The Egg
Albany, NY
August 5, 2005
Review By: Barbara
PROLOGUE:
Wednesday, August 3rd, 5 p.m.: I’m standing in a crowd at T. F. Green Airport in Rhode Island, holding a sign saying “PATTY PARTY!” and waiting for Tammie to arrive from Georgia. I was anxious to know how she liked her first-ever plane ride. She came up to me, smiling, and saying “That was COOL!”. The next half-hour wasn’t so cool, however, as the luggage from her flight didn’t get into Baggage Claim in a very timely manner. The flight before hers was from Orlando, so we had a huge crowd of parents and tired kids making an unearthly racket, so that it was almost impossible to hear the announcements. Finally a lull, and I heard them say which baggage carousel it would be on, so we stationed ourselves there and finally were able to retrieve her luggage. As we were exiting the airport, I casually mentioned that, even though it’s called the Providence airport, we were really in the city of Warwick. Welcome to the Northeast! We had a simple dinner, and then took Tammie to Oakland Beach, a small local beach in Warwick. We arrived as a gorgeous sunset was in progress. Tammie tried her first calamari and pronounced it okay. Nicole was supposed to arrive on Thursday morning at 11:30, so our plan was to pick her up at the airport, drop her bags at the house, and head to the island of Jamestown to see Beavertail Light. On Thursday morning, Nicole called Bob to report that she had arrived in Charlotte, NC but her flight from there to Providence had been cancelled! Instead, she would be arriving at 1:45 p.m. After a quick conference, Tammie, Bob and I decided to go to Jamestown as planned. The weather was beautiful, and we enjoyed seeing the lighthouse and the ocean. We stopped at Flo’s Clam Shack for some clamcakes, which Tammie tried and said were good. Then we drove to the airport and got a big smile from Nicole with the “Patty Party!” sign. Her luggage was available right away, but she had to take three separate flights to get here. It’s amazing to us that her luggage arrived at all! We had promised the ladies an Italian meal, so we went directly to Campanella’s in Cranston, a local restaurant where the bread, sauce, and salad dressing are made on the premises. Finally we went home, and Nicole got to see her elegant bed, which we inflated later! At 6:30PM we went to our Harley Owners Group monthly meeting, and I think Tammie and Nicole saw some interesting folks there. I believe someone was trying to sell them a motorcycle! We made a dessert stop at Gregg’s Restaurant, where our waitress seemed overly fond of asking “Are you all set?” The rest of the evening was spent with the ladies getting to know Mom, who at 96 will say anything; she cracked them up!
After Bob took Cole for a ride on the Harley, her first motorcycle ride, we left for Albany, NY at 11:30 on Friday morning. Our Mapquest directions were great until we got off the highway in New York. The address of our hotel was Southern Boulevard, but it ended up as a dead end. Hmmm. Bob called the hotel, got more information, and we tried again. Now the road name changed and the numbers didn’t correspond. Tammie called the hotel, a Ramada Inn, and got more explicit instructions plus the information that it is a FORMER Ramada Inn. Okay. Well, it’s next to the Mobil station, so when we spotted the Mobil sign in the distance, we figured we were home free. Sure enough, the adjacent property is a hotel, with two big Ramada signs out front. The really nice desk personnel told us that Southern Boulevard has four parts (seemingly unconnected!) so poor Mapquest did the best it could. About the best that can be said for the hotel is that the beds were clean and the front desk staff very pleasant. They gave us directions to the Empire State Plaza, where the Egg is located. Yes, the building housing the theater is called the Egg, and it is shaped just like one. We found the plaza with no trouble, and met up with Mike D. and Miles. All of us went to LoPorto Restaurant for dinner, and for a while were the only diners in the place. The food was very good but portions were huge. It was finally time to go into the theater, where Mike, Miles, Bob and I were in the second row with Tammie and Nicole right behind us. Thank you, Mike D., for getting these great seats! I heard that the theater seats 900, and I would estimate it to be about one third full. The lights dimmed, and the show began!
