Concert #662 - Jackshit at McCabe's Guitar Shop (December 14, 2012)

Announced as The Third Annual Jackshit Holiday Extravaganza, the concert was indeed extravagant, as the Boys from Cochtotan brought to stage not only their own brand of great music and humor, but also a record number of four surprise guests. Over the years, the band has been spoiling its fans with such unannounced guests and a welcome trend is clearly developing: as the fame of the band grows, so does the caliber of their guests.

The evening did not start well for me. I got in line at 5:15 PM in order to get front-row center seats for my wife and I. Quite often, folks associated with various performers are allowed in before doors open to the general public, but those folks never take the best seats in the house. That's just basic courtesy to the performer's best fans, the ones who wait in the street for hours. Sadly, such courtesy was not present Friday night, so we ended up not sitting where we wanted to sit.

The show started with four predictable songs, followed by the seldom-played "Hung It Up", from the repertoire of Junior Brown. Next, the band brought out Johnny Shit, known to many as Jonathan Rice, the up-and-coming musician of some talent who's also half of the Jenny & Johnny duo. Johnny sang only one song, "Carpetbaggers", which I believe is the duo's best.

Jonathan Rice at McCabe's

Surprising everyone, drummer Pete Thomas walked up to the front of the stage, picked up a guitar and, with nine-year old Ringo Shit taking his place behind the drum set, he sang "Run Run Rudolph", the classic song made famous by Chuck Berry. By the way, Ringo Shit's real name is Charlie. He is Shorty Shit's son. Charlie's drumming skills are fast developing and it won't be long before he becomes an accomplished drummer.

Pete Thomas, occasional singer and guitarist (with Charlie Faragher on drums)

The next guest, introduced as Mama Shit, was none other than the much-acclaimed Lucinda Williams, the three-time Grammy winning singer-songwriter whose raw singing style has never fully connected with me. She sang three songs, including her own "Still I Long For Your Kiss" and Boz Scagg's "Loan Me A Dime" and I liked them all. Seeing Lucinda live was a totally different experience from listening to her recorded music - my mind has been opened and I'm ready now to seriously start exploring her back catalog.

Lucinda Williams at McCabe's

Lucinda Williams thanking the crowd

Shorty Shit was in his usual great vocal form. I liked his singing of "The Seeker", the classic song of the Who, and especially the Band's "Cripple Creek".

The Shit Horns made their usual brief appearance, but this time there was no "Ring Of Fire" and no "Lonely Bull". Instead, they helped out on "The Magnificent Seven" and "Ghost Riders In The Sky", a song that also featured Shorty's laughter-inducing high falsettos.

The Shit Horns

The third surprise guest of the evening was Grammy-winner Dave Alvin, a huge favorite of mine. Playing electric and enjoying every minute of his presence on stage, Dave delivered four great songs that were exceptionally well received by the crowd. My favorite was "Johnny Ace", the sad story of the demise of the young R&B star in 1955. For more on Johnny Ace's death and the controversy surrounding it, click on this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Ace. Dave's set ended with a rousing rendition of "Marie Marie", a song he wrote during his days with the Blasters.

Since 1990, I've seen Dave Alvin in concert close to twenty times and all of these appearances were acoustic. Nothing wrong with that, but Friday night's electric sounds were something to behold and I would be absolutely thrilled to watch Dave in an all-electric show at McCabe's.

Dave Alvin at McCabe's, with Dave Faragher in the background

The fourth and final guest of the evening was guitar legend Albert Lee, yet another Grammy winning musician. Initiated by Beau Shit's invitation to take the stage, Albert's appearance was an impromptu affair that provided some of the evening's finest moments. Albert remained on the stage for two songs, "You'd Better Get Right" and "Cripple Creek". The extended intro to the former featured a visibly thrilled Val McCallum sitting on the stage and trading guitar licks with Albert, who loved the moment himself.

Albert Lee (seated), with Dave Faragher

Val McCallum trading guitar licks with Albert Lee

The concert wrapped up with yet another endearingly sloppy delivery of Rodney Crowell's "Bull Rider", followed by the usual epic playing of Johnny Horton's "I'm Coming Home", with the band firing on all cylinders. The boys came back for a one-song encore, Randy Newman's "Louisiana", quite predictably.

Given the prevailing Christmas spirit, the Boys From Cochtotan left out a few often-played murder songs, so we did not get to hear "Long Black Veil", nor "Pretty Polly". I would have loved to hear the latter.

The set list

For Friday night's Jackshit concert I bought a record number of 35 tickets, which went to a lucky group of friends and coworkers, with many first-timers among them. Everyone loved the show, no exceptions, and most of them want to see the band again. Some of them appear in the following photos.

Suzanne (left) & Tul

Bharat and Deborah

Cindy, Rick & Chris

Tan & Jerry

Kostas & Jessica

Manan

Saphire (center) with her friends

My friend Steve had the time of his life when, after the concert, he met Lucinda Williams, one of his all-time favorite singers. Steve described Lucinda as very friendly.

