GRAND OPERA HOUSE, WILMINGTON, DE NOV 22 1999.

We were late leaving home & wound up eating breakfast at Micky D's which was a hamburger! LOL! It was a straight shot up there. I-95 north. Going by Baltimore gave us a trial run for next yrs. Symphony! When we went into Laurel, MD I yelled DAVE DOWNIN YIPPEE! I told Mike we oughta look up Dave & see if he'd launched any missiles yet. But we didn't know where his Govt. place he works at is. We saw a sign along the road advertising a BOBS BIG BOY & since they closed up our way yrs. ago went off that exit to eat there. At a 50's diner. Sign said since 1959 so it was authentic. Had a Greek waiter who didn't know what sugar free mean in English & had to get a waitress to translate for him. The drivers in MD are bloodthirsty. How Dave stand em I don't know. LOL! I saw a truck ride too close to the backend of a small car just nearly mowing it down. Had the car braked suddenly, the truck would'a hit it. After going thru the Baltimore tunnel, we go to the toll booth & trucks were going in between the lanes trying to get ahead of everyone else & hooting their horn at everyone. We weren't sure where to go so we stopped at the NEWARK exit at a gas station & called Paula to find out exactly where she lives. She came there & had us follow her to her house. Turns out her old man Franny likes Arlo & is a fan too. He couldn't go due to his health problems like diabetes & he used to have cancer. But that's not what I'm here to tell you about as a certain folksinger once said...


Paula Drove us to the show & picked us up when it was over. Here got the BLUNDER REPORT & SET LIST:

BLUNDER REPORT: Attendees were RottenDan & his wife Donna, Sherry, Abbe & Dennis (Our favorite bus driver) & Jessica our T-shirt girl were there. Dennis & Dan were attired in suits. I almost didn't recognize Dan he looked so fancy! Not that they don't look nice all the time, it's just well. We're used to seeing them dressed in jeans & Arlo's the formal guy. We also saw Johns girlfriend who remembered me from Arlo's NC Symphony gig! General consensus of Blunderites. Too much fighting on here. LOL! Some didn't post on here not wanting to get involved in it. LOL! I also met Abbe & her kids & took a picture of her. We gotta welcome these new folks on here! A lot of old people dressed the way my parents do for Sunday morning church were there! I think my Mom would've approved!

GET STUFF ITEMS ON SALE:

Caps of Arlo with the microbus on it (Yup we got one).

The usual CD's, cassettes, videos, T-shirts, pencils, stickers etc.

This chick got up & announced the gig welcoming everyone. The orchestra opened up with them playing several or more songs. The conductor wore a cap with a gray pony tail attached to it & a white waiters shirt. One of the songs they did was one they said was written in 1968 & based on the theme of 3 BLIND MICE. Has the 3 Stooges theme song in it. Also they did 2001 a space oddessy & McArthur Park which was a hit in the 60's for Richard Harris. The orchestra was like a commercials on TV when you're waiting of the main show to begin.

Intermission:

SHOWTIME!

Arlo come out with his Symphony Conductor John. Jamie Burton who helps them out with the Symphony shows was there. John conducted.
Arlo comes out suitable attired in black tux with tails (A gold & red pin was on his lapel) & black dress boots. I couldn't tell the color of his socks due to his boots.
Arlo joked he didn't dressing up! (Trust me he does!)

He did CITY OF NEW ORLEANS on a black Grand Piano!

LAST TRAIN: Tells his story about being in Philly in the 60's & doing ALICE'S the day the Beatles SGT. PEPPER album came out. He told how the day the new version on ALICE'S came out the Beatles ANTHOLOGY album came out that day too.

Tells the story of RING A ROUND A ROSY RAG & then does that song! Complete with the WAY DOWN UPON THE SWANNEE RIVER'S licks & story of ripping off from SWANNEE RIVER & it's composer Steven Foster.

Tell his Bob Dylan story about Bob Dylan having the songs float by him & Dylan took them instead etc. & How DYLAN has them float upstream to him (DYLAN).

Tells the story of how we was doing a radio promo for a new record of his in the 70's & the engineer guy got ticked off & left. So he did a Bob Dylan imitation on the ad & the record CO said they couldn't do that or Dylan's record CO could sue.

DARKEST HOUR

Tells the story about MOOSES GO WALKING. Does MOOSES GO WALKING.

Tells a story about the Charlie Chaplin song "YOU ARE The song" & how his folks knew Chaplin. Does "YOU ARE THE SONG". A real tearjerker (have plenty of hankys ready for that one). I held Mikes hand during that one! Arlo reach in his pocket like he was reaching for a hanky or something & couldn't find it. He said he was dedicating it to his wife Jackie. He talked about how their anniversary was just this month. He told the story of how he married her. He told the story of him first marrying her & she came from LA with sandals on etc. He told the story about James Taylor moving in with him on the farm for a while & he wrote GABRIELS HIGHWAY BALLAD BLUES during that time.

GABRIELS HIGHWAY BALLAD BLUES

Tells the story of him & Pete being at the Tonder Denmark folk fest & how he sang Elvis's "I CAN'T HELP FALLING IN LOVE WITH YOU" there.

