petered out

The Koles and John Batdorf In Concert at the Simi Vallety Cultural Arts Center Saturday, February 18, 2012

2012-01-17T11:29:00.000-08:00

So, normally this blog is about reviewing shows after they happen or CDs after they are released, maybe a music festival overview, that sort of thing. But sometimes events and circumstances are more important than formats! Besides, my readers are few enough that there will hardly be a public outcry that I'm stepping over lines, and I write what I want here anyways. So today I am taking the time to help promote a show, (and hopefully a whole concert series!) that is VERY dear to my heart. On February 18th, 2012 at 7:00 pm there will be a concert at the Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center featuring The Koles with special guest, John Batdorf.

With all the great music we are blessed with the opportunity to see in person here in SoCal, its hard to single out individual shows as extra-special. But the combination of a super-strong co-billing and some special considerations has prompted me to support this show with all the gusto I can muster and with whatever meager influence I might be able to generate.

If you have read the reviews I have posted on this blog, you will notice that the name John Batdorf shows up more than any other name. I have been a fan of John's since the Batdorf and Rodney days in the early 70's, when they were thought of in same light as the earliest releases of folks like The Eagles, America and Jackson Browne. To give you an idea, yesterday an old friend back on the east coast, who I recently became Facebook friends with, saw a post I put up on Facebook about John Batdorf. Her comment was "as in Batdorf and Rodney? I loved those guys. May be worth a trip to the west coast!" After 4 decades without hearing any of John's new music, she is ready to fly cross country for a chance to hear him now!!!! I would find that astounding if I didn't relate to it so much! For me, finding John out here in California and becoming acquainted with his new music has reignited my passions for live music and spurred me to become more involved the SoCal music scene. Talking about music being "life-changing" may sound a bit over the top to some, but John's music is THAT good. And he is only one half of this co-billing!

Knowing how much I esteem John Batdorf as a musician, you might imagine how I felt a couple of years ago when he told me about this new act he had heard, a singer/songwriter named Arlene Kole who performed with her husband and daughter. He told me that their CD was the BEST new album he had heard in years and that it not only had some great songs but it also just SOUNDED great! Well, if you have heard me describe John's talents as a masterful producer, arranger and engineer of his own albums in addition to his singing,songwriting and guitar-playing, you would understand what this endorsement meant to me! And when I jumped at my earliest opportunity to go see The Koles live and buy their CD, I totally understood John's enthusiasm!

Unfortunately, due mainly to my neglect at times of this blog, I have yet to review The Koles in concert, so I'd like to give you taste of what the experience of seeing them live is like. The first thing that will strike you are the voices!! All five members of the band have amazing voices and four of them take turns at singing lead, though the bulk of the repertoire is fronted by either Arlene or her daughter Skyeler. Their harmonies are amazingly beautiful adornment to some really transcendent soaring lead vocals. Then you will notice the virtuosity on their instruments, not to mention that they swap around instruments on almost every song (they each play more than one instrument with lots of skill). This ability to swap instruments makes an infinite variety of musical coloration possible, providing each song with just the right sound to make it fully effective. The key to the sound of The Koles is husband and father Bill Kole, another wizard of the recording studio and a guy who I swear has never met a musical instrument he couldn't master. In the course of an evening with The Koles, you will hear Bill play guitar, bass, keyboards, mandolin, banjo, drums and Lord knows what else, and he plays all these expertly and with taste. With the recent addition of young virtuoso Wyatt Stone, a child prodigy we heard years ago playing with Rickie Lee Jones and now grown up, the band has even more instrumental variation. Wyatt is a KILLER on guitars, fiddle and keyboards, pedal steel and any other instrument he lays his hands on and he is contributing some surprisingly mature songwriting. And with the always tasteful "Uncle" Jim Rolfe playing spot-on-perfect guitar flavors, as well as taking turns at bass or mandolin, the depth of varied musical sound this band is capable of is virtually limitless. Then, most importantly, there are the songs! With at least four incredibly talented songwriters in the group, the songs also vary greatly stylistically, from angelic ballads to stinging blues wails, from bluegrass rave-ups to indie rockers with stops at all points in between! And I must particularly note how much I love the songs penned by daughter Skyeler Kole, her songs have a unique quirky indie feel that make me think this is where the band might really take off with commercial success! This "share the spotlight" ethic is a key ingredient in experiencing The Koles live and also, from what I'm told, on the new CD!

Hopefully my words have at least begun to convey how excited I am at the prospect of seeing two of my most favorite acts appearing together and hopefully, maybe, I have transferred a little bit of that excitement to you. But there is another important reason this show is so important to me and again, maybe I can convince you of its importance to YOU. Arlene Kole is promoting this show herself, in the beautful, intimate and comfortable confines of the Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center. For us, this is quite a different setting than we are used to frequenting to hear live indie acoustic music! Usually these sorts of shows happen in someone's living room as a houseconcert or in the basement of church on folding chairs, or out in a field at a festival, or, even worse, in a noisy nightclub where most of the folks ignore the music as they get obnoxiously inebriated. It is quite rare to get to hear this music in a real theatre setting, with comfortable seats, great sightlines, pro sound and lights and a real stage!!! Arlene is trying to show the powers that be in Simi Valley that this music will draw people and she hopes to promote lots more shows of this nature with other indie talent. If this show does well, it can lead to all sorts of other shows in this great venue or others like it!!! So I have given Arlene my FULL support on this, as I think it to be of MAJOR importance to the SoCal music scene. I am BEGGING all my friends, acquaintances and readers to buy tickets NOW and support this show!! I would also encourage any performers who are without gigs that evening to buy tickets and show up also, you folks have a vested interest in this show's success!!!!

I sincerely hope to see you all there that night!!!!!!!

Here is a link to John Batdorf's website

http://www.johnbatdorfmusic.com/index.html

and to The Koles' website

http://www.arlenekole.com/home.html

and to the event Facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/events/312116545499771/

and for the Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center to buy tickets and get directions

http://www.simi-arts.org/

"One Last Wish" by John Batdorf

2011-12-22T20:23:00.000-08:00

"The new phone books are here!". I have always remembered this innocent expression of exuberance by Steve Martin's character in "The Jerk" and that's exactly my feeling with the arrival of the latest CD by John Batdorf, "One Last Wish". It reminds me of my youth, being maybe 12 or so, and oh so anxiously awaiting the latest release by The Beatles or the The Stones. The anticipation was heightened by my unshakable conviction that, not only would these albums not possibly disappoint, but that they'd be different than anything I've heard before and somehow IMPORTANT. That importance, seemingly laughable to my folks at the time, has certainly been proven with time and what once seemed like an oxymoron, "important pop music", is now a very meaningful expression. "One Last Wish" is John Batdorf's latest offering of important pop music!!

Okay, now I know at least a few of you are thinking, "Come on, Peter, I know you're enthusiastic about music, and this Batdorf guy's name is vaguely familiar, but to mention this guy in the same breath as The Beatles????" A logical response and I'm the first to admit there will NEVER again be acts like those legends, mainly due to changes in the times and in the music business. That being said, I have been a fan of John's since his days in Batdorf and Rodney, fully four decades ago, and he has been writing and recording "important pop music" ever since, with a decade or so break when he was employed writing and scoring some very successful TV series. A great deal of his work has already stood up to the test of time and, in my view, his work just keeps getting better.

But my purpose here is not a testimonial, but instead a brief overview of a wonderful new CD. It is late enough in the year to state definitively, "One Last Wish" by John Batdorf is the "Album of the Year" in independent music for 2011, a year that has seen some great new releases! It's a collection of twelve meticulously crafted songs that run the gamut of happy and sad, uptempo and reflective and all points in between. Many of the songs in some manner cover some new ground for John, in ways I will attempt to describe. But if John, along with his long-time co writer Michael McLean, had one stand-out feature to his writing (he actually has many!) it would be his remarkable ear for melody and his extraordinary gift for devising melodies that are at once totally unique, but with a feeling of timeless familiarity. All of these songs are testament to that melodic talent. As for stylistic departures, I have come to believe these are due to a couple of changes in the way John wrote many of these tunes, as opposed to his previous work. Some of the differences could come from a forced hiatus from performing due to vocal issues (since rectified, I'm glad to say!) that let John write many of these songs in a more condensed time frame than usual. Its difficult to assess how that effected these songs, but the other difference in how many of these songs were written I think is more telling. Last year John got a new Martin Baritone acoustic guitar (I want one!) which is pitched substantially lower than a standard guitar. Many of these songs were first conceived and written on that instrument, and I'm certain that it has brought out new melodies and harmonies, just as a function of how the notes are laid out on that new instrument.

"One Last Wish" as a whole, is John's most consistent album start to finish. While there have been no "bad" or "throwaway" songs on John's previous CDs, there have always been a song or two or three per album that have stood out greatly as the cream of the album. After listening to this group of songs dozens of times, my favorites change day to day. Every song stands out in some way, there is absolutely no "filler" material there. And as considerable as John's talents are as a songwriter, vocalist and guitarist, one of his greatest skills has become his mastery of the recording process. The production on this CD is note perfect, down to the last handclap and tambourine shake. With the revolution in digital recording, EVERYONE records themselves and self-produces these days, but almost none of them will sound as good as this. Trust me, I have personally spent a ton of money on guitars, only to ultimately learn it's not the tool, it's the hands of the artist using it that creates great art. John has also hired some of the best professional musicians and vocalists around to help him on the CD, cutting no corners on the road to artistic triumph.

I could go on and on in detail about each song on the album, but I realize that becomes "look how smart I am" and I'd rather not go there. But I can't resist at least brief reflection on each song.

"Don't Give Up On Dreams" is in many ways a quintessential John Batdorf song, full of contradictions musically and lyrically, but ultimately totally logical in both regards. This a perfect example of music and lyrics working in tandem and reinforcing each other, a seemingly simple tune that reveals more and more depth the more it is examined, a finely crafted device that does its job with beauty and grace.

"Real Life" follows in a long tradition of pop music and film being tied together. The lyrics are a poignant reminder that reality rarely gives us the "happy endings" that films seem to promise us,

"I can't control in real life the way the story goes, Cause in real life sometimes the girl says no"

A wonderful lyric in one of the best AND most hooky choruses John has ever written, this sounds ready for a mainstream radio breakthrough!

"Mama's Comin' Home Tonight" is somewhat of a change for John, an uptempo bluegrass-gospel rave-up that makes you want to stomp your feet and features great background vocals by Dan Navarro, a singer/songwriter legend here in SoCal.

"Heaven Help Me" this time a major departure, a full-blown gospel hymn that almost has you waiting for the choir, but background vocals again by Dan Navarro along with Bill Batstone, fill the bill nicely! This one I know we owe to that new baritone guitar that it was written on. It is the first John Batdorf song I have heard that sounded like it might have been written by someone else, and to me, its an adventurous step that only adds to John's songwriting chops.

"Life Is Good" Wow, I could go on and on about this one, a small musical miracle of a tune! Funny thing is, on first listening I thought "nice little song, but incessantly cheery and sing-songy, I will tire of it quickly!" I couldn't have been more wrong! The melody went around my head for days after one listening! This is one of those songs that sounds like you've heard it a thousand times and also sounds different from anything you've EVER heard and if I could figure out how John did that, well I wouldn't be here talking, I'd be out writing my own miraculous songs. Wonderfully playful lyrics delivered with some really clever rhyme schemes just make this song Fun with a capital F. And how great is a "serious" songwriter who doesn't take himself TOO seriously?? Somebody in the TV world should scoop up this song as a perfect theme song for a sit-com! I have drunk the kool-aid and I will NEVER tire of this song because, you know what? Life IS good!

"I Feel Loved" This one is pure John Batdorf! A hauntingly beautiful love ballad with angelic background vocals by Arlene and Bill Kole, this is another one ready for some mainstream airplay.

"Can You Hear Me" Another stunner that's a real different song for John, this is nothing if not a power ballad that could have been written by the aforementioned Dan Navarro, who has penned several major hits for others. This sounds to me like a potential Top 40 type hit!

"Forgotten" Every album needs a change-of-pace song and the quiet, reflective and spare arrangement of this little,wistful, tender teardrop of a song fills the bill in lovely fashion.

"If You Could See Me Now" Many of John's songs are stories, written in character. I don't know for sure, but this one sure feels like John singing from his heart, a personal inquiry into what one's life has meant and how it would be viewed by those who meant the most to us. If I'm wrong then he sure sells the idea with his heart-felt vocal melodies.

"You Just Left Me" A song that could only come from John Batdorf and his songwriting partner Michael McLean. It has all the earmarks, the rhythmic acoustic guitar underpinning implying the melody of John's soaring vocals, and an ironic lyrical twist at the end. On a lesser album, this would be the highlight song, here its just another killer tune.

"One Last Wish" There's a reason this is the CDs title track, for sure, but again its a very different sound for John. This one has to be the most straight-forward rock song John has ever made, with a driving ride-out ending. Its also one in a long line of "home" songs that John has written, that theme not surprising from a guy who left his midwest roots for fame and fortune in the music biz in California as a teenager. This is another song that could play on mainstream radio. It also has the feel of closing off the album, that "taking it home" feeling only making the next astounding song stick out even more.

"Revolution" Okay, I dare to say it! This is an "Important" song. It was written as a response to the Arab Spring uprising and has achieved new resonance with the Occupy movement around the world. But this is no call to arms, much to the contrary, it's a prayer for peaceful change.

Revolution by John Batdorf/Michael McLean

Heard the news ...yesterday... Revolution is on it's way
There's a nation that's stirred..... millions of voices are finally heard
Will it go where it's meant to go?
Will it be what it's meant to be?
Will that great uprisin' on the far horizon
Do it peacefully? All the world will see

Let it rain, let it shine......do those voices echo mine
Where they stand... is where they'll fall
And they are willing to risk it all
May they change what they need to change
May they say what they have to say
At that great uprisin' on the far horizon
Going on today... May the world pray
May they find their way
To that brave new day

What an inspired masterpiece of songwriting and recording this song is, serene yet passionate, drifting yet insistent, spare yet detailed. This is a song like John Batdorf himself, a timeless classic that will be around inspiring people for a very long time! There is a wonderful video for this song, put together by a talented videographer named Ron Sarfaty, and I will include a link to it below, please watch it and listen to this amazing song, because the words elude me to describe it adequately!

I often get excited about new music and I'm known to go on and on about just about anything, but with this new John Batdorf CD "One Last Wish", its a whole different case. This incredible collection of humble pop songs has fully risen to and even exceeded my admittedly high expectations, has made me fondly remember my younger days and has me upbeat and optimistic about the future! That's a lot to get from a dozen songs, a sure sign of Important music and a sure sign that, as John sings in "Life Is Good", "Today life got a little better"!

Here's a link to John Batdorf's website:

http://johnbatdorfmusic.com/index.html

and a link to the "Revolution" video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFQKE370XPI&feature=share

A Community of Song - Palm Loft Gallery First Friday Songwriter's Circle Open Mic - Featuring Paull E. Rubin and Friends - March 4, 2011

2011-03-16T19:02:00.000-07:00

Its funny how perspective changes with time! When I started this blog almost two years ago, it was from the perspective of a fan, but relative outsider to the realm of independent music. But with time and my presence at countless shows and the connections this blog has created in its own quiet way, all of a sudden, I find myself being somewhat of an insider. And while I admit, that may cost me a wee bit of objectivity, the payoff in access and insight is well worth that, not even mentioning the richness this adds to my life!

All of the above philosophizing is my convoluted way of introducing the theme of this weekend's entertainment - Community! While many enterprises cause people to develop a sense of community, it seems to me that this is especially so in the realm of independent music. And in the somewhat small and insular area of Santa Barbara County the community feel of the independent music scene is even more apparent. We got a glimpse of this spirit recently when we visited the Palm Loft Gallery in Carpenteria, CA for their First Friday Songwriter's Circle Open Mic Night, which on this occasion featured as headliner Paull E. Rubin and Friends.

This was our second visit to an Open Mic Night at the Palm Loft Gallery. We had visited the previous month, mostly to see the ever-delightful Rebecca Troon, a long-time favorite performer. Sitting in with Rebecca that evening was a guitarist I had never heard before, one Paull E. Rubin, who played some really tasty guitar and Dobro with like no rehearsal, just winging it and sounding great. We really enjoyed that night, so when I heard that he would be headlining the following month, my calendar was instantly marked!

Like our last visit, we arrived at the Palm Loft Gallery, just up from the beach in Carpenteria, in time to enjoy a marvelous California beach sunset at the early, pre-daylight savings time of 6 pm and just in time for the start of the Open Mic. The Palm Loft Gallery is an art gallery that hosts these events either the first Friday or the Saturday after the first Friday. The format is an hour of open mic by sign up, an hour of the headliner, and then another hour of open mic. There is a table of appetizer snacks and beverages that are brought by visitors and the whole thing is FREE! Contributions are accepted to help the headliners defray travel costs.

The gallery and the event are run by a gentleman named Arturo, who is a songwriter himself and performs in the open mic portion. Arturo, as well as most of the other open mic performers and many of the headliners, are participants in a program called Summersongs West, a twice a year workshop for aspiring songwriters, with one camp on the west coast and another on the east coast. I have been hearing a lot of wonderful things about this program for many years and many favorite artists have been on staff there or been campers themselves. It is very obviously a wonderfully supportive atmosphere for nurturing songwriting and it has a lot to do with sense of community of the independent songwriters up and down the Central Coast of California. One of these days, I'll get to attend myself! And though the performers during the open mic portion of the evening run the gamut from very professional sounding to fairly amateur, they all exhibit the spirit of Summersongs, the openness that comes from that sense of community and they are all warmly received by the audience.

From there we got to the heart of the evening, a set by guitarist/songwriter/vocalist Paull E. Rubin and Friends. Paull will tell you himself, he really is mainly a band guy and not used to doing solo acoustic stuff, so he was thrilled by the last-minute arrival of his friend and musical compatriot, Marc Mann as well as drummer Ken "Snake" Farmer to help him out. With Marc on guitar and vocals and Paullie switching between guitar and Dobro and singing, with Snake on borrowed house drums and an occasional added background vocal by Lisa Bialec-Jehle, it certainly was full "band" sound. Paullie and Marc traded songs, each providing tasty counterpoint to the other's tune. Paull and Marc especially are long-time musical collaborators, playing together as the Bear Bros. and Marc produced and played on Paull's new CD, Proof, which is a wonderful retro-yet-fresh-sounding album. So the spirit of musical community came through loud and clear in their set as well.

Unfortunately, other commitments made us leave after the headlining set and we couldn't stay for the final open mic portion, though as we left there was some discussion if anyone still wanted to perform after such an exhilarating set. But I did stick around long enough to buy us a copy of Paull's previously mentioned CD, "Proof" and get it signed. It was a very fun evening and we left feeling we were a part of a really special musical community!!

Here are links for the Palm Loft Gallery :

http://www.thesoulgroup.com/PalmLoftGallery/index.htm

and a Facebook page for their Songwriters Circle:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Palm-Loft-Songwriters-Circle/179322751447?ref=ts#!/pages/Palm-Loft-Songwriters-Circle/179322751447?sk=info

and a link for Paull E. Rubin:

http://www.rubinhood.com/

and a link for Summersongs:

http://summersongs.com/

Photo at top of page blatantly stolen from Paull E. Rubin's Facebook page!!!!!!

I'm Back

2011-03-16T14:55:00.000-07:00

I can't believe its almost a year since I've posted! A few of you have asked about it. I apologize that I haven't been able to keep things rolling, but I hope that, going forward, I can stay current. I hope to be making some changes too, expanding my scope from just houseconcerts to live independent music in general. And hopefully I will be going from this free blog site to a full-blown website where I can pontificate on other subjects as well and get exposure for some of my artistic pursuits and other interests. I will keep you all posted on these changes as they occur. Until then, I have some reviews to share with you! Its good to be back, I hope you enjoy what's coming!!!!

BLAME SALLY - Houseconcert Review - Bodie Houseconcerts at the Thousand Oaks Library - May 1, 2010

2010-05-23T15:55:00.000-07:00

Memory can be a funny thing, especially at my age. We had seen the group Blame Sally a couple of times back a few years ago, once at a houseconcert and once at a festival. I do remember liking them and that I found their instrumentation interesting, but, other than a general positive feeling towards them, I remembered little else. And, in what I always call the ultimate review, we hadn't bought any of their CDs at either event. So when this concert was announced somewhat late, since we had nothing else planned, we decided to go see them again, but with somewhat muted expectations. And now I feel VERY lucky making that choice, because, as I have suggested, either my memory of them was very faulty or this band has gotten WAY better in the last few years or maybe there is a combination of both at work!

We arrived at the Thousand Oak Library for this concert very early because we were worried about traffic, with Conejo Valley Days going on right across the street. But we had no trouble getting there, so we were some of the first inside. We settled into some front row seats in front of the percussion set up because we remembered that the band had a very interesting percussionist and, with Becky studying hand percussion, we wanted a good view of both technique and equipment. The room quickly filled up behind us, not a sell-out but a real nice large crowd especially considering the somewhat short notice that this show was happening.

The traditional opening announcements and introductions were done by our hostess, Renee Bodie and Library Director Steve Brogden. The band then took the stage and launched into their first number, "I'm Waiting", a haunting dark tune with a rolling rhythm and some great electric guitar licks by Jeri Jones that were very reminiscent of the playing of Mark Knopfler, which is a HUGE compliment in my book! My thought when it was over was that many groups would use a song this great as an encore, a real good sign for the rest of the show! The second song was a total change of pace and feel. "Trouble" was a uptempo rockabilly workout that featured a kick-ass guitar solo by Jeri.

