Concert #527 - Chip Taylor at McCabe's Guitar Shop (October 30, 2009)

Initially announced as a Chip Taylor-Kendel Carson double-bill, the evening started with a huge disappointment: Kendel had fallen ill and was unable to appear. Bummer ... but in the end, things worked out fine, thanks to Chip and his outstanding supporting cast, which included John Platania, best known as Van Morrison's lead guitarist, session-man-extraordinaire Greg Leisz and, last but not least, brother Jon Voight.

Jon sat in the audience, just like the rest of us, and took the stage twice, at the invitation of little brother Chip. Together, they sang Chip's first-ever song, "Faded Blue", a sad puppy-love song. The highlight of the show was Jon's pompously declamatory delivery of "Wild Thing" - we all laughed at the contrast between the hollow lyrics of the song and Jon's over-the-top interpretation.

Brothers Chip Taylor and Jon Voight at McCabe's

Chip played many songs from his then-current album, "Yonkers, NY". Most of these songs came with a story, and that may have been the show's only fault: there were too many long stories. But the songs were good, especially "Bastard Brothers", "Charcoal Sky" and "Hey Johnny, Did You Feel That Movie".

Chip's band was top-notch. I absolutely adored John Platania's guitar and Greg Leisz was great, too. I can't wait to see them again, hopefully with Kendel Carson.

John Platania

Chip Taylor on the stage, after the show

Right there at McCabe's, I bought Chip's "Yonkers, NY" CD, a beautifully designed small book that came with two CDs, selling for a paltry $10. The first CD has all the songs, complete with the aforementioned stories, narrated by Chip himself. The second CD has nothing but the songs, no narratives, and is a good one. John Platania, Greg Leisz and Kendel Carson are playing on all tracks,

Watch this HD video that, in addition to Chip Taylor, features John Platania and Kendel Carson as well:

 

Concert #528 - Kris Kristofferson at the Walt Disney Concert Hall (November 1, 2009)

After the mind-blowing Kris Kristofferson concert I attended in October 2008, I absolutely had to see him again, preferably solo and acoustic. The opportunity came one year later, at the beautiful Walt Disney Concert Hall. I sat three or four rows from the stage, on the left side, close enough to see his facial expressions.

The stage was practically empty, with just the bare essentials a singer-songwriter would need. Dressed in black, Kris came out with his acoustic guitar and a harmonica hanging from his neck. He opened with "Closer To The Bone," the title track from his most recent album. What followed was a true "Best Of Kris Kristofferson", with at least twenty five songs, mostly his gems from decades ago, but also some newer songs, which, by the way, sounded quite good and were well received by the crowd.

PARTIAL SET LIST

"Jesus Was A Capricorn,"

"Shipwrecked In The Eighties"

"Me And Bobby McGee"

"Help Me Make It Through the Night"

"For The Good Times"

"Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down"

"Jody And The Kid"

"Thank You"

"Here Comes That Rainbow Again"

"Love Don't Live Here Anymore"

"Darby's Castle"

"The Silver-Tongued Devil And I"

"Closer To The Bone"

"Why Me Lord"

"The Pilgrim: Chapter 33"

"Loving Her Was Easier (Than Anything I'll Ever Do Again)"

With songs like these, you don't need a tenor's voice, nor the guitar chops of Jimi Hendrix to keep an audience captive. Kris' voice was a bit rockier than during his younger days, but that's exactly how I was expecting it to sound at his tender age of seventy-three. He ended most songs with the same two quick words, "Thank You", meant to signal that it was time for us to applaud.

Here's a short video of Kris Kristofferson singing "Help Me Make It Through The Night":

The show was not a sell out, but there were plenty of people there. Kris appeared to be a humble artist who was happy to still be able to draw a crowd.

Walt Disney Concert Hall

Walt Disney Concert Hall

Concert #529 - Loudon Wainwright & Richard Thompson at the Royce Hall (November 13, 2009)

Loudo and RT - a pairing made in heaven, if there ever was one. I first started hearing rumors about a possible tour involving the two in 2008. Then the announcement came and a few months later I was holding in my hand a priceless ticket that entitled me to sit in the third row, dead center. That was a well-deserved reward for a true fan of both artists - at that point in time, I had seen them for a combined total of thirty-five times (seventeen times Loudon, eighteen times Richard).

Their tour had a fabulous name: "Loud and Rich". I can imagine how much fun they had spending time together, after having been good friends and musical collaborators for so many years.

