Concert #465 - Ash Grove 50th Anniversary Concert at UCLA's Royce Hall (April 18, 2008)

 

Living in LA is a mixed bag of good and bad, but if you are a concert goer, it's pure heaven. On any given night, there are many top-tier concerts to choose from and sometimes it's a headache just to decide where to go. But I had no such problems on April 18, 2008, when UCLA's Royce Hall hosted the first of two nights dedicated to the legendary Ash Grove, one of LA's most revered and now sadly-defunct concert venues. The event brought together a number of big names from different musical generations, many of them with some Ash Grove connections. Not unexpectedly, the evening turned out to be something truly unforgettable, for more reasons than just its nearly five-hour duration (the concert ended just before 1 AM).

Masters of Ceremony

Dr. Demento (Barry Hansen)

Anna DeLeon

List of performers

Dave Alvin

Arlo Guthrie (surprise guest)

Ramblin’ Jack Elliott

Ben Harper (surprise guest)

Laura Love

Bob Neuwirth

Mike Seeger

Roland White

Ry Cooder

Culture Clash

Holly Near

Emma's Revolution

Ashley Maher

Greg Leisz

Taj Mahal

Barry Fisher’s Ellis Island Band

The flyer I picked up at the door did not mention Arlo Guthrie, so imagine everyone's surprise when he took the stage as the evening's first performer. We all screamed with excitement, then we watched him deliver his father's "This Land Is Your Land", a song that's far more common to hear as an encore rather than a show opener. Later in the show, San Francisco's Latino theatrical outfit Culture Clash performed the same song, but with a humorous and hugely provocative twist - their rendition had Woody's well-known words changed to "This land was our land, now this land is your land".

Arlo Guthrie

Accompanied by guitarist Greg Leisz and drummer Don Heffington, Dave Alvin sang and played "Shenandoah" and his own "Ash Grove", a perfect song for the occasion and - in my opinion - one of his best songs.

Dave Alvin

Wearing a cowboy hat and looking perfectly fit, Ramblin' Jack Elliott came out to a huge ovation. It was my first encounter with the legendary artist and he was great. Dave Alvin and his band stayed on to accompany him - together they sang and played two Woody Guthrie songs ("Do Re Mi" and "1913 Massacre") as well as Jesse Fuller's "San Francisco Bay Blues".

Ramblin' Jack Elliott

Ry Cooder teamed up with multi-instrumentalist Mike Seeger and bluegrass master Roland White to play three old-time songs - "How Can You Keep On Moving", "Stolen Souls Of Africa" and "She's More To Be Pitied".

Ry Cooder

Little known Laura Love was the revelation of the evening. Accompanied by veteran guitarist and singer Orville Johnson, she delivered a fifteen minute set that brought us to our feet. Her soulful renditions of "We Shall Not Be Moved" and "Load Up" were two of the best songs of the entire evening.

Laura Love and Orville Johnson

Holly Near sang solo and also with the vocal accompaniment of Emma's Revolution, a young East-Coast duo. They left less of an impression on me. Likewise, Ashley Maher's dancing and singing was half-a-notch below the other performances.

Holly Near (center) and Emma's Revolution

Late in the evening, Taj Mahal came out to introduce Ben Harper, the evening's second surprise guest. Ben's all-acoustic set was exceptionally good. I had heard some of his earlier recordings and I wasn't expecting him to sound just like the classic blues, folk and gospel singers of yesteryear. But he did. Ellen Chase, Ben's mother, was there on the stage as well. I had known Ellen from Claremont's Folk Music Center, but had no idea how good a singer she was. Together, Ben and Ellen played five songs, including Bob Dylan's "Tomorrow Is A Long Time" and Ben's own "Spanish Red Wine". Taj Mahal joined in on guitar for the playing of the latter.

Ben Harper and Ellen Chase

The concert ended well past midnight. With many spectators having gone home, I moved up to the front row, from where I watched Barry Fisher’s Ellis Island Band and their guest vocalists, the final group of musicians to take the stage. Michael Alpert, John Bilezikjian, Ethel Raim, Stuart Brotman, Catherine Foster, Sal Mamudoski and a few others played a mix of Klezmer and Gipsy music that contrasted sharply with everything else played that night. It was my first time to hear Klezmer music live and I liked it quite a bit. John Bilezikjian, America's foremost oud player, impressed me enough to make me memorize his name.

