Concert #741 - David Hidalgo & Louie Perez at the Ruth B. Shannon Center for the Performing Arts at Whittier College (April 15, 2015)

After David & Louie's outstanding showing at last year's Claremont Folk Festival, I started paying special attention to their itinerary and I'm happy to say that this heightened interest brought me a much-appreciated reward: a front row center seat to see them again, this time at the Ruth B. Shannon Center for the Performing Arts on the campus of the Whittier College. It was my first time at the venue.

Announced for 7:30 PM, the concert started at 8 PM sharp. Unlike a year ago in Claremont, David and Louie came out without a band. Surrounded by acoustic and electric guitars, they kicked off the evening with a short instrumental piece, which became "Will The Wolf Survive", arguably Los Lobos' best-known song.

Louie Perez & David Hidalgo at the Whittier College

The first half of the show was mostly acoustic and mostly in English, with "La Pistola Y El Corazon" being the only number sung in Spanish. Good songs came one after the other: "Short Side Of Nothing", "Saint Behind The Glass", "The Valley", and a few others, but nothing was quite as good as the "grand-finale" of the first half, which consisted of "Burn It Down", "The Neighborhood" and "Chinese Surprise", three seamlessly played songs that came with occasional crowd participation. As expected, most of the lead vocal and guitar duties were handled by David, but Louie had his moments, too.

David Hidalgo at the Whittier College

As good as the first half was, I liked the second half better, mostly because of the dominant sound of David's electric guitar. Although I don't speak the language, I do love the special feel of the songs with Spanish lyrics, and there were quite a few such songs in the second set - "Gorrioncillo Pecho Amarillo" was one of them. Other songs we heard after the intermission: "Wake Up Dolores", "Matter Of Time", "Teresa", "Tony And Maria", "Good Morning Aztlan" and "One Time, One Night", my all-time favorite Los Lobos number.

Louie Perez at the Whittier College

David & Louie also played two rather obscure covers - one of them was "Rebel Kind", originally recorded by Vancouver's The Modernettes, the other was a Johnny Thunder tune whose title I did not catch.

Toward the end of the show, David invited Syd Straw to come out and sing with them. I was hoping for Syd to take the lead on at least one song, but her role remained limited to singing background vocals on only two songs.

Syd Straw at the Whittier College

The show ended with a two-song encore: first we heard a rousing rendition of "La Venganza De Los Pelados", then, with Syd Straw's help, they brought the house down with Neil Young's "Cinnamon Girl".

The Ruth B. Shannon Center turned out to be a great venue to hear live music, I would go back there in a heartbeat. In addition to the obligatory merchandise table, the building's foyer featured quite a few Latin-music-themed paintings that looked great.

The Ruth B. Shannon Center for the Performing Arts

Artwork on the wall

Artwork on the wall

Artwork on the wall

The merch table

The stage

The Ruth B. Shannon Center for the Performing Arts

The main entrance

Concert #740 - Syd Straw at McCabe's Guitar Shop (April 11, 2015)

If you're like me, you go to concerts for the music and you are supremely annoyed by musicians who blabber away for hours instead of focusing on music. Excessive talking can drive me nuts and indeed, there are a few singers out there whose verbal diarrhea has stopped me from becoming a repeat customer. But then there are two musicians, and I mean only two, who can talk as much as they want and I won't complain. One of them is Kinky Freedman. The other is Syd Straw.

Saturday night at McCabe's, Syd and her supporting cast played a total of seventeen songs, a fairly normal amount of music for a ninety-minute show, but thanks to Syd's massively talkative mood, the show went on for a little over two-and-a-half hours. Wow! But I'm not complaining. On the contrary, I got thoroughly amused by the non-musical part of her act. Syd's sense of humor is truly unique, quite difficult to categorize, but most definitely enjoyable - my friend Steve put it best, when he described Syd as being "gloriously loopy".

Syd Straw at McCabe's

I have now seen Syd Straw five times as a headliner and I must say that Saturday night she sounded better than ever. Her instantly-recognizable voice was strong and she had no problems hitting any notes she wanted to hit.

As expected, her show consisted of mostly her own songs, plus a few well-chosen covers. Here's a list of the cover songs Syd sang for us and, by the way, they all sounded great:

Mutineer (Warren Zevon),

Rocky Racoon (The Beatles)

Femme Fatale (Velvet Underground) 

Love Is Everything (Jane Siberry),

(I'd Go The) Whole Wide World (Wreckless Eric)

What Am I Worth (George Jones)

Syd Straw at McCabe's

And here are the songs that I believe were either written or co-written by Syd herself:

My Ship Comes In

Papier Mache

Black Squirrel

All Things Change

Marry Me

You Had Your Chance

Pink Velour

By This River

Think Too Hard

Current Of Love

Love, And The Lack Of It

To these ears, the highlights of the evening were "(I'd Go The) Whole Wide World" and "Marry Me", with everything else not too far behind.

Syd came out with guitarist Rob Laufer and violinist Heather Lockie. They remained on the stage for the entire duration of the show. I loved Rob's expressive guitar playing and I enjoyed the warm sounds of Heather's violin - their contribution to the success of the evening cannot be overstated.

Syd Straw and Rob Laufer at McCabe's

Syd Straw and Heather Lockie at McCabe's

For the singing of "Femme Fatale", Syd brought out her old friend Cindy Lee Berryhill, who did a great job with this Velvet Underground gem. Later in the show, Syd added two more musicians to her band: bassist David Jenkins and Don Heffington, a drummer and percussionist with impressive credentials.

