Concert #773 - Chris Smither at McCabe's Guitar Shop (April 9, 2016)

Last night I caught yet another fabulous performance by Chris Smither, who, in his seventy-second year of existence and just a few short months after having undergone some sort of a heart surgery, is yet to show any signs of slowing down. As I was watching him last night, all I could do was shake my head in disbelief - everything about his performance was absolutely superb: the way he held his audience captive, the songwriting, the delivery, the humor and, most of all, his guitar playing. The fluidity of his playing is out of this world and once again he proved to me that he has no equal when it comes to bending those guitar strings.

Chris Smither at McCabe's

Playing without a pre-determined set list, Chris performed songs from various stages of his prolific career. There were plenty of uptempo songs and his voice sounded stronger than the last time I saw him, a couple of years back. The show had quite a few highlights - the songs I liked the best were "Can't Shake These Blues", "Surprise, Surprise" and "Statesboro Blues", the evening's one-song encore.

Partial Set List

Open Up

Leave The Light On

Surprise, Surprise

Link Of Chain

Can't Shake These Blues

Lola

Get A Better One

No Love Today

Love You Like A Man

Train Home

Never Needed It More

Small Revelations

Make Room For Me

Don't Call Me Stranger

Time Stands Still

Statesboro Blues (Encore)

Chris Smither at the end of the show

The stage

The merch table

Concert #772 - Chad & Jeremy at McCabe's Guitar Shop (April 8, 2016)

During the duo's heyday in the 1960's, few expected to see the original Chad and the equally original Jeremy performing together in 2016, but that is exactly what we witnessed last night at McCabe's in Santa Monica. Chad & Jeremy are both in their mid-seventies, but the absence of any vocal acrobatics in their hit songs made it relatively easy for them to more-or-less replicate their original soft sound. Alternating between his electric guitar and keyboards, Chad looked somewhat frail, most likely the result of an accident he suffered in 2015, while Jeremy, who looked and sounded a lot more British than Chad, provided more leadership on the stage.

Chad (seated) & Jeremy at McCabe's

The duo focused mostly on their own material - we got to hear all their big hits, plus a few numbers that were new to me. From among the songs I did not know, the ones I liked the best were "B-Movie" and "Rest In Piece". They also played a couple of covers - we all laughed at their straight-faced delivery of the humorous "Avocado", sung to the tune of "Desperado", the hit song of the Eagles. One of the best songs of the evening turned out to be yet another cover, Jimmy Reed's "If You Leave Me, Baby". Not unexpectedly, Chad & Jeremy ended their set with "A Summer Song', introduced by Jeremy as "the song that started it all".

The Set List

Jeremy Clyde at McCabe's

Chad Stuart at McCabe's

Jeremy Clyde at McCabe's

The end of the show

The evening kicked off with a brief set performed by local musician Andrew Sandoval. At first blush, I thought his songs were OK, but none better than the set-opening "I Can't Be Lonely Without You". I liked very much the violin and cello accompaniment provided by two young ladies.

Andrew Sandoval at McCabe's

Chad & Jeremy after the show

The stage

Concert #771 - The Wainwright Sisters at McCabe's Guitar Shop (February 28, 2016)

Donald Trump would have been right, had he described this show as "low energy", but low energy is precisely what I needed on that late Sunday evening, at the end of a long week. Gentle songs came one after another, many lullabies among them, but instead of putting me to sleep, these young ladies grabbed me solid with their melodic tunes and gorgeous vocal harmonies.

The Wainwright Sisters at McCabe's

Wearing identical dresses, Martha and Lucy conversed with each other, shared stories with the crowd, sang most of the time as a duo, but they also had their own solo mini-sets. Everything they did was low-key, but they still managed to be engaging and most definitely entertaining. Their combined voices sounded great even though their singing styles are a bit different, with Lucy's more traditional sound being well complemented by Martha's edgier approach to singing.

Most songs we heard came from "Songs In The Dark", their joint recent album - come to think of it, they played practically the entire album. I recognized a few songs, such as "Hobo's Lullaby", Richard Thompson's "End Of The Rainbow', the well-known "El Condor Pasa" and "My Mother The Mountain" from the repertoire of Townes Van Zandt. Some post-concert research revealed that, not unsurprisingly, family members Loudon Wainwright, Terre Roche and Kate McGarrigle also contributed songs to this unique album. 

