Ed Brayton is a journalist, commentator and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of 
Well this was a fun night all the way around. Went with a couple friends to go see the Verve Pipe in Grand Rapids. Verve Pipe is a local band who became a one-hit wonder in the 90s with the song Freshmen. But they've long been one of my favorites and they have a lot of great material other than that song (which was better in the original acoustic version they put out locally than the one that ended up being a hit).
Brian Vander Ark, the singer and leader of the band, is really a great songwriter. And they have guitarist AJ Dunning back in the group after a few years away. But now they're using an expanded lineup, with a harmonica player and a horn line. They just put out an album of mostly songs for kids, a few of which they did at this show. They weren't bad, though a bit silly.
The rest of the show was a bit unexpected as well. With the horn line, they did some different things. They always did at least one Beatles cover during their concerts, usually Strawberry Fields or I Am the Walrus, but with the horn line behind them, this time they did Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and then With a Little Help From My Friends.
They did Freshmen, of course, and every single person in the audience (except my friend Shannon, who had somehow managed to never hear the song) knew every line by heart and sang along. But it was a blistering version of Ark of the Envious, the very first song from their very first self-produced album in 1992, that really brought the house down.
I was disappointed that there wasn't more from that first major label CD - Ominous Man, Penny is Poison or Cup of Tea are all great songs to hear live. Alas, none showed up in the set. But all in all, it was a great show.
To make things even better, after the show was over and I dropped my friends off at their cars, I had to go right by the local poker room to get home. It was 1:15 in the morning at that point and I didn't figure there would still be a game going, but there were cars in the parking lot so I stopped in. Sure enough, there were six players still at the table and they had 40 minutes left to play. Okay, I'll buy in and take a seat.
I was unstoppable. In that 40 minutes, I won $421. I flopped a set of queens, checked them all the way to the river on a completely unconnected board until another player hit his ace on the river and went all in. Thank you very much.
Had another player flop a set of kings and try to slowplay them all the way to the river and let me hit my inside straight. He bets out $11, I raise to $31 thinking I'd be lucky to have him pay off my raise (I certainly didn't put him on three kings after only a $2 raise preflop, a check on the flop and a $4 bet on the turn) and instead he goes all in. Thank you very much.
Yeah, nice way to end the night.
Comments
For those who (like me) have no idea who these guys are:
Freshmen -DJ
Posted by: DIngoJAck | December 20, 2009 10:09 AM
I was twelve when Freshmen was a huge hit, and I didn't have a clue what it was about but I enjoyed its slightly nuanced sound. My parents, on the other hand, would repeat the lyrics every time the song was played in a desperate attempt to understand the song's meaning.
Posted by: Sadie Morrison | December 20, 2009 10:19 AM
Loved Pop Smear, hated The Freshmen.
Posted by: Traffic Demon | December 20, 2009 8:30 PM
On a senior year trip in 2006, my friends and I made a dance for the chorus of Freshmen. It got out of hand at the "died for our sins" part. We stretched our arms into crosses, and then dropped our heads...
Posted by: Matt S | December 21, 2009 12:51 AM
I never really paid attention to them until I grabbed an acoustic solo set by Brian Vander Ark from eMusic a while ago, and was quite impressed by his songwriting. I didn't realize they were still active as a band, but I'll definitely go see them if I get the chance now.
Posted by: Aaron M | December 22, 2009 12:57 PM