Barrister's Reviews, Part 2

 

Submitted by Steven

Subject: JBEL: last night's show at barristers'

Date: Tue, 29 Apr 1997 19:31:14 -0400

From: audreyroofeh<ar5331a@american.edu>

Organization:American University

To: jeff-buckley-eternal-life@mail.usyd.edu.au

  to put it simply-go. there are a million details (if you go-take note that barristers' is not on jefferson and second, but on the alley behind 147 jefferson) but i'll say that the show was unbelievable.

  JB showed up around 9:30, i think, and at the time there were maybe 50/60 something people there. it's a small dive, and i think it could hold 100 people. the opening band, and the band that followed were both poor, and it was too bad that JB's show was short because of them.

  i don't know what time he went on, but it was simply arranged. small stage, jeff stood out of the path of the lights, completely in the shadows, just his guitar and a glass of wine. his presence is strong but he's a small man-maybe 5'9". he spoke a little in our general direction, and i don't know all he played. he looked sad. one song he performed, i don't know the title but it had lines like "don't tell her that i miss her...if she's in town, tell her to look me up, i'm not a hard man to find..." when he was finished, he stepped back into the shine of the lights, and you could see his tears. there was So Real, Last Goodbye, (even better than you could imagine) The Sky Is A Landfill, Morning Theft, a couple others, and then he attempted to say that his set was over. we screamed for him to stay, so he asked what we wanted to hear. some of us yelled "Lover You Should Have Come Over!" and he said "you got it." it was a loooong intro, but when he began it was mesmerizing. every line pulled at my heartstrings, and it easily made me dizzy. it's a twisted thing to "appreciate" his music, when it so obviously was excruciating for him to write it (i asked, and he said that it doesn't make him sad anymore). someone hurt this man-bad. his eyes were clamped shut and it looked as if he was PURGING the song from his soul. i cried at it, and i felt weak during it. i have never seen a more moving performance of any sort than this rendition of lover. when it was over, there was a streak down his cheeks. he continued to play, some song, i don't know which. then it was over.

  i am sure i am missing details, and i know that efia has a story, once she get's back to georgia, and i know there are others.

  there were some rumors that this wasn't to be the last show, and i asked jeff if he was playing in may and he said yes. then some more details...margaux and i stayed for the last band...weird. on our way out, i ran into  a  guy, sam, who works at barristers', and, looking like a little kid who GOT the bike for christmas, he said to me "Do you know what jeff just did?!" obviously, i didn't. he said "well, we thanked him for his month at our bar, and he said 'i don't really want to go, i like the monday shows', so jeff is playing every monday night in may and june." i'm outta school in two weeks. see me in memphis. audrey

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JBEL: Barristers'-4/28

Date: Wed, 30 Apr 1997 17:13:44 -0400 (EDT)

From: Efia Ruth Miles<gs01erm@panther.Gsu.EDU>

To: Jeff Buckley<jeff-buckley-eternal-life@mail.usyd.edu.au>

  Audrey's just about explained everything about the songs and the other bands, but I experienced something this past Monday night that I never imagined could happen to me.

  This was the most intimate I've ever felt at a concert/performance. I don't know how I did it, but I managed to hold back tears while Jeff sang some of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard in my life; including sweet renditions of "Mojo Pin", "So Real", "Lover,..." and "Last Goodbye." Besides being mesmerized and overwhelmed by his voice and that heavenly sound coming from his guitar, Jeff was even greater after the set. He was walking around and signing CD sleeves and shaking hands, and I just watched until he was in a corner with just a few people around. He was sitting on the stage and I walked over, stood there in a sort of a line and this jerk came up with his girlfriend and started talking to him as if I wasn't even there. But Jeff held out a reassuring hand to me and I placed mine there on his soft palm. He just held my hand until the guy was gone. I asked him when he might be coming back to Atlanta and he said it would be after the new album is released and he and the band go on tour again--then he emphasized that it would be a LONG time. I wasn't too happy to hear that, but I told him I would be happy to  wait.