"I CAN"T HELP FALLING IN LOVE WITH YOU"

Tells the story about how they put Woody on a stamp last yr. Told about the DC STAMP SHOW he performed at in DC last yr. to commemorate the Woody & folksinger stamps that were out last yr.

THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND (Asks audience to sing along)

Told the story of how as a young boy in school that sang THIS LAND & he didn't know the words & came crying home to his daddy. So Woody taught him the words including some verse never sung in public.

Tells about his Mom going to China & they sang THIS LAND there for her.

Show ends & he is given a standing ovation. I flashed the Peace Sign at him!

Comes out with John for an encore! Some folks yell out do ALICE'S & another yells out do the PICKLE song. He explains unfortunately he can't do those songs cuz he has the 100 piece orchestra behind him & they have to know in advance what to play of his.

Does an Encore.

GOODNITE IRENE is the encore. He forgets some of the words like some of the verses to it. He later launches into a story (I think about Leadbelly) in the middle of the song. After that finishes it. He handled forgetting the song words very well! He had the audience sing on some songs like that one.

Show ends & he get a big standing ovation. They don't come back on probably due to noise ordinances in a town where the town makes shows quit early due to noise ordinances.

After show got to see Donna, Dan, Sherry, Dennis etc. & of course Uncle Arlo. Arlo has changed out of his tux & now had on jeans & a purpleish grayish? T-shirt that said BOARS HEAD TAVERN OKLAHOMA. I'd never seen him wear a T-shirt like that before. That was the most casual I'd ever seen him. I told him that this was the real Arlo & the guy in a tux was someone else. Took pics of Arlo. Took a pic of him & Arlo together. I was trying to take the pic without the camera & didn't know it. Arlo knew I'd forgot to put it on & giggled. I got to hug him & play with his hair. (I saved it for Diana!) Mike had on a gray fancy looking jacket & matching pants made of suede stuff that I'd bought him in WALMART one year for Christmas & Arlo said it was an Elvis suit & touched it. For inquiring minds I wore a black miniskirt, black high heels & a sheer longsleeve top with sunflowers on it (got it once cuz it looked sort of like a shirt I'd seen Arlo wear with sunflowers on it once). I told him I'd tell all you wonkers HI from him & joked with him about wonking. Can't remember everything but there was so much going on.

After the show we talked to a concert worker there who like Arlo & Dylan. He really loved DYLAN & had seen him in concert several times. He had Arlo sign a concert ticket stub & sign it with MOTORCYCLE on it. He was fun doing an imitation of Dylan.

& A good time was had by all!

SAT OCT 23, 1999:

He did basically the same set with a few additions & omissions the same set
Blunderites in attendance: Donna & RottenDan Rottenberk, Sherry, Dave & Kim Downin & Hank! Dennis & Jessica were there too! It was nice seeing you all!

. I'll list the other pertinent details of the gig. Wore the same tux, shirt & boots.

Arlo joked he didn't dressing up! (Trust me he does!)

He did CITY OF NEW ORLEANS on a black Grand Piano!

LAST TRAIN: Tells his story about being in Philly in the 60's & doing ALICE'S the day the Beatles SGT. PEPPER album came out. He told how the day the new version on ALICE'S came out the Beatles ANTHOLOGY album came out that day too.

Tells the story of RING A ROUND A ROSY RAG & then does that song! Complete with the WAY DOWN UPON THE SWANNEE RIVER'S licks & story of ripping off from SWANNEE RIVER & it's composer Steven Foster.

Tell his Bob Dylan story about Bob Dylan having the songs float by him & Dylan took them instead etc. & How DYLAN has them float upstream to him (DYLAN).

Tells the story of how we was doing a radio promo for a new record of his in the 70's & the engineer guy got ticked off & left. So he did a Bob Dylan imitation on the ad & the record CO said they couldn't do that or Dylan's record CO could sue.

After doing RING A ROUND A ROSEY RAG he did not do DARKEST HOUR.

From here on out it was:

He instead did MOOSES COME WALKING & the accompanying story. He also tells a story of knowing Allen Ginsburg the poet.

Tells the story of marrying Jackie. Tunes guitar.

GABRIELS HIGHWAY BALLAD BLUES

ELVIS "I CAN'T HELP FALLING IN LOVE WITH YOU" with accompanying Pete Seeger & TONDER, DENMARK folks fest story.

Tells the story of his dad being on a postage stamp. Also the story of how he got kicked out of a school, the story of Woody teaching him the words to this land. Tells of his Mom going to China & them singing THIS LAND there. He stopped in the middle of the song to tell one of those stories.

Show ends & he goes offstage with John.

Comes back for encore.

Encore is GOODNITE IRENE & he doesn't forget the words this time.

Seems to me he told a new story Sat nite.

Comes back out to take a bow! Gets a standing ovation!

After show had a nice time with Arlo. He wore the same outfit before & after the show that he did after Fri nites show except he also wore with it a jacket with the name of the college he wen to, ROCKY MOUNTAIN COLLEGE in MT on it.
See the blunderboards for bottle of champagne story.

It was a magical marvelous time!