Concerts #300, 319, 335, 421 at McCabe's Guitar Shop & Throop Memorial Church (March 14, 2003 - October 21, 2006)

Chris Smither is the perfect example of an artist who, from my vantage point, was a total nobody one day and a mega-star the next. I don't mean mega-star like Bruce Springsteen or the Stones. I mean mega-star like someone who I could simply not resist seeing again and again. And every time I went, I dragged a few reluctant friends with me, only to witness their own instant transformation into believers.

McCabe's is the perfect venue to see Chris. He always sells out there, and typically I'm among the first in line. Sitting in the front row gives me the complete experience, as I can watch his amazing finger-work and at the same time see his feet providing the drum beat on a miked-up piece of plywood. I was less lucky in November 2003 at the Throop Memorial Church in Pasadena, where I could not secure a front row seat.

Throop Memorial Unitarian Universalist Church, Pasadena, California

Chris Smither's gig at McCabe's on March 14, 2003, is available in its entirety, including all the chatter in-between songs, as a digital download from Amazon, Emusic and possibly other sites as well. Here's the set list:

Hold On

Dust My Broom

Get a Better One

Lola

No Love Today

Crocodile Man

Let It Go

Can't Shake These Blues

Drive You Home Again

Love You Like a Man

Train Home

Never Needed It More

Killing the Blues

Hey, Hey, Hey

Desolation Row

Duncan and Brady

Confirmation

I'm yet to overdose on Chris Smither. His shows are funny, engaging, and most of all, musically superior. He writes most of the songs he sings and never forgets to credit the author when he covers somebody else's work. In my opinion, Chris' strength is his guitar playing, which is nothing short of stunning. Others may argue that songwriting is his forte, and their point would be hard to refute.

As I write this, Chris Smither is almost 67 years old, a good reason for you to catch his live shows in your area, if you're fortunate enough to have him come to a venue near you.

Concerts #106, 486 - Tangerine Dream at the Wiltern Theater & UCLA Royce Hall ( October 30, 1992 - November 7, 2008)

After having witnessed the mind-blowing Tangerine Dream show in 1986 at the Universal Amphitheater, I so badly wanted to relive that experience, but you know how it always works when you are trying to recreate something thrilling from the past ...

Their concerts at the Wiltern Theater in 1992 and UCLA in 2008 were good, but I was less impressed with Tangerine Dream's newer sound that was far more guitar-oriented than what I heard in 1986. In addition to electric guitars, both of these shows featured a sax player, a clear departure from their earlier pure-electronic days, but here's a noteworthy tidbit: at both of these shows, the sax player was the very same Linda Spa, an Austrian musician who also has a career outside of TD. Both shows were well-attended and also well-received. There were a lot of youngsters in the crowd, especially at the UCLA show, a strong sign that Tangerine Dream has many more years left in them.

Tangerine Dream at the Wiltern Theater (1992)

For the UCLA show in 2008, I had an excellent seat, very close to the stage. Edgar Froese aged a bit, no surprise there - his white hair and black clothes gave him a somewhat surreal appearance, which was certainly in line with his music. He frequently alternated between his keyboards, synthesizers and guitar. Standing in front of his band's multi-tiered stage setup and surrounded by his band-mates Iris Camaa, Thorsten Quaeshning and Bernhard Beibl, Edgar addressed the crowd at the end of his UCLA gig and the crowd just loved him.

Partial set list - UCLA, November 7, 2008

Trauma

California

Leviathan

Sphinx Lightning

Carmel

Wisdom & Tragedy

No Man's Land

The Blue Bridge

Hunter Shot By A Yellow Rabbit

The Dream Is Always The Same

Fire On The Mountain

Betrayal

La Liberation

Going West

Le Parc

One Night In Space

Leaving The Masters For God

I will probably never go to see Tangerine Dream again, but I will certainly remember their unique live shows for as long as I live.

Concert #489 - Po' Girl at the Claremont Folk Music Center (December 14, 2008)

Claremont's Folk Music Center is a fun music store and occasional concert venue, founded decades ago by Ben Harper's grandparents. Today, the store is owned by Ben Harper himself, and as far as I know, is operated by Ben's family. The place is not big - there's a small stage in one corner and there's just enough room for seventy-five folding chairs, which in essence defines the Folk Music Center's problem: they cannot generate enough money to attract the caliber of artists who usually perform at McCabe's Guitar Shop in Santa Monica.

Better known in their native Canada than in the States and with nothing but local advertising, Po' Girl still managed to sell out their Claremont gig and I don't think anyone went home unhappy. I know I didn't. Singers Allison Russell and Awna Teixeira took turns at singing lead, they harmonized, played a variety of instruments and told a few good stories. They sang mostly in English, but they threw in a French song or two. I liked very much the sound of Allison's clarinet, an instrument one seldom hears at folks music concerts, and was amazed by Awna's gutbucket bass, an instrument I had not seen before, nor since. The highlight of the show was "'Til It's Gone", a catchy tune with beautiful lyrics.

