Welcome to CONCERT OVERLOAD, a place for sharing my concert-going experiences. My goal is to say a few words about each and every concert I've ever attended.
CURRENT CONCERT COUNT: 868 (most of them in the Los Angeles area)
This was a rare double-header at McCabe's, coming six months after the rather disappointing triple-header involving Dave Alvin, Chris Smither and Peter Case. Just like the aforementioned trio, Mary and Lori received equal billing, but one of them had to go first, so the task of kicking off the proceedings went to Lori McKenna, and for a good reason: most of the people there, myself included, came to see Mary Gauthier.
I'm always open to new artists and new sounds and since I couldn't call myself a Lori McKenna connoisseur, I gave her my full attention. But there was nothing much for me there. Lori's melodic sense and mine are definitely not in alignment. Nor did I find her voice and singing style appealing. Same goes for her guitar playing, which consisted of not much more than just endless strumming. Was it just me? Maybe so, because she was well-received by the crowd, no doubt about that.
And that highlights the problem with double-headers: if one of the acts doesn't do much for you, then all you get is an abbreviated set from the other performer, as was the case with Mary Gauthier's short, but otherwise great performance. She took the stage for just barely over fifty minutes, and that left me craving for much more.
Throughout the show, Mary Gauthier was accompanied by Canadian fiddler Tania Elizabeth, who also provided harmony vocals. Mary was in her typical great form, vocally and otherwise. She sang nothing but her own compositions, not a single dud among them. "Mercy Now" was conspicuously absent from her set, but there were plenty of other great songs. The ones I liked the best were "Drag Queens And Limousines", "I Drink", "Christmas In Paradise", "Karla Faye" and "Wheel Inside The Wheel".
Mary Gauthier's song list (not the actual set list)
The final bow - Mary Gauthier (right), with Tania Elizabeth
Mary Gauthier chatting with fans after the show
Lori McKenna at McCabe's
Lori McKenna's set list
A rather modest poster in the window at McCabe's
Tania Elizabeth
My Beter Half was with me and so were Nancy, Jim and Steve, we all had a good time chatting before and after the show.
Nancy and My Better Half, seated at McCabe's
And now for the part titled "Lessons Learned": The next time they announce a double-header, I have to be a little more circumspect, but knowing myself, I'm afraid I'll be first in line once again, no matter what. So much for "lessons learned"...
Last night I saw Slaid Cleaves in concert for the second time and unlike in 2006, when I went to see him on a whim, this time I showed up with my homework done: I knew exactly what to expect, I knew many of the songs, so naturally, I enjoyed my second outing a whole lot more.
No doubt, Slaid is one of America's best singer-songwriters, capable of churning out one great song after another. And he's a heck of a performer, too. I like his vocal inflections and I absolutely love his soulful phrasing - no one sounds quite like him. The stories he tells in between songs are engaging without being exceedingly long and there's good humor in everything he says. But there's one negative aspect I feel compelled to bring up: with very few exceptions, Slaid's show at McCabe's consisted of songs of pretty much the same tempo and similar structure. There was plenty of variety when it came to story lines, but from a purely musical standpoint, there were few roller-coaster rides in his performance, with one notable exception: his fabulous yodeling, of course, which came out of the blue during "Horses And Divorces" and generated the crowd's loudest response of the evening.
Most of the songs he sang were self-penned, and when they were not, he duly acknowledged the respective writers, as was the case with two of Karen Poston's songs ("Flowered Dresses" and "Lydia") and Woody Guthrie's lyrics, which Slaid set to new music to create the gorgeous "This Morning I Am Born Again".
SET LIST
Drinkin'
Days
Breakfast
In Hell
Twistin'
Broke
Down
Rust Belt
Fields
New
Year's Day
Cry
Quick As
Dreams
Horses
And Divorces
Rolling
Stone From Texas
Temporary
One Good
Year
Go For
The Gold
Green
Mountains And Me
Horseshoe
Lounge
Lydia
This
Morning I Am Born Again
Flowered
Dresses
Life’s
Other Side
A very able Chojo Jacques accompanied Slaid on mandolin and fiddle for most of the evening. His solos were understated and subtle - at no time did he attempt to outshine the headliner.
