Concert #493 - Fred Eaglesmith at McCabe's Guitar Shop (January 24, 2009)

When McCabe's announces new shows, I usually know right away whether I'm interested or not. But there are quite a few instances when I debate within myself for weeks before I decide what to do. Fred Eaglesmith's concert was a good example of the latter and in his case, the decision was to go. It turned out it was a good decision.

Only superficially familiar with his music, I didn't know what to expect. I could have been in for a long night of monotonous songs delivered with an eyebrow-raising voice, but somewhat surprisingly, Fred grabbed me from the get go with his songs and humor and kept me engaged until the lights went on.

I can't name any of the songs he played that night, but his chatter and utter self-confidence are hard to forget and his music was good, too. I liked his live performance a lot more than his studio recordings that I had sampled in the days before the concert. So I definitely got my money's worth, but was he good enough to make we want to drive 102 miles to see him once again at McCabe's in faraway Santa Monica? I think he was.

The concert was opened by singer-songwriter-producer-instrumentalist Marvin Etzioni, a.k.a. the Mandolin Man. His set was OK, but not huge.

Marvin Etzioni

Concert #494 - Jim Kweskin at the Coffee Gallery Backstage (January 31, 2009)

The Coffee Gallery in Altadena is a decent venue to see a show. It holds only forty-nine seats - how can such a tiny place survive? - yet for many years now, the coffee shop's backroom has been a good home for the many deserving artists who cannot fill large arenas and stadiums.

My Better Half and I had seats just a few steps from the stage, but then again, every seat there is just a few steps from the stage. Jim came out with a small band, their set was definitely passable, albeit somewhat monotonous. The songs they played were not bad, but there was nothing fiery about the delivery nor was there electricity in the air, so when Jim announced a short intermission, my wife and I looked at each other and we both said "Time to go home". So home we went, without feeling disappointed, nor shortchanged. Simply put, one fifty-minute set was good enough.

Here's Jim Kweskin at the Coffee Gallery, just a few months after the show I attended:

Concerts #128, 495 - David Lindley at the Little Bridges and McCabe's Guitar Shop (Late 1993/Early 1994 - February 14, 2009

It was either late 1993 or early 1994 when I first saw David Lindley solo. The concert took place in David's home town of Claremont, California, in a beautiful church-like auditorium simply known as the "Little Bridges", not to be confounded with the nearby "Bridges Auditorium", a much larger venue. As expected, he played a variety of string instruments with great virtuosity, but elected to performed lots of song that I wasn't familiar with, so as far as I was concerned, his concert never took off. He was accompanied by Jordanian percussionist Hani Nasser, with whom David has toured and recorded extensively.

Claremont's Little Bridges

Fifteen years later, I caught him again, this time at McCabe's in Santa Monica. Once again I witnessed a good performance delivered by a master of his many instruments, but somehow the whole package did not bring me to my feet.

 Stage set-up at McCabe's (January 2009)

I don't think I will be motivated enough to go to yet another David Lindley solo concert, but I will definitely welcome him as a guest at someone else's gig.