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SPOOKIE DALY PRIDE
Chicken Box | Nantucket, MA | 05.01.02
With the number of New England dates for Spookie Daly Pride dwindling (at least from the perspective of living in Portland, ME) I ventured out early Friday afternoon for what proved to be a most excellent weekend at the Chicken Box on Nantucket Island, 30 miles off the coast of Massachusetts. Arriving in Hyannis at 5pm to catch a ferry, I soon learned that the 12pm and 3pm high speed ferries (one hour trip to the island) had been cancelled due to very high winds creating very choppy waters, and there was going to be a good chance that the 6pm and 9pm would also be cancelled. The slow ferry was running but not leaving until 8:30, and I wasn't about to wait for that. Luckily, I was refunded my money for the ferry ticket and headed to Hyannis airport to catch a 15-20 minute ride in a 10-seater twin-prop plane for only $20 more. Apart from a very bumpy take off and landing, the flight was great and the pilot successfully got this wayward soul to the island.
Arriving on the island, one of the first things you notice is that almost all the houses and business (even the airport and bars) have a very similar look. It turns out that there is some kind of building code that dictates that all buildings be of a certain style and color. Once at the band house, which is a most excellent abode behind "The Box" (which is what The Chicken Box is affectionately referred to by the locals), I was greeted by fellow SDP fan John Drake who had already equipped the house with plenty of food and cool refreshing beverages (thanks John!!). After partaking of a bit of these, it was time to scope out the bar.
"The Box" is a very spacious bar that has pool tables on one side, a "Golden Tees" video game (of which Spookie, Stash and Tommy apparently are HUGE fans of, judging by the number of rounds they played over the weekend) and a large open area on the other, where there are a few tables, plenty of dart boards and a ping pong table, all of which are eventually cleared out to make room for a decent size dance space. Talking to some of the regulars at the bar and the bar staff, I quickly learned that the place has a notorious reputation for having the potential to get pretty nutz, so I was excited for things to get hopping.
At 10pm, when SDP took the stage, the place was rather quiet and empty. Very odd, considering what I was told earlier, but then I was told that the place didn't really get going until about 11/11:30. With the lack of any audience and battling what turned out to be a bit of bronchitis, Spookie took the opportunity to go through some of the "lower key" songs, playing some songs at what appeared to be "half-time" ("Beautiful Din" comes to mind) and holding back the whoppers for when (or if) people started showing up. One excellent thing to see during this "lull" was the energy still being put forth by a tigger-ish Pete Witham, who didn't let the lack of an audience curb the energy he apparently was feeling from the music alone, especially during "Down Home Cooking" (keep that spirit Pete!). Eventually during the first set, there was one enthusiastic fan who took to bopping about the dance floor on his own, unable to contain the spirit that the music always eventually creates in anyone within earshot. By second set (and throughout), the place did indeed fill up and as it did, Spookie took to unleashing those songs held back during the first set, including a very cool version of "Happy Happy" and by nights end, the place was full of bouncing, happy souls.
Saturday was spent walking about the downtown area and then quite an adventure trying to track down The Muse, another of Nantucket's big night spots. We received all kinds of directions (many them very wrong) before finally finding the place and winding down there in mid afternoon for a much needed chill period over a couple of brews. Saturday proved to be a much more happening night, as the place was buzzing pretty well when SDP went on, and by only a few songs in, the dance space was filled. Repeating the energy from the night before, Pete Witham once again showed some good positive energy early on in the first set and would maintain this throughout the night. With the strong early crowd reaction, the whole band definitely provided that classic "come out and celebrate" air early on and kept it up through both sets. Especially cool on Saturday was an extended jam of "Big Car." At 1am, the place was still hopping and as all of the other band members were leaving stage, the crowd enthusiastically began calling for an encore. Pete, the only one to not have left the stage yet, egged the crowd on, calling for more and more cries from the crowd. Eventually it was inevitable, SDP came back and played one more song to a very excited and grateful crowd. With the need for an early wake-up call, I (and others) had to regretfully decline a post show party and hit the sack. (Thanks for the offer Meredith, maybe next time!)
Sunday morning came far too soon for everyone, with the band up and out at an early 5:30 am to catch the 6:30am ferry to make it for a gig on Princeton Sunday afternoon. I was up and out by 6:30 to catch a 7:15 flight back to the mainland and then onto Burlington, where work would have me for the following week. All in all it was a great weekend, and I, for one, look forward to heading to "The Box" again ASAP.
Noen Knows
JamBase | Northeast
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