Martha Wainwright at McCabe's

The Wainwright Sisters at the end of the concert

Overall, I had a good time listening to Martha and Lucy and I look forward to seeing them again.

The stage

Concert poster

Concert #770 - Storm Large at the Haugh Performing Arts Center (February 27, 2016)

Movies have ratings, HBO programs start with content warnings, CDs have parental advisories, but - much to the chagrin of those who walked out of Storm Large's show last night - concerts do not come with any such early warnings. The event's mailer talked about Cole Porter, Kurt Weill, Carnegie Hall, symphony orchestras, Broadway, the American songbook and the like. What we actually got was, granted, great music, but also a tremendous amount of profanity-laced language. I counted four couples who stood up and walked out during the first fifteen minutes of the show, and I could only see the first four rows ahead of me. Many others left during the intermissions, but not everyone felt that way - throughout the show, most of the attendees responded with frequent laughter and applause, then gave her an enthusiastic standing ovation at the end of the evening.

I'm not prudish at all, but even I wasn't prepared for this veritable onslaught of profanities that just went on and on. No bodily function was left out and a lot of attention was given to both male and female genitalia during Storm's extended ramblings that I found neither witty, nor humorous. Such a performance may be described by some as edgy or liberating, but to me it was just time that could have been better used with more music and less vulgar language. Paradoxically, this came from an artist who can certainly keep an audience captive with nothing more than her musical skills.

Storm Large at the Haugh PAC (first set)

The concert started prompt at 8 PM with two Cole Porter classics, "I've Got You Under My Skin" and "It's Alright With Me", both delivered with intensity and passion. What followed was a mix of covers and original songs, all showcasing Storm's outstanding vocal range and voice control. Quite understandably, I enjoyed the covers more than the originals. I liked her heartfelt interpretation of Jacques Brel's "If You Go Away", sung in both English and French, but I was less taken by her overly theatrical re-working of "Hopelessly Devoted To You".

Storm Large at the Haugh PAC

Storm Large at the Haugh PAC (second set)

After a short intermission, Storm came out wearing a different dress, but that was the only thing that changed - we heard more covers, more originals and more "salty language", as she put it. Her renditions of Elton John's "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" and the Queen's "Somebody To Love" did not stray too far from the well-known originals and they both sounded great.

Throughout the show, Storm Large was accompanied by a competent band that calls itself Le Bonheur, which is French for happiness. Lead by piano player James Beaton, the band also featured guitarist Scott Weddle, bassist Matt Brown and drummer Greg Eklund.

By the way, this was my second time to see Storm Large performing on stage. In 2010, at the Mark Taper Forum, she thoroughly impressed me with her outstanding interpretation of a few Randy Newman songs (see Concert #580 elsewhere in this blog).

Storm Large and Le Bonheur

The final bow

The Haugh Performing Arts Center

The Haugh Performing Arts Center

Concerts #769, 110, 145, 154, 179, 189, 198, 204, 220, 294, 333, 354, 381 - John Hammond at Various Venues (1993-2016)

This write-up covers thirteen concerts featuring the great John Hammond, starting with my very first one (Concert #110, February 1993 at McCabe's Guitar Shop) and ending with the one I attended just two days ago (Concert #769, January 29, 2016, also at McCabe's).

First, a few words about John's most recent appearance at McCabe's on January 29, 2016. At the respectable age of seventy-three, he proved that he still is an exciting performer, fully capable of holding an audience captive with his intense delivery and virtuoso guitar playing. Amazingly, his idiosyncratic voice has remained pretty much unchanged over the decades and so has his love for the blues, which continues to ooze through his every pore. I attended John's 8 PM show and yes, there was a 10 PM late show as well, a testament to his stamina and strength. Both shows sold out.

John kicked off the evening's first set with "You're So Fine", followed by his own "Heartache Blues" and "Mean Old Lonesome Train". Broken guitar strings are nothing new to John and we all had fun watching him casually play his harmonica while changing a broken string right in the middle of "My Time After A While".

