pops highwood
so, i promised i'd write about pops highwood some more. i don't really need to know the exact dates, because i find them coming out as i find all those crazy lists i wrote down. yipes.
that tells me something about the intertwining of my manic-depression and the frisbie story, actually. or ADD or OCD or whatever the hell i've got. i definitely see all those lists, and i love frisbie and DO want to document their travels and story, but wow. every tuesday, i'm writing set lists, and i'm ranging from buzzed to wasted, but i'm ABSOLUTELY writing down EVERY SINGLE SONG they play, sometimes with commentary and stuff we say and stuff they say and what not.
i'm convinced that i probably was already heading down the manic-depression slope toward the downward slide of things at that point, looking at the scribbles and scratches of some of these lists. some of them just have sort of a 'manic' feel to them, knowing what i know now.
*note. i HATE when people toss the word manic around these days. i don't hear about manic-depression (remind me to tell you my theory (lol!! i'm talking to a blog, but this is just the rough draft of the book, and maybe someone will read it and comment one day) about the difference between the names manic-depression and bipolar) and then all of a sudden, everyone's bipolar and people are making cracks about everyone being manic. it's irritating, to say the least.
so....the story. i don't know if shawn and i both do this of our own accord, but i end up googling frisbie or putting them into metromix.com. and lo and behold, there's an entry for steve frisbie and liam davis at pops highwood on tuesday nights. WHAT? where's highwood? well, my friends, highwood is more than a little jaunt from the city. luckily, at this point, i still have my car (story some other time), ann marie has a car, and shawn has a car!! kelly cronin, who is soon to become part of the posse, also has a car. SCORE!
highwood is a sleepy community nestled somewheres in by highland park. you have to get on the expressway to get there, and getting to the expressway from where we lived (wrigleyville at the time, methinks) wasn't that easy of a task in and of itself. yet, we made the first surprise visit to find this pops for champagne sister up in highwood, il. it was weird. steve and liam, both on acoustic guitars. a fireplace in back, and an outdoor patio when the weather was warm. i will have to check my facts to see when we went. it might have been coldish spring at that point. still sweater weather.
the place served food, but stuff like fancy pizza and brie and hors d'eurves that were too expensive and not what you'd call 'bar food.' they served port, for heaven's sake. i still often just had captain and coke, but you could get bellinis and cosmos. it was this weird upscale crowd, napervillian in scale at times, who would come and drink and get lit and listen to steve and liam.
then there were the regulars. damien the bartender and kevin and alvy and me and sman and kelly and shawn. the people who were coming to tie a few on, but were frisbie fans. some of the guys had been coming to pops long before i even knew it existed. it was a strange mix, to be sure. but by the end of the night, one of us could usually coerce a journey song out of steve, and it wasn't unusual to hear liam still the house with a chilling rendition of 'into the mystic.' both were equally powerful and both were equally masterful in their skill. steve got better at guitar, and liam got better at loosening up and having fun.
pops highwood was truly musical improv at its best. you never knew quite what was going to happen. who was going to show up. what was going to be said. what was going to be drunk. what would be sung. how it all would be put together.
one night, when kelly cronin i were there, i saw steve, liam and zack sing a version of 'novocaine' that had everyone breathless. the harmonies were transcendental. the timing was impeccable. the chemistry was electric. afterward, i asked steve and liam if they knew what just happened. we barely could talk. i still don't really know what we said, but they said, 'yes.' they knew it was a moment that would never be re-created again.
pops highwood. it's my frisbie CBGB. it's my frisbie whisky a-go go. it's my frisbie cavern club.
that tells me something about the intertwining of my manic-depression and the frisbie story, actually. or ADD or OCD or whatever the hell i've got. i definitely see all those lists, and i love frisbie and DO want to document their travels and story, but wow. every tuesday, i'm writing set lists, and i'm ranging from buzzed to wasted, but i'm ABSOLUTELY writing down EVERY SINGLE SONG they play, sometimes with commentary and stuff we say and stuff they say and what not.
i'm convinced that i probably was already heading down the manic-depression slope toward the downward slide of things at that point, looking at the scribbles and scratches of some of these lists. some of them just have sort of a 'manic' feel to them, knowing what i know now.
*note. i HATE when people toss the word manic around these days. i don't hear about manic-depression (remind me to tell you my theory (lol!! i'm talking to a blog, but this is just the rough draft of the book, and maybe someone will read it and comment one day) about the difference between the names manic-depression and bipolar) and then all of a sudden, everyone's bipolar and people are making cracks about everyone being manic. it's irritating, to say the least.
so....the story. i don't know if shawn and i both do this of our own accord, but i end up googling frisbie or putting them into metromix.com. and lo and behold, there's an entry for steve frisbie and liam davis at pops highwood on tuesday nights. WHAT? where's highwood? well, my friends, highwood is more than a little jaunt from the city. luckily, at this point, i still have my car (story some other time), ann marie has a car, and shawn has a car!! kelly cronin, who is soon to become part of the posse, also has a car. SCORE!
highwood is a sleepy community nestled somewheres in by highland park. you have to get on the expressway to get there, and getting to the expressway from where we lived (wrigleyville at the time, methinks) wasn't that easy of a task in and of itself. yet, we made the first surprise visit to find this pops for champagne sister up in highwood, il. it was weird. steve and liam, both on acoustic guitars. a fireplace in back, and an outdoor patio when the weather was warm. i will have to check my facts to see when we went. it might have been coldish spring at that point. still sweater weather.
the place served food, but stuff like fancy pizza and brie and hors d'eurves that were too expensive and not what you'd call 'bar food.' they served port, for heaven's sake. i still often just had captain and coke, but you could get bellinis and cosmos. it was this weird upscale crowd, napervillian in scale at times, who would come and drink and get lit and listen to steve and liam.
then there were the regulars. damien the bartender and kevin and alvy and me and sman and kelly and shawn. the people who were coming to tie a few on, but were frisbie fans. some of the guys had been coming to pops long before i even knew it existed. it was a strange mix, to be sure. but by the end of the night, one of us could usually coerce a journey song out of steve, and it wasn't unusual to hear liam still the house with a chilling rendition of 'into the mystic.' both were equally powerful and both were equally masterful in their skill. steve got better at guitar, and liam got better at loosening up and having fun.
pops highwood was truly musical improv at its best. you never knew quite what was going to happen. who was going to show up. what was going to be said. what was going to be drunk. what would be sung. how it all would be put together.
one night, when kelly cronin i were there, i saw steve, liam and zack sing a version of 'novocaine' that had everyone breathless. the harmonies were transcendental. the timing was impeccable. the chemistry was electric. afterward, i asked steve and liam if they knew what just happened. we barely could talk. i still don't really know what we said, but they said, 'yes.' they knew it was a moment that would never be re-created again.
pops highwood. it's my frisbie CBGB. it's my frisbie whisky a-go go. it's my frisbie cavern club.