Loudon opened the show with a fairly long set, seventy minutes in all. I was in the mood for an evening of "Loudon's Best", but it was Loudon who called the shots and he chose to showcase some of his newer material. He had just written a series of songs about the country's ailing economy and financial collapse. "I plan to cash in", said Loudon, then he went ahead and played "Cash For Clunkers". He also played a few songs from his "Charlie Poole Project" album, which later brought him his first and only Grammy.

Loudon sang "Unfriendly Skies", a very funny song about an airline employee named Suzie who had mistreated his Martin guitar at the Durango airport. Also in Loudon's set list: "Half Fist", "Dead Man" and "White Winos". Richard joined him on stage for Loudon's last two songs, one of them was "If I Lose".


After the intermission, out came Richard Thompson, with better-than-ever vocals and powerful and precise guitar playing. Among other songs, he played "Cold Kisses", "Time Will Break You" from "Cabaret Of Souls", "Crawl Back" and "1952 Vincent Black Lightning". Later in the set, Loudon joined Richard for a few more songs together: "Down Where The Drunkards Roll", Bob Dylan's "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere", Leiber & Stoller's "Smokey Joe's Cafe" and finally "At The End Of A Long, Lonely Day" from the repertoire of Marty Robbins. At one point, Loudon broke one of his guitar strings and while he was busy with his problem, Richard played a few bars from "Mr. Sandman", which was his humorous and very musical way of faking a yawn.

Concert #530 - Erin McKeown & Jill Sobule at McCabe's Guitar Shop (November 20, 2009)

Erin McKeown

Was this a doubleheader, with Jill Sobule and Erin McKeown enjoying "equal billing" status, or was Jill the opening act for the headlining Erin? Hard to tell and it didn't matter. Fact is that Jill came out first, played a set of decent length, then Erin took over after the intermission. But they were also each other's guests, so they ended up spending quite a bit of time together on the stage.

Jill Sobule

The show was part of their national tour jokingly named "The Clash Of The Legends", which came complete with a poster billing Jill and Erin as "The Western Menace Of Colorado" and "The Northeast Bomber Of Massachusetts", respectively. My friend Steve, a long-time Jill Sobule fan, was at McCabe's as well, we often coordinate our ticket purchases there.

Jill's set included "Where Is Bobbie Gentry" and "A Good Life", my favorite two Jill songs. As always, she played acoustic. Erin writes good songs and knows how to deliver them, trouble is I can't recall any titles. There was plenty of good humor and lots of great music.

The highlight of the evening was ... me! Here's what happened: during the encore, when Jill and Erin were getting ready to sing Neil Diamond's "They're Coming To America", Jill asked for someone to hold up the lyrics sheet, for them to see. Well, I was sitting directly in front of her, so the next thing I knew, I was part of the show!
 

Yours Truly helping out with the lyrics sheet

After the show, both Jill and Erin spent some time with their fans, which gave Steve and I the opportunity to pose together with Jill.

Jill and Steve

After the show, with Jill

Concert #531 - Jake Shimabukuro at the Lewis Family Playhouse (November 21, 2009)

My friend Doug had been telling me for quite some time about Jake Shimabukuro and how good he was, he even gave me his latest CD, but as far as I was concerned, no ukulele player would ever stir up my interest - that is, until one day I chanced upon a YouTube video of Guitar God Tommy Emmanuel jamming with Jake ... wow ... it was time for me to start paying attention and when Jake's US tour brought him to Southern California, I bought four tickets, two for me, two for Doug. We went with our wives and had a nice dinner before the show.

It is hard to believe that a single musician, equipped with only four strings and zero special effects, can grab and keep the attention of a large crowd for an entire evening. But he did it. Jake's set included a few self-penned numbers as well as a handful of cover songs taken from different genres. The first half of the show was good, but not great. "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" sounded great. Things picked up considerably in the second half, when Jake threw in his numbers of high virtuosity, among them Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody", the last song on Earth you would ever expect to hear on a uke. Spurred by the crowd's yells of "Faster!", Jake played "Crazy G" at ever-increasing speeds - that was the highlight of the evening. He also played  "Sakura, Sakura", a traditional Japanese song and "Third Stream", an uptempo song he wrote himself.

Jake came across as a very likable, humble and hard-working young man. The crowd rewarded him with a richly-deserved standing ovation at the end of the show.

