Barenaked Ladies - The best band ever!
The Barenaked Ladies are so important to us in so many ways. The most obvious is the related naming ~ when we started this website about over simplifying our Family life, we launched it with the name GregJennandKids.com. We were searching our souls for a name that was more fitting for a website name that meant something. We were in Yellowstone National Park looking for wolves and Grizzlies when Jenn yelled out 'BARENAKEDFAMILY!' inspired by one of our favorite bands of all time. Means to us truth, simplicity, and Family. Really aggravates some. Intrigues others. Perfect.
February 2004 - Met the Ladies backstage and introduced them to our Family name and its meaning. They were cool about it ~ We got our pictures scanned that were taken by photographer Leo Gozbekian backstage at the Peep Show in Boston. What a hot freakin' band, huh? How 'bout those guys in the back too... There are two more newly posted in our Boston Experience.
October 2003
This page was originally created BEFORE October 2003 - the day when our true Pro-Fanship arrived at the next level - Don't even think about denying us our Pro-Fan'ity after this - the best show we've been a part of yet!!! Check out our BNL in Boston 2003 experience here.
November 2003
We're getting better - BNL Peep Show in Dallas!!!
Previous to October 2003:
We love and have seen the Barenaked Ladies many times and these are some pictures from the shows.
Jenn made these shirts for the kids twice now! The first show with the shirts was at the Key Arena in Seattle, WA in October of 2000. We were in mezzanine seats and Ed Robertson spotted the kids from the stage and began to sing a classic BNL spontaneous rap about 'the coolest kids at the show' with Steven Page. They put the kids on the big screen and it was easily the coolest concert we have been a part of!
The kids wearing the 'Artist' passes that Steve and Ed gave them after a show the previous year. (Jingle Bell Bash in Seattle, 1999).
Ed and Jenn. Our first encounter with Ed was in our early pro-fan career. It was the first show we saw in Austin, TX at the Meadows (Stunt tour, 1998). It had rained all day and was a true mud fest. After the show, we were graced with the entertainment of Ed being stuck in the mud in his Mustang and a bunch of Texas cowboys helping him out. They had no idea they were dealing with a rock star so the girl with him began shouting to onlookers (us) 'It's Ed Robertson from the Barenaked Ladies!'. Rock star groupies are strange.
These pictures are of lesser quality because they came from a 35mm camera and were immediately framed and have been on display somewhere in our home ever since. They were never scanned, these are digital pictures of the pictures in the frame...
Steve and Jenn. Jenn REALLY loves Steve (slightly less than Greg?). We have pictures of Jenn with Steve look alikes from around the country.
The kids with Kevin. Kevin has a really cool song about beans.
The kids with Steve and Jim. Jim is the only Barenaked Lady we got to interact with at their North Carolina show. We drove our rental car back by the buses way before the show and were run off. On our way out, Jim was being driven in (a Corolla?!?) and waved to us.
The kids and Tyler. Tyler was the very first Barenaked Lady we ever met in person. At the Jingle Bell Bash in 1999 (Seattle), he was the first to appear out the back door that stalkers like us wait. Kesley was yelling 'Tyler! Tyler! Tyler!' and he played the whole 'where are you' game with her. Kes is a real star hound...
We have seen BNL:
1st - Stunt tour, Austin, TX 1998 - Ed stuck in the mud in his Mustang.
2nd - Stunt tour, Paramount Theatre, Seattle, WA, 1998 - Steve smoking a cigarette in the rain before the show, Jenn desperately trying to get his attention, exchanged looks.
3rd - Jingle Bell Bash, Seattle, 1999 - Met the whole band except Kevin. Autographs and conversation! Kesley and Austin were given Steve and Ed's 'Artist' passes off their necks!!
4th - Maroon tour, Seattle, 2000 - Pictures above, woo-hoo!!! All the ladies have been met.
5th - Maroon tour, Charlotte, NC, 2001 - Simply reduced to pro-fan stalkers. We did wave to Jim between cars and got to say hi to Ed, kids, and his wife while watching Action Figure Party, action figure.
6th - Everything to Everyone Peep Show tour, Boston, Mass, October 2003 - one of the best shows yet and possibly ever!!!!!
7th - Everything to Everyone Peep Show tour, Dallas, TX, November 2003 - This time we knew the words!
Saw the Vanity-Project in store performance with Steven Page. This is a solo thing for Steve and it is really some good stuff. Seeing him perform solo reveals a lot about who he really is. He seems to have come to a full circle part in his life and it shows through his music. After the performance we got to catch up with Steve since our last concert some two years ago and again reminded us how real he is. We talked about the kids and how old they are now, some local spots in Austin that we both hang out at, and cheesy guitar playing. Some years ago we would have been enamored with his rock star status and might have treated him differently, but we ourselves have come full circle too and at the end of the day Steven Page is another great human being who would love nothing more than hanging out with a couple of barenaked friends and a great bottle of wine. We have seen them as a young band stuck in the mud with a rental car to being on top of the world with their craft and now this new music. It's exciting to see them as a band and individually still giving us great music to listen to and still follow their dreams all these years later. So knowing this now we had the best conversation with a fellow naked man and are grateful for the free performance and the great CD. We highly recommend listening to Steve's new CD The Vanity Project. Visit his new website www.Vanity-Project.com
Check out the bands website here!