A pause is in order here to introduce the band a bit. Blame Sally are a quartet of female singer/songwriter/musicians from the Bay Area of California who have been playing together for at least a decade. They all are great singers. The bulk of the songwriting is done by Renee Harcourt or Monica Pasqual. Renee plays a whole variety of guitars along with bass, harmonica, banjo, mandolin, lap steel and lord knows what else. Monica plays a variety of keyboards and accordion and probably a lot of other instruments. They both are VERY accomplished, prolific songwriters and both have done multiple solo albums while still members of the group. Percussionist/guitarist Pam Delgado also contributes some great songs though she's not as prolific as Monica or Renee. Their latest CD includes two of Pam's songs, the rest are by either Renee or Monica. The final member of the band, Jeri Jones, plays guitars, mandolin, bass, and dobro and is quite adept at providing the songs with the sonic ornamentation that fully fleshes out their themes and meanings. Pam and Jeri also play sometimes as a duo, called "The Pam and Jeri Show". On this night, as well as the previous times we've seen them, the ladies were augmented by rock-solid 5 string bassist Rob Strom, who has what I consider one of the best sideman jobs in the music business! I will have more to say about each of them as this review progresses. ( above picture left - right, Monica, Jeri, Renee, Rob and Pam ).

The set continued with one of Renee's songs, the very poignant "All Rise", which she told us was written during and about her cancer treatment which I'm glad to report was successful. Its a really beautiful and moving song about confronting your fears of the unknown. And then came a new one, "Bird In Hand", a song of love gone wrong that had Pam playing her djembe drum with brushes and Jeri's rhythmic guitar figure reminding me of "Ghost Riders in the Sky"!Once more the mood and pace were changed, with Monica taking a solo turn with just her piano and beautiful voice for "I Knew You When" written for a loved one dealing with Multiple Sclerosis. Then Renee and Jeri took the stage as a duo with Renee on acoustic guitar and Jeri on mandolin doing Renee's song, "Carnival Ride" which she wrote as a love song to her friends and family on the occasion of her 50th birthday. It was a bouncy happy ditty which was perfect for its sentiment.

The whole band retook the stage with Monica playing accordion for the next tune, another of Renee's and one of my favorites, "Jump Start". With its driving, insistent rhythm as the perfect background, it delivered a wonderful description of the obsessive passion of new love,
                                " I stood out in left field watching
                                  You snuck up on me like a wildfire
                                  Sparks and flames flashing and flying
                                  And I felt the light inside jumpstart"
Another powerfully moving song came next, Monica's "Night of 1000 Stars", the story of a soldier returning from war with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder that drives him to domestic violence. This song is the title track to Blame Sally's latest album and its beautiful vocal melodies ran counter to the otherworldly sounds of Jeri's bottleneck guitar creating a dreamlike atmosphere. It was just one more example of the stunning subtlety of Jeri's understated guitar playing and, as we gave them an ovation as they left for intermission, I couldn't help but marvel at how GREAT this band had become or how flawed my memory of them was!

Intermission brought the usual sugar-rush snacks, some socializing with our hosts and other friends in the audience and of course a CD purchase and signing. Trying to economize in the face of an unpaid furlough at work, before the show I was determined not to spend the money, but this band was just too good to let the opportunity pass! I was very anxious to hear what else they had in store for us.

The band returned to the stage and began the second set with the straight-ahead folk-rocker "Fillmore Street". This song again made great use of Jeri's bottleneck guitar work and also Renee's harmonica solo, while playing on the similar lyrical sounds of "Fillmore" and "feel more". The next song was probably my favorite Blame Sally song and seems to be one of the band's "signature" tunes. With a jangly mandolin rhythm and Monica's bouncy accordion, Renee's song "Pass the Buddha" gave a humorous peek at the New Age and Eastern therapies that the world threw in her direction during her cancer treatments. "Please, pass the Buddha, a hit of Mr. B, open eye number three" is just part of one of the coolest lyrics I've heard in ages! This was one song I had remembered from hearing the band previously! After that came a slow love ballad, "Same Space" and then a stripped down, slowed down cover of Aretha's "Chain of Fools", with Pam delivering the soulful lead vocals. Another cover headed in a more country direction, Emmy Lou Harris and Rodney Crowell's "Tulsa Queen".

The night was headed into the home stretch but there were still some gems in store for us. Monica's "Pajaro Sin Allas" had the sound of a traditional latin folk song. Then came Pam's tour de force from the latest album, "Hurricane", a bluesy rave-up comparing a woman's rising passion to an impending storm. Another major crowd-pleaser, it featured Jeri's bottleneck National Steel guitar and a great accordion solo from Monica. Then came the show closer, "Dead Horse", a haunting bluesy ballad of the love-gone-wrong variety that sounded like it was written by Renee ( I haven't been able to verify this ). It used a great bottleneck solo by Jeri to help it build in intensity as the finale. And, of course, the crowd was wild as the ladies left the stage! We all wanted more, and of course we were rewarded with an encore.

The band came back and played the traditional Mexican folk song, "La Llorona", which sounded very different than the song we've heard Perla Batalla sing many times. But it was also a great tune and we got a chance at one last great piano solo by Monica and I got to hear one last tasty guitar solo by Jeri, who impressed me all night with the talent and taste in her understated playing. It was a really pleasing end to an exciting night of really great songs and musicianship and we were very glad to have been there to experience it!
So here's one last try at my question. As I finally finish this review, I've had the benefit of a few weeks to ponder some of this. Had I really forgotten how great this band was? Had they really made great improvements in a few years? I'll probably never totally figure it out, but one thing seems relevant. Most of the songs we heard on this night were songs we had previously heard a few years earlier. Clearly their material has been this good for a while! So while I allow that their playing of these songs may have improved some in the ensuing years, I personally think that I previously was just not in the right space to totally get them or had forgotten how GREAT they really were. And of course none of this really matters, the important thing is that I am now a huge Blame Sally fan and I hope you will soon be one, too!

Here's a link for Blame Sally :

http://blamesally.com/

and one for the Bodie Houseconcerts :

http://www.jrp-graphics.com/bodiehouse/index.html

Incendio - Russ and Julie's House Concerts -April 24, 2010

2010-05-15T14:30:00.000-07:00

Being quite a fan of world music, I have seen many Latin guitar instrumental groups. I find I tend to either really like them a lot or really dislike them a lot. Because I play guitar myself, I'm generally predisposed to enjoying these sorts of groups but I have heard many that I find bland, unexciting and self-indulgent. I'd compare it to how I feel about most "Smooth Jazz", pleasant in the short-term, but with no edge, passion or real emotion being conveyed. The lack of vocals also can contribute to this coldness. There may be some excellent playing, but if there's no emotional connection, there's no point to it all. So when I heard that the group "Incendio" was a replacement booking at Russ and Julie's House Concerts, and that they played "World Fusion Guitar", I wasn't sure what to think. But because Becky likes this kind of music even more than I do and because Russ and Julie's glowing recommendation is something I know I always can trust, I decided we should go check out "Incendio". What a good move!

So we arrived at the concert just as the doors opened, with our treats in hand for the potluck appetizer/dessert table as always. The room was already almost full but we found a couple of pretty good seats, greeted our hosts and nibbled a bit. The crowd seemed to skew even older than usual, hardly anyone looked under 40. "Incendio" took the stage. I later found out that the band sometimes plays with a drummer and a percussionist, but in this intimate setting they consisted of the core trio, acoustic guitarists Jim Stubblefield and JP Durand and 5 string electric bassist Liza Carbe, who also played classical acoustic guitar on several songs. As the band launched into its first number a couple of things were immediately apparent. These guys could really play and their sound was anything but stereotypical Latin guitar noodling. And, while the other players were excellent, JP Durand seemed to be the "straw that stirs the drink", so to speak.

The opening numbers were inspired by visits to Barcelona and Edinborough. The Barcelona song, whose name I never heard, was Latin-sounding as you might expect but featured a guitar solo by JP where his guitar sounded just like a piano. Now that by itself is hardly noteworthy, these days junior high kids can afford the gizmos that make this possible. But never have I heard a guitar player adjust his technique to the extent that the attack and decay, and the voicings all sounded like a piano would. Its hard for me to convey just how difficult what he did was! The Edinborough inspired song, "St. Margaret's Tears", was more Celtic in flavor and the next tune, "Illumination", written by Jim, was Middle Eastern sounding and had a solo by JP that this time recreated the sound of an organ.

The set continued with Liza putting down her bass and playing a classical acoustic guitar on a couple of numbers. First a Peruvian waltz, whose different meter was a change of pace and then "Lightdancer", a bouncy, jazzy song. From there we were treated to a very classical medieval sounding piece that was very contrapuntal and whose name I missed. The band closed the set with a Venezuelan inspired "Malaga Sunset" which was quiet and very pretty and then "Rhythm of the Heart" which reminded me of the California Guitar Trio, a favorite act of ours and a wonderful band to be compared to.

Well here we were at intermission, and we had already "travelled the world" while sitting in Russ and Julie's living room! And intermission at Russ and Julie's means eating as much chocolate as our consciences would allow and mingling with some very friendly people. It can be almost as much fun as the music and we made the most of it!

The second set began with another light bouncy tune, "Rambla Pacifica", which featured some very syncopated riffs. The next tune,a tango whose name I also never caught, featured an "accordion" sound on JP's first solo, an impressive bass solo by Lisa, and then another "piano" sounding solo that was very tasty. Lisa again made the switch from bass to classical acoustic guitar for the next tune, another slow beautiful waltz called "Haunted".

The night was beginning to wind down but we still had some musical "traveling" in store for us, first "One Night in Monaco" for more of the European taste followed by the classical-sounding "Espiritu". Lisa then moved back to bass for the closing "Temple of the Sun", a samba that featured an excellent jazzy "piano" sounding solo from JP and the only sound effect that I thought didn't really work well, a "steel drum" sound that was a little bit hokey-sounding. But that was only a minor "bump in the road" in a night of amazing guitar work with a real variety of sound and flavors from around the world. The crowd loved it all, responding with a standing ovation. And I ended up going home that night VERY glad I had chosen to see "Incendio" and chalked up another great success to Russ and Julie. These folks never let us down!

Here's a link for "Incendio":

http://www.incendioband.com/

Earthmother's Day - Perla Batalla - Grand Annex, San Pedro,CA - May 8, 2010

2010-05-15T12:23:00.000-07:00

So at the risk of being branded the aging hippie that I actually am, I am declaring a new holiday! The day before Mother's Day every year will hereby be known as Earthmother's Day! To find out why just keep reading.

Last night we had the real pleasure of seeing one of our most favorite performers, Perla Batalla, and her band, at the Grand Annex, adjacent to the Warner Grand Theatre in San Pedro, CA. Well it wasn't a houseconcert, but it was in a houseconcert-sized venue, cost a houseconcert-type price and really was very much like a houseconcert in intimate atmosphere, so I felt I could include a review on my blog without really changing my focus. I have been waiting a long time for a chance to include Perla with the acts I have reviewed here, so I will jump at the chance!

We had planned weeks ago to drive to Culver City to see some other favorite performers, John Batdorf and James Lee Stanley performing together on this night. But when Perla's show was announced a couple of weeks ago (or at least when I heard about it), we decided to change plans. This was no slight to John, who we get to see quite often, or James, who we at least see regularly, but we don't get that many chances to see Perla live. And I am still trying to get over the fact that she had to cancel her UCLA Valentine's show while recovering from a bout of pneumonia from which, I'm happy to say, she has made a complete recovery. We had second row center seats to that show that never happened! I figured a Perla show would be a perfect Mother's Day gift for Becky. So we decided the drive of at least an hour and half each way to San Pedro and back and the change in plans were minor obstacles at most. And because the show was only $15 per ticket if bought in advance, it was doable financially in these tough times. And, because those very reasonable tickets were for general admission seating, I made sure we were there nice and early to get good seats in a venue I had never been to before. And wouldn't you know it, we snagged seats in the second row, right in the center! Funny watching karma in action, especially if its your own good karma!

A quick word about the venue. The Grand Annex is a storefront several doors down from the Warner Grand Theatre which I gather is an old movie palace theatre in downtown San Pedro that has an on-going restoration in process. I have never been inside that theatre. This concert was part of the Annex's Latin music series which is done as fund-raising for the foundation that is making the restoration happen. The Annex space is pretty small and unassuming, with a riser-type stage, adequately large, but not roomy, and about 70 to 80 folding chairs arranged in rows in front for the audience. The seats were arranged tightly and were uncomfortable at first but there was plenty of space in the room to spread them a bit and with time that's what everyone did. The lights and the sound system appeared to me to be what I'd call semi-pro, but experience told me Perla would soon make them irrelevant anyways. The room soon filled to at least near-capacity and there was an air of expectation in the crowd. Perla fans tend to be very loyal and I'm sure the room contained few if any casual or first-time fans.

After the perfunctory opening announcements and introduction, Perla and her band took the stage. We were thrilled to see she had the rhythm section we have seen with her most, who have played with her, off and on for many years. This excellent band consisted of drummer/percussionist/vocalist Debra Dobkin, bassist Mike Velasquez and pianist/vocalist Karen Hammack. I will have more to say about all of these great musicians later! The first tune began with Debra playing a near-military roll with brushes on her snare and then Perla's gorgeous a capella voice launching into the very spiritual Leonard Cohen anthem, "If It Be Your Will". For those who are unfamiliar with Perla, she toured as a backup singer with the legendary poet/songwriter/singer for many years and has recorded a CD of her interpretations of his songs. She has an obvious special connection to the man and his songs and I always find them extremely inspirational. And this night would be no exception! For many singers this song and its rendition would be material for a climatic encore, but Perla was just using it to get warm!

Up next was the infectious bouncy rhythm of "Moliendo Cafe" whose Spanish lyrics are about "grinding coffee", which I've always taken as a double entendre but with my feeble Spanish skills, I may be mistaken. Nevertheless, its a great tune that this band really has a feel for and Karen's piano chops, always outstanding, kept it swinging. At this point the band was joined by Claud Mann on congas, who not only is a great musician and a fellow chef, but happens to be Perla's husband of many years. He often augments the band, particularly on the more rhythmic Latin numbers and the next song, "Mas y Mas", certainly fell into that category, with the band sizzling once more.

After that was a change of pace song, beginning with Perla telling us about "La Llarona", the Mexican version of The Bogeyman, used to scare young children into obedience. Perla's haunting vocals emphasized her interpretation of the legend as more of a mystical/spiritual story than a horror story, with her singing "the meek... will reach for the stars and inherit the earth". A very interesting percussive arrangement had Claud playing congas, Perla tapping a rhythm on a musical gourd, and Debra, having covered her share with an "outboard" conga type head, playing her drum kit with her hands!

The standard introduction to the next song always makes me smile, no matter how many times I've heard it. It was particularly meaningful on this Mother's Day Eve. Perla says that we all think our children are the most special things on earth....... but hers really is. Before you write that off as hyperbole, I happen to know she's right! I've had occasion to meet her daughter Eva several times as she's grown up and I've always been quite impressed with her ability to converse with adults she's just met. She's obviously mature beyond her years and I hear she's quite a student. This led into one of my favorite Perla songs, written with guitarist David Batteau, called "Holy Roses", a musical tribute to Perla's pregnancy and Eva's birth and early childhood. It is quite poingnant lyrically and beautiful musically. It's obviously a special song for Perla and her vocal delivery was soulful and full of personality, a signature song and performance!

Our next treat was Perla's special surprise guest, jazz vocalist Melanie Jackson. In one of the most generous and courageous acts a singer could make, Perla left the stage and turned it and her band over to her friend Melanie, who was obviously touched by the gesture. Melanie did a stunning jazz take on "Somewhere Over The Rainbow", taking a somewhat tired standard and turning it back into the transcendant number it must have once originally been. Karen played a great jazzy solo on piano and by the final verse Melanie had left the original melody so far behind that the song had a whole different feel. Not many singers on this earth other than Perla would have the self-confidence and generosity to leave the stage in the middle of her act and let a vocalist of such considerable talent take over!

And then came a song which featured an impressive solo introduction on bass by Mike Velasquez. He displayed great technique in a style called "popping", using the right or "plucking" hand to rhythmically strike the strings percussively while fingering notes with the left, a common technique of funk and soul bassists. He then switched to a "tapping" technique I have never seen a bassist use. He used his right or plucking hand to instead finger frets in a tapping motion making them sound while tapping and sounding with his left hand also. Its something many six string electric and acoustic guitarists have been using in the past decade or so but he is the first I've seen use it on a bass. These "tricks" created a very inventive rhythmic intro to "El Cascabel", a song with a haunting rhythm and a fun audience participation singalong ending.

Another signature tune for Perla came next, the oft-requested traditional Mexican tear-inducer "Cucurrucucu Paloma". This was a perfect example of Perla's amazing talent and her ability to make a song her own. As sung by many, this song can be the type of over-the-top sentimental fluff that would make me cringe, but Perla has an uncanny ability to get "inside" a song emotionally and then convey that to the audience. It always feels "real", never like an actress playing a role. Its difficult to figure out how exactly she does this, much less describe it, but there is definitely magic at work!

I could call each of the remaining songs "one of my favorites" because I guess I have a lot of them! The show "closer" was "Gracias a la Vida", a song made popular by Mercedes Sosa, but rapidly its becoming owned by Perla. This song features the band at its best, Mike's driving bass line popping with Debra's percussion to create the foundation, Karen's syncopated chords and fills giving it shape and substance and of course Perla's vocals making it soar! Its a totally joyous song of thanks and the band obviously has a blast playing it and the audience gave their own thanks by joyously demanding an encore. And they were rewarded with a pair of Leonard Cohen classics. First was by request, "Dance Me to the End of Love" a beautiful love song that begins soft and with a tango-like rhythm and builds into an almost klezmer Eastern European-sounding singalong. Perla has written a beautiful, poetic Spanish translation that she traded-off with the English verses increasing the exotic flavors of this great song.Then came the spiritual plea for redemption, "Bird On The Wire", one of the most loved songs from the Cohen canon as well as one of the most covered. It was another great example of Perla inhabitting a song fully and extracting every last emotional nuance from it. The night concluded with Perla and Melanie leading the audience on a singalong of the classic "Guantanamera". A thoroughly delightful ending to great evening of world-class music!

So this wonderful night left me remaining with one question nagging at me. What is it that makes Perla such a great singer? Well sure, she hits all the notes with great range and power, but to me that's expected from a professional singer. Her talent runs much deeper than that but its difficult to pin down the particulars. As I've mentioned previously, I have never encountered another singer who is so able to totally get inside of a song emotionally and convey that to an audience. Part of that is choice of material, she has a great wealth of originals and covers that are obviously very dear to her, many of which she has been doing for years. But the most amazing ability she has as a performer is how open she is with an audience, how much of herself she shares with a roomful of relative strangers, including her personal and family life. There is an integrity and realness that is very very rare in performers and this totally comes through to an audience. Many performers can make you leave their show in a better mood than when you came in. Perla makes you feel like you leave as a better person! And that incredible ability is the best definition of an Earthmother I could ever come up with. Happy Earthmother's Day everyone!

Here's a link to Perla's website:

http://www.perla.com/

Caroline Aiken - Bodie House Concert - October 30, 2009

2010-01-18T14:58:00.000-08:00

It never ceases to amaze me that, seemingly with every passing week, I can be presented with a "new" artist that is making incredible music that I had not previously discovered. When it's someone who has been making great music for decades, its all the more surprising they could have escaped my notice. And its one of my great joys to live where we do and have access to presenters like Renee Bodie and Russ and Julie Paris who we can always count on to bring in acts that, while they may be new to us, are consistently not only professional performers but ones with a unique point of view and voice. In other words interesting people who just happen to use music as their means of communicating with the world.
On this pre-Halloween eve at the Bodie House Concerts at The Thousand Oaks Library, Renee Bodie introduced her audience to Caroline Aiken, who, along with being an accomplished singer/songwriter/guitarist, just happens to be a long-time friend of hers. It seems one summer long ago they were maids together in Yosemite or something like that. I'm thankful of any connection that brought Caroline to my attention because, as I'll try to describe, she rocks!
The crowd was arriving late and still dribbling in as Caroline introduced her friend and opener whose name, I believe was Dave Mesnik (don't quote me on the name or spelling, I can't verify it). He did a short set of three pleasant if unremarkable tunes. Then Caroline took the stage and immediately the energy level in the room rose, and I noticed that the smallish-seeming audience had swelled to nearly packed. Caroline started off playing acoustic 6 string guitar which she had capo'd up real high on the neck, making her guitar sound a bit mandolin-like. Her first song, "Spirit Of Love" featured her rhythmic strumming on guitar and bluesy vocal delivery and instantly reminded me of an old favorite of mine from back east, back in the day, Ellen McIlwaine, which in my mind is VERY high praise!
As her set continued, Caroline switched to 12 string guitar which she played bottleneck style. The blues song, which she described as a true story and whose name I didn't catch, was about a street-scholar/handicrafter named Copper John. It really showed off her vocal chops and guitar playing while at the same time painting a moving portrait of human dignity in the face of misfortune. This led to an instrumental tour-de-force, another tune I can't name for you, but I can tell you it was very much in the spirit, style and level of vituosity of Leo Kotke, who we have also seen in recent weeks. I was mighty impressed and the show was just starting.
A move to the piano brought "Hello Cruel World", with Caroline sounding very jazzy and that song morphed into a killer rendition of one of my all-time favorite Elton John songs, "Madman Across The Water".
Caroline's voice was perfect for this dark-sounding tune and the audience seemed to be spellbound. She then showed off her considerable piano chops with an instrumental tune ,"Mad Michael", that started off sounding classical, and in turn became show-tunish, then folky, then a prog-rock style opus. To close the first set, she kept up the momentum she had generated with "Day By Day" an up-tempo rhythmic rocker that sounded like it could have been a hit by Heart. Wow! That was an opening set that covered a lot of musical ground at a high energy level.
Intermission involved the usual rituals involving chocolate and coffee and chocolate and mingling and more chocolate. It was the night before Halloween and chocolate was EVERYWHERE! I somehow managed to find time to buy a CD and chat a second with Caroline, who was very graciously flattered when I asked if she was influenced by Ellen McIlwaine. Further intermission entertainment was provided by the costumes some were wearing and there was even a quick costume contest before the second set. Even Caroline had brought a witch's hat! All that was left was to grab some chocolate and go in for the second set.
Caroline had done such a high energy opening set, but the rest of the night was just as strong. There were many highlights, not the least of which was a cover of Joni Mitchell's "Coyote". In our household no one is revered more than Joni and while we love to hear her covered, we can be critical of those who reach beyond their abilities but Caroline absolutely nailed a version that I know would do Joni proud. I also loved "Hotel At Highway One", its countryish feel giving that powerful sense of place and time. And then in "Mission of Angels", Caroline sang of relationship going south in one of the BIGGEST voices I've heard in a while, and I'm talking Janis Joplin big. For a change of musical pace and a tribute to her home , on St Simon's Island in Georgia, she did an a capella gospel singalong on the old field song "Turtledove".
Caroline finished the night with a great tribute to the power of the guitar, "My There For Me Guitar" a sentiment every guitarist has felt, no one understands me like my guitar! Of course there was an encore that really stood out with "Ground Zero" a beautifully positive statement of politics and religion. It was a remarkable evening of music, by a performer whose excellent songwriting is equalled by her powerful vocals and vituosic musicianship. And it was another reminder of how many amazing musicians are out there and how great it feels to discover one of them for the first time!

