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entertaining u newspaper: your monthly guide to entertainment
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by kellie abrahamson
kabrahamson1@aol.com
At 9:15 last Friday night I was speeding down JTB trying to make it to the Freebird and praying that none of Jacksonville’s Finest were sneakily hiding in the bushes ready to issue me ticketus maximus. After an already ridiculously long, terrible day, I had ushered my two kids out the door an hour later than I’d planned (mostly due to two missing shoes, a “she hit me!!!” and a potty emergency that ended in disaster) and it was one of those days where all I really wanted to do was crawl into bed and sleep until Sunday. Instead, I had to cover nu-metal songstress Lennon’s concert; hence my mad dash down JTB.
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I hate being late to anything, but given the day I’d had, I was almost relieved. My assignment was to cover Lennon’s performance, not the opening acts, so I thought my tardiness would spare me one or two bands and then I would be that much closer to Lennon and subsequently my bed. Once I finally arrived at Freebird Live, my hopes for a relatively early night were dashed- the first band was just about to begin their set. At the time, I kicked myself for being in such a rush, but it actually ended up being a good thing because these opening acts explained a lot about the audience and what was to come.
You see, Lennon is Lennon Murphy, a singer/songwriter from Tennessee who is also an alt pinup model on SuicideGirls.com. At 19, she released her first album, 5:30 Saturday Morning, and has since come out with four more records and two DVDs, all on John Galt Entertainment, the label she co-founded. She’s headed back to the studio in a couple of weeks to make yet another record, promising this one will be her heaviest yet.
After touring with the Warped Tour and opening for Aerosmith and Mötley Crüe, Lennon has developed a sizable following. Apparently no one has sent Jacksonville that memo. Most of the people that were at the show on Friday were there for Manna Zen, AWOL or Mindslip, the local bands opening for the nu-metal goddess. If you’re familiar with these bands, you know that they’re, generally speaking, melodic hard rock which would, under normal circumstances, be a perfect match for Lennon.
This particular evening, though, she was without her band, so audience members, many of whom had no idea who Lennon even was, were surprised to see a pretty 20-something get on stage and sing accompanied only by her keyboard a la Tori Amos after all the metal acts. Lennon informed the audience that she writes all of her songs on piano first and then gets together with the band to transform the tunes into the heavier stuff you hear on her records. Those familiar with her work (all 6 in attendance) got to hear her songs in a whole new way, while those who were not had to just trust that the soulful piano ballads sound completely different on her CDs and when the band’s around.
With only about 50 people in the club during her set, Lennon seemed to just have fun with her time on stage. She spoke with her fans and manager freely between songs, taking requests and joking about her anonymity in the River City. Lennon also told stories about the tunes she played, explaining the origins of certain songs and why they’re important to her life and career. At one point she nervously performed a song she had written the words to earlier that day, having a public moment of insecurity before diving into a beautiful song with a complex piano arrangement.
Given her SuicideGirls fame, I expected pervy guys and catcalls, and there were a few. In fact, the first reaction to Lennon’s presence on stage was “You’re hot!” yelled by a drunken frat boy. Members of the male persuasion spent the first half of the show on the second floor of the building, presumably so they could get a clear view of Lennon’s cleavage. Still, the veteran singer/songwriter held her own against the heckling oglers, throwing out comical retorts, calling them out on their immaturity and even demanding that they buy her drinks. By the end of her set she had 18 bottled waters and 5 six packs of Newcastle on stage waiting for her.
Even though most of the audience were there to see someone else and ended up hearing Lennon’s songs at their most basic level, by the end of her hour-long set the songstress had won over the crowd and many new fans lined up with existing fans at the merch table to snag a CD and an autograph, including the rude drunken frat boy. As for me, I finally hit my pillow at 2:30 in the morning but I didn’t really mind. At some point during one of Lennon’s spellbinding songs, my ridiculously long, terrible day turned into a ridiculously long, alright night. What a difference a good show makes!
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