For those of you who don't know, Christian Kane is an actor on the T.V. show Leverage which is filmed in Portland, Oregon. The entire cast lives in Portland for much of the year. Christian Kane is also a singer and musician. He performs at Dante's Inferno in Portland once a month while he is living here. Karen and I thought it would be fun to go see him since we like his music (plus he's easy on the eyes) so we bought tickets for 16 dollars a piece. We also invited a friend of ours for her birthday weekend.
I must say it was nothing like I had envisioned. Christian Kane sings country/soul music but the crowd that was at Dante's was very rough and the bar was a dive. He came on stage 30 minutes late and cussing. Apparently his drummer was late and he was non-to-pleased about it. They started singing without him but he showed up half way through the first song. The first couple of songs were good and what I would expect but the rest of the night he turned his country songs into aggressive rock. It sounded fine, when it wasn't distorted, just not what I expected. He also swore a lot and seemed to be in a very bad mood. When his set was almost done, 4 go-go dancers came out, climbed on platforms and gyrated to the music. I kept my eyes firmly planted on the band. That was nothing I wanted to see again.
A nice surprise to the evening was when Timothy Hutton and Aldis Hodge showed up. They are actors in Leverage and good friends of Christian Kane's. They mingled a little with the crowd and I was able to get a picture with them. They seem pretty nice. I was really hoping to get a picture with Christian Kane too, but he doesn't do pictures with his fans. I was so glad I got to spend this night with Karen and Sue, they made it more fun than it would have been and helped the time fly while we were waiting for the performance to start. This has really altered my opinion of Christian Kane. I guess it just goes to show you can't judge someone based on what you see in interviews.
While we were waiting to get in, Sue went around the cornerto VooDoo Donuts to get us a treat. They were pretty good doughnuts.
I think it took her 20 minutes to get through the line.Here is a picture of the inside of the place.
Christian Kane's name in lights, sort of.
Sue and I waiting patiently in line.So glad it didn't rain on us!
We were getting bored waiting for the show to start.We started being goofy. Karen licking the icing off the wrapper.
Me laughing hysterically.
Sue's sexy drink face, oh the fun we had!
Christian Kane on stage, he didn't look that great.I was surprise he didn't dress better, he looked kind of
grungy, perhaps because of the venue he was playing in.
Here is his band- three guitarist, one drummer and him singing.
Christian Kane. You should go to the link up topto see a better picture of him. I swear he is good looking!
Aldis Hodge, me, and Timothy Hutton.I have no idea what is wrong with my face.
I kind of look crazy. Maybe I can photoshop a
better picture of my face on there.
Way fun!!!
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking the picture I took of Sue taking the picture turned out a little better. And to anyone reading this - NO I WASN'T DRUNK - even though I look like it.
ReplyDeletei don't think that CK is very good looking, M is much more handsome! Are your ears still ringing from the noise at that concert?
ReplyDeleteI agree completely, Mel. M is definitely more handsome. I wouldn't trade him for anything!
ReplyDeleteMy ears rang for a few hours after the concert, but are better now. I should have remembered my ear plugs!
Only slightly demented Nicole! It was fun to see your version of our weekend.
ReplyDeleteWow. I am so sorry that you had to experience a bad night. The May 22nd show was supposed to be an awesome night. Everything I have seen of other shows at Dante's were really good. I was there on March 21st after the Con-Con and even with him being pretty drunk (he admitted it to us first thing) it was still a really good show. I am disappointed in his behavior that night. However, as a musician I can completely understand why he was angry. I am amazed that he allowed it to get to him like that.
ReplyDeleteAs for his attire that night, seeing the pictures I am not impressed either. But based on the past shows, it's not unusual. Obviously he was comfortable. Whatever, he's the star right? LOL.
Anyway, again I am bummed for you all since his shows are not usually that disappointing. If you are ever able to I would llike to suggest that you try again and see what you think. I'm sure it was just a bad night. By the way, he swears alot anyway.
I'm sorry you had a bad time but I'd like you to consider that everyone has an 'off' day and perhaps this was one for Christian. As a big fan of his, I can honestly say that this doesn't seem to be the norm with him. However, I think you went in with unrealistic expectations.
ReplyDeleteFirst you said something about his cursing. Then you mention his temper, the way he was dressed and the bar being a dive and stuff. Maybe all that's true from your perspective and everyone has a right to their own opinion but consider the fact that a) there are tons of youtube videos out there that are his stage shows - did you watch them? you probably wouldn't have been shocked by his language if you had b) He has a room full of fans and his drummer was late, delaying the show. I can understand his temper on that aspect. He was annoyed FOR the fans waiting c) I don't know about Dante's but I really think that CK's description in The House Rules seems pretty spot on about the type of bar he likes to hang out in. Once again I'm surprised you expected something classier and d) he's dressing the same way he dresses in his shows - once again, did you watch any of the YouTube video or see pictures?
