Maybe I’m being melodramatic. The truth is I don’t remember much about our trip to New Haven on this day in 1985, our first show outside of New York and New Jersey, except for the Mikey-like “Georgia likes it” moment of her trying clam pizza at Frank Pepe’s. But one look at our 1991 set list, opening for Eleventh Dream Day at Marquette, and I’m reliving the nightmare: When we fail to complete either of our first two songs, we leave the stage to regroup. We tiptoe back on with “Andalucia” and then rip through another two numbers before having to bail on yet another midway through. Oy–is this the show where we attempt to anchor Georgia’s wandering bass drum with an IBM Selectric? Luckily for us, there’s no time to brood. We pack up and drive from Milwaukee to Chicago, where we’ve got another show that night at Lounge Ax (an SST-esque stunt we’d never attempted prior). That one goes just fine. One last April 5 first, our first post-Katrina date in New Orleans. Georgia sings Irma Thomas’s “Ruler of My Heart” and we’re very happy to be back.