Here's "Crazy G", performed live just the way I saw it in November 2009:

My friend Doug, who first introduced me to Jake Shimabukuro's music

The Lewis Family Playhouse in Rancho Cucamonga

Concert #532 - Crooked Still at McCabe's Guitar Shop (November 22, 2009)

I did listen to Wayne Griffith - in August 2009, he told me not to miss Crooked Still's upcoming show at McCabe's, so I bought myself a ticket, no questions asked.

But then I didn't listen to Wayne Griffith - on November 22, thirty minutes before Crooked Still came out, he told me not to sit in the front row. For those who don't know, Wayne happens to be the Guitar Shop's long-serving sound engineer, so he knows very well where to sit for the best sound. He also knows where not to sit and the front row is one of those places. But I just can't help it. Period. I can't have anyone between me and my beloved musicians, or as I sometimes put it, I must be within the saliva range of the performer.

As far as the quality of the sound is concerned, sitting in the front row is seldom a problem at McCabe's. But it was on November 22. The best part of Crooked Still is the divine voice of Aoife O'Donovan - I would have preferred to hear nothing but her voice, but when you sit only two steps away from the fiddler and right in front of the banjo player, you're bound to hear more fiddle and more banjo than anything else.

So would I listen to Wayne the next time he tells me to move a few rows back? Probably not!

Sound engineer Wayne Griffith

The best parts of the concert happened when the band wasn't as intense and allowed Aoife's voice to take center stage. I liked "Darling Corey", the show opener, "New Railroad", "Ain't No Grave", "Little Sadie", Bob Dylan's "Oxford Town" and "Come On In My Kitchen". They also played "Captain Captain", "Sometimes In This Country", "Lovesick Redstick Blues" and "The Golden Vanity".

I didn't care much for the excessively whiny and often dissonant sounds of Brittany Haas' fiddle, but I guess that's how modern bluegrass is supposed to sound. Greg Liszt is a heck of a banjo player, capable of playing the traditional style, but also a more modern, or perhaps more personal, form that wasn't melodic enough for my taste.

When time came to introduce the band, they did it in an original and fun way: they introduced each other, one after the other. After the show I got Aoife's autograph, here it is:

The show was opened by King Wilkie - I have no lasting impressions from their set.

Concert #533 - Tom Russell at McCabe's Guitar Shop (December 5, 2009)

This was my fifth Tom Russell concert in ten years. Showing no signs of slowing down, Tom put on an excellent show, full of great music and fun stories. Too many stories, some may opine, and they may be right. There was plenty of namedropping, too, but none of that took away from the quality of his show.

Accompanied by guitarist Thad Beckman, Tom played many songs from "Blood And Candle Smoke", his then-current album, as well as a few of his oldies, but believe it or not, "Gallo Del Cielo" was not among them.

 Here's a partial set list:

"East of Woodstock, West of VietNam"

"Nina Simone"

"Mississippi River Runnin' Backwards"

"The Most Dangerous Woman in America"

"Darkness Visible

"American Rivers"

"Finding You"

"Blue Wing"

"Stealing Electricity"

"Who's Gonna Build Your Wall" 

Thad Beckman was outstanding. Tom is a decent guitar player, but his shows benefit tremendously from the presence of true virtuosos such as Thad, who - by the way - can also sing.

Tom spoke about Nadine, his wife, a Swiss lady who typically travels with Tom from town to town, helping out with managerial tasks and selling merchandise. The crowd gasped when Tom mentioned the names of his best men at his 2007 wedding: Ian Tyson and Ramblin' Jack Elliott.

Nadine and Tom (center), with best man Ian Tyson (right)

Tom had a guest, singer-songwriter Steve Young, who sang his own "Seven Bridges Road", one of his early songs, later recorded by the Eagles.    
 
A minor complaint - Tom's repeated use of the word "Bastards!", delivered in a snarly manner in various contexts, was fun at first, but then it became tiresome, even irritating.

After the show, Tom and Nadine mingled with the crowd.

Nancy & Jim, our guests for the show, had their introduction to both McCabe's and Tom Russell. A very successful introduction, I might add.

Concerts #534, 535 - Jackshit at McCabe's and The Baked Potato (December 6, December 30, 2009)

December 2009 was a good month. Our home remodeling project had just ended and my contractor and I were still answering each other's phone calls. Having been very happy with his work, I felt that monetary compensation alone just wasn't good enough and that I had to do something special to express our thanks. So I gave him Jackshit. That is, a pair of tickets to see Jackshit at McCabe's.