A link for Caroline Aiken:

http://www.carolineaiken.com/index.html

and one for Bodie House Concerts:

http://www.jrp-graphics.com/bodiehouse/index.html

Rhythm Angels - Duncan House Concert - October 4, 2009

2009-12-20T17:36:00.000-08:00

I can't really explain why, but Nature and the Cosmos seem to be all about duos and the number two! There is a reason why there are two genders, why the world is viewed in terms of yin and yang, hot and cold, up and down, on and off, etc. I just don't really have a grasp on why it is that way. Maybe a basic natural binary code of on/off, it/not it? Who knows? But I have also noticed that in realm of music, the duo is the smallest and most pure expression of being a band and it is that "twoness" that allows for magical things like harmony and counterpoint to happen. So often musical duos become something more than the sum of the two parts. And it is this sort of transcendence that is the duo, Rhythm Angels' stock and trade.
Very often, in anticipation of a certain concert featuring a performer I haven't heard yet, I'll catch a bit of a buzz about a show. The host might point a out a certain upcoming show and say "Don't miss this one!" or another performer or house concert presenter will mention the artist positively. In the case of this show featuring the Rhythm Angels, ALL of the above happened. I was really anticipating a great night when we arrived at Scott and Rosemary Duncan's home that evening, and I knew, with the endorsements I had heard, there was no way I was going to be disappointed!
Rhythm Angels are the duo of Celeste Krenz and Rebecca Folsom, who originally hail from North Dakota and Colorado respectively. They both had successful solo careers when they crossed paths in Nashville, began singing together at workshops and song circles and soon decided to join forces full time. This past year they released their first CD "girls like us" on High Horse Records and I had been hearing great things about them and their songs for a few months.
The duo took the "stage" and, without the benefit of microphones or PA systems, launched into their first song, a rocking blues called "Lets Kiss and Make Up" which immediately got the crowd into it and ready. From there they switched pace with the title tune from their CD "Girls Like Us", a gorgeous ballad with an anthem-like universality in its lyrics:
"Girls like us go with the wind
We risk it all, and if we fail, we risk it all again
We burn hot and we fall hard
Girls like us are like the stars"
Here's a video of this song not from this show:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4VONKAFzRo
I may never be a girl but I've known some who "burn hot and fall hard like the stars"! A really beautiful and amazing song!
I wondered to myself, what kind of songs must these two have to use up such a strong tune so early in the set? Well, the next tune REALLY floored me! "If I had A Gun" may be one of the most chillling and direct songs I have ever heard anywhere! I don't often quote lyrics in my reviews but already I feel compelled to quote these ladies for the second time. But dig these lyrics and tell me they don't make you squirm a bit, even without the haunting music!
"If I had a gun, you'd be dead
One to the heart,one to the head.
If I had a gun, I'd wipe in clean,
My fingerprints, off on these sheets.
They'd bury you in the cold hard ground,
Fist full of dirt would hold you down.
They'd bury you in the cold hard ground
It'd be the first night, I'd sleep sound."
Here's a link to a video of this song, also not from this show but worth viewing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9IVOmbaSFg
Heavy stuff but not heavy-handed in execution, these women can deal with the barest of emotions directly with grace and dignity and though you MAY squirm just a bit, they are always entertaining while doing so.
The set continued with one killer tune off their CD after another with no drops in intensity, either in subject matter or performance. Every song was a highlight and I could write on and on about each one, but I will TRY to restrain myself just a bit. But many tunes need to be mentioned if only in passing. I have to comment on the smoldering sex appeal of their version of "29 Ways", the Willie Dixon classic. I'd be remiss not cite the universal feel-good healing vibe of "Sister Love's Cafe". And Rebecca's song "Mama's House" is so personal, so painful and intimate, that it would be hard to listen to if it were not such a beautifully crafted and sung composition. Celeste's powerful "If I Don't Leave Now" really grabbed the audience and got a big ovation. And when the ladies finished the first set with the bluesy "She Loves To Love A Fool" I had to wonder what they left for the second set, the first was SO strong.
During intermission we mingled as usual and had some forbidden treats but my prime purpose during the break was to purchase the Rhythm Angels' CD and have it signed and to meet Celeste and Rebecca and let them know how much I was loving their music. They were both as friendly and personable face-to-face as they were on stage!
Well, as usual, I needn't have worried about the second set. They still had plenty of great tunes and, while the first set maybe had more of their killer tunes in it, front-loading your set with some of your best material can be an understandable survival strategy for acts playing in front of new audiences in unknown venues. Nonetheless there were lots of highlights left for the rest of the night. They started the second set with "If I Had A Boat" with its beautiful river imagery. Next was Rebecca's gorgeous ballad "Wish I Could Love That Way Again" a wistful look at innocence very much in the tradition of the Ronstadt/Waldman/Bonoff acoustic SoCal sound.
I need to interject a thought here. I've written on and on already with hardly a mention of the fabulous voices these two possess or their professional musicianship as guitarists. I assure you that is only a testament to the quality and power of their songs! I often find with world-class songwriters, it's easy to overlook their vocal or instrumental talent. I have done it in this forum when writing about John Batdorf, a world-class writer who is also world-class as a vocalist and guitarist. When's the last time someone spoke to you about Paul Simon's singing or guitar playing though he is a great vocalist and guitarist. The ability to write with such power,clarity and entertaiment is so much more rare a quality! Celeste and Rebecca are GREAT vocalists, whose voices complement each other wonderfully. Rebecca's voice is little more bluesy and more comfortable on lower parts and Celeste usually takes the higher parts. But their voices are also almost interchangable and I'm sure they'd be comfortable singing each other's parts. And their guitar work is professional, precise and rhythmically interesting. Great singers, players AND writers!
The other highlights of the second set included several from their CD. Celeste contributed "Listen To October" a pretty song about endings and Rebecca gave us "Something Good" which she described as a tribute to the joys of infidelity (her idea not mine!). Mixed in were a few non-originals and older songs not on the CD. It was a VERY entertaining second set, and it culminated with the encore tune , an a capella sing-along on "Amazing Grace" that left us all feeling the power of song! This show was definitely one of the best of the year and these are a pair of compelling singer/songwriters whose synergy together make them one of my favorite finds of 2009. And a note to my wife Becky, see I told you I could write a whole review on the Rhythm Angels without one mention of how beautiful they both are! OOPS!

A link for the Rhythm Angels:

http://www.myspace.com/rhythmangels

and for Duncan House Concerts:

http://www.myspace.com/duncanhouseconcerts

Blogger's Note

2009-12-20T17:20:00.000-08:00

All THREE of my regular readers have been wondering what's up. Did I just stop seeing shows, did I give up the blog? Well I assure you all, I have seen a bunch of shows and have good notes and have every intention of getting caught up. I'm afraid some real life intruded.I call it being "blogged down" with life. I'm now on vacation and have a bit of discretionary time. I have one review almost ready to post and hopefully there'll be more on its tail in rapid succession. First up is a review of the Rhythm Angels at the Duncan House Concert from October 4.

Jimmy LaFave - Bodie House Concerts - September 20, 2009

2009-10-25T16:03:00.000-07:00

So, in the interest of full disclosure, I admit I've had a thing for Texan singer/songwriters for decades. It began back in the 60's and early 70's with folks like John Prine, Jerry Jeff Walker and Kris Kristofferson (yes, he used to be a songwriter and a good one too!). It continued over the years with people like Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark, John Hiatt, Steve Earle, Rodney Crowell, Lyle Lovett and Joe Ely. And while these Texans have styles that vary from country to blues to swing to folk, the one thing they all share seems to be powerful storytelling in the form of song. And after this beautiful September evening in Thousand Oaks, I can now add the name Jimmy La Fave to that impressive list. Although he grew up in Oklahoma, he has spent decades as a prominent member of the Austin, Texas music scene.

Renee Bodie, who runs these Bodie House Concerts at the Thousand Oak Library, this past summer put on the first LA Acoustic Music Festival on the Santa Monica Pier. Because of date conflicts with an already-booked other festival, we were unable to attend, but I heard a lot about it from folks who were there. And the name I heard brought up most often for praise was Jimmy La Fave. So , that coupled with my long-standing love of Texas songwriters, made me anticipate this show for months. I was not disappointed!

So, as we are known to do, we arrived fairly early and made the donation at the door, which on this night was manned by Severin Browne, singer/songwriter extraordinaire. We found some pretty good seats in about the fourth row and watched as the room filled. During opening introductions we learned that there were more first time attendees than regulars including a contingent of 41 folks from Hemet. Clearly this act had some drawing power.

The band took the stage with Radislav Lorkovich on baby grand piano and accordion, Glenn Schuetz on electric standup 5 string bass, John Inmon on electric guitar and of course Jimmy on acoustic guitar and vocals. They kicked off the night with a tune which I believe was called "Bluebird" (I had some trouble verifying this title), a blues tune that featured a rollicking piano solo by Rad. The next couple of tunes were some of my favorites of the night , first of all "Deep South 61 Delta Highway Blues" which had an incredible John Enmon guitar solo, followed by "Only One Angel" a love song with a bit of Cajun two step flavor and Rad playing squeeze box style accordion.

"Secret Garden" had John's guitar sounding like a violin and then a very soulful guitar solo. I need to pause and talk about John Inman. I'm sorry, Jimmy, to spend review time talking about a sideman so much, but Jimmy knows how special a player he has! This is world-class guitarist who has spent decades backing up the likes of Jerry Jeff Walker and Delbert McClinton among many others. A player of such talent that a teenaged Stevie Ray Vaughn idolized him and followed him around Austin, Texas. As a bit of a guitar player myself I can't help but rave about one of the most talented players I've heard in a long time. And much to the credit of Jimmy LaFave, not a whole lot of singer/songwriter types have the talent, self-confidence and generosity of spirit to not only put together a band of such strong players but also give them the musical space to work out.

The first set closed with a quartet of great songs. First, the Dylan classic "Just Like A Woman" done Texas Highway style with an epic guitar solo by John and a piano interlude by Rad that was quiet, contrapuntal classical sounding and wonderful. And then the rocking boogie of "Rockin' Little Baby", with nods to Chuck Berry but sounding fresh with the usual great solos by Rad and John. Then came Woody Guthrie's classic "This Land is Your Land", which I still say should be this country's national anthem which featured Rad's accordion work that was reminiscent of the great Tex-Mex sounds of Flaco Jimenez and , of course the audience singing along. The last song of the set was my very favorite of Jimmy's compositions. "Deportee" is one of the only and certainly one of the best songs documenting the travails of illegal aliens entering this country only to be become prey of the elements, the authorities and people's attitudes. This was an extremely moving song and it brought the first set to a close on a very high note.

Intermission brought the usual, pot-luck treats, mingling with friends new and old and of course a chance to purchase CDs and have them signed. Among the familiar faces in the crowd, besides the aforementioned Severin Browne, were Russ and Julie, house concert presenters extraordinaire, Kenny Edwards, who we had seen the previous night in Goleta and Steve Brogdan, who runs the Thousand Oaks Library and is somewhat of a cohost of this concert with Renee Bodie. I also got a brief chance to speak with John Inmon and learned that HE doesn't hear those "violin" sounds he makes though he is often told others do. To him they're just electric guitar sounds he achieves with the use of only some overdrive distortion and a volume pedal and some finger technique. There was no attempt to make fiddle sounds but I wasn't the only one who heard it like that!

The second set began with another of Jimmy's great compositions, "River Road", a tribute to the spiritual healing that love can bring. Next up was "Blues in C Minor" which served as an intro to "Highway 49 Driving Blues" yet another example of Texans' obsession with both the blues and with driving and yet another chance for John to show off his amazing skills on electric guitar. After a couple of typically great originals,"On My Mind" and "Desperate Men Do Desperate Things"and another Dylan cover, "Tomorrow Is A Long Time" the set built momentum towards a conclusion.

But there still was a lot of ground to cover! "Indian Nation" about the Oklahoma hills where Jimmy grew up featured Rad on accordion again and Jimmy making the same accordion jokes that we heard Dan Navarro tell a couple of months ago on the same stage. After a cover of Van Morrison's "Have I told You Lately That I Love You" that was made popular by Rod Stewart, the set began to really cook with Jimmy's "Bohemian Cowboy Blues", a blue shuffle with shades of Lyle Lovett that featured a wonderful, very melodic bass solo by Glenn. Next up was "Revival" another of Jimmy's inspiring "religious" love songs and then, by request of our hostess, Renee Bodie, Jimmy's great total rearrangement of the 60's classic, "Walk Away Renee" which was a big crowd-.pleaser.

The night was drawing to a close. The band out-did itself on "That's The Way It Goes", a rocking boogie-woogie with the usual incredible guitar solo by John and Rad doing his best Jerry Lee Lewis impression, just wailing on the piano while standing up and kicking away his bench! The crowd loved it and very quickly made enough noise to coax the expected encore. The encore began with Jesse Colin Young and the Youngbloods' 60s peace anthem "Get Together" with the whole audience joining in and John's solo at turns nodding to the original and also sounding incredibly like a pedal-steel guitar. The night finished with a medley that started as an uptempo version of the bluegrass classic, "I'll Fly Away" and turned into the classic "Will The Circle Be Unbroken?" that had the audience singing along again and John's hyper-speed guitar-picking on his solo that made John stand while playing for the first time that evening!

Wow, this was a very fun evening. Jimmy LaFave is not only a first-class songwriter and expressive vocalist but as a band leader he has assembled a world -class band featuring musicians totally capable of fronting their own bands. It's a testament to Jimmy's talent and personality that these guys are having so much fun playing with him!

"Forward Into The Past" Firesign Theatre Live at Barnsdall Gallery Theatre, Hollywood October 16, 2009

2009-10-19T09:07:00.000-07:00

So I wanted to write a brief description of last night's show cause there seems to be a lot of interest. As we typically do, cause I'm pretty anal, we left REAL early from Oxnard to beat Friday night traffic. Had a real early dinner in Los Feliz, and still had hours to kill before show time, but Barnsdall Park is very cool, Hollyhock House, a Frank Lloyd Wright masterpiece, while not open gave us something to check out. Plus a cool sculpture garden and the Hollywood Hills to look at, and of course an awesome sunset.

We were one of the first inside the theatre, our seats were right where I thought. Fourth row of right hand section on the aisle. Wonderful vantage point. Small 299 seat theatre came close to filling but never did. Wider age range in the audience then I would have guessed. Sure most were our age, but there were quite a few 20,30 and 40 somethings also. Great place to see a show! Smaller than your average high school theatre these days, low stage only about a foot or so higher than the floor, pro sound and lighting.

Finally the houselights dimmed and the four guys took the stage. They pretty much all look like older versions of the guys I remember from back when (duh!), David Ossman seemed to look the most different, I'm guessing from years of playing Rocky Rococo maybe? They immediately went into the beginning of "Waiting For The Electrician", learning our next three words in Turkish, bath, towel,border, and then of course "May I see your passport please" right through, I think the whole side of the album, including "Beat The Reaper" which has taken on new levels of meaning for me now! It then morfed into "Porgie and Mudhead" from "Don't Crush That Dwarf".

I should pause and mention that the guys are holding scripts in their hands the whole evening, like they are doing a radio show, which essentially has always been their format. If anyone was disappointed for their $60 they didn't get to see costumes, sets, special effects, etc they were misguided. Firesign was always first and foremost about imagination, both theirs and their audiences'. Theatre of the Mind. Much more effective in its own way than theatrics! I thought the format was perfect. Their classic material presented so you could keep those same mental images we all carry from the old days but with the addition of facial expression, body language,sound effects both live and recorded, even a couple of tunes, the Loosner Castor Oil Flake jingle and the Porgie Tirebiter theme song.

The end of the first half was new material, not too much of it, but funny. I wish I could remember any of the new stuff, but it didn't stick. I wasn't about to be taking notes at my first and only Firesign concert! There was a short intermission and we went outside cause it was really warm evening. I checked out the merch and noticed they had but one "Beat The Reaper" T shirt left and it was my size and seemed destined to be mine and now it is! Very meaningful shirt to me on a couple of levels! Lots of other merchandise, I almost bought a Ralph Spoilsport license plate frame until Becky reminded me I'd have to get rid of the "On Loan From The Smithsonian" frame that graces my 65 Dodge Dart (can you believe some woman once asked me what was on loan, me or the car?lol)

The second half began with "Nick Danger,Third Eye" but was greatly abridged from the original. Rocky Rococo only had two lines! But very classic. Funny thing, Peter Bergman tried to do a fireplace sound effect by crumpling paper, it was the wrong paper, not cellophane as needed and it failed miserably much to the delight of the the other three amd the audience. There were several of these "in the moment" reactions throughout the night, knowing or sarcastic looks, adlibs even a "balloon boy" reference. Made the guys very real and human and the material come alive.

After the Nick Danger bit they went into something I've never heard, Firesign Shakespeare, which if you know me at all, is pretty close to a description of my own personal nirvana! And they were spectacular! Very literate, in iambic pentameter and often rhyming but at all times typically Firesign hysterical. From there they became high school teachers talking to their students in the audience at the Shakespeare play discussing the curious upcoming menus at each of their four schools. They ended with some more new stuff and encored with new material that morphed into that poem on the first album, the poet escapes me now, but its famous, that "yes,yes, a thousand times yes" bit that closes, I think the first album.

The guys were going to be out after the show to sign autographs and chat, but I had been up since 4 am and on the go since, and we were at least an hour from home so we had to pass on that. Kinda regretting it now but maybe we'll have another chance. Well that's it as I remember today. I'd be glad to try to answer any questions if I can. If you have the chance, go see these guys. They haven't "lost a step" and still got their "chops"! One last note, Becky, who was aware of them back in the day but never a "fan", had a great time and thoroughly enjoyed it and got all but the most "inside" references. I wouldn't hesitate to bring anyone who has an open mind with you.

Kulak's "Wonderland"

2009-10-11T16:34:00.000-07:00

So, I really didn't plan on writing this review. This show wasn't a house concert or a music festival which have been my primary focus with this blog. Besides, I'm CONSTANTLY behind in writing reviews, I have one half-finished review from a show two weekends ago that needs to be finished, with another show from last weekend waiting to be written about. But, even with all that, I had such a great time last night, that I need to at least write briefly about it, and I need to do it today, because, unlike my usual MO, I took no notes last night.

I've been hearing about Kulak's Woodshed for years, but hadn't ever made it there. I had even sent them an online donation once, but my technical incompetence prevented me from seeing a webcast at the time. And I wasn't tracking this show early on, because we were planning on attending the Joshua Tree Roots Music Festival this weekend. But then I had my surgery the week before last and also some terrible back problems and it became apparent I wouldn't be able to hack camping at a festival and we looked for alternatives. And then our friend, Scott, who lives in Hollywood, expressed interest in seeing this show, and it became a no-brainer.

After meeting Scott for a really nice early dinner we headed over to Kulak's early for an 8:00 PM show. We had John saving us seats but wanted to still arrive early to check out the place and to socialize a bit. This was a good move, mainly because the room itself was so interesting. Picture a living room-sized space filled with hand-me-down seating of wide varieties. We sat in three connected theatre style seats right in front of the "stage" (actually just a space in the center of the room), but other seats were old couches and arm chairs and bar stools and even an old bed where a couple of people had a very relaxing view. The seating is for about 35 people. And then there is the decorating! Think Early American Hippie decor crossed with a real-life Peewee's Playhouse! There is so much STUFF on the walls and ceiling it defies description. Hopefully when I put up pictures it will help or check out the archived videos on the website, pictures being worth so much more in this instance. The net effect was like a trip to Wonderland, NeverNeverland or some other magical location. I even got to read an email live on air! Yep, little ole shy me!