John Hammond changing broken strings at McCabe's

John's set had plenty of highlights - Howlin' Wolf's "Rocket Oldsmobile", Muddy Waters' "Sail On", and Blind William McTell's "Love Changing Blues" - but to these ears, the evening's best song was a toss-up between Big Joe Williams' "Drop Down Mama" and "Dreamy Eyed Girl", a song written by H.W. Newburn, someone I know nothing about. For his one-song encore, John played Jimmy Reed's "I Found Love".

John Hammond at McCabe's (2016)

John Hammond at McCabe's (2016)

I first saw John live in February 1993 at McCabe's Guitar Shop, and what an introduction that was! I was blown away by what I saw and heard and, from that moment on, I felt compelled to bring some of my friends along every time I went for my John Hammond fix. Watching him play numbers such as "Preachin' Blues", "Just Your Fool", "I Wish You Would", "I Can't Satisfied" and "Come On In My Kitchen" will remain forever some of the finest moments of my concert-going career.

McCabe's is the perfect venue to see a John Hammond performance - the place is intimate, the sound is great and the attendees are true connoisseurs - no wonder John loves to  play there. How do I know? Well, he said it many times. Funny thing, though: in a city where undoubtedly he has many musical friends, John's appearances at McCabe's have been, without exception, true solo outings - not once did he bring out a musical guest and that is not a complaint, just a statement of facts. Also, he seldom has opening acts, but on February 12, 2000, we got to see the talented Alvin Youngblood Hart who delivered an excellent opening set at McCabe's.

Three of my many John Hammond concerts took place at venues other than McCabe's. In the summer of 1998 I went to the House of Blues on Sunset Boulevard to see John play electric, with a band. The concert wasn't bad, but not quite as good as any of his acoustic solo shows that I have attended. Later the same year I took my Better Half and our good friends Ron and Bobbie to the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles for yet another outstanding John Hammond solo performance, then on January 25, 2003, I went to UCLA's Royce Hall for a star-studded evening that, in addition to John Hammond, also featured Loudon Wainwright, Tom Paxton and Mike Seeger.

McCabe's Guitar Shop - Concert room (January 2016)

Concert #768 - Dave Alvin & Phil Alvin at McCabe's Guitar Shop (January 23, 2016)

This was only my second time to see Dave and Phil Alvin perform together. Two years ago, at the Claremont Folk Festival, they impressed me with a strong performance, yet last night at McCabe's they did even better. "Absolutely superb" were the first words that came out of my mouth at the end of the concert and I wasn't exaggerating. It is harder for me to assess Phil, who has mostly eluded me over the years, but I can state with confidence that Dave is one of those few top-tier musicians who just get better with age.

Dave & Phil Alvin at McCabe's

The evening started with a seven-song set performed by Dave, with support from Chris Miller, his long-time collaborator and frequent member of the Guilty Men. Chris's electric guitar complemented Dave's acoustic playing to perfection. As musicians often do, Dave took a small detour from his hand-written set list, so instead of "King Of California" we heard "California Snow", a powerful song he wrote two decades ago with Tom Russell. The evening's first set ended with a great rendition of the self-penned "Abilene", whose extended instrumental coda featured some amazing interplay between Dave and Chris.

Dave Alvin's first set

Phil Alvin joined Dave and Chris for the evening's second set and what a set that was! Drawing heavily from the repertoire of some of America's finest classic blues artists, the Alvin Brothers put on a stunning display of singing and guitar playing, with Chris Miller providing outstanding support. Phil may have looked a bit frail, but his vocals showed no signs of weakness whatsoever, not even when he did the yodelling part on Jimmie Rodgers' "Never No Mo' Blues".

Dave & Phil Alvin at McCabe's

Dave Alvin at McCabe's

Phil Alvin at McCabe's

Everything we heard last night sounded great, yet a few songs still managed to stand out: Big Bill Broonzy's "All By Myself", Big Joe Turner's "Cherry Red Blues', Rev. Thomas A. Dorsey's "If You See My Savior" and the unattributed "World's In A Bad Condition". The show ending "What's Up With Your Brother", with its super-epic electric guitar playing delivered by Dave and Chris, will be hard to forget. The crowd brought them back for an encore, which consisted of "Johnny Ace Is Dead" and a rousing rendition of "Marie, Marie". We all went home happy.

Dave & Phil's set list

Chris Miller at McCabe's

The stage