Concert #493 - Fred Eaglesmith at McCabe's Guitar Shop (January 24, 2009)

When McCabe's announces new shows, I usually know right away whether I'm interested or not. But there are quite a few instances when I debate within myself for weeks before I decide what to do. Fred Eaglesmith's concert was a good example of the latter and in his case, the decision was to go. It turned out it was a good decision.

Only superficially familiar with his music, I didn't know what to expect. I could have been in for a long night of monotonous songs delivered with an eyebrow-raising voice, but somewhat surprisingly, Fred grabbed me from the get go with his songs and humor and kept me engaged until the lights went on.

I can't name any of the songs he played that night, but his chatter and utter self-confidence are hard to forget and his music was good, too. I liked his live performance a lot more than his studio recordings that I had sampled in the days before the concert. So I definitely got my money's worth, but was he good enough to make we want to drive 102 miles to see him once again at McCabe's in faraway Santa Monica? I think he was.

The concert was opened by singer-songwriter-producer-instrumentalist Marvin Etzioni, a.k.a. the Mandolin Man. His set was OK, but not huge.

Marvin Etzioni

Concert #494 - Jim Kweskin at the Coffee Gallery Backstage (January 31, 2009)

The Coffee Gallery in Altadena is a decent venue to see a show. It holds only forty-nine seats - how can such a tiny place survive? - yet for many years now, the coffee shop's backroom has been a good home for the many deserving artists who cannot fill large arenas and stadiums.

My Better Half and I had seats just a few steps from the stage, but then again, every seat there is just a few steps from the stage. Jim came out with a small band, their set was definitely passable, albeit somewhat monotonous. The songs they played were not bad, but there was nothing fiery about the delivery nor was there electricity in the air, so when Jim announced a short intermission, my wife and I looked at each other and we both said "Time to go home". So home we went, without feeling disappointed, nor shortchanged. Simply put, one fifty-minute set was good enough.

Here's Jim Kweskin at the Coffee Gallery, just a few months after the show I attended:

Concerts #128, 495 - David Lindley at the Little Bridges and McCabe's Guitar Shop (Late 1993/Early 1994 - February 14, 2009

It was either late 1993 or early 1994 when I first saw David Lindley solo. The concert took place in David's home town of Claremont, California, in a beautiful church-like auditorium simply known as the "Little Bridges", not to be confounded with the nearby "Bridges Auditorium", a much larger venue. As expected, he played a variety of string instruments with great virtuosity, but elected to performed lots of song that I wasn't familiar with, so as far as I was concerned, his concert never took off. He was accompanied by Jordanian percussionist Hani Nasser, with whom David has toured and recorded extensively.

Claremont's Little Bridges

Fifteen years later, I caught him again, this time at McCabe's in Santa Monica. Once again I witnessed a good performance delivered by a master of his many instruments, but somehow the whole package did not bring me to my feet.

 Stage set-up at McCabe's (January 2009)

I don't think I will be motivated enough to go to yet another David Lindley solo concert, but I will definitely welcome him as a guest at someone else's gig.

Concert #496 - Blue Rodeo at McCabe's Guitar Shop (February 20, 2009)

Not nearly as popular in the States as in their native Canada, Blue Rodeo can only play smaller venues when they cross the US border and that is actually good for those of us gringos who appreciate their melodic country-rock and great vocal harmonies. Sitting in the second row, along with my friend Jay, I witnessed an excellent evening of music that made me want to dig deep into their large back catalog.

Band Line-up

Jim Cuddy (acoustic guitar & vocals)

Greg Keelor (acoustic guitar & vocals)

Glenn Milchem (drums)

Bob Egan (pedal steel guitar)

Basil Donovan (bass)

Michael Boguski (piano & organ)

Set list

  Now & Forever 

Cynthia
  Bad Timing
  Blue House
Disappear
  Rebel
  Trust Yourself

Crying Over You 

3 Hours Away
5 AM (A Love Song)
5 Days In May
  Try
Is It You
  Rage
  Photograph

To Love Somebody

Head Over Heels

Encore
'Til I Am Myself Again

It Hasn't Hit Me Yet

The best songs of the evening: "Cynthia", "Head Over Heels" and "It Hasn't Hit Me Yet", which coincidentally, all come from the same album, "Five Days In July". 