Kulak's is a labor of love for owner Paul Kulak and his staff of volunteers. It is run as a non-profit, no one makes any money, including the musicians. The donations are all there is to keep this place up and running. They pass the donation bucket during the show, suggested donation $10. They also take Paypal donations online. The appeal to the musicians is the warm, enthusiatic and hip live audience and the chance to go out live world-wide on the net with a fairly professional 6 camera video set-up.

The musical format for the evening was John Batdorf presenting his friends Scott Wojahn and James Hurley, with the performers taking turns with twenty minute sets and each of the three doing two sets. Because I didn't take notes, I'll just give a brief description of each performer's sets as I can remember them with this aging medicated brain. I apologize for not being prepared and taking notes, but I really thought I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing right now.

First up was Scott Wojahn, who is an old friend of John's, they did a bunch of jingle work many years ago doing vocals together to sing about hardware and the like. I gather Scott hasn't been performing in quite a while. Can I be among the first to say "Welcome back!"? Because for someone who hasn't performed lately he was great! His songs ran the gamut from hysterically funny to emotionally moving to the point where you could find yourself crying in two consecutive songs for two totally different reasons! That's some depth of experience! Scott has a really nice voice and is an adept guitarist who also played piano on one piece, a very moving song about his daughter which was a highlight for me (sorry didn't catch the title). The other high point in Scott's sets was a little ditty called "It Sucks To Grow Old" a hilarious documentation of the myriad betrayals by our bodies as we age. Becky was literally in tears, she's still chuckling about it today as I write this. We all thoroughly enjoyed Scott's performance. Scott here's a vote to dive back in and start performing again regularly. If nothing else think of it as altruism, you have too much talent not share it with the rest of us!

James Hurley, the next performer to hit stage, is a name I've been reading on house concert and other schedules for a while, though I never really had any particular feeling for what his music was all about. Well now I understand why! What do you say to describe a force of nature or a mirage of an enigma? How do you relate something you've never experienced before? James has to be one of the most unique performers I've ever seen. It may start with his anti-star appearance, seemingly middle-aged and balding with some of the most extreme sideburns you'll ever see. But his music almost defies description at times, acoustic guitar and vocals that remind one of a diverse palette of genres from Hoagy Carmichael to OingoBoingo to Delta blues and all points in between. He is both a reviewer's delight and nightmare to try to describe. His songs range from the perfectly over-the-top "The Vampire Song" where he sings about the vampires of Southern California or "Mushroom" where the real house of horrors comes with a hefty mortgage! But just when you think you can pigeon-hole him as a hopelessly quirky escapee of the Dr. Demento Home for the Musically Insane, he hits you with a song like "Mountain" a driving blues riff that is a scathing indictment of the damage done in the name of "progress" and the "nuisance" of conscience. Or one like "To Carry On" an inspirationally uplifting ballad urging us to strive through adversity. This is no "novelty" act though he is loaded with personality and quirkiness. James is an amazing guitarist, both in a technical and creative sense and his voice has so much personality that you might overlook how GOOD it is, pitch perfect over a wide range, with an emotional depth. At the night's end I paid James my ultimate compliment, I bought his CD, partly because John told us how good it was. We enjoyed listening to it on the drive home, as good and unique as his performance.

Well, that leaves us with the evening's host and headliner, John Batdorf. Well it should be getting harder to write a review of John's shows. After all there is no one whose music I've reviewed any where near as many times and now we do the Facebook friend-thing and are getting friendly. You'd think I'd be running out of things to say. Right now you're all going "Right, Peter, running out of things to say! As if!" Well just to not let you down there are always new things I notice in John's music, that's why I go see him so often. There aren't that many artists that will stand up to such repeated scrutiny, but John isn't just any artist. But I will ask you to go back and read my previous reviews of his shows, they are more detailed than this will be and I think he has also inspired some of MY best writing. On this night we were treated to selection of John's music spanning the decades, with the emphasis, as expected, on the "new" album. I put new in parentheses because I have been living with it and actively listening to it for months and months now. I show no signs of tiring of ANY of it. Last night he did several songs off it, "That Don't Seem Right To Me" a bluesy rocker of a wail against the negative changes we all see aroumd us, "Eyes Wide Open" his normally scathing musical goodby to W and his cronies that last night sounded extra-venomous like John had a real bad day or something, "Will I Love You Forever" one of the more unusual love ballads that you'll hear, that Becky finds exceptionally moving and I love its almost Cajun-waltz feel and of course "What Dya Got" maybe John's best song ever, probably at least his most commercially appealing to my ear. Since I never tire of quoting myself, I'll again remind you I once called it an anthem to the down-sizing of the American Dream and the power of personal relationships to pull us all through.Which is just a glib way to say this song tells us to lean on each other to get ourselves through tough times. The fact is that its one of the greatest melodies John has ever written and melody has always been his strong suit. And the lyrics are the usual, literate but universal and always clever. I'm not sure how John and his writing partner, Michael McLean, split their work, who does what. My guess is that it varies from song to song but I've never asked John. But this song may be their best work!
So, in addition to the new stuff, we were treated to some classics like "She's The Girl" a beautiful ballad for their wives, "I Don't Always Win" his dark take on the tolls of substance abuse and of course John's "Stairway To Heaven" or "FreeBird" equivalent, a classic from the early 70's Batdorf and Rodney, "Home Again" a song that never fails to make me feel like I have just arrived home! A true classic. I had a very hard time not singing along like I always do, but we were going out live on the web and many of you have heard me sing, enough said! The night finished with all three performers joining in a rousing version of The Stones' classic "Ruby Tuesday" and this time we were all INVITED (big difference) to sing along, which we all did! A really fun great night of music in a unique venue. I urge you all to go there in person or visit on the web. And check out musicians links below.

Link for Kulak's Woodshed:

http://www.kulakswoodshed.com/

Link for John Batdorf:

http://www.reverbnation.com/johnbatdorf
http://www.johnbatdorfmusic.com/index.html

Link for James Hurley:

http://www.jameshurleymusic.com/

Link for Scott Wojahn :

http://www.reverbnation.com/scottwojahn

Kenny Edwards and Michael Frey - SongTree Concerts, Goleta,CA - September 19, 2009 - House Concert Review

2009-10-04T13:25:00.000-07:00

One of the coolest parts of living in SoCal, going to house concerts regularly, and now doing reviews, is that I've gotten to see, listen to, meet and sometimes get to know a bit, some artists that I have followed and respected for many years. One of the most accomplished of these artists, though not that widely known, is Kenny Edwards, who we have had the pleasure of seeing live several times in the past few years. Even if you don't know the name, I guarantee you have heard many, many songs that have featured him as a writer, producer, vocalist, or sideman on a variety of instruments. His discography reads like a veritable Who's Who of Southern California rock music and he has worked with many country artists also. When we heard he would be playing at SongTree, a venue fairly local to us that we'd never been to before (see my venue review just below this one), there was no question that we'd be there.

We had no tickets or reservations, so we arrived nice and early to ensure that we would get in and to score some good seats. It was a good move, the room filled up pretty early and though we were in no danger of not getting in, the closer seats filled pretty quickly. The crowd here was on the oldish side and many seemed to know each other, leading me to guess many were members of the Congregation that sponsors these concerts.

The good thing about double billed concerts is that you get to hear acts that you've never heard before, the bad thing about them is you get to hear acts you've never heard before. Fortunately this was one of the former, a nice opportunity to hear a good artist. The opening act was a gentleman named Michael Frey, a singer/songwriter from the Santa Barbara area that I had heard of but never heard before. He did a nice set of tunes, most of them his own. Michael is a VERY talented guitarist with a servicable if unremarkable voice who has written some nice songs and I gather he has a good following in the Santa Barbara area. Many there that night were there to see him in particular, from what I could discern. His songs ranged from the Cajun rocking chair rhythms of "The Bayou Teche" , the stylish fingerpicking ballads "Way Out in The Desert" and "Old Soul" to my favorites "Making It Up" which really suited his voice best of any tunes I heard and "Its Not There Anymore" a beautifully constructed song that describes a hometown "before it got mall-ed" in his clever lyrics. The set closed with a bluesy cover of Hank Ballard's "Shelter From The Storm" and we went to intermission feeling quite entertained. Here's a picture of Michael:

At intermission we bought a snack and drink at the outdoor snack table, had a nice chat with a friendly couple we met and enjoyed the cool night air. Unlike most of the house concerts we attend, familiar faces were few at this show, though we saw a couple of musicians we recognized in the audience. We re entered the concert really looking forward to Kenny's set.

So for those of you who aren't familiar with Kenny Edwards, here are just a few high points. In the mid 60's Kenny was a founding member of The Stone Ponies along with Linda Ronstadt, they had a hit with the song "Different Drum". From there he teamed with Karla Bonoff, Wendy Waldman, and Andrew Gold in the "supergroup" Bryndle, and was a leader of Linda Ronstadt's touring and recording band, contributing material and expertise in creating her hit-making sound. Since then he has collaborated and played with a wide variety of acts ranging from Don Henley, Warren Zevon, Stevie Nicks, and Ringo Starr to country artists like Juice Newton, Charlie Daniels, Wynona and Emmy Lou Harris. There may be no one as influential in establishing the SoCal acoustic rock sound. In 2002 Kenny released his first solo album, the wonderful "Kenny Edwards" and the exciting news this evening was that his second solo album "Resurrection Road" is just about to come out, my copy is on order!

On this evening, Kenny was accompanied by the wonderful multi-instrumentalist Freddy Koella who produced both of Kenny's solo albums. The set started with the title tune from the new album "Resurrection Road" with Kenny laying down a groove on the mandolin and Freddy playing a tasty fiddle. The next tune, the bluesy "I Got That Fever" featured Kenny on acoustic guitar and Freddy playing dobro. Freddy is one of the most economical and tasty players you will ever hear; every note he plays has a purpose and serves the song itself, with not a drop of "virtuoso ego" in spite of his obvious virtuosity. Next was another song from the new CD "Will You Still Love Me" whose clock-like rhythm propelled its theme of the futility of trying to make someone love you. Here's a picture with Freddy on dobro:

"My Home Is Anywhere You Are", another new one, was a countryish tune with a bouncy, driving rhythm that again featured Freddy on fiddle.Here's a picture with Freddy on fiddle and Kenny on acoustic guitar:

Kenny introduced the next song as one of those "internal mining disasters of folk music", a favorite from his first album, "No Tears", an examination of macho attitude full of heart-felt irony. Freddy's really exceptional dobro solo was one of his best moments in a night full of memorable playing. Freddy switched to a vintage Gibson acoustic guitar on "So Many Ways To Break A Heart" and then back to dobro, adding to the swamp-funk sound on a cover of Lowell George's classic "Roll Me Easy". After Kenny urged the purists in the crowd to look away as he put a capo on his mandolin, he did the old R&B song "I Can't Stand The Rain", which at one point humorously became "I can't remember this song" as the lyrics evaded his memory temporarily.

Kenny's talent is enormous but in no way is he showy. His guitar playing has been so influential in establishing the distinctive sounds of SoCal folk rock, its easy to forget the crowd has followed HIM, rather than the other way around. His voice, while also never showy is full of emotional depth and has kept him in demand as a backup singer. And while his songwriting has never been hugely prolific, he writes really beautiful tunes and lyrics full of feeling. The next song, "I Saw It All There In Your Eyes" is an example of his beautiful, haunting lyrics applied to music written by co writers, and then on the following tune, "On Our Way To Heaven", Freddy played some beautiful acoustic guitar licks to again highlight Kenny's great lyrics.

Well, all great nights have to draw to a close and Kenny closed this one with a couple of my favorites. "Statesboro Blues" is a Delta blues standard dating back to 1922 and covered innumerable times. Somehow, in doing a classically authentic arrangement, Kenny makes this song his own, easily the best version I've heard since Taj Mahal's first solo album, circa 1968. Freddy's dobro backing and solo were as authentic-sounding yet fresh as the arrangement, a remarkable feat. And then all that was left was the encore, a tune that Kenny describes as "my life story of obsessive compulsive love" (a theme I think we can all relate to!), "Misery and Happiness". Kenny played one of his driving mandolin rhythms with Freddy adding fiddle fills, making obsessive love seem like a whole lotta fun and bringing a great show to a rousing close!

Kenny Edwards is one of a handful of SoCal musical icons whose body of work DEMAND your attention. Please if you have a chance , don't miss out! Go see him live and buy both his CDs! You'll be a better person for the experiences, I guarantee!
Here's a link for Kenny:

http://www.kennyedwards.com/

and one for Michael Frey:

http://www.michaelfrey.com/

and one for Freddy Koella:

http://www.freddykoella.com/

and one for SongTree Concerts:

http://www.songtree.org/

As always, my love and thanks to my best friend and love of my life, Becky, for her photos and indulgences!

SONGTREE CONCERTS - VENUE REVIEW

2009-09-26T16:25:00.000-07:00

This is another "house concert" - type venue that has taken us a long time to finally visit. We had heard of SongTree a few years ago when we first started attending house concerts, but somehow, for one reason or another we were never able to make it. Then for about a year, the venue wasn't operating, but when we heard they had re-opened and that one of our old favorites, Kenny Edwards, was appearing, we knew we had to finally go.

SongTree Concerts, I guess, is not technically a "house concert". It operates at the Live Oak Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Goleta, CA, just north of Santa Barbara and about an hour from our home. It also doesn't work on the "donation at the door, all for the artists" system, but acts as a source of funding for the Congregation's environmental and social action programs, both local and global. But since they use many acts that are regulars on the house concert circuit and are not really a commercial enterprise, I figure they still fit my format here pretty well.

The concert series was not running for a year because they built a new building to house their services and use for concerts. It is a beautiful structure and was designed explicitly with music in mind, with a new professional sound system, a stage and very comfortable, extensive seating. The legal capacity is posted as 428, but its hard to envision that many in here. The night we were there they had about 170 seats arranged in a semicircle around the stage. They also claim to have professional stage lighting, but that was the only item I found a bit lacking, the front third of the stage being in darkness, forcing performers to set up back a bit from the stage front. But other than that, it is an attractive and comfortable room with lots of seating and great sound, perfect for concerts. The room has very nice woodworking trim and the stage used chains of origami cranes hanging as a backdrop the night we were there. I'm not sure if this arrangement was permanent or temporary, and while it was unusual and kind of cool, it was also a little busy and distracting as a background (see above picture).The room is also devoid of ANY religious iconography or symbols, making it appropriate for other uses.

The SongTree Concert series has been operating for seven years and 73 shows, bringing in a wide variety of music, including folk, jazz, rock and world music. A gentleman named Tom Lee books the entertainment. Their upcoming schedule includes Brazilian music, jazz, a Celtic harpist and then Susie Glaze and the Hilonesome Band, a bluegrass/country act which I have previously reviewed here. I'm sure we will be taking in at least a couple of these upcoming shows, so stayed tuned here for more on this great concert series.

Here's a link for SongTree Concert Series :

http://www.songtree.org/index.htm

Stonehoney - House Concert Review - Russ and Julie's House Concerts - September 12,2009

2009-09-13T11:53:00.000-07:00

Well, I could write one of my usual long-winded reviews, or I could sum up the Stonehoney concert at Russ and Julie's last night in only three letters. WOW! This quartet of singer/songwriters put on an amazing show featuring great tunes, incredible harmonies, impressive instrumental skills and just a whole lot of old-fashioned fun. And, I guess while a three letter review may give you the gist, I hope one of my rambling reviews may give you the additional info you folks need to make you want to run out and see this act live and buy their CD. I strongly recommend both courses of action!

This was a concert I had really been looking forward to and as the date approached my anticipation just grew. First of all I found the group's story compelling; four singer/songwriter types from various parts of America meet up in LA, form a "songwriters circle" where they played around with each other's songs, becoming a "band" in the process, despite the intentions of all of them. You can't WRITE plot lines this good! And then a few weeks ago, we saw Dan Navarro performing with John Batdorf and saw that Stonehoney had backed up Dan on his first solo CD, done live at McCabe's in Santa Monica. The fact that this was a favorite group of both Dan and his musical partner , Eric Lowen, was a ringing endorsement in my mind. And of course this was to be at Russ and Julie's, where we are continually delighted by music we had never heard of before and have learned to trust implicitly. Then throw in the fact that the show was booked solid so early that an afternoon show was added, an occurrence that was unusual for most house concerts. Clearly there was something going on around here!

So here's the cast of characters you're about to "meet". Start with Shawn Davis, the one native Californian in the cast but from such a remote rural area it could have been Mars. His career arc had brought him from playing and singing back up in various bands to a successful career as a frontman/songwriter on the club circuit to staff songwriting with heavyweights in Nashville, and ultimately back to LA and Stonehoney. The songwriter's circle began at the home of our next character, Nick Randolph, whose story includes growing up in first Boston then San Francisco, successful stints touring in bands, a debilitating wrist injury in martial arts training threatening his ability to play, his recovery and then a successful solo career. The last pair of characters are a pair of East Coast imports (like myself). Dave Phenicie grew up in the DC area, played the club circuits all over Maryland and Virginia, writing all along. He then moved to LA as a session player and touring sideman to array of country and alt-country acts, did a solo album and then this group. The last of the four, Phil Hurley, hails from Potsdam, NY originally. He played the upstate NY area in bands with his brother, Steve, and then on to Boston and then Seattle, getting side-tracked from his own music by a successful stint as a sideman for acts like Tracy Bonham, Fountains of Wayne and Lisa Loeb. And somehow his efforts to do his own solo music led to another band, Stonehoney. Like I said, you can't write stuff this compelling and ironic! And guys when its time for your screenplay, I'm your guy!

So all this and we haven't even gotten to the show yet! Some of you are wishing you stopped at "WOW", for sure! Anyhow we were warned to arrive early for the evening show, it was a sell-out and seating would be at a premium. But somehow we left ourselves too much time after an early dinner, which led to recreational shopping and we all know no good can come from that, so we arrived later than I hoped. Seats were all taken, so while Becky dropped our pot-luck offering in the kitchen, I found us standing/sitting room on the stairs which acts as a balcony. There were lots of regular, familiar faces there but lots of new ones too, with a bit younger-than-usual audience profile. We were soon joined on the stairs by quite a few people, it really was more crowded than we had ever seen here. But while we did have a bit of discomfort due to crowding, our sight lines were excellent and the sound superb.

Russ did his usual intro talk about other music in the area and introduced the show's cosponsor, Rick Hermelin, a massage therapist in the Agoura area. Rick is a super-regular at Russ and Julie's having been to over 100 of their shows, has cosponsored shows for ten consecutive years and is one of those "friendly faces" we see at intermission at many local shows that I have reviewed in the past. Then, finally, Stonehoney took the stage. In a venue this small, they play without drummer Scotty Lund, who augments the quartet in larger rooms. The evening's instrumental lineup was constant all night, Nick on acoustic guitar (Martin), Shawn on acoustic guitar (Gibson) with Dave holding the rhythm on Fender Precision bass and Phil adding ornamentation on lead guitar, alternating between vintage-looking Fenders, a Telecaster (with a humbucker in the neck position) and a Strat, and a vintage-looking Gibson Les Paul (in the pictures above, from left to right, Nick, Shawn, Dave and Phil with a Strat at top, and with a Tele below). It very shortly became evident that, while all these guys write great songs, their "bandness" ultimately relies tremendously on Dave's rock-solid, yet inventive bass playing and Phil's stunningly amazing lead guitar work. They are key in taking the simplicity of earnest folk/country/rock songs to the fullness of a finished product. Because Becky is studying hand percussion, we were at first disappointed that there was no percussionist this night, though I never felt the lack once the music started.

A quick aside: a band with four lead singers and four songwriters could be a reviewer's nightmare and add in the fact that their CD attributes all songs to only "Stonehoney" and their frequent lack of any song introductions, some confusion is almost inevitable. But the fact that they, on stage referred to songs as being "one of Dave's" or the like, caused me to assume that songs were written by the one who sang lead on it and that lines of lyric repeated often in the song are most likely the title. So take most of the songwriting attributions and song titles with a couple grains of salt. And, as I have often done discretely in the past, I will edit this in the future if I become aware of blatant factual errors.

So, Stonehoney kicked off the night with one of Phil's, "Feels Like Home", a feel-good country rocker that got the crowd going from the get-go. My first thought about the band was "These guys are much younger than I expected". After reading their bios on-line and listening to a bunch of their music, I had assumed these guys were much older, more like my age, than the 30- somethings they appear to be live. I have no real idea of any of their ages, this is just my impression seeing them. They look like they might be just as at home covered in tattoos and piercings and playing in some grunge band. They are quite accomplished guys if I'm at all close on the age thing. The next tune was one of Shawn's and one of the band's best, maybe the best prison ballad I have heard, called "Good As Gone", which features this memorable lyric "at the intersection, I could have turned right, but I turned wrong". Shawn has a voice like a thrift-store leather jacket, new and interesting but at the same time instantly familiar and comfortable. I heard moments when he sounded like the singer from Lynyrd Skynyrd or the guy from The Marshall Tucker Band, but still sounding original. And the harmonies! Most of these songs feature great four-part harmony, often evoking groups like The Eagles, The Byrds and even Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. The other immediately striking part of the music was the lead guitar work of Phil Hurley, always extremely tasty in a classic country way but also often sounding a lot like Jerry Garcia in his best countryish stuff with The Dead or like Clarence White of The Byrds.