  I asked him later about something the woman in the last band was using on her guitar and he told me it was an e-bow and that U2 used it in "With or Without You." And on the way out of the door, he was standing there talking to someone and we all said goodbye to him individually. I told him my name and that it was good to see him and he said the same back. I heard him say that this month at Barristers' has been one of the best places he's ever played and that it would not be his last Monday. I'm so glad Audrey talked to someone to find out that it's not over!! Needless to say, I left that place in another dimension all my own. It still feels like I dreamed the whole thing.

  When I was driving the 200 miles home on a dark and lonely two-lane highway from taking my friend back to school, when it was just me, God and Jeff, I played Grace in its entirety and cried while I sang with him. Efia

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JBEL: Memphis-Jeff dirt

Date: Thu, 1 May 1997 15:32:30 CST

From: "michelle"<mbod9867@iunlab1.iun.indiana.edu>

Organization: Indiana University Northwest

To: jeff-buckley-eternal-life@mail.usyd.edu.au

  Well, I finally made it to Barrister's. I never thought I would. Well, here's my Jeff story....(Sorry it's a little long) I'm sitting anxiously, waiting for Jeff to arrive. I go to the bathroom and when I get back, my best friend is talking to some guy. He seemed pretty nice, 42 years old, named Steve. He was pretty cool and he really liked Jeff. So we all talked for probably 20 minutes to a half hour and Jeff walks in. Steve waves and Jeff waves back. I'm thinking to myself "Hmmmmm. What is this?" I ask Steve what his last name is and what he does.  His name was Steve Berkowitz (sp?) and if you look inside the Grace and Sine CD's you'll see his name under executive producer. OK. So at this point I'm ready to die. I've been talking to Jeff's producer without even knowing it. So throughout I got a bunch of little Jeff tidbits....(Sorry if any of it is old news, it was all new to me)

  Jeff is in Memphis because they are recording in a studio down there. (Well, they're supposed to be recording) I guess Jeff is rewriting and perfecting a lot of his songs before they record. Steve said Jeff really likes playing Barrister's because it gives him a chance to test out some of his stuff and stay in touch with what he's doing. He also likes Memphis because he can just chill and relax there.

  Jeff was not aware that so many people are traveling from so far away to see him there. He also kept going on about how wonderful of a musician and man Jeff is.  I thought that was really great cuz I wonder how many producers are really huge fans of the people they are producing. He did sound a little frustrated that the album wasn't finished yet. I can't really remember everything we talked about because I was sort of in an excited daze and we kept getting interupted because Steve kept getting up and correcting the sound guys controls. I guess Jeff wasn't sounding as good as he could. Well, I left Steve then to get closer to the stage. Of course, as everyone knows the show was wonderful.

  When it was over I wanted to go up to Jeff and say something, but I just froze. I've met him before and it wasn't a problem then. I guess I was just obsessing over what to say (or not say). Well, Steve pulled me out of my post-Jeff daze and pulled me over to Jeff. I really wanted to go up to him on my own, but I guess being introduced by his producer is OK too. Steve said, "Jeff, this is Michelle and Trisha. They rode a Greyhound bus all the way from Chicago to see you here tonite. Jeff looked at us like we were crazy. Like, who in the hell would drive 12 hours to see him? He took my hand and bowed down. I fumbled out a "You were really great". Steve left and left me standing awkwardly next to Jeff. We talked for a little while about his Chicago show a couple years ago and then I went off to buy him the beer he wanted.

  Later, he came up to me and asked, "Did you really ride a Greyhound?" I said "yeah".  He asked why we would do that just to come to Memphis. I said that I just wanted to see the show that badly.  He couldn't believe it. He looked at me sort of like I was crazy or something. So throughout the rest of the night he stopped by a couple of times, once to ask how we knew his producer and once to ask what we were doing after the show.

  Well, I must say that this meeting definitely beat the last time I met him, even though I acted like a awkward 16 year old at times. I only wish I could have met some of the people on the list. michelle

mbod9867@iunlab1.iun.indiana.edu