Cindy Lee Berryhill at McCabe's

And speaking of unannounced guests: for her encore, Syd came out with a happy-looking Dave Alvin, with whom she sang George Jones' "What Am I Worth", from one of George's earliest albums. The song was also recorded by Dave and Syd in 1994, you can find it on Dave's "King Of California" album.

Syd Straw and Dave Alvin at McCabe's

Syd Straw and Dave Alvin at McCabe's

And there was yet another unannounced guest: Carol Burnett. No, America's beloved comedy star did not show up, but Syd's dog did. Inexplicably named after the great artist, Carol-the-Dog watched the entire show from the stage, without interfering with the proceedings.

Syd Straw and her dog Carol at McCabe's

The show was either sold out or very close to a sell out. There was no opening act. Overall, the evening was more than enjoyable. Syd wrapped up her show with the words "God Bless McCabe's", to which I can only add one word: Amen!

The stage

Concert poster

Concert #739 - Mary Gauthier, Eliza Gilkyson & Gretchen Peters at McCabe's Guitar Shop (February 21, 2015)

This was the final show of a short California tour named "Three Women and the Truth", conceived and carried out by three of America's finest female singer-songwriters: Mary Gauthier, Eliza Gilkyson & Gretchen Peters. I attended the 8 PM sold-out show. The late show (10 PM) was a bit short of a sellout.

Last night was my first time to see Gretchen Peters in concert. On the other hand, I had seen Mary and Eliza five and four times before, respectively.

Quite predictably, the stage had three chairs - Eliza sat in the middle, with Mary to her right. Each performer sang five songs, taking turns in the same order, starting with Gretchen and ending with Mary.

Gretchen's Songs

Hello Cruel World

Blackbirds

When All You Got Is A Hammer

The Matador

Five Minutes

Eliza's Songs

The Red Rose And The Thorn

Touchstone

Eliza Jane

Flatline

No Tomorrow

Mary's Songs

I Drink

Another Train

Last Of The Hobo Kings

How You Learn To Live Alone (co-written with Gretchen Peters)

Bullet Holes In The Sky (co-written with Jamie Trent)

 

Gretchen Peters at McCabe's

Eliza Gilkyson at McCabe's

Mary Gauthier at McCabe's

Eliza's offering included four numbers from "The Nocturne Diaries", her latest album. Likewise, Gretchen chose to sing songs from her most recent two albums, 2012's "Hello Cruel World" and the just-released "Blackbirds".

Eliza and Mary having a good time at McCabe's

Overall the show was thoroughly enjoyable, albeit short of perfection. Here are some of the positives:

• Stellar songwriting, from beginning to end

• Gretchen's voice and singing style were a huge hit with me. Her interpretation of "Hello Cruel World" and "When All You Got Is A Hammer" was something to behold

• Mary's incredible delivery of "I Drink" and "Last Of The Hobo Kings"

• Eliza's intense performance of "Flatline", a song from her "Hard Times In Babylon" album

• The low-key support provided by Barry Walsh on accordion. Barry is Gretchen's husband and an accomplished musician in his own right.

• The "Touchstone" sing-along, masterfully managed by Eliza, even though most people were unfamiliar with the song

And a few negatives:

• The three ladies were in a talkative mood last night - with a little bit less talk, they could have squeezed in a few more songs

• There was enough bad language for a couple of truck stops

• There was no encore

Gretchen Peters at McCabe's

The end of the show

The final bow

The stage

Gretchen after the show

Ticket-holders lining up before the show

Concert #738 - Al Stewart & Peter White at McCabe's Guitar Shop (February 7, 2015)

It was an excruciatingly long wait, but it was worth it. Nearly twenty-four years have passed since I witnessed the unforgettable show put on by Al Stewart and Peter White at McCabe's in the summer of 1991. Since then, I'd been dreaming about reliving the event just once more, and last night it finally happened, albeit in an unexpected fashion. 

We all showed up expecting to see Dave Nachmanoff alongside Al, as indicated on Al's website. Dave is one heck of a guitar player and I would have been perfectly happy to see him play, but catching Peter and Al together yet once again was a whole different matter.

Al took the stage all by himself, kicked off the evening with a lively rendition of "House Of Clocks", then brought the house down by simply introducing Peter White. Without wasting any time, they launched into an epic rendition of "On The Border" and everything that followed was equally epic. 

Al Stewart (right) & Peter White at McCabe's

Al will turn seventy in September, yet his voice is in excellent shape - someone who hasn't heard him since the mid-seventies will have absolutely no trouble recognizing him. And what can I say about Peter ... his guitar playing was absolutely superb, especially on the Django Reinhardt-esque "Last Train To Munich", the song that also featured an outstanding upright bass solo played by Roberto Vally.

Al Stewart McCabe's

Peter White at McCabe's

The set list

Throughout the evening, Al was in his usual humorous mood and held nothing back when it came to historical references. As a matter of fact, he ended the show by re-introducing his two cohorts, Peter White and Roberto Vally, then said "My name is Woodrow Wilson, thank you very much and good night". Al and Peter came back for a one-song encore, namely "End Of The Day", a number they co-wrote in the late seventies.

Al Stewart & Peter White thanking the crowd

For me, the evening ended with two autographs and two handshakes that will be hard to forget:

Two priceless autographs

Al Stewart after the show

Peter White chatting with fans after the show

The stage