The set progressed with Dave sounding vocally a lot like a young Jackson Browne on "Still Gonna Sing Your Song" and with Phil and Shawn's first collaboration, the upbeat, uplifting "There Is Light". Nick added a rockabilly flavor with "The One She's Taking Home". Other highlights in that first set included Phil's self-described "buckle bumper" (slow dance) country ballad " I Just Want To Dance With You" where he abandoned his voice's usual country/rock growl for a much sweeter sounding vocal, Dave's great song "Smile Again" sounding quite bluegrass with just a hint of rockabilly and featuring Phil's pyrotechnic country lead licks and Nick's "Little Angel", his songs being the most poppish and mainstream, but still true to the band's core country feel. When the set closed with Dave's rocking tribute to touring life on the road, "Your Turn To Drive", we all needed a break from the high energy excitement and the rising temperatures.

At intermission the first order of business was to buy CDs. The band has only their first CD out and were selling it for only $5 each, which was ridiculously cheap for a really great CD. I was afraid they'd sell out at such a price and fought my way to the CD sales table post-haste and bought one for us and one for our daughter, who is a big fan of country, doesn't often share our taste and has a birthday coming up. I'm pretty sure she never reads me, so I don't think I'm ruining any surprise. As I'm writing this I was listening to the CD and our daughter said, "I'll have to burn a copy of this one" which I discourage as a fan of independent music and have made unnecessary with my purchase, so I guess I did real good in my gift buying. Becky held our spot during intermission, not wanting to fight the throngs. After my purchasing, I brought her a soft drink and some sweets for my sweet from the pot-luck table and then went back and grabbed a bit for myself, went out to the backyard to cool off and mingle and then it was time to go back for the second set.

First up in the second set was Dave with his sweet bluesy "Melinda" that featured Phil's tasty bottleneck playing on his Tele. Shawn was next with his "Simple Life" which sounded like Buck Owens joining Lynyrd Skynyrd if you can get your mind around such a setup. Nick added another sweet melancholy number with "I Don't Want To Go Home" and the then the four took turns on the verses of one of my all time favorites, Dylan's classic "You Ain't Going Nowhere" which developed into a sing-a-long, at least for me it did!

It was right about then the band began the most extensive series of guitar string breaking that I have ever seen in decades of hanging around performers! It became comical as both Nick and Shawn repeatedly had to rush to change strings in mid set if not mid song. Looking back on it now it was one of those opportunities to see performers as real people that make them that much more endearing to the audience and often leads to some magic of improvisation and spontaneity.

Apparently the band knew that a young woman named Sara was there, in the front row with her friends (you can see the back of their heads in the left sied of the pictures above) , celebrating her Sweet Sixteen birthday seeing Stonehoney. So Dave knocked into an off-the-cuff version of the Chuck Berry classic, "Sweet Little Sixteen", a primal rock song every guitar player knows to one extent or another, and Phil had a blast riffing on such a standard in such a informal setting. Dave struggled a bit with the lyrics, which only made the moment more perfect, with the whole audience AND the band sharing a really unique event. Then Nick began the Hall and Oates hit "Sara Smile", crooning it for all it was worth in his best mainstream pop voice, adding his own perfection as he struggled for a chord or two and, of course Phil vamping jazzily on electric guitar in the background. It was as if a whole new band had taken stage or we were transported magically to a back alley bar somewhere. The improvising moments continued as Dave launched into The Temptations' classic "Just My Imagination" with the band doing their best Motown backup singer voices and even a touch of playful "choreography".

Well eventually the guys got back to their own music with Phil offering his "Million Pretty Girls" rocker, a blistering Hank Williams Jr sounding rave-on that could be a theme for Monday Night Football were it not for its subject matter. One other little note about Phil. He was very obviously having the time of his life up there with a huge grin on his face much of the night (see top picture above). I always find guys like this quite infectious and, added to his amazing talent, I think he is going to be a name we hear about for a long time! The band continued to kick the intensity up a notch with Shawn's gritty murder story "Love Will Make You Crazy" a catchy Southern rocker firmly in the Skynyrd/Marshall Tucker tradition.

This band gave the impression that they could play all night and might have if they had not given an afternoon show already. With four writers they have lots of material to draw upon and simple math will tell you that we were probably hearing pretty much all of the best songs by all of these writers and the quality was certainly top-notch. As the set was drawing to a close the highlights for me included a brilliant rendition of The Eagles' beautiful harmony song "Seven Bridges Road", Dave's kind of jazzy sounding "Tear It Down" and Shawn's "I'm The Lucky One". Around then Russ let them know that, while they could play as long as they wanted, it was 10:30, when the concert was scheduled to end.

Of course the guys decided to do a couple more, kicking into Phil's "Two Years Down" a rocking missing you love song with Phil forgoing his bluesy growl again for a bit of sweet country twang and the whole thing sounding like a country radio hit if I ever heard one. And then they pulled out another of my old favorites to sing along with, again trading verses vocally on The Band's classic tune "The Weight". And then, of course the crowd demanded one more as an encore and they launched into the classic Joni Mitchell-as-done-by-Crosby, Stills and Nash "Woodstock", a celebration of the anniversary and more importantly the independent spirit of that time. The band had a blast on it, the audience sang along (this time I was sure it wasn't just me!) and the night came to a memorable conclusion. All that was left was for me to say "WOW!" I told you, you could have stopped there.

Links for Stonehoney:

http://www.stonehoney.com/

and Russ and Julie's

http://www.houseconcerts.us/

Gates and Goodell and Stephanie Bettman with Luke Halpin - House Concert Review - August 29, 2009

2009-09-07T14:36:00.000-07:00

I know I told you all last week that I was through with the worry thing, but here I am back at it! In a previous review I have discussed potential problems with co billed concerts and in another the problems presented by preconceived notions. This night saw a collision of these issues in my brain and presented new challenges to this relatively new and inexperienced reviewer.

This was another concert I had planned on passing on originally. I had heard Stephanie prior to this doing only a couple of tunes and I had been reasonably impressed. But Gates and Goodell were an act I had heard of but was unfamiliar with and the little bit of their music I had listened to on the internet had not convinced me that this show should be on my very busy calendar. Then the weekend before this show, as I hope you've read about in my last review, I saw Luke Halpin appear live with John Batdorf and I was so impressed with his virtuosity on mandolin and fiddle, we decided to come see this show after all. Besides, we like to try to support house concerts and live music in general any chance we get.

So on another warm SoCal evening, we arrived at Scott and Rosemary Duncan's house concert upbeat and expecting another great night of music. And this was another night when the audience at first seemed rather small but soon swelled to capacity or somewhere near it. Becky and I found seats about where we usually like, a few rows back but close enough that we can see fingers on frets, this night opting for seats near the open door for potential cooling breezes.

So first up taking the "stage" were Gates and Goodell, a SoCal staple for several years but this was our first chance to see them. John Gates and Bill Goodell take turns as lead vocalists, sing harmonies with each other and both play acoustic guitar with Bill switching to mandolin, or 12 string guitar on some tunes and adding harmonica on at least one song. The guys started out with Bill on mando and John singing lead on "Hurricane" which carried weather metaphors to their extremes, and then Bill switched to 12 string and took lead vocals on "The River". I loved Bill's voice when he sang harmony but as a lead vocalist his voice took on affectations that bugged me. The next tune, "Ghost" featured John's lead vocal and Bill adding harmonica to his arsenal. Unfortunately it was another song beating its metaphors into submission. The Duncan House Concerts generally take place with no PA system, which has never been problematic when we've been there before, but on this night, both acts had problems with dynamics that would have been helped by some amplification.

Their set continued in similar fashion but I must add that most in the audience were way more enthusiastic than me and many seemed to be there to hear these guys in particular. They did hit a couple of high points for me, the song "Half-Empty Moon" had a neat tropical feel, reminiscent of Jimmy Buffett and John's tune "Brown Paper Bag" had an awkward innocence that was entertaining and Luke Halpin, joining in on that tune and their encore ,"Carolene" on his mandolin, provided a bluegrass flavor that made these songs more appealing.

I never like to give less-than-glowing reviews. My whole reason to be doing this is my love of the music and wanting to share my enthusiasms. And it is only these co billed shows that throw me a bit, when I'm there primarily to see one act. I like to think I keep an open mind, I have even discussed my problems with preconceived notions. I really wanted to love Gates and Goodell. They are personable young men with nice voices, and adequate if not virtuosic instrumental skills. But ultimately for singer/songwriters it comes down to how good the songs are and here I find them a bit lacking in outstanding, memorable, or emotionally moving material. They ended up sounding like those talented frat brothers at the keg party or the guys playing happy hour at the neighborhood bar and grill. And if I wasn't truthful enough to say that, I wouldn't have much credibility doing this, would I? But, please this is only one man's take, and I often have strange taste, and many,many people think these guys are great, so I urge you to seek them out and develop your own opinions.

That brought us to intermission, our usual chance to mingle and eat forbidden treats, this night in the comfortable Duncan backyard. We saw some usual familiar faces from the house concert scene and I saw a couple of friendly faces from the college where I work. The Duncan's hold a raffle at every concert often including goodies from their garden. We didn't know quite what to do or say when we saw a couple munching tomatoes out of the basket we assumed was the raffle prize. We let discretion be the better part of valor and just chuckled to ourselves and went in for the second half of the concert.

So the Duncan's gave the raffle winner their prize (missing a few morsels!) and introduced Stephanie Bettman and Luke Halpin. Stephanie Bettman is a singer/songwriter/fiddler extraordinaire and has been generating a buzz in bluegrass/country circles with inevitable comparisons to Allison Cross and Emmy Lou Harris. She has the chops and talent to back up this hype. And her partner, in both music and love, Luke Halpin, is an awesome talent in his own right. The duo kicked off the set with a fiddle rave-up, Stephanie's "Seed Of Doubt" which let us know the kind of first rate musicianship we were in for. Next Luke switched to guitar on the ballad "Get Close To Me" with Stephanie's vocal recalling Joan Baez at her best (see picture, top left).

The tone shifted a bit with the latinish rhythms of "On a Moonlit Night" with Luke's falsetto vocals amazing us all. Actually the revelation for me this night was Luke's singing voice. I knew all about his instrumental prowess and knew what a great voice Stephanie had but I never had heard Luke's tremendous voice. Whether it was doing harmony backgrounds to Stephanie's lead or delivering booming bluesy leads himself ( I think the song was "The Place Where I Am Going", a little sketchy on some titles), Luke has impressive vocal talents I was unaware of.

Some of the remaining highlights included Luke's incredible guitar riffing in "Keep A Stiff Upper Lip", the up-lifting message song "The Good Silver" and the country ballad "The Letting Go" with Stephanie's vocals putting her in a league with the greats like Emmy Lou yet sounding only like herself. And when the evening ended to the strains of "Empty Words, Broken Promises" ,with John and Bill joining in on background vocals, we were left feeling like it had been a memorable evening after all (see picture top right).

A note about billing. This evening's second act was billed as "Stephanie Bettman" and I notice their upcoming show at Russ and Julie's is billed the same way. Note To Stephanie - The act needs to be "Stephanie Bettman and Luke Halpin" or "Stephanie Bettman with Luke Halpin". He no longer qualifies as your secret weapon, word is out. Do right by your man, give him co billing, at least you'd be keeping it in the family!

Links for Gates and Goodell (please check them out, my opinion is ONLY opinion):

http://www.gatesandgoodell.com/

for Stephanie Bettman:

http://www.stephaniebettman.com/

for Luke Halpin;

http://www.myspace.com/lukehalpin

for Duncan House Concerts

http://www.myspace.com/duncanhouseconcerts

for Russ and Julie's House Concerts (Stephanie and Luke there on Oct 24 ):

http://www.houseconcerts.us/

John Batdorf and Dan Navarro - House Concert Review - August 23, 2009

2009-08-30T15:25:00.000-07:00

Looking back at some of the reviews I've written so far, I get the impression that I'm worrying a lot these days. I'm worried about being late for shows, worrying about which act should open up and which should close, worried about being too nice or being too mean; it seems like a lot of unnecessary worry. Well I've kept the tradition alive again this week! Going to see John Batdorf and Dan Navarro's CD release at the Bodie House Concert series at the Thousand Oaks Library was a given, being that I'm a huge Batdorf fan who has seen John a lot in last few years and NEVER tires of him and being quite curious on how Dan would handle the Lowen & Navarro legacy while continuing on his own. But I knew Dan was bringing a band and I wondered if John would be solo and how that would work dynamically. And another thought occurred to me: would I be able to find new stuff to write about just having reviewed John and James Lee Stanley some weeks ago. I'm certainly too new at this to start repeating myself. But the only repetitive thing here really was my worry.

So, with the audience just seating and about half full, John took the stage alone with his guitars. His first song was "Let Me Go", an all-time favorite from Batdorf and Rodney days, its a tour-de-force acoustic guitar work-out he wrote back in 1971 inspired by the playing of Steve Stills. It was always impressive with the twin guitars of the duo but as a solo piece it is an extremely difficult task that John attacked so masterfully that its a testament to his maturing instrumental skills. See the top picture above. If anything, and I've heard this song live many times now, he played it just a touch fast, which I took as a sign of adrenaline flowing and a special show to follow. At last I was right about something! John followed up with one of his darkest numbers, a quiet, haunting examination of addiction called " I Don't Always Win " which, like always, got the audience so quiet you could hear that proverbial pin drop. At this point, I peeked at the crowd behind me, and the once half-full room looked totally full, leaving me with one less worry.

John then introduced his songwriting partner, Michael McLean, who we had never seen before, even with all the times we've seen John in recent years. As Michael took a seat at the piano, I realized again my worries were for naught, John obviously knew what he was doing, and of course he brought his "band". The next couple of tunes from his great new album sounded nearly as full as the album production with depth of sound added by the piano. John played a stirring version of "I Go To Pieces" , one of the prettiest ballads on the new CD. If John was Crosby, Stills and Nash, all wrapped up in one artist (and I COULD make a REALLY strong argument to that effect), this one would be in his Graham Nash mode. And if he were all The Eagles in one package (you know what I'm thinking!) the next one would be his Don Henley mode, the country-tinged "Don't Tell Me Goodbye". Wow, and we were just getting started!

John then introduced the next artist, Dan Navarro and his band. For those of you unfamiliar (remembering I have a HUGE east coast readership!) Dan for the last couple of decades has been half of the acoustic duo Lowen and Navarro who have quite a following and a great reputation in SoCal and much of the rest of the country. Health issues have forced Eric Lowen to retire from performing but Dan said they still will write together. In addition to Dan's considerable songwriting talent he has one of the biggest and best voices you'll ever hear. And this night he was releasing his first solo CD done live at McCabe's in Santa Monica with the group Stonehoney (coming soon to Russ and Julie's, see you there or stay tuned!). Playing with him tonight was a band full of some of the best players around. Joining Dan on acoustic guitar was Steve Postell, on piano and on accordion was Phil Parlapiano and the percussionist was Dennis Edwards playing cajon. See bottom picture above.

Dan and band launched into their half of the first set with the up-tempo "Let Her Ride" which is on the live album and then a favorite for me "Baby Its Cold Outside" very ironic because SoCal was in the midst of heat wave, drought and wildfire season. And in "Learn How To Let Her Go" he sounded much like a West Coast Bruce Springsteen. Another highlight for me was the emotional and moving "Raining In My Eyes" (more irony) where Dan and band sounded kind of like Robbie Robertson and The Band but Dan has a better voice than either of those other guys and nothing sounded derivative at all.

At this point John rejoined the festivities adding harmony vocals and acoustic guitar, briefly becoming a substitute for Eric. The four songs that closed the set were amazing. I loved hearing these two voices that are such perfect foils for each other, with John taking the higher harmonies. They did "The Road Is Never Ending", "I Don't Believe In Yesterdays" and another highlight, Dan closed with "A Better Man" a charming song he wrote for his newborn son many years ago.

And here we were at intermission and I felt like we already had our money's worth of music and then some! At intermission we ate foods we're not supposed to and mingled with the many familiar and new faces there. It was somewhat of a house concert convention there that night. Along with our host Renee Bodie we chatted with Russ and Julie and Scott Duncan and I got a chance to meet a Facebook friend I had never met in the flesh, Jeanette Lundgren, who among much other stuff handles John's publicity through her Mother Hen Promotions. I was starting to feel part of the "in crowd"!

The second half of the show began with Dan taking the stage solo for a beautiful version of "Don't Want To Do That To You" and then the band rejoined him. Steve Postell did some tasty bottleneck work on the bluesy "Until The Well Runs Dry" with Dan using his best Cocker-esque growl. They finished their portion of the set with a couple of Lowen and Navarro staples "Straight To The Heart Of Me" and "Walking on a Wire".

John then retook the stage alone with his '55 Martin D18 for a rousing rendition of the Batdorf and Rodney classic "Home Again", another incredible solo acoustic performance that featured near-impossible guitar work. See the picture second from bottom above. John had mentioned in the past that he thought for years that this song was impossible for him to do live all by himself, yet he has come up with a killer arrangement that captures all the power of what may be his signature tune. John never gets enough credit as a guitarist mainly because his great songs and classic voice over-shadow this aspect of his talent, but if you heard this song live you'd be wowed for sure.

For the next tune, John again brought up his writing partner, Michael McLean, to sing backups and play piano on the up-lifting "See Us Shine" , a tune they wrote in response to the LA riots that highlights all the great, loving things people do, an idea seldom sung about. Michael then was replaced by Luke Halpin on stage, first on mandolin on the beautiful ballad "Me and You" and then switching to fiddle on "Ain't No Way", a scathing open letter of good riddance to the end of George W. 's reign, from the new album and one of the only political songs I can remember John writing. Luke was featured on this song on the album and he really cooked on this tune, enough so that it convinced us to see him the following weekend playing with his partner, Stephanie Bettman (review coming soon!).

The next tune "Love: All I Really Know About It" , saw Dan joining John and Luke on stage to do background vocals as he did on the new album. See center picture above. This is one of those songs I've had stuck in my head for weeks now, a really pretty losing-out-on-love song. On the next tune John got help from a family member. His son Matt, one of his twenty-something twin sons came up to sing backgrounds on "That Don't Seem Right To Me", reprising his appearance on the album. See picture second from top. This was another song where John sounded a lot like Don Henley at his best, but with something to say, which would be unusual for Don but never for John.

To close up the show, John called back Dan and his band to join him on his last few tunes. First was the achingly beautiful "Will I Love You Forever" , one of the most moving depictions of the ups and downs that we all experience in love, with John singing one of his most memorable melodies with exceptional lyrics from Michael McLean. Then came the opening track from the new album, "What D'Ya Got". In my last John Batdorf review I called this "an anthem to the down-sizing of the American Dream and the power of personal relationships to pull us through".

It is an INCREDIBLE song, catchy and bouncy but with scathing lyrics that still manage to be up-lifting and positive, I can't believe its not being played on every radio station in the country. It has such hit single potential, I'm convinced that if it was recorded by a "flavor-of-the-month" female country artist (think Carrie Underwood) it would be a huge hit. I am still hopeful John's version will receive the attention it deserves. This night's version was a rousing group workout. All that was left was for the group to encore on a spirited singalong on The Stones' " Ruby Tuesday" done "All Wood and Stones"-style, like on John's album with James Lee Stanley. That brought this amazing show to a close. All those concerns I had, had vanished and my new theme song will be "Don't Worry, Be Happy"!

One note I must add to this review. While I have recommended artist's Cd's before in some of my reviews, I usually tell my readers to check out the music and see if they like it. I rarely get all worked up about some one's CD. I was on the early sales list for John's new CD, "Old Man Dreaming"and I have been listening to it a lot over the last few months. It just grows and grows and grows on me, in a way very few CDs ever do. I have most of these songs bouncing around my brain on daily basis and I'm still finding new aspects to all of them. If any of you are EVER going to take my advice, this is one time to do so! BUY THIS ALBUM!!!!!! Share it with your friends and family! I would not only love to see John get the recognition he deserves and make some money on it, but I assure you, your own lives will become richer, too!

All that remains are the links. For John Batdorf:

http://www.johnbatdorfmusic.com/

http://www.reverbnation.com/johnbatdorf

and Dan Navarro:

http://www.dannavarro.com/

and Bodie House Concerts:

http://www.jrp-graphics.com/bodiehouse/index.html

Susie Glaze and the Hilonesome Band and Fur Dixon and Steve Werner - House Concert Review

2009-08-29T16:15:00.000-07:00

I should know better, I admit it. I mean, I've been going to shows at Russ and Julie's for years now, many featuring artists with which I was totally unfamiliar, but I have ALWAYS enjoyed them all. But having recently been disappointed elsewhere by an act described as Appalachian, I saw that word in the description of this concert, and somehow I mentally filed this as a show I'd skip. And in the back of my mind was the fear that, reviewing my first show at Russ and Julie's house since I began this blog, I REALLY didn't want to take a chance of not liking the first act I reviewed at the first place I ever saw a house concert! But like I said, I really should have known better.