All in all, Po' Girl proved to be a highly likeable group that certainly deserves to play in front of larger audiences. I seldom buy CDs anymore, but when I do, I buy directly from the artist. Before going home, I picked up Po' Girl's "Deer In The Night" album, released just a few months before the concert I attended.

Here's a video that captures Allison and Awna at their contagious best:

One final note: concert tickets cost only $12 ... I pay more for parking when I go to larger venues ...

The Folk Music Center, Claremont, California

Concert #490 - April Verch at McCabe's Guitar Shop (January 9, 2009)

I decided to catch April Verch's show at McCabe's after having seen a few of her intriguing videos on YouTube. She hails from Canada. She sings. She plays the fiddle. She step dances. And she can do all of them at the same time. Clearly, this young lady is talented. Very talented.

Accompanied by her husband and percussionist Marc Bru, April played, sang and danced her heart out. At first, her show was both captivating and entertaining, but after forty-five minutes or so, her act became "more of the same" and when the concert was finally over, I went home with a slight sense of unfulfilled expectations. I wouldn't mind seeing her again as an opening act, but not as a headliner.

Marc Bru

And speaking of opening acts: the proceedings were kicked off by American singer-songwriter Brad Colerick, who managed to impress me quite a bit. His songs were great, without exception, and I loved his voice and delivery. What a surprise!

His best song, I thought, was "Juarez". Here's a live rendition of the song:

Concert #492 - Peter Rowan at McCabe's Guitar Shop (January 16, 2009)

 

Peter Rowan has been a favorite of mine for over twenty years now, and like the good fan that I am, I haven't missed any of his not-frequent-enough concerts at McCabe's. 

As if he didn't know anyone in LA, Peter came out all by himself and, accompanied by an acoustic guitar, delivered his first set with strong vocals and playing. He sang "Tumbleweed", "Panama Red", "Lonesome L.A. Cowboy", "Wild Mustang" and a new number titled "Two of a Kind".

After a short break, Peter came back for his second set, but this time he brought some company along: Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings, both huge favorites of mine! The crowd screamed with excitement and so did I.

Dave Rawlings, Peter Rowan and Gillian Welch at McCabe's (January 16, 2009) (photo by Roman Cho)

Their beautiful vocal harmonies and great guitar playing were something to behold. Together they sang "The Winds of Time", "Free Mexican Air Force", "Rainmaker" and a few more. Gillian sang lead on just one song, Bob Dylan's "I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine".

The three of them remained on the stage not only for the entire duration of the second set but also for their two-song encore. Talk about getting your money's worth!

Gillian Welch at McCabe's Guitar Shop in Santa Monica

Overall, it was an exciting evening like few others. How can one not love McCabe's?

Concert #597 - Jill Sobule & John Doe at McCabe's Guitar Shop (July 9, 2011)

This was the second of two sold-out shows at McCabe's featuring the unlikely pairing of two artists from different generations and different musical backgrounds. Yet Jill Sobule and John Doe got along just fine, as if they had been playing together for a lifetime. It almost felt like watching two old friends jamming in a living room, that's how relaxed and comfortable with each other they appeared to be. It's always the case: when the performers are having fun, so is the audience, and we all had a lot of fun, with great songs and good humor that just kept coming and coming.

The stage, photographed just before the show

Frequently alternating between various stringed instruments, both acoustic and electric, Jill and John played songs from "A Day At The Pass", their current joint album, as well as some of their older material. Jill was in perfect vocal shape and I was delighted to once again hear "Where Is Bobbie Gentry", "Good Life", "Mexican Wrestler" and "San Francisco", among her other songs. Watching her intense delivery from my front-row seat was pure joy - if you have not seen Jill live, you don't know what you're missing. John Doe was equally good. I enjoyed all of his new material, but what I liked the best was his punk-ish delivery of "White Girl", from his days with X.

I typically don't like the use of profanities on stage, certainly not by female performers, but Jill's use of the F-word in her "We Want Our America Back" was nothing short of hilarious.

Throughout the evening, Jill and John were accompanied by bassist Dave Carpenter. Toward the end of the show, local songstress Cindy Wasserman popped in for a song.

What? No roadies? Jill and John setting up before the show.

The set list

Jill Sobule and John Doe at McCabe's (July 9, 2011)

The show was opened by singers Sean Wheleer & Zander Schloss, with the latter doubling up as an able multi-instrumentalist. Although somewhat dissimilar in terms of their musical backgrounds, Sean and Zander combined well to play a listenable set of self-penned songs. Zander's use of the bouzouki added more color to their set.

All-in-all, it was yet another great evening of music at McCabe's.

Alan Kanter (left) and Wayne Griffith, with a combined 75 years of sound engineering experience at McCabe's

Window poster at McCabe's