Blogger's Note

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

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

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.