Review of Prine concert in Flagstaff Ariz by Mary Tolan

By Mary Tolan
Long and Winding Road | Posted: Saturday, November 21, 2009 11:00 pm | (0) Comments

Font Size: Default font size Larger font size I woke up this morning humming …

That's the way the world goes round

You're up one day and the next you're down

… and by the time I hit my running trail I was singing this gem full tilt.

John Prine came to our little town last week and gifted Flagstaff with a two-and-a-half hour concert. The man is an amazing storyteller — in his songs, of course, but also as a stage presence, often sharing tales of how his songs came about. Like the time, after he thought he was all done recording a new album, when his "stubborn producer" told him he needed to write one more song. The way Prine tells it, he argued to no avail with the man and then stomped back to his hotel, determined to write "the worst thing he'd ever heard." So, he grabbed his guitar, started strumming and came out with his classic "Fish and Whistle." Boy, did he show him. Hearing that story and listening to the song's lyrics made me laugh. Because it does start out as something that could aim to displease:

I been thinking lately about the people I meet

The carwash on the corner and the hole in the street

The way my ankles hurt with shoes on my feet

But then moves deftly into classic Prine:

And I'm wondering if I'm gonna see tomorrow

Father forgive us for what we must do

You forgive us we'll forgive you

We'll forgive each other till we both turn blue…

We all have stories to tell, and part of mine is Flagstaff becoming home. The friendships built. I went to the concert with a couple I've treasured for 20-plus years, and I knew half the audience. Sure, the crowd could have been a photograph from an AARP conference — with a few under-40 babes sprinkled into the Ardrey mix. After all, Prine turned 63 last month.

Those of us growing up Beatles-crazed followed them from pop to rock, and onto psychedelic songs. So stuck on the English lads and their ilk that it wasn't until I hit my 30s that I discovered John Prine, immediately enchanted by the mix of serious and fun.

Today, a tad past 30, I appreciate his life observations. I mean, who else sings the truth of loving someone from 10 miles away?

When I'm feeling down, I think of the guy whose bowl of oatmeal stared him down — and won. And I laugh.

His insights about people are at once touching, deep and absurdly true.

Sally used to play with her hula hoops

Now she tells her problems to therapy groups

Grampa's on the front lawn staring at a rake

Wondering if his marriage was a terrible mistake.

Ouch. I've been both those folks — sans the rake.

And yet, as my life moves along this long and winding road, I like to think there's a rainbow ahead (without that dead end).

Someday, I may again hear someone singing to me, and it won't be from my living room speakers:

She is my everything

When she wakes up in the morning

That's when the birdies start to sing.

Meanwhile, when I'm feeling crazy as a loon and in need of spirituality, I hear Prine's appeal to the Angel of Montgomery:

Just give me one thing that I can hold on to

And she does.

Posted in Entertainment on Saturday, November 21, 2009 11:00 pm