OLD 97's 1-13-2000 The Velvet Lounge, San Francisco, CA. (private party)

This video has been sitting in a box since the day after it was shot, better late than never I guess. Here is the deal, I was working for a startup with one of my best friends, she was the office manager who was also a huge fan of the Old 97's, I was a fan but not the super-fan she is. The company wanted to celebrate *something* and I can't remember what remarkable milestone we got to, but at that time it seemed exciting because people were using the word "synergy" a whole bunch more. In reality, everyone wants to say they are changing the world and making important discoveries but was beige as can be, yawn!. So my friend and I hatched a plot to get our own intimate Old 97's show and make the VC funded startup pay for it all. I will have to say the whole thing was all her doing. She would freak out, come to my desk or hit me up on AIM and fire off ideas about how we could pull it off and I would give a yes/no/maybe answer. It was all still pretty exciting and a bit dubious ….totally 100% worth it. Some details are a little shaky and I have been trying to clarify them because I honestly can not figure out the exact date this show happened. It might have been Jan 22nd 2001, or it could have been March, but it's within those couple of months at least. and of course the tape was unlabeled (meh, why bother) I also can't for the life of me remember what venue it was at. It was up in North Beach area of SF up near where The Stone used to be, and across from The Lusty Lady. I mean, it was a private show with an awesome band AND an open bar, do you think I remember the fine details? or any details? I just know I somehow made it home after it was over. The beginning couple of songs on here is the band trying to do a quick soundcheck and then they just get right into the set. The camera placement makes it seem more like an Old 97's rehearsal because you don't really see anybody but the band, nor do you hear much for crowd noise during most of it, but there were a couple hundred drunk nerds having fun and were quite enthusiastic …..especially when everyone starts screaming "El Paso" at the end. I'm not sure why everyone started putting their name tags on Ken Bethea? So yes, I was an accomplice in spending a whole bunch of corporate cash to get an alt/country/rock band to fly out to SF just to have our own Old 97's concert. I strongly recommend and encourage anyone who has any kind of corporate budgetary power or access to a company Amex card to recklessly throw large sums of cash at bands you like, it's fucking awesome!! …..and of course we were both fired not too long after this show, it had nothing to do with this party though, it was most likely because the entire company went to Cancun to listen to a football coach that retired 20 years earlier and was now syphoning money from the internet boom pretending he could motivate corporations, you know, because everyone has seen Rudy and relates to a football coach. The guy could have been a complete imposter and nobody would have known or cared. He motivated me to do a lot of coke over those four days. and then there was one Executive I could never figure out WHY he ever moved to SF as he proudly attended a young Republicans dinner with Bush Jr. before showing up in Cancun to demolish his mini-bar before lunch, like WTF?... and then the sales bros were like slimy car salesman soaked in Drakkar Noir. …..oh, did I mention my friend wrote the set list for the band too, so it features quite a few obscure songs. enjoy! EDIT: OK, so this was at The Velvet Lounge in SF and the actual date was Jan, 13th 2000