Imagine my surprise when, shortly after the show, four songs recorded at this very concert showed up on YouTube. Here they are:

To Love Somebody:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opUMh5ZFpc0

Bad Timing:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQwOsb8RqrY

Trust Yourself:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfuZCZ6FcP4&feature=related

Is It You:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCBu-fqPvaQ&feature=related

And one other thing: I can still see the face of bassist Bazil Donovan, who appeared to be totally disconnected from the other five, just sitting there emotionless and utterly bored by the proceedings. I hope he wasn't.

Concerts #387, 428 - Jackshit at The Baked Potato (December 21, 2005 - December 20, 2006)

The Baked Potato is primarily a jazz club, an unlikely venue for me to frequent, yet there I was - and not just once - thanks to the Boys from Cochtotan, a.k.a. Jackshit, a.k.a. Beau, Shorty and Pete, a.k.a. Val McCallum, Dave Faragher and Pete Thomas, a.k.a. the Best Bar Band in LA.

Compared to McCabe's, where Jackshit has played countless times, the Baked Potato offers a somewhat similar intimacy, but there are striking differences between the two venues. McCabe's is alcohol free, while the Baked Potato has a two-drink-minimum policy in effect. They also serve dinners, unlike McCabe's, where chocolate chip cookies are the only solid food your money can buy. Needless to say, the alcohol served at the Baked Potato breeds a more vociferous crowd, but overall still well-behaved. Both venues have good sound and after the show you can meet the band at both places. Still, my venue of choice is McCabe's, as I don't need to drink alcohol in order to fully enjoy a show.

In December 2005 I went with my good friend Art, then in 2006 it was Hans' turn to accompany me. On both occasions we had good seats, we ate dinner and fulfilled our two-drink-minimum obligations.

Both shows were absolutely perfect - the Boys from Cochtotan played their usual songs, had lots of fun and so did we. In December 2005, they played two full sets, so it was only after midnight when Art and I could finally go home to our wives. A year later, in December 2006, the Shit Horns and Syd Straw joined the band for a couple of numbers. I won't even try to describe how good they are - if you wanna know, go see and hear for yourself.

To this day, Jackshit remains an act I just can't get enough of. To date, I've seen them twenty-one times over a relatively short period of only six years. Hard to believe, but absolutely true.

Concerts #454, 497 - Smokey Hormel at McCabe's Guitar Shop (November 17, 2007 - February 21, 2009)

I first saw Smokey Hormel in April 2001 at UCLA's Royce Hall, where he was playing a supporting role in Hal Willner's Harry Smith Project, a large scale event that brought together many big names. It was his outstanding guitar playing that made me take note of his name, so five years later, when McCabe's announced Smokey's headlining gig, I knew exactly who he was.

The two shows I saw at McCabe's were quite similar, as in similarly short. Inexplicably, neither of Smokey's two sets went beyond the 75 minute mark, and as such, they remain to this day some of the shortest shows I've ever seen there. And it's not that he had to do it all by himself - on both occasions, Smokey brought along a few outstanding musicians, some of them with well-established national reputation:

November 17, 2007

Greg Leisz

Richard Greene

Larry Taylor

Joey Waronker

Laura Kass

February 21, 2009

John Doe

Charlie Burnham

David Ralicke

Joey Waronker

My expectations of blistering guitar solos did not materialize. Instead, Smokey featured extensively his own vocals, which were OK, but not stellar. The band members were top-notch, they all had their solo moments.

In spite of the overall negative tone of this write-up, the two shows were not bad - there was plenty of good music and good musicianship, so we went home not unhappy, but definitely wanting more.

Richard Greene

Greg Leisz