|
RE: Haley joining PMJ for part of European tour
Be warned, this is a long report ... but I heard you like to read!
BERLIN the full report ( = more details than you ever wanted to know) – part 1
HF Haliens know that more often than is normal, things conspire to lead to the unexpected. First, I bought the ticket before knowing for certain that Haley would come to Berlin. Then, her plan was to join PMJ in Hamburg, so then Hamburg would have been her debut in Europe. My video would only have been of the second performance. But of course fate intervened, her suitcase got lost, she had to skip Hamburg, and I was there to see and document her first appearance on this side of the pond. How wonderful is that! Of course I would have rather wished that her suitcase had been with her on the stopover in Paris … but then again, just think about it, Haley has a penchant for airplane stories, or not!? She can now slip in a sideline about being stuck, oh, in Paris!
So it was a very pleasant latest-winter, earliest-spring day in Berlin with lots of sunshine and me wondering if really this sky also contains Haley somewhere out there in this city of 3.4 or so million. Even on the day it still seemed totally unreal. Who would have ever thought that Haley could be seen so soon in Europe, and then even on my doorsteps! Unbelievable. And with such a fantastic band, and Casey along, too. But I was fully prepared to find out that there had been another hitch, or the flu, or something, and that it wouldn’t be happening and I’d just fully enjoy PMJ. The one solid thing in the uncertainty was Casey's twitter message that he’d see Haley “today”, so that could only mean that it was going to happen!
It was dark by the time I arrived in eastern Berlin. I walked past one of the very last remaining remnants of the Berlin Wall, with the frescoes painted on, minus the watchtowers, barbed wires, mine strip, searchlights, dogs and guards (all of course installed in the wake of the terror this country perpetrated). Today a steady stream of Sunday evening young folks were streaming across the bridge into what was eastern West Berlin. That area has little shops, bars, restaurants, venues, so the night life is vibrant. The lights of East Berlin’s famous TV tower on Alexanderplatz were reflecting on the water. But I’d better get on with this story.
From the outside, the Lido is not much to speak of, a former cinema, kinda nondescript and ugly. But what go me excited was a huge tour bus parked in front, all shiny, with a package carrier hooked to the rear. UK license plates, and the bus saying “mmbandservices – Premium sleeperbus hire”. So it seems what they are doing is that after a concert they move by night and sleep in the bus while it drives for hours and then the next day they do the sightseeing and setting up. Fits with Casey’s and Scott’s reports of sightseeing during the day.
Left and right of the door, guarded by a huge mean-looking doorman, the PMJ posters has “Sold Out!” splashed across them, and at that time, an hour before the show, there were already people disappointed not to be able to get in. There was already a short line of fans and we all got in quickly. A second guy checked all the bags and coats. I guess they want you to buy your beer inside. When he found my camera in the jacket and just said “but only without flash”, I knew I was golden and they were relaxed! As you know, I had figured I wouldn’t be able to make any good pictures with my dinky little camera, not to speak of my phone, or dare video it and all the rest of it. But already walking there I felt: of course I’d try and go for it, after all, and when the guard was easy I thought: it’s going to happen! From then on, I never had a doubt about us Haliens needing a document of some sort of her first appearance in Europe as her own singer, in whatever quality possible, and that I would simple and straight do it and try my best.
The venue has standing room for about 500 and was still pretty empty, except for one particular couple who had positioned themselves right in front, right in the middle, and would stay there for the entire show. So I planted myself next to them, only to be joined by two young ladies. I asked them if they were PMJ fans and they squirmed just for two seconds before admitting with a smile that actually they were Casey fans and through that has discovered Haley and were now also Haley fans. At least one of the two, I mainly talked to her. Later it turned out they were fans of all of them, I guess, and they were busy – and successful – in collecting autographs. But she didn’t know Haley had recorded an EP just now, and said that she so much hoped she’d do something jazzy. They had come from the other end of Germany to see the show. So there we were, three German Haliens, as it started filling up, expecting and waiting.
My eyes fell on the performance listings taped here and there onto the stage. I could read the one at Scott’s piano, and there it was; at number 7 of 22: “Habits (Haley)”. So then I knew for certain she had made it and really was there! In this building, behind these walls, under this roof! Still unbelievable. And the two girls thought exactly the same. One said: “Unbelievable, how suddenly everything just fell into place, when I had never thought Casey and Haley would come here so quickly!” They were really excited, and me too. In the end, the show started half an hour later than announced, so we had a good 90 minutes to anticipate the momentous moment. For those 90 minutes, nobody whatsoever appeared on stage to check on anything, just in the end the technician guy. By then it was packed, average age something like 25 I’d say. Some older folks like me, but mostly young people, which I think is just great.
BERLIN the full report – part 2
The show finally started at 8:35 pm and it was a thing of beauty from start to finish. No two numbers were the same, and I was just in awe at the determination of Scott to bring along so many people, 5 musicians including himself, 3 male and 4 female singers, and the tap dancer. And all because it makes for good shows, the full experience, and is simply the right thing to do! I sense he’s that kind of a guy. Of course it was obvious and known that it is his project, but as he does on his YT channel, he gives full centerstage to the singers and musicians, and sits more on the side. Even his own solo he introduced by asking people to check out each of these performers also as the individual artists that they are. You’ve perhaps seen PMJ and know all this … if not: it is a real treat, with or without Haley. Of course much better with Haley!