When we talked to Julie, at the Severin Browne show at Boney Mountain House Concerts the prior weekend (see my last review) , she asked if we were coming and I honestly told her I thought not, but then we talked a bit about the acts she was hosting and the fact that she only had about 30 reservations at that point and that got me thinking. I went home and fretted over it. And ultimately, I decided that Russ and Julie had long ago earned our trust and support, this blog was a newer, less important thing and que sera, sera. Once Becky concurred, I emailed Julie and we were going. I already knew I had nothing to worry about!

Well as soon as Susie Glaze and the Hilonesome Band took the stage, the thought of worries were a thousand miles away. First of all the room was PACKED, I should have known Russ and Julie's regulars would come through for them. And just the band's instrumentation, stand-up bass, dobro, mandolin, acoustic guitar and vocals let me know this band would swing. That's them in the bottom photo above. And from the first note of Susie's vocals I knew this wasn't going to be that reserved, Celtic sounding almost madrigal-sounding Appalachian music that nearly puts me to sleep. Susie describes their music as "Americana Folk Bluegrass Fusion Band" , and that's hard to argue with, I'll just tell you, this is music with twang and swing and a touch of snarl and bite. The true Americana music that acknowledges its darker roots along with that white European stuff. The real folk music.

The band kicked off the night with a tune called "One More Mile" , a rollicking bluegrass tune and followed it with "Maggie Bailey" another authentic-sounding up-tempo bluegrass rave up. Yes, no one would be putting me to sleep tonight! Not with this rocking band! Featuring Susie's husband Steve Rankin on mandolin and vocals, Fred Sanders on upright bass and vocals and the impressive songwriting talents of guitarist/dobro player/vocalist Rob Carlson, the band was tight instrumentally and Susie's voice is perfect for singing this country flavored folk music.

As their set continued, we were treated to some great individual picking by Steve and Rob and great vocal harmonies by all the guys. The songs covered a bit of stylistic ground while never straying from its roots music, old-time feel. Some of the highlights for me included "River Road" with Susie channeling Joan Baez at her best and Fred doing some really tasty bowed bass parts, "Rocking In Your Granddaddy's Chair" , described as a lullaby but swinging, and Rob Carlson's tribute to that thriving metropolis "Albuquerque" that reminded one of a Bob Wills swing tune or a Dan Hicks delicacy. The Appalachian-sounding stuff they did came mostly in a couple of tunes written by the legendary Jean Ritchie, mountain folk songs with political overtones that share more with the work of Woody Guthrie than with any Celtic tradition, certainly nothing for me to fear! And when Steve sang lead on a couple of songs by one of my favorite songwriters, Steve Earle, I wondered why I ever thought of skipping this show. This is a fresh sounding act doing lots of new original tunes yet still sounding traditional and old-timey. I definitely will try to see them again soon and I urge you to try to catch them also. Here's a link to their website:

http://www.susieglaze.com/

That brought us to intermission, time to sample the appetizer/dessert potluck, mingle with the rest of the audience and grab a little fresh air in the backyard. Though we saw some of the usual faces at this show, there seemed to be many fans that were here to see these acts in particular. I was wondering how the next act would fare, following such a strong opening act.

When the break was over, Fur Dixon and Steve Werner took the stage, and I must admit, my first thought was "These people must have beaten up a couple cowboys and stole their clothes!" Looking every bit the young hipsters, like they should be wearing punk garb or at least rockabilly outfits, they had a dramatic if unusual appearance. Just Steve's shirt alone may have been worth the price of admission. Check out the picture above center. But as soon as they started making music, there was no doubt, that they were the real deal. With both playing acoustic guitars and singing, they kicked off their set with Steve's country antidote for worry, "The Road Outside My Door Says Let's Go" , followed by Fur's "Ventura County Line" , a love and cruising ballad, and I realized this night would continue in the countryish Americana style that opening act established.

Steve and Fur traded lead vocals as they ventured further into their original repertoire. Steve did the honors in "Homesick For The Highway Blues" , causing me to write this note , "when you invite the audience to yodel, you get what you deserve!". But it sure was fun! So was "Pearl and Swine" , Steve's humorous theme song for the duo. Fur examined a bit more poignant territory in "Travellers" and "Back Roads and Blue Skies" , her voice evoking the country giants like Emmy Lou and the Carters, without sounding contrived. They also covered some classic tunes, Steve Goodman's " City of New Orleans" made popular by Arlo, "Do Re Mi" by that other Guthrie, Woody, and when they played "Tumbling Tumbleweeds" , I realized this act is WAY more Western than Country and all the more appealing for it. And their quirky looks and humorous takes on life, make a beautiful, moving song like "Scars" all the more meaningful. Don't let the schtick fool you, this is no novelty act, even though they ARE quite novel.

When the night's fun concluded with Susie and her Steve, joining Fur and her Steve (see top picture) and the whole audience in a stirring rendition of Woody's "This Land Is Your Land" (our REAL National Anthem if I had my way!), I couldn't help but remember Julie telling me how much FUN this night would be! The two acts were a perfect co-billing. I know, I know, I should have known all along, mea culpa! But I'm sure glad I didn't miss this wonderful night!

Here's a link for Fur Dixon and Steve Werner :

http://www.furandsteve.com/

and one for Russ and Julie's House Concerts if you missed it:

http://www.jrp-graphics.com/houseconcerts.html

Russ and Julie's House Concert - Venue Review

2009-08-29T13:48:00.000-07:00

If you had to pick one house concert series to visit in SoCal, whether as an audience member or as a performer, the answer is a "no-brainer". Without a doubt, nearly anyone in the know would tell you, go to Russ and Julie's House Concerts!

Its ironic that one of the last house concerts in our area that I am reviewing would be Russ and Julie's because, not only was their's the first home where we attended a house concert, but they are known in this area as the "Godparents" of the house concert movement. Russ and Julie Paris have been holding house concerts in their home in Oak Park, CA for almost 13 years! That figures out to having hosted over 130 concerts featuring almost 100 different acts! I believe it is the longest continually running house concert series in SoCal. Here is a link to their website:

http://jrp-graphics.com/houseconcerts/contact.html

Becky and I first found Russ and Julie's House Concerts back in March 2005 when an old acquaintance of ours from back in Conn. , Jeff Pevar, played there. We had seen the show listed on Jeff 's website, and, though we had never even heard of a house concert before, we decided to check it out. We've been regulars ever since, we only wish we had discovered them sooner!
The concerts are held at the Paris' lovely home in Oak Park, CA in the eastern end of Ventura County. The concert space is in their living room/dining room/great room with high ceilings and excellent acoustics. Check out the picture above of their stage area. They have a small PA system which is more than adequate to provide great sound in this size room. The room has track-type lighting hung unconventionally on the walls aimed at the stage area and this provides remarkably effective lighting for the performers. They generally have 60 or so chairs set up and with additional seating on their staircase which serves as somewhat of a balcony. With standing room, we have been there when they have had over 100 people in the room. While this kind of crowd makes for cozy togetherness we have never been uncomfortably crowded.

Here you will find most of the regular house concert features, the "donation" bowl at the front door (usually a $15 recommendation), mailing list sign ups, and of course, the potluck appetizer and dessert table. The hosts graciously provide coffee and soda and cups and usually the guests have put out a selection of wine to share. The crowd at Russ and Julie's can vary in make-up depending on the act, but there are usually a core group of "regulars" that we recognize from other visits. They also seem to attract a bit more young people than some of the other venues for whatever reason. I find this encouraging, as I always worry where the audiences of tomorrow are going to come from and I hate feeling like this great acoustic music is some kind of nostalgia trip for us aging baby boomers.

Russ and Julie also book the greatest variety of music compared to other house concerts in the area. In addition to the best singer/songwriter types we have seen country, jazz, rock, pop, Celtic and bluegrass music here. Many artists we have seen here were acts we already knew and were fans of. Over time, we have learned to trust Russ and Julie's taste explicitly and we have seen several acts we have never heard of much less heard before and we have NEVER seen a show we didn't enjoy a lot. Sure, some have been better than others but I have never felt disappointed in any music I've heard at their house. And because they have been doing this longer than everyone else and because of their involvement in other acoustic music organizations, they have the best acts clamoring to appear there. Some of the acts we have seen there include Wendy Waldman, Freebo, Jim Photoglo, John Batdorf, James Lee Stanley, emith, Kiki Ebsen, and many others. We really have been there a lot in the last four or five years!

I would be remiss if I didn't mention that in addition to hosting this wonderful concert series, Russ and Julie have been amazingly generous with their time, expertise and promotion, helping others get started in the house concert game, helping artists connect with new audiences and supporting these artists and venues with their attendance at many other concert venues. They are also quite active in the Far-WEST and Folk Alliance acoustic music organizations and, as part of their "day job" graphics business, Russ maintains websites for many other house concert presenters and for many musicians. On top of all this, they are two extremely friendly, outgoing and gracious people and wonderful hosts. I'm not only glad we found their concert series years ago, but also that they have come to be our friends. You can't have too much good music or too many good friends in your life!

Severin Browne - House Concert Review

2009-08-22T11:30:00.000-07:00

Writing songs is tough stuff. I know, I've tried many times with VERY limited success. So I am always impressed by a songwriter who can write high-quality songs prolifically. Throw in the ability to perform these songs entertainingly for audiences and you have the makings of a major talent. Since the early 70's Severin Browne has been accomplishing such magic and this past Saturday night we got to experience this talent first-hand, close-up at the Boney Mountain House Concert series in Newbury Park, CA. Again, here is a link for the concert series:

http://www.brandick.com/Boney-Mountain-Home.htm

Severin Browne may be best known as Jackson Browne's younger brother, a fact he failed to mention all evening, but in the early to mid 70's he was a staff songwriter and recording artist for, of all labels, Motown Records. He never really fit in or hit it big there but he began developing songwriting and performing chops that still serve him today. We had seen Severin Browne once a few years ago at a songwriter showcase where he performed a few songs we loved and we have been looking forward to seeing a full night of his music ever since. Because Severin predominately makes his living as a guitar and music teacher, his performing schedule tends to be a bit light and it had taken us a long time to get a chance to hear him again. It was an opportunity worth waiting for, but I hope we don't have to wait so long to see him again.

So, as you have hopefully already read in my venue review, the Boney Mountain House Concerts have a unique feature. Our host, Steve Brandick, performs a short opening set personally before the main act takes the spotlight. This practice is endearing in concept and quite a lot of fun in practice. On this night Steve took the stage to perform two songs before the first set. The first song was a blues he performed with a guest harmonica player named Russ. The second song was one of Steve's originals, a hilarious take on growing older called "I'm In Pretty Good Shape For the Shape I'm In". It was a great warm-up for the rest of the evening.

Then Severin took the stage looking more like a grown-up member of the Bowery Boys than a pop star (see above picture). His first song was a song called "CatWoman" ( note to Zoe - this one's for you!) about a woman who feeds the cats of New Orleans from the back of the fast food chicken restaurant where she works. A typical Severin song mixing humor and poignancy with a catchy melodic nature it got the evening started. The first set featured quite a few humorous tunes, most notably "My Midlife Crisis" a great follow-up to Steve's similar take on aging and "The Other Man" a minor key ballad comparing an extramarital affair to life as a pirate that he describes as being in the "key of Aaargh". Maybe the funniest tune of all was one he didn't write. "Would You Like To Play The Guitar?" was the classic "Would You Like To Swing On a Star" with new lyrics by Pat Donahue, guitarist for Prairie Home Companion, lampooning the music business at all levels. Hilarious and cutting satire that had added mirth for all of us guitarists in the audience. Mixed in with the humor were some "serious" tunes also, including "To The Light" a song he cowrote at a songwriting workshop with Freebo, James Lee Stanley and David Roth ( not my cousin or David Lee Roth from Van Halen, but the singer/songwriter Kerville Festival winner). We've heard Freebo's version of this song and, while it was the best song Freebo did, the lyrics bordered on New Agey excess in his delivery. In Severin's low-key vocal delivery the song takes on more weight and the interesting chord progression and melody are able to save the song from triteness and bring it towards the transcendence the song strives for. And for me, the highlight song of the evening was "Dear Ruthie" a moving spiritual lesson in song form that Severin had dropped from his repertoire and had to be talked into performing again. This is one of those "perfect" songs where you wouldn't change a note or word or nuance and that us mere mortals can only dream of ever writing. That he stopped performing such a masterpiece I find astounding, like Michaelangelo leaving the Sistine Chapel ceiling out of his portfolio.

Intermissions are always fun at house concerts, great pot luck appetizers and desserts, mingling with those we know and meeting new friends, enjoying the great backyard of our hosts, the Brandick's, and meeting the artist and buying CDs. I was lucky enough to get to talk to Severin quite a bit while purchasing a CD and having it signed. He is extremely friendly and approachable and I found him charming and very interesting to talk to.

The second set began as the first, with Steve getting up to do one more opening tune. Inspired by Severin's "Dear Ruthie" take on spirituality he chose his tune "You Went And Got Religion", a hysterical documentation of the power of religion to screw up relationships. Severin then came back with a song from 1996, "Uptown" followed by a couple from his last album, 2001's "This Twisted Road", the title track's healing reaction to the Oklahoma City bombing and "Strange Life" another one he has only recently added back to his performing repertoire. The second set was more reliant on "serious" songs than the first , working in the love song "When Its Right, Its Right" and the catchy singalong of "I Am and I Will". But humor did reappear when Severin did the song I requested at intermission, the bouncy rockabilly-sounding "Angelyne" which he co wrote with Paul Zollo and its catchy upbeat rhythm inspired "chair dancing" behind me by Julie Paris of Russ and Julie's House concert and Renee Bodie of Bodie House Concerts. And when the show finally ended the audience had really experienced a well-rounded, balanced show that had covered quite a bit of stylistic and emotional territory.

Severin's performance style is laid-back. I'd be tempted to call his voice average or mediocre but when I think back on his show he NEVER hit a bad note at all, so maybe I am more noting the lack of vocal "fireworks" than any short coming. In fact this vocal approach shows deference to the songs themselves, never putting the focus on him rather than his songs. One interesting note, Severin is the first singer/songwriter/guitarist that I've seen in ages that never changed tunings on his guitar or switched to another guitar already in a different tuning. All of his songs were performed in standard orchestral tuning. His guitar playing is INCREDIBLE, technically brilliant but at the same time tasty and always appropriate to serving the song. And ultimately a night with Severin Browne IS all about the songs, humorous and moving and as warm and accessible as the man himself. Do yourself a favor and catch his act sometime, he is a truly unique talent that is way under-appreciated in his own home area. Here is a link to his website so you can keep your eye on him:

http://www.severinbrowne.com/

Boney Mountain House Concerts - Venue Review

2009-08-17T18:57:00.000-07:00

One of the newer house concert series in our area of So Cal is Boney Mountain House Concerts. Steve Brandick and his wife Yolanda have been inviting folks to their home to appreciate the area's best acoustic acts for just over a year now. Their lovely home is located in Newbury Park at the foot of Boney Mountain and may be the prettiest setting for a house concert that we have ever seen. The Brandick's schedule of house concerts is less frequent than some, with about four concerts a year, but the quality of talent is top-notch. This past Saturday was our second visit there and we're sure we'll be back often.

Both times we have been at this venue the suggested donation has been $15 each, paid house concert-style into the bowl at the front door. The room for the concert is a multi-use room in its daily guise, with the back section in the kitchen area and the "stage" and front section I'd guess to be a dining room/family room. Can lights over the "stage area" simulate real stage lighting to good effect and there is a small house PA system. The seating area has about 60 or so seats and is one of the smaller capacity homes where we've seen a show. And probably the only criticism I could offer is that the basic folding chairs are very uncomfortable, but I know they are rentals and with such a small room, the only way to make money for the acts is to pack them in. Besides, we are all supposed to suffer for art, aren't we?

The most unique thing about the Boney Mountain House Concerts is the opening act. Steve Brandick is quite an accomplished singer/songwriter/guitarist and performs a very short set before his acts take the stage. He really is quite good, his songs very entertaining and he is often very funny but also does serious music too. His songs tend to be bluesy which suits his voice perfectly. I would be delighted to hear a full set sometime.

With that one notable exception, the rest of the operation is fairly typical house concert procedure. Two sets with an intermission for potluck appetizer/dessert, mingling, meeting the artist and of course, most importantly, buying a CD or two and getting them signed! There is wine there and the hosts graciously have coffee in the kitchen. And their backyard!!! Let's just say, Becky always leaves there with a severe case of backyard-envy. On our first visit it was an amazing work-in-progress and now finished its incredible with a great big porch, beautiful plantings and more hummingbirds than I have ever seen in one place. And the view is postcard worthy. We are ALMOST sorry when its time to go hear more great music.

This last time we were there, Steve announced he would be doing 4 concerts in the next year and is relying on his upcoming trip to the FAR-West acoustic music convention to shop for acts. Based on the quality of the acts he has picked thus far, I'm sure next year's music will be memorable. And in this warm friendly atmosphere I'm sure we'll be there to enjoy it as often as we can.

LIVE OAK - THE MUSIC - SUNDAY

2009-08-04T11:38:00.000-07:00

And so we come to the last day of the Live Oak Festival and of course we started the day by sleeping in and missing the first few acts of the day. In the early morning on the Hot Licks Stage we missed Andrew Jackson and Duende. Andrew is a guitarist we have heard a couple of times before but only solo not with the band. He is a technically brilliant fingerstyle acoustic guitarist whose style defies classification because he draws on so many varied influences, thus he calls himself "The Guitar Chameleon". We were very sorry to miss his performance and would like to throttle whoever booked him for 8 AM. Here's a link to Andrew's website :

http://www.andrewjacksonmusic.com/

The next act we missed is another regretful occurrence. The Cache Valley Drifters have been playing bluegrass music around Central Calif. for decades and are among the areas most respected players. Please check out their sight and music:

http://www.myspace.com/cachevalleydrifters

The last act we missed was more by choice. We caught the group "Po' Girl" on the radio. They are a group centered around the singing/songwriting team Allison Russell and Awna Teixeira. What can I say? I didn't really care for this group. Both singers have quirky, affected singing styles, either of which alone would be OK, but together were a bit much. Add this to songs that left me underwhelmed and you get the picture. But you very well might love them so take the time to check out their site. I hate dissing any musicians :

http://www.pogirl.net/

Now, on to the music we loved. A real highlight of the festival came next. We had heard the Masanga Marimba Ensemble at last year's WorldFest and loved them and were thrilled to get another chance to see them, both on the Main Stage in the morning and later in a hands-on workshop at the Stage Too in the afternoon. The group consists of Ric Alviso, a World Music professor at CSU Northridge along with a bunch of his students and former students playing seven different marimbas of various sizes and voices along with percussion and some occasional sax or trumpet work. They were joined on the MainStage for a few songs by a group of dancers that made the whole act even more fun. The lower left picture above shows the band with the dancers. And fun is what this group is about, not only for the audience, but I don't think I've ever seen any band members having more obvious fun on stage! Their music is a mixture of African and Latin American styles and is at all times up-tempo and dance-inducing. At the afternoon workshop they had most of the audience rotate onto the stage and try out the marimbas for a few minutes. Entertaining, educational and cross-cultural, their shows, I'm sure, were many people's favorite memory of the festival. Check them out here :

http://www.masanga.com/home.html

Next on the Main Stage was The Jim Lauderdale Bluegrass Band. Jim is a well known singer/songwriter in the country/bluegrass/Americana genre. His songs have been recorded by many country artists like George Strait and the Dixie Chicks. He and his band played an engaging set of his songs which were quite enjoyable even though not my real thing. Millions out there love him so check out his site :

http://www.myspace.com/jimlauderdale

Our next move was to the Stage Too workshop where we saw the group "Girlyman", who we also saw later on the Main Stage. I will handle both performances at once to be concise and because it all has merged in my memory anyway. One of those groups that absolutely defy description, I have to rank Girlyman as one my surprises of the festival. The group consists of
Ty Greenstein, Doris Muramatsu and Nate Borofsky playing a range of instruments including acoustic guitar, electric baritone guitar, banjo, mandolin and djembe, with all three switching off on lead vocals and all doing harmony vocals. Like lots of the acts here, their music is hard to categorize but probably ultimately they are best described as a contemporary folk act. This is a group whose sum is more than the total of its parts. Their songs are pleasant if not terribly memorable and the musicianship is professional if not exactly compelling but their harmony vocals stand out as their strongest attribute and I found myself really liking them and yet still wondering why. I was particularly intrigued by Nate's baritone electric guitar playing. I have NEVER seen a baritone electric before and was knocked out by its ability to move between bass lines, chords and melody fills often sounding totally different in the course of a few bars of music. This instrument helped lend a fullness to the music while keeping a varied, interesting sound. I left their shows that weekend being glad I would soon see them again at the Kate Wolf Festival. The upper left photoo is Girlyman at the Stage Too workshop stage. Check out their site:

http://www.girlyman.com/

The act that next took the Main Stage suffers from the distinction of being my least favorite act of the weekend. The Anonymous 4 featuring Darol Anger and Scott Law center around a quartet of female vocalists doing Appalachian folk music at its most traditional. All have lovely voices and accompanists Darol Anger on fiddle and Scott Law on guitar are masters of their instruments but again this music is not my favorite stuff by a long shot and for the first time all weekend I was a bit bored. But you may love this stuff so here you go:.

http://www.myspace.com/theanonymous4

Well, all good things must end and this festival saved one of its greatest acts for last in Rodney Crowell. This was an act I was eager to see , I have long been a fan of Rodney as a songwriter and as legendary leader of Emmy Lou Harris' Hot Band many years ago. I've heard great stuff about his live shows with his own band and wasn't disappointed at all. Rodney's songs walk that line between folk and country and rock and have earned him Grammys and induction into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. Accompanied by a second guitarist and stand up bass, Rodney did a set of his classics along with a couple new ones. And being Father's Day, it was particularly moving when he called his daughter, Chelsea, up to sing a couple of tunes with him. I gather it was one of few times they've performed on stage together. Highlights for me included his classic "Long Hard Road" and a new one "The Rise and Fall of Intelligent Design". This was a remarkable end to a VERY fun weekend of music. Photo upper right is Rodney and band. Here's a link for Rodney:

http://www.rodneycrowell.com/index.php

So with the traditional Live Oak closing of Joe Dickerson doing "Amazing Grace" on bagpipes, the weekend was over except for clean up and packing the next morning. But we kept from being too sad, knowing that we had a few days vacation to enjoy and then the next weekend we would be at the Kate Wolf Festival for another three days of music. That festival will be the subject of my next review which will be up soon!