From L to R: Eddie, Monique, My Better Half and Yours Truly

Eddie and his wife, Monique, had never seen a top-notch act at close range, so sitting in the front row at McCabe's was an event in itself. Then the boys from Cochtotan took the stage and they blew my guests away. They played pretty much their usual set, starting with "Hi, How Are Ya" and "Christine's Song" and finishing off with "I'm Coming Home". There were no guests and no Shit Horns, but there were plenty of murder ballads, bird calls and words of praise addressed to Shorty's cock (the one on his cowboy hat).

Pete and Shorty at McCabe's (December 9, 2009)

Rock & Roll Hall-Of-Famer Pete Thomas after the show

Two weeks later, good news from the Baked Potato: Jackshit had just been booked to play a year-end show there, on December 30. I called up my good friend and fellow-shithead Hans and we entered the club at 7:00 PM sharp, hoping to grab the best two seats in the house. To our huge disappointment, each and every decent seat had a "Reserved" sign, so we ended up sitting on the side, in the noisy and always crowded bar area, even though we were the first two souls to walk in. Damn ... something like that would never happen at McCabe's, where they do respect the crazies like me who line up early. 

Jackshit came out shortly after 9 PM and played one long set. There were four or five new songs, "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away" was one of them - that was a bit of a surprise, as they typically lean toward lesser-known gems. Well, the other new songs were definitely "lesser-known" - I couldn't place a single one of them and I wasn't gonna go home without getting some answers first. My answers came immediately after the show, when the always approachable Shorty removed the mystery from the songs I had trouble identifying. Here they are:

• "Boom Boppa Boom" - From Jimmie Vaughan's repertoire
• "Get Out Of My Life Woman - Lee Dorsey's mild hit from the sixties
• "I Hung It Up" - Junior Brown's 1996 single that did not chart

All-in-all, I could not have thought of a better ending for the 2009 concert year.

Concert #537 - John Hammond at McCabe's Guitar Shop (January 22, 2010)

More than four years after I last saw John Hammond at McCabe's, in October 2005, I said to myself that it was time to reconnect with him. So why the sabbatical in the first place, one may ask. Well, in 2005 I could tell that John's energy level was not what it used to be - now that was a brilliant observation - only an exceedingly sharp observer like me would have noticed that a sixty-three year old guitar virtuoso is not as energetic as he was at age 51, when I first saw him.

This was my thirteenth time to see John live, so I knew exactly what to expect from his solo appearances. John sings mostly classic blues covers, with one or two of his own songs thrown in. He always credits the original performer and oftentimes has a related story to tell. He doesn't talk much, the main emphasis is always the music. He alternates between his acoustic and steel slide guitar. Has a mouth harmonica attached to his neck. Delivers his songs with passion and intensity. Gives it all he has.

Long story short, this concert was perfect, which made me regret the few times I stayed away, so I made a huge mental note that read "Don't you dare staying home again when he's in town".

Concerts #485, 512, 538 - Janiva Magness at McCabe's Guitar Shop (October 25, 2008 - January 29, 2010)

As far as I was concerned, in 2008 Janiva Magness was nothing but the name of a blues artist I used to occasionally see on the Internet. Then one day she was booked to appear at McCabe's, which was sufficient reason for me to start looking into her music. I liked what I found, bought two tickets for her October 25, 2008, show and the rest is history.

The show started with two warm-up songs played by her band. Not bad. Then Janiva came out and knocked me out with her very first song. She went on to deliver a passionate and intense set of mostly funky uptempo songs, also a few ballads, all sung with power and feeling. The number that stood out the most was "You Were Never Mine", a fantastic ballad written, I learned later, by Delbert McClinton. This song has become - I think - Janiva's signature song. My wife was less appreciative of Janiva's performance, as she prefers softer and milder vocals. Well, Janiva is a blues belter, she's the real thing, so power and intensity is her game.

Jeff Turmes, Janiva's husband and occasional sax player in her band, is also a songwriter - Janiva never forgot to credit him whenever she performed one of his songs. Jeff was on stage with Janiva whenever there was no conflict with his other engagements.