Mykal Kilgore was the MC who guided through it all. And was he good! That man is a born entertainer in every good way there is. He’s funny, smart, quick, spontaneous, looks good, sings well. He has tremendous energy. He was noticeably celebrated by the crowd and I think he enjoyed that.
Ariana Savalas was the secret star of it all, in my opinion. She did the full sexy femme fatale performance in an absolutely superb manner. That can get nasty quickly, or silly, or out of bounds, if you do not do it with absolute authority, blow-you-away sex appeal and perfect moves to go with it, which is exactly what she did, plus great singing. It turns out she speaks pretty good German with only a slight groping for words and with a lovely little accent. So she teased Scott with “now you have no idea what I’m saying, do you!??” … to which Scott replied “nein”, and got everybody to laugh. She eventually even made a poor guy in the first row a bit further down finally after much hesitation to pucker his lips and just when he thought she might actually kiss him she simply put her lips closer to his and whistled the whole next section of the melody and then dismissed him. It was superb and the poor guy a total victim. That’s what you get from femme fatales!
Christina Gatti was a revelation, too, totally different style, that full voice is amazing and her moves are, too. Also a full-blown performer! I wouldn’t mind seeing more of her.
Which brings me to Morgan, who I think would like to be the secret star, and in terms of vocal power she is. Her voice, hearing it live, just totally blew me away, as it already did on the videos (but not so much on her CD, unfortunately). What she does with these songs is so, so good, I was with it for every single second. Her “Take me to church” is an artwork of a performance all in itself (Chip Thomas, the fantastic drummer always smiling, closed his eyes for a bit while playing it, along with the bass player).
Scott was his dishevelled-hair self and stayed in the background mostly, one number an improvisation solo to give the band a break, really good, and him modest as ever. He is a band leader of top quality, it appears. People really gave him ovations to credit him with what he created.
Well, and then Von Smith, he was the only one I kinda didn’t get. Of course he sings very well, a talent for sure, but I felt he never really rose above the music … which surely is just me because the crowd were really into him, heck, maybe it was just the girls.
Casey came out third and it was unbelievable to have him there live – says me, not a real Casey fan, though very much and fully appreciating all he is. I think he looks much younger in reality, more vibrant, more open and easy than I thought. Just on video he is this one-of-a-kind great guy, in reality he is just that: real. And of course he did his thing every step of the way, always inventing something, always being funny, while producing great music as only he does. Playing, joking, drinking a beer from Berlin, dancing, pranking, throwing hair. He did not seem tired the slightest bit after all that travel and performing. The best part was a whole group of young girls right behind me, who were totally into Casey, and when he was on they sang every word, every line full tilt with him, and it sounded beautiful because they had good voices, too, and it all blended really well. There must have been more in that room – there was quite a bit of singing along, particularly in the later parts of the concert, but never as much as with Casey. He clearly commands the admiration of a part of the fans that came! The two girls in front of me were shooting selfies with Casey in the background, later also with other singers!
Well, and so at number 7 there suddenly she was, Haley, live and real and there. Just walked out like that! It was totally awesome. And while I had thought I’d just take her in and move my body to the music, here I was rather standing totally still, holding the camera, and just soaking it in all in awe and it was the exact right thing to do. You saw the video, so you know how it went. To hear her live: there is a whole other dimension to her singing, even compared to those really good other ladies like Christina or Morgan. Velvet, silk, rich and buttery, those are words that come to mind. It is so much better than on any recording to hear it live, that is was I thought. And she looked beautiful, and had the straight hair style that I really like on her.
And so it had become true: Haley, here, in Europe, in my city, singing. It happened!
After Haley’s song there followed a long span where all the others performed, sometimes in groups, each coming on 2 or 3 times. Toward the later parts, finally Haley came back out again, too, and seemed to relax into it all more and to be getting into the flow with the whole cast. She sang beautifully when the band and the singers were once more individually introduced and each did a little snippet of a different iconic song. As I already reported earlier, when at one point she mentioned that she had a tough time getting to Berlin, due to lost luggage holding her up, Scott said something about people that loose sight of their things and produced a pair of sunglasses from behind his piano. Haley was totally surprised but immediately recognized them to be her’s! And took them back, laughing “oh there they are!”. She must have left them at the Hyde performance a few days before and Scott must have brought them to Berlin and on stage to hand them back in public. He really does take care of his people! Merriment all around!
