My Whole Expanse I Cannot See…

I formulate infinity stored deep inside of me…

Apr 28

Alanis, tonight!

So, tonight I see Alanis Morissette, it’ll be the third time I’ve seen her live. The second time I saw her live was actually the first time I’d seen her in concert, she was doing a tour for Jagged Little Pill Acoustic, and that was a great show. Obviously, she mostly sang songs from Jagged Little Pill, but she also did a few songs off of my personal favorite Alanis record, Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie.

However, the very first time I ever saw Alanis Morissette wasn’t in concert, it was during her U.S. tv debut, on The Late Show with David Letterman. Guest-wise, it was a really off-night, it was David Brenner, an astonishingly boring (God rest him)… comedian? intellectual? raconteur? I don’t know. Then, the musical guest, some girl from Canada, Alanis Morissette. I knew who David Brenner was, but Alanis Mori-who? I’d never heard of her. I didn’t care about the guests anyway, I was just really excited to be there, and really nervous. After the show, I was going to meet and photograph Dave. I was so nervous about meeting Dave, I didn’t even notice Alanis setting up, but once she started singing… you HAD to notice. She sang You Oughta Know, full-blast, absolutely raw, intense, totally un-edited for tv. Well, she had me at and are you thinkin’ of me when you fuck her?

Jagged Little Pill was massive from then on, and Alanis joined the lexicon of singer/song writers that truly changed music.

5 comments

5 Comments so far

  1. maria April 28th, 2015 7:12 pm

    Have fun! write up a review for us 🙂

  2. Hannibal April 28th, 2015 7:18 pm

    I’m jealous bro, enjoy the show!!

  3. Ed Pohl April 28th, 2015 7:52 pm

    Great post, Michael. You and Alanis are both 20 years older since the first time you saw her; the date was August 17, 1995, but you can watch it again today: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TS3oLs1JF50

    (Sorry, I couldn’t find a video of David Brenner’s stand-up performance for that night).

  4. josh April 29th, 2015 1:56 am

    Love that story! Can’t wait to hear about the show!

  5. michael May 5th, 2015 1:08 am

    Ed: Man, I haven’t seen that performance in 20 years!

    If I’m remembering right, Brennsr was a guest, he didn’t do stand-up. I’ve been to see Dave at least 6 times, and the first few times, the guests were… in their twilight years; David Brenner, Richard Lewis,… but I’m pretty certain that first night was David Brenner.