were anticipating a bit more Brooks & Dunn and a little less Dave Matthews Band.

Boy, were we wrong.  While it wasn’t the typical crowd you’d find at a Clintons show, the audience was very participatory and extremely receptive to our music.  A big part of that can and should be attributed to John’s uncanny ability to get little children to do pretty much whatever he says.  He started it off by inviting a slew (and I do mean a SLEW) of children between the ages of 3-9 to come up onstage and play Josh’s instruments for “Grant.”  After that, they were putty in his hands.  Here are a few of his priceless quotes:

“Alright, now run around!  Burn calories!”

“All the girls stand on this side and the boys stand on the other side.  Now run towards each other and give each other high-fives!”

“Ok, now everybody yell out your favorite swear word!”  (Shouts of “Poop,” “Pee,” and “Butt” soon followed.)

“Go check in with your parents, kids!  And give them high-fives!”

The best one was during Billie Jean, when he told the kids to do the following:

“Now drop to the ground and slowly rise up like you’re zombies from the ‘Thriller’ video.”  (I will gladly take credit for that one.)

Even though it was a very different from the gigs we’re used to playing, the four of us had a total blast.  The sound engineer was very good at what he did;  the four of us could actually hear ourselves.  How often does that happen?

After our set, we were treated to a grand fireworks show.  Watching the fireworks made me think of all the real heroes of our country.  I’m not talking about doctors, lawyers, or tax collectors.  Oh, no.  I’m talking about people like Sarah Palin, Joe the Plumber, Dolph Lundgren, Anne Coulter, and Nelson Mandela.  Without them, where would we be?

That’s right.  F**ked.

“…from sea to shining sea.”

Highlights:

–One of John’s ill-received orders to the kids!  ”Alright, kids, now eat a big old hamburger!  You done yet?  Great! Now go swimming.  Done swimming?  Fantastic!  Now go get a pair of scissors and run around!”

–A big red thanks to Big Red Barn for starting the night off right.  You guys are a couple of mother pluckers.

–Angie and I serenaded everybody with our beautiful patriotic hymns.  It was very American.

Setlist:

The order is somewhat skewed, but I think it’s close.

Alright Tonight
Walkin’ on Air
Birthday Suit
Potion
Kinky
Fishin’ in the Dark
Baltimore
Little Miss Perfect
Grant Wants to Be A Pirate
Magic Carpet Medley
-Magic Carpet
-Too Much
-Billie Jean (with zombie kids)
-Let’s Get It Started
-Jump Around
-Ice Ice Baby
-Seasons of the Abyss
Spiderman
Chimney
Out of Her Mind
Come with Me
I Make My Own Money
Fan of the Bean
Abercrombie
Jesus Jones