Concert #472 - The Who's Tommy at the Ricardo Montalban Theatre (June 28, 2008)

Inexplicably, it took me about seventeen years after Tommy's initial release in 1969 to finally "get the music", "get the heat" and "get the excitement" of what I now believe is the Who's best piece of work. My belated interest in Tommy was sparked by an all-star recording of the rock opera that came out in 1975, featuring an incredible line-up that included Pete Townshend, Sandy Denny, Steve Winwood, Richie Havens, Roger Daltrey, John Entwistle, Ringo Starr, Rod Stewart, Maggie Bell, Richard Harris and Merry Clayton, with the powerful accompaniment of the London Symphony Orchestra and Chambre Choir. I discovered this album in 1986 and today I still feel its impact.

In 1994, when the original Broadway production came to Los Angeles, I went to see Tommy at the Universal Amphitheater not once, but twice, and each time it was pure bliss. Fourteen years later, Tommy came back for a three week engagement at Hollywood's Ricardo Montalban Theater and when I bought my tickets I pretty much knew that Tommy's latest incarnation would not measure up favorably against the 1994 production. Not that it mattered to me.

I went to the show with Ryan, my younger son, a huge Tommy fan himself. We had great seats in the fourth row, slightly off-center.

Tommy's 2008 line-up

Tommy - Aleks Pevec

Mrs. Walker - Alice Ripley

Acid Queen - Nona Hendryx

Sally Simpson - Jenna Leigh Green

Captain Walker - Tom Schmid

Cousin Kevin - PJ Griffith

Uncle Ernie - Hank Adams

The Hawker - Ronny Drayton

I was right with my initial assessment - Tommy 2008 wasn't quite as spectacular as Tommy 1994, but it still managed to be very enjoyable and not for a second did I regret spending the money. Aleks Pevec, who played the grown-up version of Tommy, was definitely the star of the show. Nona Hendryx, the former partner of Patti LaBelle, stood out as the Acid Queen. I also liked the Hawker, convincingly played by Ronny Drayton. After the show I learned that Alice Ripley (Mrs. Walker), had played the very same role as part of the original Broadway production in 1994.

Aleks Pevec as Tommy

The much-advertised high-definition 3D Sound, the new "revolutionary" audio system that came to us via Bose headsets placed at every seat, was not as earth-shattering as advertised. Still, I enjoyed the show very much and so did Ryan, we both went home happy. For a while I even considered going back for seconds, but eventually decided not to.

Tommy at the Ricardo Montalban Theatre (2008)

Tommy at the Ricardo Montalban Theatre (2008)

Alice Ripley as Mrs. Walker with the young version of Tommy

Tommy & Sally (Aleks Pevec & Jenna Leigh Green)

Tommy poster, photographed in the theater's loby

Sign photographed in the theater's loby

Hollywood's Ricardo Montalban Theater

Hollywood's Ricardo Montalban Theatre

Concert #474 - Blame Sally at McCabe's Guitar Shop (July 25, 2008)

I first heard of Blame Sally when their name appeared in McCabe's' concert listing for July 2008 and I immediately went into a research mode that ended with the purchase of a single ticket for the show.

The crowd was predominantly female and middle-aged, possibly because Blame Sally is exclusively female and middle-aged.

Blame Sally

Pam Delgado (percussion, vocals)

Renee Harcourt (guitar, bass, vocals)

Jeri Jones (guitar, bass, vocals) 

Monica Pasqual (piano, accordion, vocals)

Their show was quite good - the four ladies sang well, played their instruments with skill and were often humorous. I suppose they wrote most of the songs they played, if not all. I went home happy, even though the show fell just a tad short of a knock-out. Here's a YouTube video showing Blame Sally in action, looking and sounding pretty much the way I remember them from McCabe's:

 The show was opened by Austin-based singer-songwriter Matt The Electrician, who did not leave a lasting impression.