Lucinda Williams and my friend Steve

McCabe's employees Mikki Itzigsohn and Lincoln Myerson

The stage

My interest in catching Jackshit's live shows remains at its peak and so is my desire to spread the word and bring yet more folks to see them perform.

By the way, this was my 333rd McCabe's concert, a number that just makes me shake my head in disbelief.

Concert #661 - Garland Jeffreys at McCabe's Guitar Shop (December 9, 2012)

As I was watching Garland Jeffreys perform Sunday night at McCabe's, I kept asking myself how many other hidden treasures are out there, unknown even to folks like me, and I'm someone who digs a lot deeper than the average music fan. Funny thing, though, in Garland's case, it was Lincoln Myerson's word that brought me to the show and not my own due diligence. Lincoln is the Concert Director at McCabe's, and as such, his musical recommendations carry quite a bit of weight. 

Garland and his band came out at 8:20 PM and without wasting a second, they began to rock with intensity and passion. From the get go, I was stunned by the quality of Garland's voice - he's 69-years old yet sounds decades younger. And what can I say about the songs ... Without exception, they were all love-at-first-listen and later that evening I learned that all those great numbers had the same composer: Garland Jeffreys himself. I was impressed. His set also included two well-chosen covers, "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" and "96 Tears" and they both sounded great.

Garland Jeffreys at McCabe's

Garland left the stage a couple of times and wandered away into the dark concert room so that he could be closer to his fans. I high-fived him during one of those excursions, that was fun. Overall, his energy level was high and his voice never faltered. I liked his rapport with the other musicians on stage as well as the audience. There was some talk, but nothing excessive.

GARLAND JEFFREY'S BAND

Adam Roth (electric guitar)

Charlie Roth (keyboards, backup vocals)

Tom Curiano (drums, backup vocals)

Brian Stanley (bass)

Rarely have I seen a backing group that grabbed me like Garland's band. They were fun to watch and even more fun to listen to, whether they rocked or played reggae. I loved observing Tom Curiano's facial expressions and his drumming was as good as anything I have ever witnessed. Adam Roth's guitar playing was equally good and I screamed with excitement when Charlie Roth played the famous opening notes of "96 Tears". By the way, Charlie is Adam's brother.

Adam Roth

Charlie Roth

Tom Curiano

Brian Stanley

Picking a show highlight is no easy feat, as I liked everything Garland sang. Six of the songs he sang came from his most recent album, "The King Of In Between", released in 2011. Those songs were all outstanding so, needless to say, I promptly bought the album after the show. I also bought an older album, "Ghost Writer", initially released sometime in the seventies. Good album, too.

The set list

Garland and his band mingled with the fans after the show and it felt good telling him how much I enjoyed my introduction to his music. I wasn't lying - Garland's show was one of the best I've ever seen at McCabe's and I did see a few. I will definitely catch him again the next time he's in town.

Garland Jeffreys after the show

From left: Adam Roth, Lincoln Myerson and my friend Steve

Garland Jeffreys with my friends Bill (left) and Steve

Garland Jeffreys and Yours Truly

Garland Jeffreys shirt

The stage

Concert #660 - Kinky Friedman at McCabe's Guitar Shop (December 7, 2012)

This was my third time to see Kinky Friedman live on stage and the experience only made me want for more. Kinky's formula works great for me. He takes one part storytelling and one part music which then he mixes for about 90 minutes and what comes out is far greater than the sum of its parts. Of course, humor is the foundation of most everything he does, yet he can be serious as well and when he is, he's dead serious.

The show started even before we got to our seats, with Kinky standing right there in the middle of the store, greeting everyone, shaking hands and asking for our names. What a classy thing to do!

Kinky Friedman greeting my friend Steve, as we were walking in

With an acoustic guitar hanging from his neck, a glass of tequila in his hand and a cigar in his mouth, Kinky started the show with his traditional toast for honor: "Here's to honor - get on 'er and stay on 'er". Kinky stuff indeed, yet everyone laughed real hard.

The musical portion of the set started with "Before All Hell Breaks Loose", an old gem whose opening line is "Time to resign from the human race" and things never slowed down from there. 

 Partial Set List

They Ain't Makin' Jews Like Jesus Anymore

Sold American

Gets Your Biscuits In The Oven And Your Buns In The Bed

Nashville Casualty And Life

The Ballad Of Kevin Barry (a song Kinky learned from Paul Robeson)

Ol' Ben Lucas (this turned into a hilarious sing-along)

Autograph (dedicated to the late Levon Helm)

Ride'm Jewboy (the one-song encore of the evening)

Kinky Friedman at McCabe's

There's something truly magic about Kinky's personality. Whether he talks or sings, he sucks you right in and keeps you there under his mesmerazing influence until the lights go back on. It's true that he reuses some of his best lines, yet they sound good every time one hears them. But there was plenty of funny new material as well: just before leaving Hamburg for his next stop in Paris, Kinky asked his German guide how far Paris was from Hamburg. The guide thought for a few seconds and replied "About a five-day march".

Kinky's humor is out there, seemingly made to offend people and peoples, with absolutely no reverence to political correctness or anything that's "proper" when it comes to sexual or ethnic topics. He has and probably will run again for the governorship of the State of Texas and I'm pretty sure that, while on the campaign trail, he will not be the same Kinky The Entertainer we saw Friday night at McCabe's.