Slaid Cleaves & Chojo Jacques at McCabe's (September 16, 2011)
Slaid Cleaves at McCabe's (September 16, 2011)
Slaid Cleaves at McCabe's (September 16, 2011)
Slaid Cleaves' cryptic set list (DD = Drinkin' Days, HS = Horseshoe Saloon, etc.)
Slaid Cleaves and wife Karen at the merch table
Intermission at McCabe's
The stage during intermission
Concert poster in the window at McCabe's
A few words about my first encounter with Slaid Cleaves in 2006. I went to McCabe's with my friend and coworker K, also a novice to Slaid's music. We both agreed that the show wasn't bad, just a bit monotonous. To some extent, that assessment was still valid in 2011.
This was Jackshit's first appearance at McCabe's since their two Christmas shows in December 2010 and let me tell you: nine months without a Jackshit concert is a mighty long time. I could have caught some of their other gigs in the LA area at the Baked Potato and Echoplex, but none of these other venues offer the same certainty as McCabe's in terms of good seating. At McCabe's, things are clear: you get there early, you get to sit wherever you want, which in my case means front row, directly in front of Val McCallum's amplifier.
I took along a group of friends that amounted to slightly more than 10% of the venue's capacity. They all went home happy, including the four or five first-timers among them.
Last night's set list had more than the usual amount of new songs and to make room for them, a few old favorites had to be left out, as was the case with "Big River" and "Pretty Polly". I missed both of them, Polly in particular. By the way, when I say "new songs" I mean new to the band's repertoire, not recently written songs.
There is a noticeable shift in Jackshit's song selection. Just like before, their set has quite a few semi-obscure old folk-rock and classic country songs, but the numbers that drop out seem to be replaced with songs from the repertoire of decidedly non-country performers such as Jimmie Vaughan, the Beatles, the Who, Pat MacDonald and the Rolling Stones. Yet "False Hearted Lover", one of the evening's best new songs, is a traditional country piece that seems to indicate that the Boys from Cochtotan will never stray too far from the strong classic country flavor of their earlier years. And with songs like "Tiger Man (King Of The Jungle)", the band has reaffirmed its knack for little-known gems that go back in time at least as far as "Ugly And Slouchy" and "Hold That Critter Down".
Among the new additions to their set: "Baby's In Black", "So Sad About Us" and "Child Of The Moon", from the catalogues of the Beatles, the Who and the Rolling Stones, respectively. Bob Dylan & the Band's "Tears Of Rage", yet another new addition, lacked the catchiness that is so typical of most everything Jackshit does.
There were no guest stars, but the always-fun Shit Horns dropped in for the usual "Ring Of Fire" and "The Lonely Bull", it was a blast.
The set list ("So Sad About Us" played in lieu of "Pretty Polly")
And now for the "Good News" department: after months of suffering, Val McCallum, a.k.a. Beau Shit, was finally in a position to show the audience the kidney stone he had passed a couple of weeks earlier. The event was celebrated with a twisted rendition of "Islands In The Stream", a song written by the Bee Gees and made into a huge hit by Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton. With slightly modified lyrics such as "islands in my stream" and "we can pee together", the song generated lots of laughter in the room and it was good to see urinary humor make a come-back after having been ignored for so many years in favor of the other excretory matter.
And Val had more good news for us: there will be a third Jackshit album in the not-too-distant future. I can't wait!
This was my twenty-second time to see Jackshit live in concert and I'll be back for more. A whole lot more. Because they are devilishly good, individually and collectively.
