Concert #590 - Hot Club Of Cowtown at McCabe's Guitar Shop (April 29, 2011)

Individually and collectively, these guys are devilishly good. So good, that they must be introduced right away. Here they are:

Elana James - Violin, vocals

Whit Smith - Guitar, vocals

Jake Erwin - Upright bass, vocals

They play hot jazz and western swing. Knowingly or otherwise, they have also pioneered a new genre (wink, wink) known - to me, at least - as "eastern swing", which is what you get when you play Russian tunes in Texas-swing style. In this case, the Eastern-European import was "Dark Eyes", an old Russian song whose original title is "Ochi Chyornye", literally meaning "Black Eyes" (that doesn't sound good in English, does it?). Except for this one foreign digression, the Hot Club played nothing but good home-made numbers, many of them self-penned, and quite a few covers, among which Bob Dylan's "One More Night" stood out.
 
As far as the tempo was concerned, the band had three speeds: fast, very fast, and ultra-fast. I was amazed by the amount of energy exerted by these fine musicians, song after song - they played two long sets and there weren't more than two or three slower numbers for them to catch their breaths. And they had a lot of fun in the process, it was a pleasure watching their interaction while playing and in between songs.

The Hot Club are a truly cohesive band, yet each and every band member is a stellar soloist. I particularly liked the percussive sounds produced by Jake's bass-slapping technique, something you don't often see.

The final song of their encore, a high-power rendition of "Orange Blossom Special", brought all of us to our feet. Songs like this had a direct effect upon the people's desire to open up their wallets and buy Cowtown CDs, DVDs and memorabilia - their merch table saw a lot of buyers, more than I'd ever seen at McCabe's.

Watch a YouTube video of "She's Killing Me", the song that opened the proceedings at McCabe's:

PARTIAL SET LIST

"She's Killing Me"

"Cherokee Shuffle"

"Valerie"

"It Stops With Me"

"Ida Red"

"Dev'lish Mary"

"There'll Be Some Changes Made"

"Dark Eyes"

"Orange Blossom Special"

"Big Balls In Cowtown"

"When I Lost You"

"Stardust"

"Heart Of Romain"

"Sleep"

"The Devil Ain't Lazy"

"Chinatown"

"Sweet Jenny Lee"

"One More Night"

"Deed I Do"

The Hot Club Of Cowtown at McCabe's (April 2011)

Elana James chatting with fans between sets

Jake Erwin chatting with fans

Whit Smith (center) chatting with fans

The Hot Club's exceptionally good merch table

The Hot Club Of Cowtown among the sold-out shows at McCabe's

Concerts #372, 510 - Ian Tyson at McCabe's Guitar Shop ( Aug 13, 2005 - May 23, 2009)

Not having caught Ian Tyson's earlier shows at McCabe's is something I still regret very much. Ironically, it was with some reluctance that I finally decided to see him in August 2005 - I had figured that he must have been in his low sixties, therefore still fit to put on a decent performance. And he put on not a decent, but an incredible performance that went on for over two hours, with plenty of energy, great vocals, quality songs and fun stories.

As we were getting up at the end of the show, the lady sitting next to me said "Not bad for a seventy-two year old". I replied "No way is he in his seventies", but then a subsequent Google search proved her right. Hard to believe, but absolutely true.

Ian came out with two other musicians whose names I do not know, and together they kept us fully engaged for the entire duration of the show. It didn't matter whether Ian sang newer songs or his old classics, he just couldn't do wrong. Most of the new music came from Ian's just-released CD titled "Songs From The Gravel Road" - these songs were catchy and instantly accessible. The old Ian & Sylvia numbers were truly special - he played "Someday Soon" and "Four Strong Winds", two huge hits that he wrote himself in the 1960s, but stayed away from "You Were On My Mind", a mega-hit penned by his ex-wife Sylvia.

Ian spoke about Alberta and his life on his ranch there, and expressed disbelief, in a humorous way, about Los Angelenos putting up with their crowded freeways.

Ian's much-expected return to McCabe's took place after his throat troubles of 2006, which damaged his vocal chords to a great extent. Ian's "new voice", as he called it, had none of the smoothness of his trademark timbre, so there I was once again debating whether or not to attend his show. I went.

I so badly wanted to relive the great moments of his 2005 concert, but it wasn't to be. Still, his voice sounded stronger than what it was on his 2008 album, "Yellowhead To Yellowstone And Other Love Stories", which was in line with Ian's claims of continual vocal improvement.

Ian Tyson at McCabe's (May 2009)

I will probably never see Ian Tyson again, but his music will stay with me for as long as I live.

For his 2009 tour, Ian brought along fellow Albertan Corb Lund, a young singer-songwriter whose association with Ian was based not only on their common roots, but also on their shared musical interests. Corb's set started well, but after a while it became monotonous.

Corb Lund

Ian Tyson signing autographs after the show (May 2009)

McCabe's employee Mikki Itzigsohn, photographed before the show

Concert #511 - Graham Parker at McCabe's Guitar Shop (May 29, 2009)

I have never been one of Graham Parker's true fans, but it's hard to be an avid music listener without hearing his songs, sooner or later. A few of them - "Bad Chardonnay" and "The Madness Of Love", the Richard Thompson composition - had been on heavy rotation on my iPod, so just before the show sold out, I jumped on the bandwagon and got myself a ticket to see him live at McCabe's. I sat in the front row.

