August 10, 2002
photos and review by Ron Beffa
After more than 25 years of presenting shows, the Palms Playhouse in Davis, California closed in August 2002. John played his last show there on August 10. John had started performing at the Palms in the mid 80's and appeared there several times a year. The Palms will be open at a new location in Winters, but the old barn in the field will be no more. I brought my camera to the final Stewart show to document a little bit of history. I took some photos of the Palms as well as John and his band warming up and of course the show itself. To simplify things I will provide links below to many of the photos. I will add a few more in the near future but I thought it would be best to get this group up now. The photos are a little large by internet standards, about 100k apiece on average so if you have a slow connection it may take a bit to load each one - hopefully it will be worth the wait as I wanted to preserve the quality of the photos.
John was joined at the show by Dave Batti on bass, Dennis Kenmore on drums, and John's wife Buffy on vocals. It was an excellent show in the mid summer heat of August in Davis -may have been close to 100 degrees at the start, but cooled down some with a breeze. John told many stories. He still has the heart of a kid. He started reminiscing about first coming to the Palms 17 years before in 1985. And this led to a discussion of the very short time that Dennis the D-man had been his manager.
Dennis had booked John's very first show at the Palms. He had also booked some gigs from hell. John told a long and pretty funny story about travelling through the south with Dennis and Dave and how they were scheduled to play a "Supper Club" (I forget the exact name, something like Max's or Manny's Supper Club") in Macon, Mississippi. That is Mississippi, not Georgia. They travelled out to the middle of nowhere trying to find this place and when they got there it is about a tiny dot on the map of a place and every face they see is black. John says he's thinking something like "my music is NOT gonna fly here" and they look around the two blocks or so of downtown, not finding the place until I think an old woman told them where it was down the road a few miles, a place that had seen its better days and sounded on the verge of collapsing when they arrived. There was a funny bit about the owner of the club's name and telling John that a week ago there were 2000 college students in town but there wasn't anyone there now. They set up for the show and there were about 8 people or something. And it turned out that the show had been booked by some guy who knew he would never get to see John unless he booked him himself to come there and apparently did this to get a private show for himself and a few friends. Although a funny story I doubt John thought it funny at the time. Now being a Civil War buff, John may appreciate the fact that during the Civil War, Macon became the temporary Capital city of Mississippi in 1863 and served as the last Confederate capital of Mississippi.
At some point Dave then flew on to Houston while Dennis and John made the long drive. As they were approaching the city John hears on the radio that "The John Stewart show scheduled for tonight has been cancelled". John immediately assumes the worst - something terrible has happened to Dave - he must have died in a plane crash.
They drive to the gig expecting the worst and the guy there pulls John aside saying he has to talk to him. John expecting to hear that the plane crashed instead hears that the IRS closed down the place that day for back taxes. John is overjoyed and the club guy totally dumbfounded not knowing what had been going through John's mind. It was hysterical in the telling of the tale. I don't do it justice. Dave and John also recalled the truly worst gig where they had to play in a supermarket. There were two balconies above the shopping floor and the band played on one while the small audience sat in the air across the ways. Down below the people were shopping. He said that it was true that during the show "cleanup in aisle 5" came over the loudspeakers. I had heard before of the gig from hell but it gets funnier every time.
The show was a nicely balanced show with Dennis's drums rare treat for the Palms. It was nice to have a driving kick on songs like John's new "The Americans" as well as the subtle backbeat he laid down for so many others.
This may not be a complete setlist, but close, from the show:
You Can't Look Back
Cooler Water Higher Ground
Heart Of A Kid
Irresistible Targets
Don't It Make You Want To Go Home
Let The Big Horse Run
Missouri Birds
Molly Dee (partial song)
When My Love Was Here
Buffy Solo -Embraceable You/ Funny Valentine
Dreamers on the Rise
American Way
Fire In the Wind
China Sky
Ticket to the Stars
Star in the Black Sky Shining
Durango
Draft Age
Shrunken Head Boogie
Pirates Of Stone Canyon Road
Unchained Beast
Midnight Wind/ Don't Look Back/ Every Breath You Take
Lost Her In The Sun
The Americans
Encore
Rivers of Light
Everybody Up At The Palms
July, You're A Woman
Dave Batti also performed John's "Dead Snakes" to an enthusiastic crowd while John filmed him with his digicam.
