Review of Ambrosia Live @ Central Park - Warsaw, Indiana - June 25, 1999

By Paul Schulz

 

-- Anticipation --

YES! Monday, June 21, we made the firm decision to go to Warsaw for the Ambrosia concert. I had been planning on it for over a month, but my wife arranged to have my sister watch my 2 daughters over night so we could enjoy Ambrosia uninterrupted!

A single roadblock remained. It seemed less significant than my sister watching the kids. We needed to do something with the dog! The kennel was all booked up and everyone we tried seemed to have better things to do than stop by our house a couple times to let the dog out and feed her. Finally, my other sister came through on Thursday. I toured the web for places to stay in Warsaw and settled on the Ramada on the East side of town.

Getting my boss to agree to a half day off was not going to be a problem, although he ended up mad at me when I returned anyway.

Friday morning I received some interesting info from the Travellers list - Somewhere I've Never Travelled was based on an E.E. Cummings poem - which Rex kindly posted for us all to read. Boy, there are cool tidbits that I haven't learned in the year I have been on the list. Rex also said he was going to be able to print nametags for those of us that had RSVP'd for the show - Great! A cool souvenir - which would come in handy back stage after the show.

-- Getting There --

It was a 4 hour trip from Columbus, OH. The day was beautiful, a little hot and humid, but clear and no threat of rain. The A/C on the car is on the fritz so we had the wind in our hair the whole way. We cranked up Anthology first and then gave Susan Ashton and Love and Money a spin on out trusty portable CD player.

We arrived in town about 5:40 (so our watches told us). After a quick check-in at the hotel we asked for directions to the show. (She told us to head toward Rt. 15). After getting to the outskirts of town, we turned around to find that Rt. 15 was not marked as Rt. 15, but Detroit St. We ended up pulling into a great front-row parking spot at the park at 6:00. Wandered the park a couple times looking for Travellers - to no avail. "Where the heck are they?" It is 6:00!! We asked a couple folks - not travellers - but they said they knew of us. Someone pointed to the front corner of the stage. We went there and found no Travellers. Maybe "front" in Warsaw really means "back" because we eventually found some travellers at the back corner of the reserved seats.

-- Where are the Travellers? --

We set ourselves up at the front right of the stage with a great view of the band (only our view of Burleigh was blocked - hard to expect a good view of the drummer anyway.) Then we wandered over to McD's to see if any Travellers were hanging out there. No deal. We headed to the back of the park to the second stage where one of the early acts were playing ("Replay" or something like that). Checking out the vendors, we chose chicken for dinner and brought it back to our seats and ate while we waited for some Travellers to show up.

Moments later we noticed a guy with a camera bag on his shoulder roaming around the park. As he approached me, I asked if he was a Traveller. Yep. It was Bruce from Urbana, IL. We acquainted ourselves and waited for folks with name tags to show up. My watch is telling me it is 10 till 7:00 and I am wondering where the heck everyone is, including the Travellers. Bruce kindly points out that the time in Warsaw is an hour earlier than my watch. (It had never occurred to me that I could have crossed into a different time zone!) Maybe we just missed the sound check?

Bruce

I kept my eye on the back corner of the reserved seats where, earlier, I had noticed folks that looked like they had Rex's tags on. About the time I finished my chicken, Tom from Fort Wayne showed back up in that back corner. I went over to see if he was really wearing a name tag and, sure enough, he was. I brought him over to our seats to meet Bruce as we introduced ourselves. Tom had the name tags while Rex took a break from the sun.

It turns out these cool name tags are printed on Avery self-adhesive sticker-paper. Handy for sticking on any material. Most of us put them on our shirts. (It turns out Joe Puerta put his on the leg of his black jeans where it showed up real well. After the show I asked Burl where his nametag went and he said it fell off early on - this guy gets wet when he performs, if you know what I mean.)

Pretty soon a bunch more Travellers showed up at the back corner and we had a big meet-and-greet with Papa and Mama Frog, Bruce & family, Tom and wife, Laura H, Sheri, and friend, Craig, Robert, and Paul and wife. There were also a couple from Columbus that are not travellers. They had kept their eyes on The Traveller's Danse site and learned of the Warsaw show. (They had noticed the New York show earlier and gotten tickets for that show before hearing about the Warsaw show. They ended up seeing Ambrosia twice in 2 weeks!) They also knew the Travellers would be there and kept an eye out for us. Maybe they will join the Travellers list?  Suddenly a merchandise table appeared next to the stage with a bunch of Ambrosia stuff. We all headed over to take a look. Everything was $15.

• the fabled black t-Shirts and sweat shirts with the Road Island one-man-band on them,
• CDs of Anthology and Tin Drum's "Real World",
• baseball caps with the Road Island "Ambrosia" logo,
• and free Sunoco Phone Cards ($2 worth of long distance.) Sunoco was the corporate sponsor of the event.