John Bilezikjian

Exhausted, but happy, I got home after 1 AM. I did not attend the second concert, which took place on April 19, 2008.

Concert #466 - Patty Larkin at McCabe's Guitar Shop (April 25, 2008)

Almost four years after the concert, I can still clearly recall the overall impression I walked away with from McCabe's, but there's not much I remember about any of Patty's songs. I went to the show without knowing much about her music, hoping to discover a new source of musical pleasures from an artist not known by the masses. Well, Patty wasn't bad, but she did not deliver the knock-out punch I was ready to absorb. The problem was probably me - I was expecting to be hit hard - and that punch never came.

Patty's set was quite similar to that of your typical singer-songwriter - she sang mostly her own songs, played the guitar and told stories. Yes, she definitely belongs on the national scene, but there wasn't anything out-of-the-ordinary to these ears, nor do I recall any numbers of high vocal or instrumental virtuosity.

The surprise of the evening turned out to be Peter Mulvey, whose opening set was unexpectedly good.  Funny thing - that was the same Peter Mulvey who failed to impress me the first time I saw him, in 2005, when he appeared alongside Kris Delmhorst and Jeffrey Foucault in Redbird.

Peter Mulvey

I will probably catch Peter again in the future. I'm less sure about Patty.

Concert #619 - Albert Lee at McCabe's Guitar Shop (January 13, 2012)

After a long wait of twenty years or so, I finally had my chance to see someone I truly admired, the great Albert Lee, the devilishly great guitarist I first became aware of two decades ago on Mark O'Connor's "The American Music Shop". So there I was, sitting in the front row, dead center, I could have almost touched my hero, but instead of loving every minute of the show, I was unhappy.

A music-stand and a huge Korg synthesizer stood between my eyes and Albert's guitar and hands. For the entire duration of the show, Albert played either fully or partially hidden behind those things. That was disappointing. After all, I waited in line for close to two hours so that I could sit up-close and watch Albert's finger work. Here's a photo that shows what I mean:

Can you spot Albert Lee's guitar?

OK, so a humongous synthesizer blocked the view of some of the spectators. That would have been tolerable had someone actually played the darn thing. But no - the Korg just sat there unused until late in the show, when Albert accompanied himself on keyboards for the playing of two ballads. 

But enough venting. There were plenty of positives to talk about, which I recognized even while being unhappy. Albert is a guitarist like few others. His blistering solos were something to behold. And he can sing, too. While on CD he sounds like an OK singer, I was surprised about how good a singer he actually is. Clearly, he is getting better with age, and that is quite a compliment, considering that Albert has been on the road for fifty-two years, as he told us last night. 

Albert may hail from Great Britain, but his set consisted almost exclusively of older American songs, originally recorded by the likes of Fats Domino, Gram Parsons, Emmylou Harris, Ray Charles, Carl Perkins, the Everly Brothers, Little Feat, Rodney Crowell and others. In that sense, Albert reminds me a bit of Dave Edmunds, another British guitar wizard with somewhat similar musical interests. To me, the best songs were John Stewart's "Runaway Train", Ray Charles' "Leave My Woman Alone" and "Spellbound".

The set list

The final song of Albert's set was "Country Boy", a number that I've heard many times over the years without knowing who penned the song. Now I know - Albert himself is one of the co-writers! Here's a high definition YouTube clip showing Albert's outstanding treatment of "Country Boy":

Alexandra Lee, Albert's singing daughter, took the stage to perform Emmylou Harris' "Luxury Liner" and Gram Parsons' "She". No doubt, Alexandra can sing, but she appeared exceedingly nervous up there on the stage.

Albert Lee and daughter Alex Lee at McCabe's

Albert Lee came out with Will McGregor (bass), JT Thomas (keys) and Jason Smith (drums) - they played well together in spite of having had only one rehearsal under their belt. Albert told us that the band had showed up late, so they had no time for a proper pre-show sound check. The first song of the evening, Fats Domino's "I'm Ready", served as the de-facto sound check: it did not sound good when it started, but by the time it ended, everything was in good balance.

