Sarah McLachlan and the race riot

[ed@wente.llnl.gov (Ed Suranyi)]

I got to San Francisco VERY early yesterday, before all the trouble
started.  So I was able to avoid all the problems that Ben Haller talked
about in his post.  Incidentally, Ben, Sarah will be doing another US
tour this June/July, so perhaps then you'll be able to see her!

I got to the club early enough so that there were only five or so
people hanging around in front of the club.  I thought they were
all ticketholders, but as I got closer I noticed that one of them
was Sarah herself!  She was taking a few minutes off to chat with the
few fans there, and to sign autographs.  I quickly tried to think of
something for her to sign, but the only appropriate thing I had with
me was the ticket, so I had her sign the back of it.  She was SO nice!
She's also shorter than I imagined.  One of the other fans took a 
photo of Sarah with me talking to her -- only the back of my head
can be seen, but I'll probably still want a copy.

We watched her go off to have dinner with some friends, and we were still
waiting outside when she came back, so we said hello to her again.  She
noticed that on the tickets her name is spelled "SARA MCLACHLAN", and
she commented, "Well, they're always misspelling my name."  I said, "I
know!  That's a pet peeve of mine; I'm always correcting misspellings
of your name."  She seemed mildly amused.  I also said, "I got your
first album after it came out, but I thought you'd NEVER come to San 
Francisco."  "Well, I'm here now!", she said with a grin.

She told us that the club they had played in L.A. the night before
was quite close to the riot area, so they had been glad to leave -- but
now it seemed that it had followed them!  The L.A. show was supposed
to have been followed by a party of some sort, but it had to be cancelled.

Then she disappeared into the backstage of the club.

A few minutes later, while we were still waiting outside, a very funny
thing happened.  A large group of what looked like tourists were walking
towards us on Columbus Street.  About a block away, I heard one of them
shout at the top of his lungs:  "SARAH MCLACHLAN!"  As they got closer
he started shouting at us:  "SARAH MCLACHLAN!  SHE'S CANADIAN!  I'M
CANADIAN!  SHE'S GREAT!  IS SHE PLAYING HERE TONIGHT?"  We assured
him that she was indeed.  "I'M SO JEALOUS!  SHE'S GREAT!"  We suggested
he buy a ticket, but apparently he didn't have time that evening.

I met Larry and his girlfriend, Dianne, at the club, but apparently
Karen Newcombe never made it.  I would have thought that she'd have
the easiest time getting there, since she lives in S.F.  But oh well.

Well, the concert was just fantastic.  Better than I thought it would
have been, if you can imagine.  Her voice was just perfect, and so
were all the members of the band.  She several times thanked the
audience for being able to come despite the problems.  Fortunately,
the club was not near the riot areas so there were no problems in the
immediate area.  Larry, Dianne, and I sat right up front and center.  It
was SO marvelous!  The crowd was VERY enthusiastic, and Sarah seemed
genuinely pleased.

After the concert the manager came out to announce that in the meantime
mayor Frank Jordan had called for a curfew, so we should all go straight
home.  I was in a sticky situation, because I had come by BART (the 
rapid transit), and there had been rumors that BART was closed.  But Larry
offered to take care of me.  So I went with him and Dianne to his car.
We listened to the radio, and it turned out that only the downtown BART
stations were closed.  So he drove me to Glen Park station, where I picked
up a train to go home.  I actually never saw any of the violence or
its aftermath, because I was never in an area where it took place.

As I said above, Sarah McLachlan will be going on another US tour this
summer.  All you who missed this one -- you don't want to miss the next
one!

Ed
ed@wente.llnl.gov