Jul 19, 2007

I'm with the band!










"I can love Iceland in a wheelchair, baby"...With apologies to Benni Hemm Hemm, who put on an terrific concert in San Francisco Monday night! It was so considerate of them to schedule it for a night when we could get there. (Check out the rest of their schedule, and if you can go see them while they're in the U.S.--DO IT!) The band, which can number up to seventeen musicians, was about eight strong as they played before an enthusiastic audience at the Bottom of the Hill. Their sound is great, and the horns and percussion are very exciting. Of course we couldn't understand all the words...I'm hoping to get the words to the "saddest song in the world".

To be strictly honest, I'm not really with the band. But I did get my picture taken with Benni, and he was most gracious in talking to John and me. Under my arm you'll note my new copy of their Most Wonderful CD, Kajak.

Here's what Benni had to say about the concert in his blog:

We had great fun in San Francisco. We checked out the downtown in the cold, cold wind - and it felt just like being in Iceland - and we went to Amoeba, the best record shop in the world.

The show at The Bottom of the Hill was fun. Óli did a standing drum solo, Palli jumped and we had a great time. It was a good night.

We booked our tickets while in Virginia, and drove down to San Francisco from Santa Rosa just a day after arriving in California, for the express purpose of experiencing Iceland in San Francisco. Benni being a fellow librarian and all that, we have to stick together. So we got in to S.F. in time to enjoy City Lights bookstore, Trieste coffee shop, and a fabulous dinner at Chef Jias. At 11 pm we drove over to Potrero for the concert. How do you like my band shirt?
WHAT A HIGH! Thank you Benni Hemm Hemm! Plus, this concert was the ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF THE DAY WE ARRIVED IN ICELAND--how cool is that?

6 comments:

Professor Batty said...

... I wanted to see them in Seattle, but was too tired- and they played here in Minneapolis the day I left for the west coast. A New York paper picked up one of my pictures of them and gave me a credit! A fun band!

Darien Fisher-Duke said...

Your photo was MUCH better than my photo :-)

Shannon said...

Are you back now???

This show looks like it was AWESOME! You are so lucky! I looked at the band's myspace page but I can't see any other US shows. Do you know if they are coming to VA? =) At any rate, please bring their CD along with you when you come to visit. I'd love to hear it!

Darien Fisher-Duke said...

Hi Shannon,
Já, we're back. I'm afraid that Benni Hemm Hemm has completed their U.S. tour, but I promise to bring the CD when I visit. Maybe next week; I'll be in touch!

Shannon said...

I downloaded "I can love you in a wheelchair" from Limewire. It's a funny kind of song in that it really sticks in the head. I can't stop singing it now...and I haven't heard it in 3 days! I hope the rest of the CD is like this.

Stomach flu here. Stay away. Far, far away!

Darien Fisher-Duke said...
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