BERLIN the full report – part 3
Now for the part that some here have been interested in. I could not sense anything between Morgan and Casey. The thing where we had the picture where she “hands” him this little whistle thing (what is it called?) mouth to mouth is just part of the Casey’s Mom routine they have and means nothing. There was quite a bit of male arms around female hips and female heads leaning on male shoulders on all sorts of occasions both centerstage and on the side, they all seem to get along really well, just from appearances (who knows what happens behind the scenes). Initially, Haley had no interaction with Casey when they were both on stage, which of course I was watching out for. Haley seemed very comfortable with Cristina, the two of them seemed to harmonize with little gestures. But then, toward the end of the concert, suddenly there they were, Haley and Casey side by side, she saying things to him, he handing her the rhythm tambourine thing, looking like the old friends that they are. So, bottomline: lots of cameraderie there, but no detectable signs of anything else than everybody just enjoying themselves and appreciating each other. I had the impression that Morgan wants to be a real star, and knows she can, but also knows it has to grow. And Haley has the stuff of a star naturally, she does not have to find it at all, but knows that in the end it needs to be her stage and her songs. Until then, let’s have fun in the name of music and great experiences!
The finale was wild and exuberant and they did AATB as the encore. Then it was done. People started filtering out. A good number stayed, though, because Scott had made it abundantly clear that they would all be coming out to mingle, and that they would take all the time needed to meet everybody and sign autographs. So I stuck around a bit, bought a T-shirt. The PMJ CDs as well as Morgan’s and Casey’s were available, but sadly not Haley’s. Then suddenly I heard shouts and applause and when I went back into the stage area there they all were, and there was Haley, too, chatting to people. Unbelievable! I kept thinking how radiant she is, and that here is the girl who grew up with Patti and Harry to be Haley, who are so much part of her story, and here she is, Chicago and EP and Cancun and LA! And over there Casey, and over there Morgan, and Scott, and the musicians. So after a bit of taking it all in I went over to Haley and introduced myself. It was a bit difficult with me being tall and her not, and with the noise around, but as you all said, she’s really sweet and open, totally true! I asked her when she had come in and whether the jet lag had hit already, she said it’s pretty ok at the moment. And I told her we’re so expecting her EP and just as I was telling her that the young ladies I met up front were hoping for something jazzy – Haley said something will surely happen in jazz, too, eventually, sometime down the road – there they were, the two of them, all smiles and happy to meet Haley. So I made space for them and let them talk and then they said let’s take pictures, so they wanted me to be first, but I said “no, you first” and so I made two good ones of them with Haley in the middle, and then they talked more. For me, taking a picture is not so important, I am not much into that, but then they insisted I should not be forgotten, so we took one – it is ok, they snapped it a bit too quickly and the settings were wrong I think, but it exists! Me and Haley with straight hair (nice!), and she even put her arm around, I barely dared move. So a picture: one twice as old and half as tall again and 5% as beautiful, ha!
It then became clear that she wanted to move on, and so she did, and talked to a good number of other fans. I so would have wanted to know whether they also knew Haley or just talked to her because she had just been on stage! It all looked very relaxed. And I must say, Casey was out mingling a lot and making circles and things, but it was Morgan who was no longer the ultra-cool singer on stage, but totally down-to-earth, super-friendly to everybody, taking a lot of time, posing with everybody, and just being really sweet to each person individually.
I then met Haley a second time and got a chance (having done general chit chat the first time) to tell her that I had come specifically because of her and that Listen Up! never ever gets old for me. I mentioned that I am sort of a delegation of Team Haleyfans and that we had discussed whether she would come on this tour and to where and that Tusk was coming to London. And so she asked “where did you travel from”, perhaps thinking I had also come from somewhere for HF, so I told her I’m local ... I did not want to push things too much, she thanked me, asked for my name and on I went. Also one of the tour people was going around saying that they need to move on, the venue is pressuring them to close it down, maybe because the show started half an hour late. He said: “Maybe we have to move it to some bar or something.”
I got my coat for leaving and just as I was heading for the exit, Haley came down the short corridor and so I wished her a splendid and wonderful tour and off she went, off I went, and I was back outside in the night, the city around. I stopped in the doorway of a closed shop to check the video and see whether it had any quality to it. That’s when I thought for the first time: maybe this is not totally bad. Maybe this could work. And I looked through some photos and some of them were not that bad, either. So I went away on a local train heading back westward very happy.
And then more miracles happened. I actually re-discovered I had a dropbox account. And with zero advance notice Tusk was on the job, selfless in service of Haley promotion from HQ central. And so things started appearing online for all to see, and today Haley posted a picture from my dinky little camera on her instagram and ole tweeted the video and Harry got to hear of their daughter. Totally amazing! And as Tusk says, all in one day!
So let me close by saying that this is all not to satisfy our own fantasies, but to support Haley in her music. It is all to have, while we enjoy it, her work out there, the part beyond the recorded work, to draw attention to her, to gain her fans, to help ensure that she can make a real living from her music, and produce many more CDs for us to immerse ourselves in. It is all for the art of H.E.R. because it is totally worth it.
And if HF did not exist, and were not made up of such classy people, I would not have joined, and probably not known what is happening, and so would not have been there. On to new Halien adventures!
|
Haley touring with PMJ -- Feb 2015 - March 2016 (& March 2017)
![[Image: 11007885_1615175125368645_1167144638_n.jpg]](https://igcdn-photos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xaf1/t51.2885-15/11007885_1615175125368645_1167144638_n.jpg)
So happy and proud for your experience. 