Janiva with husband and musical collaborator Jeff Turmes

 Following my introduction to Janiva's world, I went to each and every subsequent appearance of hers at McCabe's. The shows I saw on June 6, 2009, and January 29, 2010, were as good as the first one and followed pretty much the same pattern: first the band warms up the room with two blues jams, then guitarist Zack Zunis introduces Janiva. After the intermission, yet two more band instrumentals, then more Janiva and finally an encore.

Watch "Get It, Get It", a song that she sang every time I saw her:

Janiva makes no secret of her age. Provocatively under-dressed, she announces her age at every show and I can tell you that, from my front row vantage point, she looks great.
 
In January 2010, Janiva spoke highly of Koko Taylor, who had passed away a few months earlier, then sang Koko's "Wang Dang Doodle".

After every show at McCabe's, a humble-looking Janiva mingled with her fans, signed autographs and appeared to be truly grateful for having fans who come to see her.

Janiva with outstanding guitarist Zach Zunis

Here's a partial list of the songs performed by Janiva Magness at McCabe's:

"Sometimes Yyou've Got To Gamble". 

"What Love Will Do". 

"Bad Blood" 

"You Were Never Mine" 

"Wang Dang Doodle"

"Get It, Get It"

"Walking In The Sun"

"The Devil Was An Angel Too"

Concerts #539 and 540 - Tommy Emmanuel at the Smothers Theater (Pepperdine University) (February 9 & 10, 2010)

Tommy Emmanuel, two days in a row - not bad. Not bad even if you have to drive over 300 miles in order to catch both shows, like I had to do. But it was worth it for me and also for my two guests, one on each night. For the first night I went with my brother, who happened to be in the area on business. He had not seen Tommy before. The following evening I went with my friend Lincoln, a repeat Tommy customer.

My brother at the Smothers Theater

As always, Tommy spoke with respect and recognition about his favorite finger-pickers: Chet Atkins, Merle Travis, Django Reinhardt and Jerry Reed. 

Tommy was phenomenal - enough said - I won't even try to describe in words what he does with his guitar or how good he is. I'll let YouTube do the "talking". Here's "Guitar Boogie":

The two shows were similar, but not quite identical. Here's a partial list of the songs that Tommy played at Pepperdine's Smothers Theater on February 9 and 10, 2010:

 Guitar Boogie

Angelina

The Digger's Waltz

Beatles Medley (Here Comes The Sun, Lady Madonna, Ticket To Ride)

Guitar Rag

Saturday Night Shuffle

Nine Pound Hammer

Mombasa

Initiation

Classical Gas

Moon River

Halfway Home

Over The Rainbow

Still Can't Say Goodbye

Amazing Grace

Nuages

Mona Lisa

And here's Tommy's Merle Travis tribute:

The Smothers Theater (Pepperdine University)

Concert #541 - Richard Thompson at the Largo (February 11, 2010)

This was my 20th time to see RT in concert and my first time ever at the Largo. Also my first time to experience their bizarre way of handling ticket sales. The concert was a warm-up date for the upcoming recording of "Dream Attic", an all-live album consisting of nothing but new songs.

For the occasion, Richard assembled a top-notch band of musicians, most of whom I had seen before: multi-instrumentalist Pete Zorn, bassist Taras Prodaniuk, drummer Michael Jerome and violinist Joel Zifkin, the latter being the only newcomer to me.

From left to right: Zorn, Jerome, Thompson, Prodaniuk, Zifkin

I sat together with a good friend in row six, not too bad. The first half of the concert showcased Richard's new material - a couple of ballads, also a few powerful up-tempo songs, among them "Bad Again". The crowd seemed to like the new numbers, I know I did. The band sounded great, except for the violin parts, which I felt were a bit out of place. Richard's vocals were strong, his guitar playing divine. But after hearing about a dozen new songs, it was high time for some RT oldies and they came after the intermission.

The second set kick-off with "Time Will Show The Wiser" from his Fairport Convention days. Two of my all-time favorite RT songs found their way into the set: "All Bowlly's In Heaven" and "Cold Kisses", both brilliantly done and I mean brilliantly. They also played "Tear Stained Letter" and "Dad's Gonna Kill Me", where "Dad" is short for Baghdad.

The show ended with daughter Kami and son Teddy joining Richard for a rousing rendition of "I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight".

Overall, it was an unforgettable concert and it wasn't until the following day that I realized the absence from the set list of RT's best-known song, "1952 Vincent Black Lightning".

Watch "Bad Again", played live by RT and his band:

Intermission at the Largo