Concerts #429, 475 - Ray Wylie Hubbard at McCabe's Guitar Shop (January 13, 2007 - August 1, 2008)

My brother occasionally shows up in California and every time he does, my first thought is to take him to a great concert, the kind he doesn't have access to where he lives. Trouble is he usually comes for only a day or two, which leaves me with few options when it comes to finding the ideal concert. In January 2007, my only option was Ray Wylie Hubbard at McCabe's, and as it turned out, it was a good option.

We went to the show rather unprepared - I knew only a small handful of Ray's song, my brother knew none - but Ray is the kind of performer who will grab you from the very first song and keep you hooked until the lights go back on. Mixing great songs with fun stories and accompanying himself on an acoustic guitar, Ray made us laugh and kept our toes tapping non-stop.

"Snake Farm" and "Polecat" are the songs that I still remember almost five years after the concert. 

For his encore, Ray brought out Chris Robinson of the Black Crowes fame. He sat in for just one song. As we were sitting in the front row, I could have almost touched Chris, it was a thrill.

Chris Robinson

In August 2008 I went back to McCabe's to hear Ray for a second time, hoping to once again luck out with a famous unannounced guest. As it turned out, it was yet another case of unfulfilled expectations - not only there was no Chris Robinson, but Ray played the whole show without anyone guesting. Overall, this second helping had less of an impact on me.

Both shows were opened by I See Hawks In LA, a local alt-country band that left me rather unimpressed on both occasions.

Concert #476 - Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson at McCabe's Guitar Shop (September 12, 2008)

I can't say that I'm a fan of Kasey's voice, but I do listen to her music sometimes and whenever hubby Shane Nicholson gets involved, things get a little more interesting, as was the case with "Rattlin' Bones", their joint album released in 2008. The ensuing US tour in support of the new album brought them to McCabe's in September 2008.

The concert was announced as "Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson", but having had more solo albums under her belt, Kasey appeared to be playing the role of the "main attraction". She did most of the singing and talking, while Shane kept a somewhat lower profile. The best song of the evening was "Once In A While", a truly gorgeous tune that's been delighting me ever since.

The concert opened my appetite for Shane's music. In my opinion, his "Familiar Ghosts" solo album is at least as good as Kasey's best material, if not better.

Bill Chambers, Kasey's father, popped in unexpectedly for a few songs and his singing and guitar playing complemented the two "youngsters" very well. Later I learned that he is a well-regarded guitarist in Australia's alt-country scene.

Bill Chambers

Overall, the concert was good, but not earth-shattering. Still, I would probably catch them again sometime in the future.

Here's a live rendition of "Once In A While", performed just the way I witnessed it at McCabe's:

Concerts #425, 477 - Janis Ian at McCabe's Guitar Shop ( November 10, 2006 - September 21, 2008

Janis Ian is an artist I have known for ages, but started paying closer attention to only after her McCabe's engagement was announced in September 2006. Her new album, "Folk Is The New Black", had just been released, I gave it a good listen and discovered that Janis had written a lot more great music than just "At Seventeen", her only song I could name at that time.

I went to the concert with friend and coworker K, sat in the front row and witnessed a performance that was a delight from the very first song to the final bow, a choice of words not meant to be just a figure of speech - after her last song, Janis stepped up to the edge of the stage and took a deep and long bow, the supreme way of thanking her audience for their being there. Now that's a sign of true class and so was her permission for her fans to take pictures during the concert, between songs.

Janis proved to be a seasoned performer, with one great song after another and fun stories that weren't too long. After her self-introduction - "Folk singer, short, lesbian, Jewish" - Janis went on to sing a few of her best songs from "Folk Is The New Black", among them "Danger, Danger" and "My Autobiography". She also sang "At Seventeen" and a few more of her own oldies. Janis reminisced about the good old sixties, when on one occasion, she remained defiantly on stage in spite of being booed while singing "Society's Child", her song about inter-racial love. Needless to say, her delivery of the same song at McCabe's drew a diametrically opposed response.