I always get into the clothes, so here goes. Troy wore a striped shirt and blue jeans; Martin a blue shirt with khaki shorts; Deanie a striped shirt and brown pants; Guthrie a red shirt with blue jeans; Kylie a black top and blue jeans; Pete a black shirt and blue jeans; Jimmy his trademark black shirt and pants. Pete began playing and he can certainly make that steel touch your emotions. Out came Patty, in blue jeans and a green sequined top, with a green bracelet on her right arm. “Keep Your Distance” is a great song and I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of hearing it. They went right into “Last Thing On My Mind”, and then Patty talked about recording with George Jones and winning the 1997 CMA Vocal Event of the Year. Of course this led to “You Don’t Seem To Miss Me”, and Troy Engle did a wonderful job on the George Jones part. He and Patty sound great together. The tempo picked up with “You Can Feel Bad” and stayed up with “She Drew A Broken Heart”. Patty gave that song a very sassy ending! Then Patty spoke about her new album, “Dreamin’ My Dreams” which is coming out on September 13th. The following day, Sept. 14th, is her sister’s birthday and Patty said she knows her sister is in a better place watching the show. When Patty does this song she always remembers the great Waylon Jennings. When she sings “Dreamin’ My Dreams” live, it feels like she is speaking to each person in the audience. Pete and Deanie, on steel and fiddle, and Guthrie on guitar just tug at your heartstrings. In 1990 Patty was with MCA Records, and she asked Tony Brown if he thought she could do this next song. When he said he thought so she recorded “I’m That Kind Of Girl”, which was the next song. That led into “Trouble With the Truth”. Then we had two of my favorites in a row, and when Pete on steel, Deanie on mandolin and Kylie on guitar played the intro, it was beautiful. “You Don’t Even Know Who I Am” is an amazing song, and Patty always does such a heartfelt job on it. She continued to touch us with “Here I Am”, a song that I hope is NEVER dropped from the set list. “Halfway Down” completed the first half of the show.
After intermission, the stage was set up for an acoustic set; Pete on Dobro, Kylie on mandolin, Jimmy and Guthrie on guitars, Martin on snare drum, and Deanie and Troy on fiddles. “The Boys Are Back In Town” started off the second half with energy. Then we had a real treat; Patty and Troy sang “Someone I Used To Know”. That man can SING! Great job, Troy!! Patty said she has been on the road for many years, and she’s always being asked when she’ll make another album like….fill in your favorite album title here. She mentioned it to Emory, and the new record mixes acoustic and electric. Troy joined Patty again on a great version of “Never Ending Love” accented by Deanie’s awesome fiddling. Patty mentioned that Guthrie played on the new record, and he then played the intro to “My Old Friend the Blues”, which is a beautiful song. Troy on mandolin kicked off the next song, “Daniel Prayed”, which Patty said was a favorite of her dad and herself. Her father loved Flatt and Scruggs. He worked in the coal mines, and provided for seven kids, plus one who came to live with them. She is proud to be a coal miner’s daughter. Her father passed away in 1979 from black lung disease, and Patty feels he has the best seat in the house every night, along with all his coal miner buddies. She does this song for them. “Harlan” is a great song, but Patty infuses it with so much honest emotion that if you can listen to her sing that song and not feel something, you have a problem. In 1996 Patty’s sister Dottie passed away, and she was a great singer. There is a song on Mountain Soul about them, “Pretty Little Miss”. This story follows it, called “Big Chance”. Deanie’s solo fiddle and Patty’s humming began “Nothin’ Like the Lonely”. Bob’s favorite, “On Your Way Home”, followed, and then Patty introduced the band. “Lovin’ All Night” got folks clapping along, and then Patty asked those who can to stand up, and she taught us the words to “Blame”. It may have been a small crowd, but we were loud and enthusiastic! When they left the stage, we made so much noise that they came back for an encore. To my great pleasure Patty sang “Nothin’ But the Wheel”, which is right up there in my favorites. I just love how she sings that song!
My husband Bob has been a Patty Loveless fan for nine years, and his fondest wish came true when he got to go backstage for the meet and greet. He had his picture taken with Patty, but said he was so nervous he didn’t say all the things he wanted to tell her!
He was on Cloud Nine for the rest of the weekend. Thanks, Cole!
Bob did manage to get some sleep, I think, and we headed out early (and hungry) to drive back to R.I. We stopped off at home for a bit, then went to the Charlestown Seafood Festival, where Tammie had her first lobster. Nicole and Bob had lobster also, but I don’t care for it so I had my favorite, steamers. Tammie liked the lobster. I offered her a steamer, and she tried it. (Steamers are steamed clams) Cole got a great picture of her face!! Tammie turned to me and said very seriously, “Girl, I don’t know how you can eat those things!” I give her credit for chewing and swallowing the steamer, given her instant dislike of the texture. Oh well, more for me!! They tried Rhode Island’s official state drink, Del’s lemonade, which is like a slushie. There was more to our weekend, but that will be told in a review of the Indian Ranch concert.