I picked up the Tin Drum disc. My wife chose a tan baseball cap, which came in handy back stage after the show. During the buying frenzy the we decided to capture a photo of all of the Travellers in front of the stage before the show started.

 

-- The show --

As they warmed up, the band noted that they were the "original 4 members of the band", thus setting themselves apart from the Classic Rock All-stars that were playing next. They started with Livin' on my own. I immediately noticed they were doing great vocal harmony. I'm impressed. Next I noticed Joe's stage presence. He is clearly comfortable on stage and relating with the other band members. Chris - Mr. Hawaii - North is on the opposite side of the stage and is wearing a jacket over a BRIGHT RED print shirt. As song number 2, "Kid No More", starts, his jacket is history. David still has his jacket on and  leaves it on the entire show.

Limited by battery life, I recorded the beginning of each song on my video camcorder so I could keep track of the set list and so I could remember the show and the band. When song 3, "Nice Nice" came on, I decided that it would be the song I would record all the way through. I am glad I did. The band was sharp and Joe twisted the lyrics for the location to say "sleeping drunkard here in Central Park" since they were playing in Warsaw's Central Park. They also introduced the song as being cowritten by an Indianan - Curt Vonnegut.

I noticed Dave was chewing something throughout the show. I had heard that he might have a throat infection (a cold?) and maybe the gum was helping. It did not detract from his singing although I noticed he and Joe shared lead vox some places that I did not realize they shared - including on "Nice Nice". Tollack showed his skills on Harmonica here as well. I also noticed that poor Burl was soaked by now.

Dave, right at home on stage, introduced the next song, "You're The Only Woman", by asking the audience who was happily married, then went on to take a poll of those happily married for 10, 20, 30, 40 years. He said he has been happily married for 22 years. This was a nice intro to the song and it prompted me to warm up to my wife for the duration of the song - very nice.

They gave us a peek at their unreleased "Freak Show" next. The intro made it obvious that it was Freak Show and I hollered to Bruce, "this is it" a couple times. Clearly sound carried better than I thought, and Bruce called out "Freak Show" before the band could get the words into the microphone. They said it anyway, for those that didn't hear us!

Now comes an "unplugged" intro that wasn't truly intended to be unplugged. Joe gave us a bit of background on what is going on with the CD release of the "Ambrosia" album as Dave switches to his accoustic guitar. He told us that Dave was in Warner Bro's studio last week working on the remastering and said Dave would be able to give us more info on it. Turning it over to Dave, he blew it off as he noticed he had a bad guitar cable and instead made jokes about the cable guy. Too bad, he had plenty of time to give us juicy details. :( (Now it occurs to me that this band has been perfectionistic since the beginning, and I am not cutting them down here. Dave is slaving over this remastering to get it the absolute best he can get off of those tapes. Apparently he has the backing from WB to do it right and we will all appreciate the effort when we finally get those discs in our greedy little paws!)

Dave put on a masterful accoustic intro to "Time Waits"! (Sure glad he got a good cable for it.) This was a blast to hear and I wish I had a better vantage point for my video camera. I would enjoy watching his fingers on those strings again.

Chris took a break and Dave held on to the accoustic guitar for "How Much I Feel", which came next. I believe he gave some of the high parts to Tollack, saving his voice for the the remainder of the show.

Joe introduced "Angola" by noting that Angola, Indiana is only a "cobra's spit away". I am not sure where he got that saying but he had fun with it. This was the Calypso version that many of you have heard about. It was quite fun. Dave's assignment for this tune was to step off the stage in front and get the kids in the audience to come up front to dance. Dave was quite a good sport with a tough audience. It took quite a while to get a significant number of kids to come up, but those that came first got to say their names over Dave's microphone. They also got to do some Calypso sing-along as Joe brought the rest of the audience in on the action. (This dance-along must have been Dave's idea since he took the tough assignment of dancing with the kids. Kudos to Dave!)

We were then treated to "Magical Mystery Tour" and, one of my favorites, "I Wanna Know". Unfortunately I was too busy with my cameras to really appreciate it. Dave introduced "No Big Deal" with the challenge, "Everybody wanna rock and roll a little bit?" The crowd was ready and they rocked! To be honest, I am "One Eighty" challenged, not owning the record, I have only heard it's tunes on Anthology and on the radio. "No Big Deal," then was a big deal for me. Quite enjoyable.

"Life Beyond LA" was really cool. The intro was accoustic, sung like a love song with tasteful bass, synth, and bongos. After they finished the love song, they swapped accoustic for electric and rocked! This gave Chris a chance to really spin the Leslie! (Everybody say Yyyeeeessssss!)