The show was OK, but not great - Graham did well, but simply put, there were just too many songs I didn't know - all of them, to be precise. There were plenty of connoisseurs around me, so at times I felt a bit out of place there.

The show was opened by Tom Freund, he was OK, but for me it was yet more songs I didn't know ...

Tom Freund

 

 

Concerts #513, 514 - Goran Bregovic at the Royce Hall (June 19-20, 2009)

I've known Goran Bregovic's music since 1975, when he was with Bijelo Dugme, Yugoslavia's best-selling rock band during those years. Goran's career is nothing short of amazing - from a rocker only known in his native geographical area, he reinvented himself to become a highly acclaimed musician capable of filling up large venues on all continents and generating an excitement level that is seldom seen.

I have to credit here my old friend Sony (spelled and pronounced just like the famous brand) who in the late 1990s directed my attention to Goran's resurging career and his outstanding "Arizona Dream" soundtrack.

Seeing a European mega-star of Goran's caliber is not something I was going to miss, so I grabbed tickets for each of the two consecutive nights at the gorgeous Royce Hall on the UCLA campus. This was his first-ever West Coast appearance and the place was packed not only with European expats but also with a surprisingly high number of American fans. I had good seats, about five or six rows from the stage.

The show started with an elegantly-dressed string quartet playing a piece of music that can be best described as "classical", when all of a sudden, from the back of the auditorium, a loud six-piece gypsy band walked in, banging their drums and blowing their horns with ferocity. Welcome to the Balkans!  Needless to say, the crowd went absolutely crazy.

Before too long, the stage held an unlikely gathering of musicians: the Gypsy band, a chorus consisting of six tuxedo-wearing men, two Bulgarian lady vocalists dressed in peasant clothes, the aforementioned classical string ensemble and sitting on a chair at center-stage, clad in an all-white suit, Goran Bregovic himself, with his electric guitar. 

Goran Bregovic at the Royce Hall

They went on to play for over two hours, driven by the relentless drum beat of twenty-two year old Alen Ademovic, who happens to be a great singer as well. I also liked the vocals of the Bulgarian sisters Ludmila and Daniela Radkova.

Ludmila and Daniela Radkova

Drummer and singer Alen Ademovic

PARTIAL SET LIST

"Jeremija"

"Mesecina"

"Ederlezi"

"War"

"Kalashnikov"

“Cajesukarije-Cocek"

"Gas Gas"

"Ringe Ringe Raja (Ya Ya)"

"Sanctus Deus"

There was plenty of dancing in the aisles and plenty or crowd response - this was not your typical Royce Hall crowd. Toward the end of the show, I moved up to the front row, where I had a blast.

Goran Bregovic in action

But I also have to make a somewhat negative comment: the two concerts I attended were 100% identical, and I don't mean just the sequence of songs. I mean absolutely everything, including every word and every gesture made by Goran. Maybe there's no room for improvisation when you share the stage with so many other musicians. Still, the two nights with Goran were truly unforgettable.

UCLA's Royce Hall

Concert #515 - Jackshit at McCabe's Guitar Shop (June 27, 2009)

For my 14th Jackshit concert, I once again managed to drag with me a fairly large group of friends, eighteen souls in all, most of them first-timers. Taking friends to concerts always puts some pressure on me, as I want everyone to have a great time. But you can't go wrong with Jackshit - as expected, the Boys From Cochtotan did not disappoint and in the end I went home with my musical credibility unscathed.

Shorty, Beau and Pete delivered their usual set, complete with "Bull Rider", "I'm Coming Home", "Big River" and the obligatory murder ballads, yet the highpoint of the show was their guest artist, cryptically introduced by Beau as "Calhoun Shit". It wasn't until after the show that I learned about Calhoun's true identity. Read on.

The mystery guest sang four songs. The vibe was casual - there was a lot of laughter on the stage and it was pretty clear that no rehearsals had taken place, not that it mattered. During the singing of their final song, "Ring Of Fire", Calhoun burst into laughter in response to Shorty's falsetto vocals, which prompted Shorty to explode in laughter as well.

After the show, I went to Lincoln Myerson, the concert director at McCabe's, and asked him about Calhoun's true identity. His answer: Carlene Carter.

Carlene Carter, performing as Calhoun, her real nickname

Lincoln's answer stunned me. I had seen Carlene twice before, first in 1994, then again in 1996, but I would not have recognized her for the life of me. When I got home, I got to read on the Internet about her personal tragedies, which, in addition to the passage of time, had certainly contributed to Carlene's physical transformation. I'm talking about the loss, in quick succession, of her mother (June Carter Cash), step-father (Johnny Cash), lover (Howie Epstein of the Heartbreakers) and her younger sister, Rosey.

Carlene's appearance at McCabe's inspired me to look into her newer recordings and that's how I discovered a rare gem, her 2008 album titled "Stronger" - all great tracks, no filler material at all - everyone should own a copy of this truly great recording.

Before the show: Yours Truly and My Better Half

Val McCallum, a.k.a. Beau, signing autographs after the show

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

Davey Faragher, a.k.a Shorty, with Yours Truly, after the show

Carlene Carter chatting with fans after the show