Jim Infantino had been fielding
requests all week, and at the beginning of today’s show at 5 p.m. (eastern
time) mentioned that he had received a lot. He then opened the show with “Where
The Money Is,” and of course the line “Infections
– that’s where the money is” stood out. That was the case with a lot of the
songs he played, with certain lines seeming to be just exactly right for this
bizarre situation we all are finding ourselves in. After that song, he said: “Somebody asked for ‘Big Chinos.’ I swear to
God I don’t know how to play it anymore.” He then went into that “Kumbaya/Smells
Like Teen Spirit” mash-up, and the line about feeling contagious of course stood
out. Well, perhaps he suddenly recalled how to play it, because he went
straight and seamlessly from “Kumbaya” into “Big Chinos.” It was a delight to
hear this one again. “All right, so that
was almost okay,” he said afterward. He followed that with a song that I
requested, “Meanies.” While some songs already had lines relevant to our period
of isolation and fear, for other tunes he added lines or adjusted lines. Such
was the case with “Meanies,” with Jim adding “Or be awake during the day” after the line “Just to make it safe to sleep at night.” Folks, don’t let the
meanies bite your head off. He included
a bit from the closing theme to The Magic
Garden at the end, adding the line “I
hope you don’t get the corona.”
Last week someone had requested
“Can’t Fall Down,” and he attempted it, but quickly abandoned the effort,
saying he’d learn it for today’s concert. And he did. It had perhaps a slow
start, but he soon got into it, and it was wonderful hearing this song again.
He played several songs that are not often in his set lists, at times reaching back
to some really early material. He followed “Can’t Fall Down” with “Better Than
You,” another I hadn’t heard in quite a while, and one with a sweet vocal
delivery. After that song, he talked a bit about how the coronavirus pandemic
is affecting musicians, especially those who rely on income from live
performances. “Artists are generally completely
screwed. I’m not. I’m not completely screwed. Lots of artists are.” He urged
folks to donate to Club Passim’s PEAR Fund. And speaking of reaching back to
early material, Jim Infantino then played “Another Saturday Night.” In
introducing the song, he said he was surprised to see it in the request list.
He added some new lyrics for this performance, which was certainly a highlight
of the show. He followed that with another old one, another highlight, “Venus,”
which was absolutely beautiful. I hadn’t heard that one in ages. After playing
it, he mentioned that he wrote it in 1986. He followed that with “Always Thus.” At the end he sort of combined the words “clown” and “crown,” leading him to laugh afterward, “Clown crown.”
“Everybody Gets The Blues” is
one of the great songs from the End Construction days. Fellow End Construction
member Brian Doser showed up in the comments section on the Facebook stream
just before Jim started this song, leading Jim to suggest he could type in his
part if he wanted. He didn’t, but it was a wonderful rendition, a good song to
hear in these days when basically everybody I know has the blues. Though there
had been a place to request songs during the week leading up to the show, that
of course didn’t keep folks from adding requests in the comments section as Jim
played. One of those requests was for “Ahead Of The Curve.” “I’m going to try it,” Jim said, then
quickly added “I’m going to mess it up.”
He changed “now the internet is tired”
to “but now podcasting is tired.” He
also added, “and lick my boots, slave”
to the line in which the girl says “Don’t
call me ‘girl.’” Yeah, he got stuck trying to remember the lyrics at one
point, and perhaps delivered an incorrect chord, but no matter, it was a
totally fun rendition.
Someone had requested a cover
of Richard Thompson’s “1952 Vincent Black Lightning,” and so Jim tried to see
if he could remember it. After a few moments, he gave that up, promising “I’ll work on it.” So we’ll probably get
to hear it next week. Several people requested “You Rule,” so he did that one,
following it with another request, “Big Old Dark Green Car,” changing the line “in rows and rows and rows of chairs” to “in their homes, in their homes.” Big Old
Dark Green Car” is such a cool song, an old favorite of mine. He then played “Jumblies,”
the only song repeated from the previous show, and wrapped up the show with a
great and updated version of “Stress.” I loved his delivery of “So I’m fine, so I’m fine, I’m fine,”
like he was trying to convince himself. He repeated the line “It’s the little things that get you,”
leading to him adding “Your hands are
contaminated,” which he also repeated several times. Among the other lyric
changes to fit with this crazy pandemic, he sang “I just stick my thumb in a peach and they
arrest me” and also “I feel all
right, but I haven’t been tested.” Certainly a unique rendition of this
popular number, and a great ending to the set. The show ended at 6:23 p.m. eastern
time.
Set List
- Where The Money Is
- Kumbaya/Smells Like Teen Spirit >
- Big Chinos
- Meanies >
- The Magic Garden Closing Theme (Goodbye Song)
- Can’t Fall Down
- Better Than You
- Another Saturday Night
- Venus
- Always Thus
- Everybody Gets The Blues
- Ahead Of The Curve
- You Rule
- Big Old Dark Green Car
- Jumblies
- Stress
And, hey, if you missed the
show, you can still watch it. I believe it is still up on both You Tube and
Facebook. Enjoy!
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