Tollack blew a sweet, bluesy harmonica intro to "Holdin On To Yesterday". After the intro they did it pretty straight. This marked the end of the show. They all bowed and huddled back-stage while the emcee came out front to rally the crowd to bring them back for an encore. I fear there wouldn't have been enough applause to bring them back otherwise.

I called for "Danse With Me George" twice and the second time Chris responded saying they had done it last week in L.A. I was not appeased. Instead, as if they owed me Chopin, they did "Biggest Part Of Me". My wife, Colleen, leaned over and remarked that they wouldn't do George, but this is the second time they did Biggest Part. (This was an honest mistake which I was taken by, too. "Only Woman", "How Much", and "Biggest Part" if not very similar are made similar by their overplayed popularity.)

I was pleased to find that Dave had his pipes and he went for it all, hitting all the high notes. (If I recall correctly he did an echo with Tollack in which Dave outdid his bandmate handily.) He brought the crowd in singing along and at the end ad-libbed a phrase of his buddy Michael McDonald's, "You're the biggest part of me, Jesus is just alright with me". Again, Chris warmed the B-3 pretty well.

-- Back Stage --

The travellers all headed back stage together after the show. Tollack scored a couple fans of his own, I suppose for his work on the Northern Exposure theme. Colleen and I hung around him till he was free. I introduced myself and decided to have him autograph my Traveller's name tag. It was really a stroke of genius that turned an unofficial memento into an bona-fide souvenir. Colleen got into the act by having the band members sign her Ambrosia baseball cap. Tollack said he joined Ambrosia almost exactly 10 years ago as they were reforming after their hiatus from 1984? to 1989.

Chris stepped over with us and Tollack and I introduced myself to him. I told him it was too bad we didn't get to hear George as it is my favorite Ambrosia tune and I appreciate his work on it. He clarified that he needs an additional keyboard in order to do George which he didn't have at this venue. (Apparently they have to plan ahead for some of the tunes!)

We found Burleigh next. He was basically out in the open (although each band member had at least one security officer at his side - to protect them against the "rabid" fans.) I found him to be the most accessible and warm of the band. Tom (from Fort Wayne) had brought all of his Ambrosia albums and a poster for autographs. As he went through each of the albums he had a short sentence to say about each one and we just basically talked. He said the band had a special name for the graphic on the cover of "Ambrosia" - Sorry I can't recall it (remember it, Tom?) He said the resident artist at 20th Century did the graphic, but every time he presented it to the band, they asked for adjustments. It was a real collaboration among the band, with them taking votes on everything. I also mentioned how I liked "And..." and that my brother introduced me to Ambrosia with it. I asked him about the various "instruments" they used on the album and he clarified that the bicycle spokes sound was used unmodified in "The Brunt" (the traffic sequence, I believe) and not in the fabled waterfall sound in "And..." as I had been led to believe. The Waterfall sound on "And..." was done by distorting the sound of a single wood block.

As I said, Burl was very gracious with the fans. He was soaked from the show and said he was uncomfortable. After a short while, he stepped across the street with his police escort. The first to leave. After making the rounds to the rest of the band, I noticed Burl was back in the same spot he had left! He went to dry off and change clothes and he came back without the escort to talk and sign more autographs. Very cool! Thanks, Burleigh.

Dave was inundated with fans old and young. He signed everyone's stacks of albums and my Travellers name tag. Oddly, the kids wanted autographs of musicians they didn't even know. (Understandable in the case of Dave, since he brought them up front and danced with them.) At one point they asked Tom for his autograph, apparently because he had a Traveller's nametag on. Dave was very nice and personable and I noticed he went out of his way to be nice to Rex. No diva here. I saw a man that really cares about his relationship with his fans.

Joe was very nice, also. I commented on Harvey. I wish I had asked for that in encore. He added a nice touch to Colleen's baseball cap. He made it say "Ambrosia loves Colleen". I wish I had asked if I could sign his name tag.

-- Notes --

I found the sound to be less than ideal - a bit muddled with too much bass. I even took a walk around and didn't find it improved much. I spoke with the guy that had been at the New York show a couple weeks prior. He said the sound was much better in NY. Burleigh mentioned that the sound was poor on stage, too, and touched off some arguments among the band onstage. Early in the show, Joe said he was catching some wild sounds in his monitor and I don't know if they got it corrected.

All the band members were looking great!

I enjoyed "No Big Deal" but I have been wanting to hear "Kamikaze" more.

I have not seen much back stage action in my 38 years, but there were a number of folks with stacks of albums. Some with albums from both Ambrosia and Classic Rock Allstars bands.

Ricky Coz did bongos and percussion for both Ambrosia and the Classic Rock Allstars.

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Review Of Ambrosia Live - Warsaw, Indiana - June 25, 1999
By Craig

Welcome Fellow Travellers,

 We left South Bend at 4:45 figuring on an hour trip. The cooler was
full, tunes were aplenty, and we were stoked.

