Johnny Cash Birthday Bash at Southpaw

 

This past Saturday, Matt and I went to the Johnny Cash Birthday Bash at shosted by the inimitable Alex Battles. We came in to the Susquehanna Tool and Die Company doing 50’s Cash as Cash and the Tennessee Two, later we saw some vintage video of the Man in Black, heard some tunes by WNYU’s Honky Tonk Radio Girl (I particularly appreciated Wynonie Harris’s Bloodshot Eyes) and then Alex Battles and the Whiskey Rebellion took the stage for a full run through–warden’s announcements and all–of the Live from Folsom Prison album. Then they played more. I refer you to Matt’s review here.

I hope to have links to some videos I shot up later.

Another Country

 

Tift Merritt’s third album, Another Country, drops today. Considering how much I liked hearing her new songs at her solo acoustic performances recently (reviews here and here) I’m impressed how much I like the full band versions. There’s a little less emphasis on her voices, but overall the band helps to set the mood without being too intrusive. “Another Country” works well with a harmony part while “Morning is My Destination” and “Keep You Happy” are evocative of the wonderful arrangements on Bramble Rose.

Bluesy Rock Over Broadway - Grace Potter and the Nocturnals at the Allen Room at Lincoln Center - 2/21/2008

This past Thursday Brooke and I went to see Grace Potter and the Nocturnals as part of the American Songbook series at Lincoln Center. This was the first time that either of us had been to the Allen Room which was stunning. The room is laid out beautifully and has a three story glass wall behind the performance area with a spectacular view over Columbus Circle and Central Park South. Photos aren’t allowed and the one I didn’t take didn’t turn out so well but you can get an idea by looking here and here. The room also had some of the best acoustics I’ve heard. Being in a space originally designed for music makes a difference. David Childs may have made a few mistakes when designing the Time Warner center, but this space is not one of them.

I wasn’t expecting much once we showed up. Despite loving a number of the tracks on Grace’s most recent album (which made the top 20 of WSGE’s top 100 albums of2007 ), I was concerned that the older and somewhat stodgy seeming crowd wouldn’t get into Grace’s youthful bluesy rock. Boy was I wrong! The first half of the show was pretty mellow, but the audience was totally into it. The second half really took off. The songs just became infused with more and more energy and when Grace shouted “Lincoln Center! Are you ready to get on your feet?!?!” everybody was. It wasn’t quite Pat Green or the Boss (t minus 22 days) energy. But it was the most energy I’ve felt at a show in a while. This was in no small part due to guitarist Scott Tournet’s shredding guitar solos. I had remembered some great rifs on the album and was initially disappointed by the sedate nature of his solos. In the second half he just simply came alive.

On a related note the whole band was tight. Grace was stellar on three different organs and occasionally picked up the sweetest looking V-shaped electric on a few songs. Bassist Bryan Dondero filled up the lower register with his continually nimble playing and drummer Matt Burr was clearly ready to go from the start. They were tight.

The annotated set list is below:

1) Ain’t No Time

2) Treat Me Right - This song built nicely with some especially funky riffs from Grace and Bryan

3) Mastermind - This song was very, very tight. I should note that Grace transitioned between all of these songs on the organ. All told the band opened by playing for almost twenty minutes straight. It was much appreciated.

4) Stage banter took a turn for the better here as Grace noted that “Just because we’re in a fancy venue doesn’t mean you can’t make noise.” The crowd obliged.

5) Stop the Bus - One of my favorites from the album. It features the lyric “Stop the bus and turn the radio up high / And grab the first guitar you” I love it. Grace and Scott were clearly having fun on this one.

6) Here’s to the Meantime - “If the devil made a fire you’d be the wood”

7) Can’t See Through - New song. Ballad. Not terrible. Not great. It did however feature the nice lyrics “cursing like a sailor, lying like a their.” Maybe I just like the phrase “cursing like a sailor.” [Update: I'm almost definitely mis-attributing the lyric to this song here. See the first comment below.] Ah Mary - The lead-off track on This is Somewhere. Originally intended as a B-side. Thankfully not.

9) Sugar - New song. Recorded at Sun Studios. Repeatedly featured the lyric “don’t need no sugar in my bowl.” The anti-Nina Simone feeling I guess.

10) Lose Some Time - Just her and Scott on acoustic I think (my notes aren’t clear on this).

11) Apologies - Grace solo on the Steinway. Very nice.