No Kinky Friedman show is complete without the reading of a chapter from one of his newly published books. This time we heard "Tom Friedman - The Navigator", where Tom is a World War II veteran and, you guessed it right, Kinky's father. The chapter appears in "Heroes Of A Texas Childhood", a book currently at its fourth printing. I went home happily carrying an autographed copy of the book.

Kinky Friedman's autograph on my new book

A couple of times during the show, Kinky acknowledged Danny Hutton's presence in the room. That's Danny Hutton of Three Dog Night fame, of course.

Two bottles of Kinky's own brand of Man In Black tequila were auctioned off to support Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch, an animal shelter founded by Kinky himself. The two bottles, along with a few small items, fetched a grand total of $800. 

Musician and writer Michael Simmons opened the show with a three-song set. The one I liked the best was "Bubbles In My Beer", originally recorded by Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys. I had no idea who Michael was, but now I know. To find out more about Michael Simmons and his association with the Kinkster, click on the link below which will take you to an exceptionally well-written post authored by Michael himself.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-simmons/kinky-friedman-texas-jewboys_b_2247353.html

Michael Simmons at McCabe's

Immediately following Michael and introduced as the "Mad Hungarian", Brian Molnar delivered an exceptionally good set that, at only four songs, was a bit too short. His melodic sense and mine were in perfect alignment and I loved his voice and phrasing, too. I will definitely keep an eye out for this deserving young musician.

Brian Molnar at McCabe's

Kinky Friedman and Brian Molnar at the merch table

Kinky Friedman and Yours Truly

Concert poster

Concert #659 - Barry McGuire - Gelencser House Concerts (December 1, 2012)

Last night marked my first-time ever to attend a show in a house-concert setting. The event took place at the Gelencser residence in Claremont, California, so now their living room is listed in my concert database alongside the Hollywood Bowl, Greek Theatre, House Of Blues and other famed venues. The hosts, Andy and Janice Gelencser, deserve a lot of praise for opening up their home to larger groups of people, putting in time and effort to organize the concert and accepting a great deal of inconvenience without any financial benefit, all done for the love of music. Again, kudos to them.

This was my fifth time to see Barry live in concert and the fourth time to attend his "Trippin' the Sixties" show. He is seventy-seven now, an age when most of his singing peers from the sixties are either retired or dead. Barry, on the other hand, keeps pressing on and well he should, as he is still perfectly capable of putting on an entertaining show that is heart-warming, humorous and informative.

Barry McGuire sharing stories with the audience

Masterfully intertwining stories with music, Barry's show kept moving along at a fast pace. I particularly enjoyed the story-telling part of the show, with Barry paying his respects to many musical heroes from decades ago, among them Tim Hardin, John Denver, John Sebastian, Scott McKenzie, Steve Goodman, Zal Yanovski, The Byrds, The Mamas & The Papas, Arlo Guthrie, PF Sloan, Lou Adler and Fred Neil. Barry also made frequent references to the "herbal medicines" used by many of the top musicians of the era.

I was impressed by Barry's overall shape. He performed the entire concert with full intensity, lots of self-confidence and it appeared to me that he enjoyed the show as much as the rest of us. His voice did not falter, he never looked for words and came up with funny quips whenever needed.

Compared to earlier shows, last night's "Trippin' the Sixties" set included a few new additions, such as Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode", CCR's "Proud Mary" and "Take Me Home, Country Roads" from the repertoire of John Denver. Funny thing though, the latter song was actually released in the early seventies.

SET LIST

Green Green

Eve Of Destruction

Everybody's Talkin'
Hair

Johnny B. Goode

Daydream

Turn Turn Turn

California Dreamin'

San Francisco

Creeque Alley

Tambourine Man

City Of New Orleans

If I Were A Carpenter

Proud Mary

Woodstock

Get Together

Dancing In The Street

Take Me Home, Country Roads

For me, the highlight of the show was Tim Hardin’s “If I Were A Carpenter”.

Barry's shows just wouldn't be the same without the competent support provided by John York, a musician whose credentials include a stint with the Byrds. To these eyes and ears, John is an outstanding support musician who adds value without ever attempting to outshine the headliner. His guitar solos were great and his singing was subdued, just the way a backup-vocalist is supposed to sing. And he's got a sense of humor, too: when a spectator asked Barry about how he hooked up with John, the answer came fast and short from the latter: "Internet dating service"!

  

Barry McGuire (left) and John York

After the show, I had once again the good fortune of shaking hands with Barry and chatting with him for a couple of minutes. His humility, warmth and friendship are something to behold.

From left to right: My friend Steve, Barry McGuire and Yours Truly

Barry's autograph on my newly purchased CD

Overall, my first-ever exposure to house concerts was a success. I liked the intimacy of the place and enjoyed meeting the hosts. Oh yeah, the brownies were great, too.

The stage

Barry McGuire and John York (both seated) after the show

Barry McGuire (right) and John York with a fan

Intermission

The merch table