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Poor Man's Whiskey
Dark Side of the Moonshine
Great American Music Hall
Friday, January 11, 2008

Special Guests Aaron Redner and Nat Keefe of Hot Buttered Rum and James Nash and Warren Hood of the Waybacks


What a great night! Decorations, costumes, all done up, the musicians dressed as Dorothy, The Wizard, Tinman, Scarecrow, Glinda the good witch, the Wicked Witch, Toto, Auntie Em, Uncle Henry, even a flying monkey showed up! The Yellow Brick Road wasn't the same when we finished

The crowd was great, lots of familar faces, especially nice to see the Nor-Cal gang out in force, didn't take long for the room to loosen up. The first set was only half full, lots of dancing room...got crowded as the night progressed but it was never too full.

Once we moved back to a spot behind the speakers the sound was good, couldn't get too close to the stage though, sounded like crap up there...guess I'd heard that complaint before but hadn't ventured to the front of the room to experience it myself.

The DSOTMS set was great, better than the first one up in petaluma last year, great energy, lots of fun, the crowd ate it up. But of course the original sets with all the special guests were my favorites, they played a bunch of PMW tunes Death Valley ass, Gone with a Twist all great. But the special guests made everyone shine, Midnight Moonlight with the butter boys! Followed by Salt Creek, a highlight for sure, all the musicians played on this one and there were some great solos all around.

It was a nice mix all night, some celtic stuff, the swing tunes were great, they really jammed that stuff out, I liked it!! They even worked in a Butter tune late in the evening--it's hard to get drunk on 3.2, very appropriate for Rory who was drinking bud light A nice Whiskey Creek towards the end of the night as well--anybody else hear an eminence front tease in there?

It's early in the year, but as of now, this is the Show of the Year! and at $15 the price can't be beat!

Yay Poor Man's Whiskey! Keep up the good work! I love the way the local guys have all gotten together, last night, the Nat Keefe Concert Carnivale, so many great collaborative nights. It was big smiles all around, they were clearly having fun, every one was excited to be there...There's no place like Oz!

Wow. Great night of music at the finest Music Hall in San Francisco.

Big dance floor, no chairs that I could see downstairs, which is an improvement, except for point in the evening when I just needed to rest a second, so I just sat on the floor off to the side. Even with the glow sticks atop my witch hat, I was told by security that I was a "Tripping Hazard"

We are so lucky to have such great local talent who just seems to be getting better and better, and know how to have FUN.

Thanks to the band and crew for putting on a great show and inviting us all to such an incredible party!

From the program:
Act 1
The Farm
Dorothy and friends blow off their farm chorse and decide to have a hoedown.

Tornado Intermission
Brace yourself for a liquid and lazer light extravaganza!

Act 2
Darkside of the Moonshine
Pink Flyod goes bluegrass on the third lions roar in the land of Oz.

Costume Contest Intermission
Prizes will be awarded by a panel of internationally renown
Wizard of Oz costume judges.
Be sure to line up at the start of the Yellow Brick Road to participate...

Act 3
Party at the Wizard's Castle
Screw Kansas, let's stay and party at the Wizard castle. There's no place like Oz, there's no place like Oz, There's no place like Oz...

Poor Man's Whiskey is my favorite live band. Sound at GAMH always questionable depending where y'er at, that being said, PMW rocked.

Loved the show opener PMW style, out on the floor and stripped down, talk about unplugging. All the guest accompanied them to the dance floor to get the party started. Couple of bluegrass standards followed by Friend of the Devil.

My timing was pefect, George said they were waiting for me

From today's gossip column:

P.S.: Poor Man's Whiskey played a "Land of Oz" show at the Great American Music Hall on Friday, for which the musicians (and many audience members) came dressed as "Wizard of Oz" characters. There was smoke wafting from the smoke machine, smoke of other kinds wafting from the crowd, laser lights shooting out over all, a video presentation flashing above the musicians, and at least two of the musicians in housedresses, with one in sparkly red shoes. Plus (with apologies to the Giants) better garlic fries than at the ballpark. Every sense was sated and grinning.

Nice find Auntie Em!

>>There was smoke wafting from the smoke machine, smoke of other kinds wafting from the crowd..

I looked up at one point and saw the smoke illuminated in the laser beams and thought it was all crowd smoke at first. It sure was purty.

>>Every sense was sated and grinning.

you can say that again

There was one song in the third set with a saxaphone. Best dance song of the night. Who was that on the sax?

>> Who was that on the sax? <<

Drummer George's brother Jamison. He's in Ten Ton Chicken, caught one of their shows last year. He noticed my moonshine shirt and we've been trying to get him to play with PMW ever since. Sounded good!

http://www.saxlife.com/

Good review of this show, and a few pics, just posted on JamBase
http://www.jambase.com/Articles/Story.aspx?StoryID =12664

Smokin' Review! Getting me excited about seeing the band again...and again. Thanks for sharing the link Garyfish.