12) Over Again

13) Don’t Let the Rain Fall Down on Me - Absolutely killer guitar solo by Scott. Killer. I don’t remember if it was on this song or some other (I lost track a little when we all got up) but I think it was here that all the member of the band, with the exception of Matt, put down their instruments threw up their picks, picked up some drum sticks and all together on the one drum kit embarked on the best four person, five minute drum solo I’ve ever seen. At first I thought it was just going to be gimmicky but it was good and certainly fun. Scott or Bryan was the one on the stool at the kit and Matt was somewhere off to the right with Grace mainly playing the bass drum from the front. When Matt did take over the solo it was on mainly nontraditional items including a table, the speaker stand, the speaker, the wooden owl on the speaker, and a plastic water bottle some guy in the audience was holding up. We all ate it up.

14) “Nothing But the Water is Gonna Lay My Soul to Bear” - Grace started their last song with an acoustic intro that featured this last line of the chorus. The band then transitioned into an instrumental that had separate lyrics I believe but may have been part of the same song. They ended the set by having the audience clap and sing the chorus repeatedly with them as they stepped away from their mikes and walked off stage in line.

“Encore”) Big White Gate - A song for her mother on her birthday.

[Update: You can read Stephen Holden's review of the concert for the Times here]

How Great Thou Art - Gospel Favorites Live from the Grand Old Opry

I’m listening to this album for the second time right now while recoding some data for a paper.  I’m struck by how versatile these gospel classics are.  Some are the same ones I heard last weekend at Miller theater, but done in a very different style.  The versions on the album are more in the country genre but are also much more stripped down.  The power comes from the minimalism and the quality and nature of the vocalists.  Some are no surprise.  Loretta Lynn’s version of “Where No One Stands Alone” is wrenching and could ride just on her voice.  Others, however I think are quite unexpected.  For instance, Brad Paisley, better know for his comedy country hits such as “Me Neither” and “Alcohol” just totally nails “The Old Rugged Cross.”

I’m not sure that this compilation is a must.  But it is quite good.

The Good News - Eric Reed and the Reverend Thomas A. Dorsey at Miller Theater 2/16/2008

(The Reverend Thomas Dorsey at right on piano)

This past Saturday Matt, Dave, and I went to go hear a night of the compositions of the Reverend Thomas A. Dorsey (not to be confused with the band leader Tommy Dorsey) at Miller Theater with an ensemble led by the pianist Eric Reed and featuring trombonist, Wycliffe Gordon. The night was as much about education as it was the music itself and Eric gave us a good bit of background about the career of the good reverend as well as his music.

The concert was broken up into two parts. The first part focused on Dorsey’s blues compositions. And as Eric reminded us, Thomas once said that “The blues is just a good woman feeling bad” and sent this first half of double-entendre filled music on its way with the reminder that a good woman feeling bad still feels pretty good. They played an instrumental piece and then traded verses on a nice little ditty called “Bumpity-Bump,” an onomatopoetic euphemism. The was followed by the equally delightful but less obfuscated “It’s Tight Like That.” These tunes brought some good chuckles from the crowd and at least a few opportunities for the 11 year-old girl in front of us playing her Nintendo DS to consult her mother about why everyone was laughing.

Next we came to the second party.  We heard about some tragedy that befell the Reverend Dorsey and how he came to hear the Good News. This was good news for us because for because he brought out onto stage the amazing vocalist Ella Mitchell (who you might better remember as Big Mama), Damien Sneed (who you can catch having some serious fun here) on organ, Dezron L. Douglas (who was sporting a most excellent neck-beard) on stand-up and electric bass, McClenty Douglas Hunter Jr. on drums. They were accompanied by a chorus of a thousand voices: Stephanie Oplacio, Melonie Daniels, Bettina Harris, Faith Monah, Katrice Walker, and Linny Smith.

They began by featuring Ella Mitchell on “Everyday Will Be Sunday Bye and Bye” and by George it was incredible! The entire theater was instantly filled with a bright blast of sound and energy that just got everyone going. Even the 11 year-old put down the Nintendo DS for at least 15 seconds. This was followed by “Search Me Lord” which featured some delicate, subdued harmonies on the penultimate verse, Ella again on the song most of us know from Elvis Presley, “Peace in the Valley,” and “The Life I Sing About in My Song.”

Each one of these songs was worth the price of admission, but things just got better. We were treated to the variety of forms the Reverend Dorsey’s songs could take. The next two songs were different arrangements of “Walking Up the King’s Highway.” The first version featured Ella Mitchel and was bright and lively straight through. The second version was an alternate arrangemen by (I believe) W. C. Hawkins. This version featured Bettina Harris on lead and man oh man! did she ever bring it. This version was slower and smoother and featured more of a build toward the spectacular finale. Harris was performing these incredible acrobatics with her voice that were as powerful as they were nimble. She got serious applause for this and deserved it. We then got a multi-lead featuring all the vocalists on “Jesus Remembers When Others Forget.” When Ella got to hear verse it reminded me (as I needed to be after Harris’s feature) that despite the fact that she didn’t perform the same vocal tour de force that Harris did, there was a depth to her voice that conveyed age and conviction in a way that none of the others on stage could quite do. There was a reason she was sitting front and center and wearing bright pink.