LIVE OAK - THE MUSIC - SATURDAY

2009-08-02T14:01:00.000-07:00

Hi campers, sorry there was such a lag in this review, but I refuse to make this blog "homework" and make it a chore. And I've been out having fun and getting distracted, but I'm back at it! And as always, most of the photos courtesy of my lovely wife Becky, with an occasional assist by me.

So our plan on Saturday morning was to get up early and attend a Joe Craven-led jamming workshop at the Stage Too secondary stage at 8:00 AM. It was really hard to get up and motivate. We showed up about a half hour late and watched for awhile but the participants had already broken into groups and we didn't want to be disruptive so we went back to camp and had breakfast. Sorry Joe, we were looking forward to it but will DEFINITELY be at your drum workshop at WorldFest. Here's a link to Joe's site again :

http://www.joecraven.com/Joe_Craven/WELCOME.html

This shift in gears caused us to miss the other early morning music, a pattern we would repeat quite a bit this summer. We just CAN'T do it all! These two bands played the Hot Licks Stage at 8 AM and 9 AM respectively. So I can tell you nothing about the Redskunk Jipzee Swing Band but here's a link:

http://www.redskunkband.com/Home_.html

And The Basically Bluegrass Boys was a band made up of hosts and former hosts of the host station KCBX's bluegrass radio show, they have no band site but here's a link for the station :

http://kcbx.org/

Our musical morning really began at 10:00 AM with "Dawn Lambeth with the Reynolds Brothers Rhythm Rascals" at the Main Stage. Yes that mouthful is their name, though I gather it is a merger of two acts that don't always play together. Dawn Lambeth is a pianist/vocalist and here she was joined by the Rascals featuring Ralf and John Reynolds on washboard and guitars respectively. They did jazz standards from the late 20's and early 30's in a professional but somewhat-over-the-top manner. Dawn's singing was strong if a bit unremarkable and the others' musicianship was at all times great but the whole was undercut by Ralf and John's campy and ultimately annoying stage persona's and attempts at whimsy. While I'm all for not taking oneself TOO seriously, not taking oneself seriously at all is dangerous if you EVER want the audience to take you seriously. I freely admit their style was just not my thing and though their talent was very obvious I was a bit underwhelmed but you may feel differently. Their picture is second from bottom.
Here's a link for Dawn Lambeth:

http://www.usoniajazz.com/

and one for the Reynold Brothers Rhythm Rascals:

http://www.reynoldsbrothers.net/

Next up on the Main Stage was an act I had been most looking forward to, Mamadou Diabate, a kora player from Mali. We have in recent years become big fans of kora music both in a traditional or more modern musical settings. In particular we are fans of Toumani Diabate, Mamadou's cousin and former teacher and renown kora master. The kora is a traditional African 21 string harp that uses a large gourd as a resonator. The bottom picture above is Mamadou and his kora. Mamadou Diabate is a member of the traditional Malian musical caste of griots, or jelis as the Manding tribe refers to them, with a musical history dating back to the 13 th century. The sound of the kora can be quite hypnotic and captivating and Mamadou's music travels between traditional and more modern melodies with equally mesmerizing results. We later got hear him again at Stage Too in an afternoon "workshop" that was really an up-close mini-concert. In the ultimate show of appreciation we bought a copy of his latest CD. Here is a link for Mamadou Diabate:

http://www.mamadoukora.com/index.html

Next up on the Main Stage was Amanda Shaw and the Cute Guys a Cajun act from New Orleans. This New Orleans connection would continue into evening. Unfortunately we chose this time to make lunch back at the campsite and we missed their whole set though we listened to all of it on the radio and really enjoyed it and wished we were there to see it. They played some rocking Cajun music with Amanda singing and playing fiddle and leading her own band at age 18. Later that night they played at the late night Hot Licks Stage dance and again we missed them. But they are really worth checking out. Unfortunately their website seems to have vanished but maybe it will reappear?:

http://www.amandashaw.com/

So after lunch we went to Stage Too and heard workshop shows by Mamadou Diabate (already discussed) and a group called Los Pinguos, who later on would open up the Main Stage evening concert with a slightly larger lineup. I'll tackle both performances together here now. Los Pinguos are a group we have heard several times over the years. The core of the group all hail from Buenos Aires, Argentina and have been playing together in the LA area for the past eight years. They describe Buenos Aires as a melting pot and their music reflects this with varied Latin and Caribbean influences performed mainly acoustically but supplemented with full drums and horns on the Main Stage. At the workshop stage their percussion came mainly from a cajon, a box-shaped wooden Latin drum. The second from the top photo above is Los Pinguos at the workshop stage in this configuration. We first heard them performing as street musicians at the 3rd St Promenade in Santa Monica years back and they won the Ed McMahon hosted StarSearch clone called "The Next Big Star". This band really cooks with some spectacular acoustic guitar work and harmony singing all in Spanish. At the workshop someone commented on the beautiful poetry in the lyrics but my Spanish is too limited to pick much up myself. But music is a universal language and theirs really moved me, enough so that I also purchased their latest CD. Here's a link for Los Pinguos :

http://www.lospinguos.com/alejo/otra/home.htm

After the rocking bigger band set for Los Pinguos, the next act on the Main Stage was Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue who describe their music as Super-Funked New Orleans Jazz but are really much more a rock band than jazz. Trombone Shorty is the nom de guerre of Troy Andrews, a trombone and trumpet prodigy who was leading his own band at age six, was leading Lenny Kravitz's horn section at age 19 and now at the ripe old age of 23 is ripping up stages internationally. His band is just as talented and just as young as he is, with the old man of the group being 26 ( I have clothes older than that, literally!). Its not often you come across a band that is just as at home playing jazz standards like "St James Infirmary" as playing Led Zeppelin covers but this band rocks on a great variety of styles. And talk about high energy! Shorty and the band even led a New Orleans Mardi Gras-style conga line through the audience and the whole Main Stage festival area. And the audience was wild about them, garnering one of biggest reactions of the whole festival. Shorty wouldn't stay still for pictures, the best we could do was the upper-most photo. Check out Shorty's site:

http://tromboneshorty.com/main/index.html

Last act for the evening and continuing the New Orleans theme of the day was "the subdudes" and that's their spelling without capitals. This was another group I was anxious to hear, I'd heard about them but never really heard them before. And they were worth waiting to hear! A quintet of veterans of the New Orleans music scene gone semi-acoustic with some masterful tambourine replacing the drum kit, they have a unique but quintessentially Cajun rock sound that is at one turn folkie and introspective, at the next funky and dance-inducing. The mix of acoustic guitars, dobros and lap steels, accordion and tambourine rhythm, with great harmony vocals, at times reminded of some other New Orleans icons like Dr. John and The Meters and then would sound even a bit like Little Feat when Lowell George was still alive. This was a powerful, professional group with a unique sound firmly establishing themselves among those other Big Easy luminaries. The subdudes are in the center photo above. Here's their link:

http://www.subdudes.com/news/

A great finish to a great day of music, we went back to the camping area, I found some "old" friends from the Thursday Night Lineup to jam with and we called it a night relatively early.

Sweet Talk Radio and Nathan McEuen - House Concert Review

2009-07-27T18:53:00.001-07:00

Putting together a double billed show can be tricky business for everyone involved, the promoter, the acts and the audience. There are a bunch of variables that come into play. The drawing strength in a given area, the artistic compatibility, the relative energy levels of the music are all important factors for those involved. And there are risks involved for everyone. The audience may be risking their time, attention and money on an act they weren't really there to see. The promoter risks alienating their audience if they use acts that are musically incompatible. The acts risk playing in front of a possibly hostile audience, in the case of an opening act, or being upstaged if the headliner. And the promoter faces the possible alienation of the acts in either of these scenarios. Like I said, this can be tricky business! In the "upper-echelon" of the music biz, like the big arena shows, these cobills are most often dictated by record companies, which are often huge multinational corporations used to trampling on the feelings of the acts, the promoters and the audience. When we are talking about independent music and house concerts in particular these options are more often chosen by the promoter or host and often involve some real hard choices.

Which is all a convoluted way to open a review of two really good acts. Or really, as I'll try to describe, one really good act and one act on the verge of greatness. For me that contrast was magnified, because the act I came away raving about was the opening act. And it made me feel sympathy for the headliners who really had a tough act to follow and performed quite admirably in what was, in my humble opinion, a tough cobill for them.

So if you figured out that I LOVED Sweet Talk Radio, give yourself two points, click on their link and buy their CD. No really. I think they are that good. The group is the husband and wife songwriting/performing duo Tim Burlingame and Kathrin Shorr (see above picture) augmented on occasion by keyboardist/percussionist Dennis Hamm, who also appears on their CD. They are both individually and together pros in this area and they have the TV and commercial credits to prove it. Quite a few people in the audience seemed to be fans of theirs. Some called out requests and there was that "recognition applause" at the beginning of a couple tunes and, unfortunately, several people left at intermission.

As the night began and we took our seats, I immediately noticed on stage a Gretsch electric guitar, an acoustic guitar, a mandolin and an electric piano. Not necessarily the usual instrument array at a "acoustic folk" sort of concert. But I was convinced I was in for a treat when the group took the stage and Tim took up that Gretsch electric, with a bottleneck slide in his left hand and an e-bow in his right hand. Most of you are probably not familiar with the e-bow, a real nifty, somewhat esoteric device that electromagnetically vibrates the strings of a guitar producing infinite sustain. In the hands of a pro guitarist who has mastered its subtleties, this device allows guitarists to achieve incredible sounds that can mimic strings, horns and even synthesizer sounds. They are not very common, I have seen maybe a dozen guitarists use one live in the 25 years or so they have existed. Those guitarists all have been exceptional! So you can see that my expectations got pretty high in just a few moments.

My expectations were met and surpassed! That first song with the e-bow slide electric guitar began as a haunting ballad with Kathrin on acoustic guitar rhythm behind Tim's tasty e-bow slide and delivered in Kathrin's husky bluesy voice. Then I realized that the song was a slowed down, spacey reworking of the Thin Lizzy rocker, "The Boys Are Back"! Talk about musical adventurism! From there their set just got better as they settled into their own material, much of it from their debut CD "My Hallelujah" along with some new songs and another cover. Kathrin has an absolutely great voice, at times reminding one of maybe Sheryl Crow, maybe Amy Winehouse, maybe Norah Jones, even a little Fiona Apple, but ultimately unique and captivating. It can be a cliche to describe a female vocalist as sounding sexy but even Becky commented on how sensual she sounded. That was reinforced by her playful stage presence and interactions with Tim. And if her amazing voice was what allowed the band to achieve incredible heights, it was Tim's understated yet technically brilliant guitar work, background vocals and occasional lead vocals that underpinned the whole structure to allow those heights to be reached.

The varied instruments the duo played kept things interesting. Tim switched to mandolin on a tune or two and Kathrin alternated between acoustic guitar, mandolin and just sang on a couple of songs. Add to this the fullness offered on some songs by Dennis Hamm's piano and percussion and the band really delivered. Among the highlights for me was the title track from their CD "My Hallelujah" which comes off as a folksy hymn to the religion of Romance, an interesting cover of Van Morrison's "Moondance" and a bluesy "Ballad of Hank Williams" which again featured Tim's slide guitar (minus the e-bow this time) and background vocals behind Kathrin's dark atmospheric vocals. But the song I think may break-out for them, the one I expect may get radio play is "Lovesick", one of those bouncy, quirky-yet-catchy anti-love anthems that the world seems to love. I have a feeling that soon it may be stuck in your brain like its now stuck in mine! And I hope Tim and Kathrin's marriage at home works as well as their Sweet Talk Radio marriage does on stage because, at least on this night, they appeared to be a pair destined for greatness!

At intermission, we stuffed ourselves with chocolate, only to pay homage to our hostess, Renee Bodie, a self-confessed chocoholic. She sometimes claims she does house concerts for the chocolate, not the music, but don't believe that. As we mingled, I realized that we had a house concert industry convention started here. In addition to our hostess, Renee Bodie, in attendance were Scott and Rosemary Duncan from Duncan House Concerts in Ventura and Russ and Julie Paris, from Russ and Julie's House Concerts in nearby Oak Park, the pioneers of house concerts in SoCal. Its always great to see these folks supporting each other. And of course you know, I bought a Sweet Talk Radio CD and had it signed. So did my visiting buddy Erik, who joined us that evening for his first taste of a house concert and he was captivated by the whole thing. But nagging at me, while I was still very much on a musical high, was sympathy for the act that had to follow such pros. A lot of big-time acts would have trouble following them on stage and while I had never heard the next act, I knew that they were young.

I probably should have worried about something else because Nathan McEuen has quite the musical lineage and has been on stage since he was a little kid. His dad, John McEuen was a founding member of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and still plays around this area and his older brother, Jonathan McEuen has his own band that has a following. So this young man knows a thing or two about performing.

When the band took the stage with Nathan, I was immediately stuck by how young they all looked. I admit I'm not always great at guessing ages, but they all looked to be in their early to mid-twenties except the mandolinist who barely looks to be driving age (I'm sure he's older than he looks, I'll have more to say about him later). Nathan and the band launched into their opening song ,"Quicker at the Draw", a bouncy bluegrassy tune and then followed it with the Los Lobos classic "Saint Behind the Glass" firmly planting the band's sound in that area of old style/new material that is often described as Americana. This band may be young-looking but they are serious musicians. Nathan played acoustic guitar and sang lead in a full, rich voice. He was backed up by Elaine Gregston on accordion, Chuck Hailes on stand up bass and vocals and Scott Gates on mandolin and vocals. This is a tight professional band but the stand out, by far, is Scott on mandolin. If he is anywhere near as young as he looks he is quite a prodigy, playing lead mandolin lines as fast as any I've heard and for most part quite tasty.

The band served up a set that covered quite a bit of musical ground. There were some original tunes by Nathan, written alone and with co writers, interspersed with covers. The originals included the folkish "Beautiful Night", the Tex-Mex meets rockabilly sound of "Fool Around" , the lush ballad "Grand Design" co written with Crosby Loggins and my favorite "Moonrise". The covers included bluegrass/swing master Bill Monroe's "Good Woman's Love", a campy, a bit over-the-top "It's Now or Never" made famous by some guy named Elvis and my favorite, a traditional reworking of the Rodney Crowell classic " Long Hard Road". Nathan and the band did all this with professionalism and taste (with the possible exception of the Elvis tune) and the audience seemed to really like them, with a lot of applause especially for Scott's solos.

And I really enjoyed their music a lot personally even if they never hit the transcendent heights that the openers did. As I have stated, it was a tough spot for them following an act like that. But there a few specific ideas I would humbly offer that might make them an even stronger act. First and foremost, if they are going to bill the act as "Nathan McEuen" he needs to command the "spotlight" more. For some reason he and Scott were sharing one microphone and Nathan spent almost the whole night turned sideways to the audience. And looking at older pictures on his website this seems to be standard procedure for them. So, first off, face the audience! And then, we'd like to get to know you! Let's see more personality in your song introductions and stage patter as well as while you're delivering songs. I came from the night feeling like Kathrin and Tim from Sweet Talk Radio were folks I really know but I got no such familiarity from Nathan. Another minor problem is the static instrumentation. All songs offered the exact same instruments used pretty much the same way. Scott played most of the solos, as is probably warranted given his talent, with a couple of guitar solos by Nathan. Elaine on accordion played no solos, which might have given some variety of sound and I wouldn't mind seeing what Nathan could do with an a electric guitar at times. And adding a fiddle could be a natural addition to the sonic palette.

I understand there are probably good economic reasons to feature Nathan's somewhat-known name rather than being "The ________", but the band could be featured more if they were "Nathan McEuen and the ______" or "The ________ featuring Nathan McEuen" if Nathan is uncomfortable as the "frontman". But I would recommend using "The Nathan McEuen Band featuring Scott Gates" because the kid has that magical "IT" that will make him a star one of these days.

So there lies my tale of the two bands, one very good, one approaching greatness and some very difficult scheduling choices. I may have scheduled them in opposite roles were it me doing the booking yet both acts performed great in their assigned places, so who knows if it would have worked better the other way? Reviewing, like setting up cobills, is also tricky business!

As always here are links for all involved.

First for Bodie House Concerts

http://www.jrp-graphics.com/bodiehouse/index.html

Next for Nathan McEuen

http://www.nathanmceuen.net/

And finally, for Sweet Talk Radio

http://www.sweettalkradio.com/

Bodie House Concerts - Venue Review

2009-07-27T16:40:00.000-07:00

Bodie House Concerts is one of the longer running house concert series in Southern California and was the second series where Becky and I became semi-regulars. The host is Renee Bodie, an extremely friendly person who is passionate about live acoustic music. In addition to running this series, this past June she ran the two day LA Acoustic Music Festival on the Santa Monica Pier as a benefit for the California Acoustic Music Project ( CAMP ) which is an organisation bringing acoustic music to our schools, an extremely vital and noble task. Renee also serves on the Boards of the FAR-West and Folk Alliance International folk music organisations. There are few out there more dedicated to the cause of acoustic music. And I have even seen her, reluctantly, take the stage to perform a song she wrote as part of a songwriting workshop. I always admire someone who walks the walk!

For the past year or so, Renee has been holding most of her house concerts at the Thousand Oaks Library. Prior to this, her concerts were held in her lovely living room in more conventional house concert fashion. We have had the pleasure of attending many great concerts in her home and always found it comfortable and fun but at this point, all her announced shows going forward are scheduled for the Library, so, for now, that is the venue I'm reviewing. If the series continues at her house at some future time, I will review that venue in a separate review.

Despite the gleaming modern building in a park-like setting, this is still very much a house concert. Upon entering, in the lobby, the pot-luck dessert and appetizer bar are set up for refreshment prior to the show and at intermission. Because it's at the library, there is no wine as there is at many house concerts, but there are soft drinks and sweets galore. There are also tables set up for the acts to sell CDs and other merchandise and tables with printed info on Bodie House Concerts and all the other house concert series in the area as well as info on the other music organisations in which Renee is active. Just off the lobby, there is a largish hall that holds the concert. Payment at the door is by donation in the bowl with a "suggested" donation which this night is $15 for a strong double-billed lineup.

This past Saturday night when we visited there were about eighty chairs set out in aisles with an amazing amount of room between chairs. Being kind, most house concerts can be described as "cozy" or "intimate" and you stand a chance of being "intimate" with the person sitting next to you. No claustrophobia issues here, I've never been so comfortable at a house concert. And there was plenty of room to add more rows in the back without squeezing in at all. I have no idea on the legal capacity but my guesstimate is that 120 or so could still be quite comfortable. We were there in the "dog days" of July when I would guess attendance is a little more sparse.

On the night we attended, they had a sound system that was more than adequate for the size of the room and apparently someone who knows their stuff was running it. The sound was excellent all night long for both acts we saw. I don't know if the equipment belongs to the library, to Renee or to someone else.

Bodie House Concerts books some of the big names in acoustic music both from this area and touring groups from all over the US and Canada. In the past we have seen such acts as John Batdorf, James Lee Stanley, Kenny Edwards, Wendy Waldman, Lowen and Navarro and a few more. The quality of music has always been high and I trust Renee's taste completely...if she books them, they must be great. I highly recommend you attend one of her shows if you are in this area.

Here are links for:

Bodie House Concerts

http://www.jrp-graphics.com/bodiehouse/index.html

LA Acoustic Music Festival

http://www.laacousticmusicfestival.com/

Back From WorldFest

2009-07-20T20:12:00.000-07:00

Hi all! Just a quick howdy. We're back from WorldFest with pages of notes, some new CDs, lots of pictures and a bunch of short vids. Its gonna take several days of inventing new adjectives to describe how much fun we had! So keep a watch for the finish of my Live Oak reviews, reports from the Kate Wolf Festival and now from WorldFest, where I think I discovered a star in the making! And also watch for some news about this blog itself, I think we may have some exciting exclusives coming up!!!! Details coming soon!

See You Next Week

2009-07-13T19:40:00.000-07:00

We are off to WorldFest in Grass Valley, CA on Wednesday, so this is my last blog until we're back in a week. I'd hoped to have been further along in my festival reviews but fun has intruded repeatedly. I'm taking full advantage of all that goes on this time of year , I have all winter to get caught up! All in all I'm pretty proud of my output in my first eight days of blogging. I hope there are at least a few of you out there enjoying it! I'd love to hear from any of you out there.