Arriving in Warsaw was a breeze; traffic flowed and we found a parking
spot right off the bat.  We headed over to McD's to see if anyone was
hangin' out.  As I wandered though the restaurant, I kept asking myself
(out-loud) 'Travellers, Where are the Travellers)
No response.

On our way back to the car for the chairs, we went around
the entire park asking the same question. Nothing!
We head back to the car, and as we walked pass an Ohio car, two lovely
ladies are getting out.  I asked the 'question' again, nothing. a few
steps later, one of them says, "Did you just ask about Travellers?"  ?
Finally, Travellers!!!  It was Sherry and Marsha from Toledo. (don't ask
me who they are, they said they are just Lurkers!)

We head to the car to share a cold one, and discuss the name tags that
Rex was gonna provide and proudly wear.  As we had seen none yet, we
were at a loss.  Sherry said she thinks she saw Rex. blonde hair, a
little heavy.  Sounds like our man!  We head over to where they had seen
him, and lo and behold. TRAVELLERS!

 I will apologize now for not remembering all the names, but there
were:  Rex and spouse, Tom and Spouse (30 years +.WOW!), Laura, Bruce,
and several others.  After a brief meet  & greet, I went to get a
T-shirt. A great shirt with the hand drawn character on the front of
'Road Island"  AWESOME!  Finally, we get settled in and the show
starts...

 The show starts with a nice casual version of 'Livin' On My Own' ... a
great show starter.  The band got a chance to work out the bugs with
monitors and p.a.  Next, a great version of 'Kid Know More"... very
groovy and tightened the band up.

On my way down, I told my friend Jason that they have to do 'Nice, Nice
Very Nice' cuz of the Central Park reference... sure enough Song #3.  An
unbelievable version... tight, spunky and all the breaks were right on.
I especially liked the 2 beat pause and echo between 'Nice, Nice' and
'Very Nice'... Joe really had the Spanish roll of the tongue workin'!
 Song #4, 'You're The Only Woman', really got Chris goin'...  He had the
organ lively and deep and even smiled once!  The next song, 'Freak
Show', took a few people aback... I noticed quite a few folks asking the
person next to them... pssst... what's this one?  Rex named that tune
after about 6 notes!?

(A side note here... Burleigh up to this point had a 'pained' look about
him, facial expessions and such... It passed quickly)
'Time Waits For No One' starts with a great acoustic intro... Dave was
really gettin' warmed up now... Burleigh's look had passed and his
background vocals really came out.  #7 really woke the crowd up... 'How
Much I Feel'  I could see the happy faces of the crowd, thinking back to
the first time they had heard it... Smiles were everywhere!  An extended
close really made the song memorable.  Joe took the front stage on
'Angola', really getting the audience going (A town called Angola, IN is
just a hop, skip and jump away) The guys called up kids from the
audience to dance right in front of the stage... they were great!

A crisp tribute to the Beatles was next... 'Mystery Tour' really wowed
the crowd...  good tight chops and breaks.  At this point between songs,
we can hear Burleigh yellin' to Dave, "What do ya wanna do, Dave?"
'I  Wanna Know' was next... very deep and warming.  Another personal
favorite of mine, 'No Big Deal' came on strong and hard... the guys
really got into it.  An acoustic intro of  'Life Beyond L.A.' blew the
crowd away!!!  So smooth, a touch of blues, and tight!

The whole crowd really seemed know EVERY word at this point!  #13,
'Holdin' On To Yesterday' was the set closer and really caught the crowd
into a bonding moment... I remember this one being played all the time
at the local roller rink all the time... (showing my age now....
hehehe)  The band did a brief wave farewell, which only told us that
they were coming back...

 Sure enough, the encore came after the crowd became louder and
louder... 'Biggest Part Of Me' came off just like the album...  with all
the crowd singing along... A group bow ended the Ambrosia evening to
tumultuous applause.

 Taking a brief moment to catch our collective breaths, the Travellers
headed back stage... The entire band was out back, signing, chatting,
laughing and really enjoying the crowd that had gathered...  Rex got
some great shots with each of the band members and some of the antique
collectibles were being signed to the content of the wide-eyed owner...
No one walked away without a smile of satisfaction and a tear in the
corner of the eye...?


 Well, this will end my personal review of the Ambrosia show on June
25th, 1999 at the Warsaw IN Central Park.
I now have a conplete autographed copy of 'Anthology' (the guys signed
all their faces!) and my import of 'Life Beyond L.A.' is also
imprinted with the guys signature...  I left with a huge smile on my
face and a warmth in my heart...  This Ambrosia show merely
re-inforced my thoughts that the music of the '70's were some of the
best ever... I'll always remember this one.

Craig

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