When you see Christian interviewed, he's usually dressed up and perfectly tame by the industry standards. But Christian is a guy. He's a real guy who has a temper at times and is a sweetheart other times. He gets drunk, he swears, he dresses badly at times cause he's REAL. And he makes mistakes. Perhaps this show he had an off nite - I don't know because I wasn't there. But I do know from friends that were there that he wasn't acting as bad as people who have seen him perform and watched videos of it were prepared for.
I think this is a case of you went to the show expecting CK to play the tame humble country boy role he's played in some of his movies and/or his interviews. But he was being a guy, hanging out with his friends, fans, and band, and just having a good old time cutting loose on a Saturday night. And that's what most of his fans want him to do!
You should really give him another chance before you write him off so quickly.
Hope this doesn't seem like I'm being a b*tch for posting your opinion. I just felt like he was judged a little bit harshly for being human. I love the fact he's not perfect and that he says/does the wrong thing at times. Perfect isn't REAL. And CK is real.
Interesting, very defensive, response from Anonymous, esp. since this is a private blog, posted for family and friends. Wonder why she felt it necessary to say anything - it's obvious she doesn't know you personally, so why would she care what your opinion is? People are funny.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that person's response was defensive, they were just trying to give another perspective on the night. Yes, he likes to get drunk and cut lose on a Saturday night with his friends and fans, but he is a down to earth person who has never pretended anything else. Why let one incident change your opinion of someone you were clearly a big fan of before? If your previous impressions of him were all positive, then I would be inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt rather than letting it alter things so radically.
ReplyDeleteI know what your saying completely.You see people on tv and the image they are putting out there and when you meet them it just bursts your bubble.I had the same experience.Sad,but true.I truly was one of his biggest fans,adored him even became a fan of his music.I went to one of his shows and going in I was thinking hes this good old down to earth southern boy cause thats all he talks about and sings about.And it was different.I know hes a guy but damn the stuff I seen him doing from across the room really made it different for me.He never stops drinking ever.He was pretty tanked.I honestly believe he has a drinking problem and doing the typical rock star move and take girls with him when he leaves.He just didn't live up to the CK I had seen and thought about.I'm not knocking him if thats what he wants to do but he portrays a completely diffferent image.So I understand cause it did change my thinking of him as well.Hes a typical sort of famous person,it goes to their head and they lose perspective on life and they think everything revolves around them all the time!!
ReplyDeleteSometimes I wonder if there's a Kane police out there hell bent on deleting any negative publicity. For someone that is portrayed as a very real person, the bad stuff very quickly gets hushed, so I was quite surprised to find these posts, but happy that some have survived.
ReplyDeleteI too have seen some very questionable behaviour...well, in my opinion anyway. Im not judging..Ive seen worse, haha, but if you're in the public eye, someone is ALWAYS watching.
Went to sed KC in London a few nights ago, he arrived very late at 10, drunk, kept drinking on stage, beer and whisky and only sang a few songs. The venye had no seat, his best mate was also drank and they both looked super unhealthy. I wasn't impressed at £25 a ticket! He dressed like a tramp, was forgetting his songs...the worst moment for me was when he said goodbye and that was it, no encores, the light was back on, everybody was leaving and he came back on stage to get his guitar, not to sing! He couldn't wait to finish his concert to drink some more with his best friend Reily.just awful evening.
ReplyDeleteThis seems to be a classic case of judging an actor by their characters and not going in without expectations so you can have the opportunity to meet the person and not a role they play as part of their job. As someone who works in a field where so many swear it baffles me that anyone complains about this. Whatever you do avoid soldiers and emergency workers off duty, you’ll leave with a similar taste in your mouth. Both tend to be blunt our language is rough and even the ladies language can be downright crude. The public sees well at least with emergency workers on duty a super controlled version of our true selves typically. As a patient you would have me pegged as a sweet Mary Sue with no clue how someone so nice handles the things Medics handle seeing. Catch me behind closed doors in the ambulance with no patients or public present when it’s just me and my partner and you’d have a different opinion entirely.
ReplyDeleteI think you went in expecting the Christian Kane character on Her Minor Thing aka with very unrealistic expectations. And what you got instead of 2nd or 10th take rehearsed scenes for a character was a real human being who like all of us has bad days and days that not all sparkly sunshine and rainbows. His interviews where he talks about enjoying fight scenes and action should have been a clue that he might not be a cuddly country boy teddy bear or since I don’t know him and have never met him isn’t only that. Since he could very well have that as an aspect of his personality in the right circumstances. 95% of Martial Artists who do anything serious with their training from sticking with it for years or using it in a career field have an a**hole switch and while many of us can be super nice we’re all capable of being d***s if he truly was being one. I wasn’t at that show to form my own opinion. Point is if you hold people up on pedestals the best human beings will fall off from time to time. That’s all. Now how do I get off this soap box… 🤔