OK, here's the photos. Click and enjoy....
The sound check and Palms memories:
John & Buffy: http://www.clackscellar.com/images/Palm802/Palm802a.jpg
John: http://www.clackscellar.com/images/Palm802/Palm802b.jpg
Dennis and Buffy: http://www.clackscellar.com/images/Palm802/Palm802c.jpg
da plane da plane ... this strange funky plane that hangs from the ceiling. Somehow it needed to be documented: http://www.clackscellar.com/images/Palm802/Palm802d.jpg
Dave, Dennis, John & Buffy: http://www.clackscellar.com/images/Palm802/Palm802e.jpg
Dave & The D Man: http://www.clackscellar.com/images/Palm802/Palm802f.jpg
The lucky horseshoe of the Palms sits over the center of the stage. I will expect to see it at the new Palms.
http://www.clackscellar.com/images/Palm802/Palm802g.jpg
Dennis the D man: http://www.clackscellar.com/images/Palm802/Palm802h.jpg
John and Dave: http://www.clackscellar.com/images/Palm802/Palm802i.jpg
John's son Luke was here: http://www.clackscellar.com/images/Palm802/Palm802j.jpg
Johnny Flamingo: http://www.clackscellar.com/images/Palm802/Palm802k.jpg
Sweet Denny : http://www.clackscellar.com/images/Palm802/Palm802l.jpg
Johnny: http://www.clackscellar.com/images/Palm802/Palm802m.jpg
The show begins ...
Johnny: http://www.clackscellar.com/images/Palm802/Palm802n.jpg
listen to the band: http://www.clackscellar.com/images/Palm802/Palm802o.jpg
Guitar God I : http://www.clackscellar.com/images/Palm802/Palm802p.jpg
Johnny: http://www.clackscellar.com/images/Palm802/Palm802q.jpg
Guitar God II : http://www.clackscellar.com/images/Palm802/Palm802r.jpg
A view of the Palms looking back from the front row and the crowd returning after the set break:
http://www.clackscellar.com/images/Palm802/Palm802s.jpg
We got guys with guitars.... http://www.clackscellar.com/images/Palm802/Palm802t.jpg
Dave up close : http://www.clackscellar.com/images/Palm802/Palm802u.jpg
They call him Johnny Stew ... http://www.clackscellar.com/images/Palm802/Palm802v.jpg
We got Johnny on the digicam while Davey begins that jazzy "dead snakes" : http://www.clackscellar.com/images/Palm802/Palm802w.jpg
Sweet Davey, the Dead Snake Man: http://www.clackscellar.com/images/Palm802/Palm802x.jpg
While Dennis tries to outsmile Davey: http://www.clackscellar.com/images/Palm802/Palm802y.jpg
Davey the snake man: http://www.clackscellar.com/images/Palm802/Palm802z.jpg
Buffy sings Baker: http://www.clackscellar.com/images/Palm802/Palm1802.jpg
Girls, he is not for sale: http://www.clackscellar.com/images/Palm802/Palm2802.jpg
And neither is this grooving guy: http://www.clackscellar.com/images/Palm802/Palm3802.jpg
well, maybe if there is enough luck in that horseshoe: http://www.clackscellar.com/images/Palm802/Palm4802.jpg
portrait in black and white: http://www.clackscellar.com/images/Palm802/Palm5802.jpg
the encore, Buffy and Dave sneak back onstage to ladida for July You're A Woman: http://www.clackscellar.com/images/Palm802/Palm6802.jpg
The finale: http://www.clackscellar.com/images/Palm802/Palm7802.jpg