Albert Lee singing

Albert Lee signing merchandise after the show

The stage before the show

Musically speaking, the show was exceptionally good, yet I went home with a sense of disappointment. I did get to see Albert Lee in concert, that was great, but the overall experience could have been better. Five of my regular concert-going friends were in the room - although seated in different areas, they all had some trouble seeing Albert's guitar and fingers. We all hope and pray for Albert Lee's return to McCabe's, sometime soon, with nothing placed between him and his fans. 

Concert #620 - Dave Alvin at McCabe's Guitar Shop (January 14, 2012)

Even after having seen Dave Alvin many, many times, I still can't resist the temptation of buying myself a ticket to see him yet again, especially when McCabe's is the venue. This happens in spite of my knowing precisely what to expect from Dave.

Last night at McCabe's I got exactly what I expected. Dave played for an hour and fifteen minutes, which is pretty much the norm when there is a 10 PM late show as well. OK, so the set wasn't a super-long one, but the song selection was top-notch.

Carrying an acoustic guitar in one hand and a bottle of Bud Light in the other, Dave came out dressed in a black suit, white shirt, cowboy hat and his trademark scarf around his neck. He kicked off the proceedings with a great acoustic version of "Ashgrove", one of my favorites.

After his third solo song, Dave brought out Chris Miller, his long time musical partner and member of the Guilty Men. Chris and his Telecaster were great additions to the show - I enjoyed very much the interplay between the two guitars. Chris' solos were all low key, thus perfectly complementing Dave's sound.

Chris Miller

There wasn't much chatter between songs, but there was some and it was all funny and informative. Dave spoke and sang lovingly about three of his departed musician friends - Amy Farris, Chris Gaffney and Bill Morissey. I have seen Dave perform together with Amy and Chris more than once, so I'm aware of their closeness. "Black Rose Of Texas" and "Run Conejo Run", the songs written by Dave for Amy and Chris, respectively, were some of the best of the concert. The first of last night's two-song encore was Bill Morissey's "Inside", the show's only song not written or co-written by Dave.

Dave Alvin (left) and Chris Miller at McCabe's

The highlight of the show was "Mary Brown", brilliantly delivered by Dave. I also liked "Dry River", the old Blasters gem, and "Harlan County Line", from "Eleven Eleven", Dave's current album.

Dave Alvin remains one of my favorite singer-songwriters. I've been seeing him regularly since 1990 and I can state with 100% certainty that today he sounds better than ever and likewise, his songwriting is stronger than ever. Just my opinion.

The set list (not fully followed)

The stage, before the show

The merch table

Concert poster in the window at McCabe's

Concerts #298, 427, 467 - Syd Straw at McCabe's Guitar Shop (March 1, 2003 - December 9, 2006 - May 11, 2008)

By definition, any concert announced as "XYZ & Friends" or "XYZ & the People" sounds tantalizingly promising, and when XYZ happens to be Syd Straw, then the whole proposition becomes a no-brainer to me. Since 2003, I have had the good fortune of seeing Syd live at McCabe's not fewer than three times and I'm one-hundred-percent ready to see her again, anytime, whether solo or with "friends". 

Syd's "friends" typically come from LA's immense pool of top-tier musicians, so you don't have to worry about ever catching a sub-par performance. Here's who she has brought along for the ride:

2003

Mike Watt

Dave Alvin

Rob Wasserman

Cindy Wasserman

D.J. Bonebrake

Willie Aron

2006

D.J. Bonebrake

Willie Aron

2008

D.J. Bonebrake

Willie Aron
Francis X (guitarist for the Gang of Four, B-52's)

Toby Huss

Severo Jornacion (guitarist for the Smithereens)

There aren't too many female singers quite like Syd and what a shame it is that most people haven't even heard of her. Well, it's their loss - she is a consummate entertainer who can sing, chat, flirt and leaves no doubt as to who's in charge. Syd's forté is her powerful voice and heartfelt delivery, yet at the same time she is a comedienne like few others. It was always fun watching her fellow musicians bend over in laughter as Syd was delivering her fully ad-libbed on-stage banter.

"Love, And The Lack Of It", "Love Is A Friend Of Mine" and "CBGB's" are the only three songs I still remember from Syd's shows at McCabe's.