Beau & Shorty in action at McCabe's (September 10, 2011)
The fabulous Shit Horns
Val McCallum setting up before the show
Dave Faragher and Yours Truly, with their cock-adorned hats
Some of my friends, before the show
Veteran Jackshit fan Tul, with first-timer Poornima
McCabe's employee Mikki Itzigsohn arriving with munchies for the band
I'll be kicking myself for the rest of my days and for a good reason ... up until January 2008, I have skipped all of Odetta's appearances at McCabe's ... I don't know what made me stay away from her shows for so long. Nor do I know what made me buy two tickets for her January 27 show, which turned out to be an evening like few others.
So there I was, sitting with my better half in the front row, waiting for Odetta to come down the stairs to take the stage, like all performers do at McCabe's. But no one came down. Instead, a bit unexpectedly, a frail-looking and wheelchair-bound Odetta entered the room from the left side of the stage, pushed in by two McCabe's employees, who then lifted the wheelchair up on the stage, with Odetta still in it. All this took about half a minute and I could tell that everyone there was a bit tense. Two maneuvers later, the wheelchair was positioned right next to a music stand, a blanket was placed over Odetta's lap and - all of a sudden - we were in her living room, her frailty gone and a beautiful smile replacing the initial apprehension on her face. We were in business!
Odetta at McCabe's (January 27, 2008) (photo by Sherry Rayn Barnett) (Please visit her web site at www.sherrybarnettphotography.com, where you will find countless great photos)
Odetta's concert was beyond any expectation - with a surprisingly strong voice and lots of charisma, the whole evening was nothing short of mesmerizing. She did talk about how much Obama's candidacy meant to her, before launching into an unforgettable rendition of "Bourgeois Blues". "The House Of The Rising Sun" and "Midnight Special" were just as great. Leadbelly got mentioned a few times. Odetta sang for about an hour and the whole affair was heart-warming, humorous and dead serious, all at the same time. Her body may not have been in the best of shape, but there was nothing wrong with her voice, nor her mind. At 77, Odetta's was still radiating power, warmth and credibility and I will never forget her smile.
Croatian-born Radoslav Lorkovic accompanied Odetta on keyboards for the entire duration of the show.
Radoslav Lorkovic and Odetta in 2006
On October 3, 2008, Odetta graced McCabe's' stage for one last time, and I was there to witness the event, along with my good friend Mircea. One could tell that Odetta's overall condition had deteriorated. Her magnetism was still there and so was her million-dollar smile, but her voice was a bit shakier and her hands appeared to be lifeless at times ... still, no one could have foreseen that, exactly two months later, Odetta would be no more ... shame on me for having skipped her many LA area appearances over the years and what on honor to have caught her last three appearances there.
David Keyes accompanied Odetta on, you guessed it, keyboards.
Yours Truly, third in line(October 3, 2008)
The McCabe's crowd, moments before the show (October 3, 2008)
It's no secret that the Secret Sisters are not a secret anymore. People have begun to notice, among them several hundred folks who attended their free show at Pasadena's Levitt Pavilion last night. And what a show it was!
Lawn chairs, blankets, munchies, beverages, families, groups of friends of all ages, dozens of young children - call it the perfect environment for a crowd to become inattentive and even disruptive to those who were there for the music. It was the job of the Secret Sisters to settle down the crowd and keep their attention focused on the stage, with nothing but one weapon at their disposal: their voices.
So how did the sisters fare in the "crowd control" department? Read on.
The proceedings kicked off with "The One I Love Is Gone", from their first and still-only album. In actuality, the show opener served as the official sound check - initially, the sound was atrocious, with shrieking vocals and an utterly loud acoustic guitar, but fortunately, by the time they launched into their second song, George Jones' "Why Baby Why", those beautiful voices came across with clarity and they stayed that way for the remainder of the show.
The Secret Sisters at the Levitt Pavilion (August 18, 2011)
The Secret Sister's set included two more songs from their first album: "Do You Love An Apple" and the gorgeous "Tennessee Me", a song written by the sisters themselves. And speaking of self-penned songs - last night they introduced us to a few more, and without exception, their songs held up great, even against the well-known classic country hits from their repertoire.
