This time, it would be in New York City, quite close to the nexus of the universe, in fact. I met up with Susannah, his sister, and her boyfr...Irishman friend Shane. I'd heard about this guy because he is a fan of Everton, the Merseyside arch-rivals of my beloved Liverpool Reds. He had passed on some trash talking text messages via Susannah the weekend before but I knew I had a comeback for any trouble that he wanted to start :o) . But, he was in fact a pretty cool guy - especially for an Everton fan.
Susannah was so excited to introduce me to him (slight embellishment ;o) that we all got to the club early so we could go have a pint before the show. Well, actually not a pint - a liter! We checkd out the bier-garten at Loreley, a favorite German beer pub of mine around the corner. Of course they serve stellar brews there and Shane and I both ordered up a "mass" (one-liter stein) of Warsteiner, one of my favorite beers ever while we talked about who he was and why Everton sucked so much and why I was a Liverpool fan.
After the brewsky, we headed back to the club, where a group of under-21s were congregating since this is probably the only other place than Webster Hall that actually allows people from 18-20 years old. I felt like a creepy old man in this place! Well, there were a couple of opening acts that were actually quite good and entertaining, like this scratcher guy Mike Relm who had some very cool mixes and videos (check out his live "O-Face" act) .
After him, Lorin was up and the crowd got all crazy. We finagled our way in front of all of the teenagers right up to the stage and danced along with his music, which was a lot different than the stuff he played the last time I heard him. And, to be honest, I didn't really get into it that much, but I was interested in watching him groove to the crowd and also was visualizing his whole setup. Clearly, the electronica industry has changed a ton since I last saw Paul Oakenfold live because everything Lorin did was on a computer and the mixer. I don't think he had any turntables, which is crazy to me. I'd love to get my hands on some of THAT software to mix up some crazy scheisse.
Towards the end of the show, we went backstage to this little mini-room where they had all the snacks, free beers, and the guys who had played earlier hanging out. Some interesting folks were back there, like a loud-mouthed band-manager who seemed to know everyone and was a total dirty schmoozer type. After the show, the dude brought three eighteen year-old girls backstage (if that old) and was all trying to work them until they left, probably because their mom was waiting for them out front in the mini-van ;o) . He was kinda funny though and it was entertaining watching him go back and forth with Susannah and him talking about all the gay guys he could set Susannah's friend up with and her friend talking about all the hot 23-year-old Jewish girls he could set up this guy with. This guy clearly liked to be at the center of attention, though :o)
Lorin came back after the show, all pumped up and sweaty and had to lower his blood pressure for a few minutes with just me and Susannah since his manager kicked everyone else, which was cool. He was super-cool like always and strangely still normal despite all his fame. After the show, he was supposed to play at another club that I'd never heard of, starting at 3:30am. So we headed over there and he got out of the cab down the block and we went in to check out the scene to report back to him if it was worth going to or not. Inside, Mr. Superstar Band Manager plumped his credit card so we could all order drinks, but I was doing fine at the moment and, by 4:00am, I was pretty much beat. Lorin decided to go to the hotel and crash instead of playing the next show (I guess he can do that) but overall it was a pretty sureal experience with this host of characters!
J. Riley, it's kind of hard to explain these kinds of experiences, it's another one of those "New York Moments"!!
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