John Batdorf and James Lee Stanley - House Concert Review

2009-07-12T20:12:00.000-07:00

So, those of you who have been following this blog know that last night was the first house concert I was scheduled to attend since I started this blog and decided to review house concerts. So, of course, the cosmos, fickle friend to us all, decides that this should be the night I foolishly get the time wrong! We barge into the house concert a half an hour late, with it already started, and nearly bowl over the co star, James Lee Stanley and the host, Scott Duncan. Hugely embarrassing, but you know what? I later on figure out I picked the BEST time for a mishap like this. First, there are no more gracious hosts than Scott and Rosemary Duncan who made sure we got settled and comfortable. Second, we nearly bowled over probably the nicest, most affable, and unflappable man in show business, James Lee Stanley. And third, we missed a small portion of a night so hugely entertaining, so full of virtuosic guitar playing and soaring harmonies that we still got waaay more than our money's worth of entertainment.

If you are are not familiar, John Batdorf, back in the early seventies, was the talent-heavy half of the duo Batdorf and Rodney. They achieved some success recording for Ahmet Ertegun at Atlantic Records. No AM hits but lots of FM airplay. He wrote some wonderful songs back then, among them "Home Again" , "Don't You Hear Me Callin' " and"Let Me Go". Becky and I remember them fondly because they were on tapes we used at work at the Last National Bank Restaurant, the place we originally started dating and fell in love. John later spent a bunch of years doing TV and movie soundtrack work for the likes of "Touched By An Angel" and "The Promised Land" as well as singing for commercials. He recently has begun performing again as a solo artist and just released an amazing new album of all new material called "Old Man Dreamin' " that is fantastic. Check out this link for a review by someone far more eloquent than I am :

http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/index.php/archives/2009/07/08/old-man-dreamin/

James Lee Stanley has been doing the singer/songwriter thing for decades also and has a CD catalog going back to the 70s as well. He is known as one of the best voices around and is revered for his storytelling and humor. He is also an amazing guitarist and has learned to incorporate looping to great effect without being gimmicky or over-the-top.

John and James have been friends since the early seventies and back in 2003 they got together and recorded "All Wood and Stones", a reworking of some of the early Rolling Stones catalog done as SoCal acoustic rock with harmony vocals. In addition to doing some of the mellower Stones stuff fairly true to the originals, they also attack some of the rockers greatly rearranged. It all works splendidly both on CD and done live.

So, as I have already reluctantly admitted, we missed a bit of the opening of the show, arriving as John was finishing his first solo section of the show. He had wowed the crowd with some of his new album, including "What D'Ya Got" an anthem to the down-sizing of the American Dream and the power of personal relationships to pull us all through. Like real life, a complete blend of cynical complaint and life-affirming celebration. Then James took the spotlight with some of his solo work and of course his patented introductions which often last twice as long as the songs themselves and always are hilarious. It has always amazed me that he can tell a hysterical anecdote about his mother's "clairvoyance" in finding his first Playboy Magazine in its elaborate hiding place, all in the way of introducing "Let the Tree Fall" the poignant song he wrote for his mom after she passed. It is a real glimpse at the true talent of this man; the chorus of this song says "let the tree fall, let the river flow, and when the time comes...you just let go". I would normally be the first to accuse him of New Age triteness, but sung in James' soothing full tenor, it becomes a moving paean to picking up the pieces of one's life. Another highlight was his cover of the classic "Its All in the Game" with his voice sounding like a rich blend of Nat King Cole meets Mel Torme (for the youngsters, those guys were singers many moons ago). And his brilliant "The Stolen Season" was made even more meaningful by his intro of how he was inspired by Gwyneth Paltrow in "Shakespeare in Love" ( one of my fave movies!).

After an intermission where we had a chance to mingle and munch and, most importantly, buy CDs, the second half began with the guys sharing the stage, helping each other out on their respective solo material and doing more "All Wood and Stones" . We heard some real gems including James' dark brooding vocal reading of "Paint It Black" , the transcendent guitar picking and harmonizing by both on John's Batdorf and Rodney classic, "Let Me Go" and a great rendition by James of Dylan's "Just Like Thom Thumb's Blues" . Also incredible was John's rearrangement of "19th Nervous Breakdown" of which James said, other than changing the chords, the melody, the rhythm and the lyrics, its a faithful rendition! And when, during the Stones' classic they both sing "this may be the last time" it truly sounds apocalyptic but we all were certainly hoping it wouldn't be the last we heard this duo. In fact, I said to Becky on the way home "Those guys should play together ALL THE TIME!" I can only imagine the bliss of hearing them with a full band live. I'm available guys if you need a road manager!

So now some links:

If you missed the link for the Duncan House Concerts here's that one again :

http://www.myspace.com/duncanhouseconcerts

John Batdorf has a couple of websites and there's one for Batdorf and Rodney :

http://www.johnbatdorfmusic.com/index.html

http://www.reverbnation.com/johnbatdorf

http://batdorfandrodney.tripod.com/indexframe.html

James Lee Stanley also has two sites, the first, Freelance Human Being, is his main site (I'd love to steal the name!) and his other site is a blog full of tips for musicians and house concert hosts and is VERY informative and entertaining :

http://www.jamesleestanley.com/index.html

http://www.datamusicata.com/

Duncan House Concerts - Venue Review

2009-07-12T16:39:00.000-07:00

So, between rushing to concerts, trying to figure out the nuts and bolts of this blogging thing, rushing to write reviews on shows I've already seen, and getting ready for next week's WorldFest trip, and oh yeah I DO have a job too! , (I'm getting tired just typing all that) I want to squeeze in a quick overview of the venue for the show I'm about to review. I'm sorry if its brief but that's the best I can do now, and I can make it right later when there's time.

Good fortune fell our way when Scott Duncan (that's him in the pic to the left) (pics stolen from Scott's website!) and his wife Rosemary moved to Ventura, about 5 miles from our home. They had done house concerts in West LA near the airport for about ten years before moving our way. They have been doing shows in Ventura since last October and this was I think the third or fourth show we've seen there. Its a comfortable place to see a show. In a very nice but unpretentious tract home in a nice neighborhood in Ventura (see top pic), his living room holds I guess about 60-70 max. in mainly resin patio type chairs, some with cushions! These chairs are actually more comfortable then the folding chairs we often end up in and are a welcome place to park my aging butt. Scott and Rosemary are very gracious hosts. Rosemary, in particular, goes really far out of her way to make all feel comfortable and welcome.

Like all house concerts there is a bowl on a table as you walk in for your $15 artist "donation". This keeps it all a private party for zoning, etc. Like most house concerts they have a "potluck" appetizer, dessert, beverage bar out in the back yard for pre concert and intermission refreshment. They provide soft drinks and cups, etc. Most or at least many of us audience members bring goodies with us. Chocolate abounds and we can never resist it. I usually bring a carved up pineapple with strawberries and a bunch of toothpicks just to be different and healthy. To help defray their costs, the Duncans put contribution jars out with the refreshments but give out raffle tickets with donations, then raffle off small prizes at intermission's end. Some items are provided by the artists, some by the Duncans.Its a different way to help out, and I like it. Some other venues recruit sponsors to help with costs which is totally cool, but this is a little more fun.

This venue operates with no house PA system. Occasionally an act will bring one but, more often than not, its a straight acoustic show. This is almost never a problem, its a small room with nice, live, hardwood floors (the sound is live, the wood is not, if that sounds funny) and the acoustics are excellent. The crowd here, while it will vary a bit act to act, is very friendly, tends to be oldish (like me) but not at all flashy-money people, very middle of the road. We've made friends here, we've seen people we know from the community here, and we've seen other faces we recognize from shows elsewhere here.

One word of warning. Scott books acts on various weekend nights including very often on Sundays. The start times can vary quite a bit. Don't be like me last night (you'll read about it soon in the review), check the day, date ,and time very closely when making plans and avoid dangerous assumptions.

So far Scott has booked a wide range of acts, and does many co bill, two act shows also which is a great way to hear even more of a variety of acts. Some have been acts I already know, some acts I've heard of but not heard and some that are totally new to me. And this is just as I think it should be. Acts I know put my mind at ease and make me more confident in hearing the acts I've never heard of. But I'm always looking to hear new stuff and Scott has turned us on to some great ones!

Housekeeping and a Dilemma

2009-07-11T15:58:00.000-07:00

Just a few quick housekeeping notes. I have added some pictures and a couple short video segments. These are obviously unedited due to time and talent restrictions. I hope to improve their presentation through editing, cropping, zooming. etc. But I wanted to get some up before we leave town again. You can click on them for bigger size , which helps.
Almost all the photos are by my talented and lovely wife, Becky Glenn, with a couple by me braving the crowd for a better vantage point. Trust me, her photos are much better than my presentation reveals. I'll try to give her pics better editing and proper photo credits when I learn how.
Because I have added pics and vids I have restricted how many load up at once. Its now set for 3 posts per page. Let me know what you think. Also the comments thing should now allow anyone to comment without registering or anything, though I will preview them before they appear, to cut out spam and porn, etc.
And you see I took a little break in format to include the Playing for Change and Joan Baez concerts on the Santa Monica Pier. Well its my party and I'll cry if I want to!
Tonight we're off to the first house concert since I started this. John Batdorf and James Lee Stanley at the Duncan House Concert right in Ventura about 5 miles from home. They'll play both solo and together doing "All Wood and Stones" the CD they made together revisiting the songs of the early Rolling Stones done SoCal acoustic style.
We'll try to get pics and get a review up before we go to WorldFest. Its a real dilemma, having so much fun there's no time to write about how much fun we're having! It's just hectic in festival season!

"Saint" Joan by the Sea

2009-07-10T16:35:00.000-07:00

So, it was the source of some debate for us last week. After having seen the Internet phenomenom band "Playing for Change" at the Santa Monica Pier last Thursday night, we wondered if the rather modest size crowd of that night would be repeated or exceeded the following Thursday when we returned to see Joan Baez. I wasn't sure myself. Could the viral power of the internet, which made the "Playing for Change" video of "Stand By Me" such an inspirational success, trump almost 5 decades of musical accomplishment and social activism? Good news, fellow boomers! The crowd that showed up to see Joan last night grew so large they had to stop letting people in to the free concert and over-whelmed security finally gave up at keeping fire lanes open as they had been insisting on earlier in the night.

Well since I brought it up already, a quick review of last week's show. The Playing for Change Band was formed of some of the participants of the "Stand by Me" video, brought together from all over the world for this tour. Members of the band come from Africa, South America, Europe, the Caribbean and North America. The various musicians took turns in the spotlight doing a varied repertoire of ethnic music from their native areas, original tunes and some pop and soul standards. Despite some audio problems and a very out-of -tune guitar that apparently only I could hear, the band played a spirited set of crowd pleasing , life -affirming feel-good music and we really enjoyed it. The opening act was local reggae talent Bushman who sounded good also.
Check out video below.

Anyhow, back to last night. Joan looks great! And she sounds great still! Again there were some difficulties with the sound so the band finally said they would compensate for it on stage, which they did successfully. Her band consistedof a guitar/mandola player who sang background, a stand up bassist, a mandolin/fiddle/ pianist, and a hand percussionist. Unfortunarely the only musician's name I caught was the percussionist, who is named Gabriel Harris and, if I'm not mistaken, is Joan's son. I'll have to check that out.

I admit, over the years I've been kind of up and down on Joan's music, I generally like most of it but she tends to sound bland and boring sometimes. Well she really wowed me last night, performing some new songs as well as the gems of the past you'd expect. The emotional highlight came when she introduced a song she swore she would never do as nostalgia and dedicated it to the people of Iran. She then led the crowd in a moving singalong of "We Shall Overcome" and when she delivered the last verse in Farsi, we were shocked how many in the crowd could still sing along. Lots of Iranian emigrees in SoCal. The other highlights for me were the labor movement anthem "Joe Hill", a great version of "Don't Think Twice Its Alright" where she sang the last verse doing her best Bob Dylan impression (yes, really, I was pretty shocked too!), and ,as an encore, "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down". All in all a really nice time. And I love the fact that Joan is still out there daily fighting the good fight for social justice etc. I'll always admire her for that even after her voice goes away!

LIVE OAK FESTIVAL - THE MUSIC - FRIDAY

2009-07-09T11:01:00.000-07:00

Well, now that some preliminaries are taken care of, I can get to this blog's real mission - a discussion of the music. But one other thing you should note - It is nearly impossible to go to one of these music festivals and hear ALL the music. First off there are schedule conflicts where acts are on at the same time in different locations and choices must be made. Then of course there is the need to eat, sleep a bit, grab an occasional shower and take care of other bodily functions. And then, as a musician, there is the opportunity to jam with other players, sometimes at the expense of catching a live act. The saving factor in this, at Live Oak and most other festivals, is the fact that almost all acts are broadcast live on a low powered FM station that serves the festival grounds. So some acts may not be seen but are still heard. In doing these reviews I will let you know if I didn't actually see the act in question and will also let you know which acts I just outright missed. My apologies to my readers ( if I really have any! ) and to those acts I missed., I will endeavor to include links to acts websites when I can, and I encourage you to check them out, whether it was an act I heard and liked, or one I didn't like, or one I just missed. All of these acts are pros doing worthwhile music whether it meets my taste or not they are worth a look.

So first of all, here's a link to the festival's website that you may want to peruse

http://www.liveoakfest.org/pp/index.shtml

Now on to the music, taking things chronologically

FRIDAY, JUNE 19TH

Live Oak traditionally starts off on Friday night with Joe Dickerson playing his bagpipes briefly as a sort of a Welcome Ceremony. Then the emcee, Joe Craven, comes out and starts introducing the acts. For those not aware of Joe, he is a fixture in the Central/Northern California music scene as a mandolinist/fiddler/tenor guitarist/singer/percussionist/songwriter/workshop facilitator/educator/crusader and I could probably add slashes and other roles until my fingers bleed. He is quite a guy, a real character and interestingly is the only performer to appear at all three festivals we have gone to/will go to this summer. He is a fixture at festivals all across the country so those of you in other places probably could have a chance to see him somewhere. He is also one of the most ADVENTUROUS dressers I have ever seen.

So the first act to hit the stage was Rancho Deluxe, an alternative country band. Unfortunately I started the festival by missing them completely, which was disappointing to me, because I was looking forward to hearing them, but time got away from me setting up our campsite. Here is a link for them, they really deserve more than I'm offering but oh well.

http://www.ranchodeluxe.org/

Next up was Terry Evans, a soulful singer from Central/Northern California, who did a really nice set of soul and rhythm and blues in the vein of Otis Redding or Joe Tex. Terry has played with a host of major names like Boz Scaggs and Ry Cooder to name just a couple. He had a really tight band and really put on a stirring show I really enjoyed. But I have to say, this is an act that would be even better in a bar setting rather than on the festival stage. I don't know why, but some acts are just made to heard while getting loaded and dancing in a nightclub! Here's a link for Terry

http://www.terryevansmusic.com/

Next up was Old Bind Dogs, described as a Traditional Scottish group. Even though I have extremely eclectic taste, Scottish music is not something I'm really into so we chose this time period to eat dinner back at the campsite,. We did catch about half their set and listened to the rest on the radio. These guys are really virtuoso players playing music I'm just not that into, but I still enjoyed them a bit. They also played later that evening at the late night Hot Licks Dance but we were jamming back at the campsite and skipped that. Their photo is above on the bottom. Here's their link

http://www.oldblinddogs.co.uk/

The last act of the night on the Main Stage was Dave Alvin and the Guilty Women, one of the acts I was most looking forward to. For those unfamiliar with Dave, he used to front the group "The Blasters" and has been a fixture of California music for decades. His work these days is in that gray area where folk meets blues meets rock meets bluegrass often classified these days as Americana or American Roots music. We've been fans for a while, I just love his song "The King of California" a song that grabbed me immediately and I haven't tired of in a dozen or so years. His band for this tour, The Guilty Women, are a male musician's dream, 7 attractive women who all happen to be world-class kick-ass musicians. Of particular note are the wonderful Cindy Cashdollar on lap-steel and dobro, top session player Sarah Brown on bass and California guitar legend Nina Gerber who is amazing. Add in the dual fiddles of Laurie Lewis and Amy Farris, drummer Lisa Pankratz and vocalist Christy McWilson and you have one great band playing some really delightful Alvin tunes. This band is no novelty act- they are the real deal! Upper left photo is this band, sorry such a bad pic, I've got better of them from the Kate Wolf Fest but to use them here would be dishonest I guess. Here's Dave's website

http://www.davealvin.net/home.html

That was the close of Friday night. We were beat and retired early, anticipating the next day of fun which I will tackle next post.

Comments Etc.

2009-07-09T08:35:00.001-07:00

I just realized this site requires you to have a gmail account to comment and I know most of you don't have one. You can email your comments, questions, etc to me at pskrantz@gmail.com. This is an email address dedicated to just this site and separate from my personal email. I will then periodically put the comments or questions in a post dedicated to comments only. Hopefully that will solve this dilemma at least temporarily until I can come up with something better. Maybe this will stimulate a little discussion.

The Live Oak Music Festival

2009-07-06T19:34:00.000-07:00

On our way back from back-to-back festivals, I told my wife Becky that, even if other festivals might be better, Live Oak will always be our "home" festival. It takes place at Live Oak Camp which is next to Lake Cachuma, CA , about 20 minutes north of Santa Barbara and a little more than an hour north of our home. Its quite convenient for us.

The festival is run as a benefit for KCBX radio, a public radio outlet on CA's central coast. It is held every year on Father's Day Weekend and consists of three days and nights of music camping and all around fun. This was the 21st annual but only our third year going and it was on June 19,20,21. Live Oak is a pretty eclectic festival, some acoustic acts, some full bands, a smattering of world music, a little dash of rock and roll. It definitely leans towards folk,bluegrass,blues sort of direction but always with some diversity and at least a few bands that rock out a bit. Most of the music takes place in what is called the Main Stage, a pretty professional stage set up in a large field, where the audience sets up their low backed chairs and blankets. See a picture up above. There are also a few other venues at the festival, one at the other end of the property that they call Stage Too where they hold smaller concert/workshops during the day and at night host the dances they put on for teens. Another venue closer to the Main Stage,called the Hot Licks Stage, hosts the early morning concerts and late night dances for grown-ups. There is also a stage for kid's shows.

One of the Live Oak traditions is the Thursday night Line Up. On Thursday afternoon, the day before the festival starts, you can put your vehicle in the lineup for camping spaces on Friday morning but you must sleep in or next to your vehicle. On Friday morning at 8:00 am they let you in, in the order you are lined up and there is a mad dash to claim camping spots. Becky loves my description of this - " a latter day hippie land rush". There is a picture of this in lower picture above.

The area for camping is varied, much of it has many oak trees for shade but there are also areas that are pretty much out in the sun. BTW this is a very hot area, a bit inland. Our first year here the weather was in triple digits all weekend but the past 2 years have been in the mid to high 80s. Some years camping can be really crowded. We have tried to go to sleep listening to the couple in the next tent make noisy love, been woken up in the morning by screaming kids, and this year were even kept awake by a band with a full drum kit in a campsite right near us. But everyone is pretty nice and proximity can just help you make new friends, and we made quite a few this year.

There are quite a few porta-potties spread over the property and they are cleaned once or twice a day. There are showers near the central area by the main stage, but they are in a roofless structure, with just a men's side and a woman's side and then a big open shower area with about six showers but no stalls or anything for privacy. There is hot water but it is non adjustable and can vary from very hot to cold depending on luck. The festival area has food vendors and some crafts etc. Not a great variety of food available and only one vendor sells coffee which can make for some looongg early morning lines.

In general this is a very laid-back, well run festival. It attracts a wide variety of people, lots of older people but many young people also, many have "grown up" attending the festival with their family. It does tend to attract a bit older crowd then some other festivals though. The majority of people come from the central coast area around San Luis Obispo, where the festival started, with added folks from the Santa Barbara and Ventura areas. I actually ran into three different people I know from Ventura College, where I work. My major criticism with how this festival runs is the "down time" between acts on the Main Stage, sometimes a half an hour. It seems a better alternation of small acts/ big acts, and acoustic/electric could keep things moving as some of the other festivals do.

Well that's an overview of the Live Oak Festival. In the next day or so I'll try to get my music reviews from this festival up on this site. And,oh yeah, if anyone actually reads this and has comments or questions or their own experience to share, I'd love to hear it all!

Why is there air?

2009-07-05T17:37:00.000-07:00

My apologies to the Cos for stealing the title of this post, but I thought I might start this off with a brief explanation as to the what and why of this blog. If you're reading this anywhere near approaching real time, you either already know me or you just got really,really lucky. I've had a life-long interest in live music. In addition to being an amateur musician, I have spent time professionally running bars and nightclubs and have also spent some time being a booking agent ( all this was back in the Hartford,Conn. area ). In the last several years, my wife, Becky and I have been attending houseconcerts and music festivals here in California. If you are like most people and haven't heard about houseconcerts, well they are just what they sound like. Folks open their homes for performers to appear there, with all money from the door going to the musicians. It is all a labor of love for the folks doing it, if anything it costs them money. Recently it occurred to me that, while there are great sites promoting houseconcerts, no one seemed to be reviewing them on a regular basis. Well, I'm stepping up to fill that niche. I plan on doing reviews of not only the houseconcert shows we see, but also of the venues themselves, as we find there are notable differences between them. The same thing applies to music festivals, I will be reviewing the festivals themselves, the locations, the kind of crowds, facilities, etc, as well as reviewing the music itself. And since we are just back from consecutive music festivals, I will be starting with their reviews first, I hope to have my first installment up in the next day or so. I'm not sure where this will all lead or whether anyone will actually read it, but here goes nothing!