The entire show was solid, from start to finish, without a single weak moment. Laura, the elder sister, did most of the talking, while Lydia barely said a word here and there. They shared a single acoustic guitar. None of them are great pickers, but with voices like theirs, their lack of instrumental prowess was but a trivial detail.
As far as I was concerned, the highlight of the evening was the stunning "River Jordan", another self-penned gem in the vein of the traditional country-gospel tunes of yesteryear. So how good a song is "River Jordan"? Well, the song is good enough to make a secular person like myself pick it as the best song of a concert that had nothing but great songs. Give credit to Laura and Lydia, two incredibly talented young ladies who will become household names before too long.
Throughout the concert, I was amazed by the beauty of their voices and how well they harmonized. At the same time, I was pleasantly surprised by how well the sisters kept the crowd under their spell, a testament not only to their singing abilities, but also their humor and overall stage presence.
The Secret Sisters talking
The Secret Sisters singing
SET LIST
The One I Love Is Gone
Why Baby Why (George Jones)
Tomorrow Will Be Kinder (self-penned)
Your Cheatin' Heart (Hank Williams)
Tennessee Me (self-penned)
River Jordan (self-penned)
Sweet By And By
Leavin' On Your Mind (Patsy Cline gem)
Devoted To You (Everly Brothers)
Four Walls
Am I That Easy To Forget (Skeeter Davis classic)
Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain
Same Old You (Brandi Carlile tune)
Why Worry (Dire Straits oldie)
Happy Valley (self-penned)
Tonight You Belong To Me (encore)
Here are the Secret Sisters performing "Devoted To You", a song made famous by the Everly Brothers:
This was my third time to catch Barry McGuire in concert in just about two years, which clearly demonstrates how much I enjoyed his "Trippin' The Sixties" series of concerts. But there was something different about this third show: Terry Talbott, Barry's long-time musical collaborator, was no longer there. I don't know what led to the breakup, but in the end I was a lot happier with Barry's new partner, John York, a musician associated with one of the early incarnations of the Byrds.
Well into his seventies, Barry showed no signs of slowing down. His seemingly bottomless energy and the tremendous joy radiating from his face are hard to forget. It was very obvious that Barry loved being up there on the stage and when he thanked the fans for their support, his words did not sound fake at all.
I was very impressed with Barry's voice, which remained as instantly recognizable as it was during his "Eve Of Destruction" days. The concert started with "Green, Green", the classic New Christy Minstrels tune featuring Barry's raspy voice, and after that, it was one gem after another, all interspersed with stories about Bob Dylan, Mama Cass, Tim Hardin, the Lovin' Spoonful and others. And you can bet your life that no one questioned his credibility. He was there!
The set list
I went to the show with my childhood friend Mircea, who happens to be a walking encyclopedia of music of all genres, if there ever was one. We both loved the show.
My friend Mircea, just minutes before the show
My friend Mircea checking out the set list
John York was exceptionally good in his new role as Barry's sidekick. Unlike the somewhat overbearing Terry Talbot, Barry's previous partner, John was a perfect complement to the headlining Barry, always offering his musical skills to support, rather than upstage.
Barry McGuire (left) and John York (October 11, 2008)
The highlight of the show had to be "Eve Of Destruction", a song that still gives me the goosebumps. "I I Were A Carpenter", "Hair" and "Greenback Dollar" were also outstanding, but then so was the entire show.
I consider myself extremely lucky for having had the chance to not only see one of my life-long heroes, but also talk with him. As he often does, Barry made himself available after the show to meet his fans, so I got to shake his hand once again. Barry also autographed for me a photograph taken in December 2007 after his show in Altadena, here it is:
Yours Truly and Barry McGuire in 2007 (photo autographed in October 2008)
Barry McGuire chatting with fans after the show
The sparse stage of the First Baptist Church of Glendora