The group then moved on to an interesting sequence where we heard the chorus perform the standard “Must Jesus Bear the Cross Alone” which Reed put directly into Dorsey’s adaptation of it which became “Precious Lord Take My Hand” featuring Ella. The ensemble then closed with “I’ll Be With You Until We Meet Again.” And despite an almost entirely standing ovation and Matt’s enthused cries of “More! More!” we heard no more of the Good News that night.

It would have to be church on Sunday for that.

Bounty in Winter?

 

A few years ago they added a milk vending machine stocked with Ronnybrook Farms products to the juice room at the summer camp where I was once a camper and then counselor.  The chocolate milk from that machine was the out of this world: thick, smooth, and just sweet enough.  I was pleased then to see Ronnybrook milk show up at my local grocery store last year (though it was at outrageous prices).  I was even more thrilled to see Pam at the local Columbia green market on Thursdays selling more of it.  She mentioned that she sold a wider variety at the 97th street green market between Amsterdam and Columbus.  I finally started going and above was this week’s bounty.

The market would be worthwhile on its own just for the Ronnybrook milk (and cream and butter and yogurt).  But Dan is also there selling the recently matured Portobello mushrooms you see above.  His oyster mushrooms weren’t there this week but they are among the most beautiful and tasty fungi I’ve ever met.  This makes it a pretty awesome early Friday morning trip.  This time I also opted for some on the cob popping corn.

WKC - The Preview

Today Nicole and I went to the Westminster Kennel Club dog show at Madison Square Garden. I probably won’t get to fully write it up until Friday, so until then let this picture of a beautiful English setter in the benching area hold you over. And as you probably all know (since you were following the AKC news instead of the Potomac Primaries) the 15” Beagle won best in show.

Sharpen the knife and fire up the grill!

Following the heels of Friday night’s triumph of Red Snapper with Fennel and Mushrooms (a la Mark Bittman) I just received news that I made it into Roxbury Farm’s CSA (community supported agriculture) program.  I’ll be getting beautiful organic vegetables and sweet, sweet fruits from June through November.  I opted out of the winter storage box option.  Perhaps a mistake.

I started cooking a lot over the summer and my bi-weekly trips to the green market couldn’t compete with the goods that Winnie was getting through her CSA.  I had to suffer through all of the Summer and Fall since a lot of the CSA’s fill up in January and February.  Well I was on the ball this year so the green-eyed monster will no longer afflict me when I see other vegetables.

Revisions - Rockwood Music Hall 12/22/07 - Anthony da Costa and Abbie Gardner at

Somehow the Anthony da Costa and Abbie Gardner got wind of the review I posted of their December show at the Rockwood Music Hall and linked to it on their Myspace page.  Anthony was kind enough to send along the correct titles and writers which you can see in the updated review here.

Karneval at Zum Schneider

My night at Zum Schneider:

1.  Walk to the subway in full gorilla costume (2 gawkers)

2.  Take subway to Zum Schneider.  Have interaction with the Doo-Wop Time buskers.  Wonder if their selection of “In the Jungle” is inspired by my outfit

3. Walk from the 8th St. N stop to Zum Schneider (1 gawker)

4.  Panic as I’m the last in line to get checked in by the bouncer as I hear a man shout out from the bar “The Can-Can.”  Enter to the end of the Can-Can, averting disaster.  Do not notice the fish-net legged tu-tu wearing mannequin bottom halfs stuck to the ceiling.  Do notice all the women on stage in corsets and fishnets. Pretend to groom the girl sitting in front of me.

5.  Get grabbed by one of the aforementioned corset and fishnet clad performers to go up on stage and participate in a German beer tasting competition.  Get blindfolded.  The only preparation is hearing my competition go first to the sounds of “Drink! Drink! Drink!” in a German accent.

6.   Participate to the sounds of “Drink! Drink! Drink!” in a German accent.  Stay in character when asked what kind of beer it was and reply, “Bananas?”  Receive no laughter.  Spend the rest of the night with the owner coming up and saying “You fucked up!”

7.  Eat weisswurst.  Drink steins of excellent German beer.

8.  Rinse.

9.  Repeat.