Janis is not at all foreign to controversial subjects, so quite fittingly, she sang the self-written "Married In London", a song about the inconsistent ways same-sex marriage is treated in different countries. Based on the crowd's loud applause, I don't think there were too many folks there who disagreed with Janis' point of view.

I was totally taken by Janis Ian's performance. Performing without any supporting cast and armed with nothing more than an acoustic guitar, Janis kept me mesmerized from start to finish. After the concert, I immediately started looking up her older music and that's how I discovered true gems such as "Here Comes The Night", "Dance With Me", "In The Winter" and "When The Party Is Over", songs I would have otherwise never heard, I'm pretty sure about that.

Janis Ian at McCabe's (2008)

Two years later, on September 21, 2008, I went back to McCabe's to relive my first encounter with Janis Ian. Just like the first time, what she lacked in stature, Janis more than made up with her music, stories and humor. The two concerts were quite similar, with one difference: the second time I knew exactly what to expect, hence the somewhat smaller impact of the second show. Without a new album, Janis reached into her back catalog, so I once again got to hear her two signature songs, "Society's Child" and "At Seventeen", as well as "All Those Promises" from "Folk Is The New Black".

Janis Ian at McCabe's (2008)

As I was browsing the many YouTube videos showing Janis Ian at different stages of her career, I noticed that words like "class" and "classy" appeared frequently in the "Comments" section. Clearly, I wasn't the only one who noticed.

Concert #478 - Country Joe McDonald at McCabe's Guitar Shop (Sept 26, 2008)

This was my first and only time to see Country Joe McDonald in concert. The show was announced as "Country Joe McDonald's Tribute to Woody Guthrie", so naturally, most of the set list was dedicated to material written by the legendary troubadour.

The songs were good, especially the ones we all knew, but I can't say that I was taken by Country Joe's performance - he appeared to be a bit apathetic, as if having to go through a boring daily routine. And then he read quite a bit from a book that may have been a Woody Guthrie biography, if I'm not mistaken. I had a problem with the reading part - when you go to a concert, you go for the music, not to sit there for many long minutes listening to someone reading from a book. I could have accepted a paragraph or two, but he just went on and on ...

The evening's best moment may have been "I Feel Like I'm Fixing To Die Rag", possibly the only non-Guthrie song of the concert, when most of the sell-out crowd joined in. Not unexpectedly, "This Land Is Your Land", quickly turned into a sing-along as well.

There's a Country Joe double CD out there, recorded live in San Francisco on May 12, 2007, that has many of the songs performed at McCabe's. Appropriately titled "A Tribute To Woody Guthrie", the collection features the following numbers:

Disc 1

1. "This Land is Your Land" Woody Guthrie 2. Introduction — Country Joe 3. "Every Time His Songs are Sung" Barry Lee Marris 4. Root beer story from Bound for Glory by Woody Guthrie 5. "Talking Dust Bowl" Woody Guthrie 6. "Do Re Mi" Woody Guthrie 7. "Going Down the Road" Woody Guthrie 8. Car story from “Woody Sez” 9. "Let's Go Riding in My Car" Woody Guthrie 10. Cookies speak louder than words — letters by Malvina Reynolds and Woody Guthrie 11. Erotic writing — Woody Guthrie 12. "Woman at Home" Country Joe (music), Woody Guthrie (words)

Disc 2
1. "Capi/Commie" Joady Guthrie; Sayings by Woody Guthrie; “Old Paint the Horse with a Union Label” — author unknown 2. "Ladies Auxiliary" Woody Guthrie 3. "Union Maid" Woody Guthrie 4. About lynchings — Woody Guthrie 5. "Slip Knot"/"Vigilante Man" Woody Guthrie 6. "Pastures of Plenty" Woody Guthrie 7. "Roll On Columbia" Woody Guthrie 8. "New York City" Country Joe (music), Woody Guthrie (words) 9. "Tom Joad" Woody Guthrie 10. "Oklahoma Hills" Jerry Guthrie and Woody Guthrie 11. Oklahoma where it all began — Worden McDonald 12. "So Long It’s Been Good to Know Ya" Woody Guthrie