The lovely Ms. McKay has invited me to join her on her shows this week in Cleveland at a great little jazz club called Nighttown. Apparently, we’re picking up a rhythm section from out there, so the shows (this Monday and Tuesday) should be nice and spontaneous!
Here’s a clip of Nellie singing my song “When It Rains” — enjoy!
I’ve been asked to come and play guitar in Nellie McKay’s band for her upcoming dates at Yoshi’s in San Francisco (Oct. 16-18) and Jazz Alley in Seattle (Oct. 20-21). This will actually be my first time performing in San Francisco, and Seattle is one of my very favorite cities, so I’m really looking forward to this!
Here’s a clip of Nellie and me singing together at Joe’s Pub last year on the Hoagy Carmichael standard “Two Sleepy People”…enjoy!
At the end of last night’s Jonathan Richman show at the Bowery Ballroom, a startling thing happened. After graciously giving two encores, JR put his guitar away, started for the exit, and then came back to the mic. He explained that something didn’t feel right to him…that the show had had a lot of ups and downs, but it hadn’t felt good to him, somehow. “We don’t play with any kind of plan,” he explained (speaking for himself and drummer Tommy Larkins, though clearly he’s the only one onstage calling the shots). “And tonight I was really feeling the lack of a plan. We try to keep things fresh…it’s like bread: as soon as you take it out of the oven, it starts to get old.” (I’m paraphrasing) “But I would rather fail like that than play the same stale thing every night.”
Anyone who’s ever gotten on a stage knows what it’s like to have a bad night…to not be connected to the music, or the audience, or oneself. It happens, and it doesn’t feel good. But witnessing Jonathan Richman’s palpable sense of confusion and unrest for not (in his mind) delivering the goods, to see him offer himself up like that in front of a packed house, was really something. One fan suggested he solve the problem by singing his song “Springtime in New York,” and yes, he said, that might very well be just the thing. He called Tommy back to the stage, unpacked his guitar, and performed the song with tenderness and real love for the audience and for the city, and all was well once again in the world.
This guy is amazing. I’ve had the pleasure to see him four times in the last three years, and each time have been completely floored by the intimacy he creates with the audience, by the spontaneity of his performance (the guitar flights of fancy, the lyric ad libs, the off-mic bits, the dancing!..he’s out of his mind, and G-d bless him for it), by his total engagement in offering service to the crowd in the form of light, humor, warmth, gentleness and wisdom.
Sure, I could tell he was a little off his game last night. He started strong, but seemed to become preoccupied with his decision to instruct the venue to keep the A/C off. As it got warmer in the room, he began to worry about the audience’s comfort, asking us if we were too warm, even as one of his songs railed against things like A/C and new housing developments and things that keep us from “the real” of life. He seemed to get confused, torn between following the dictates of his conscience and his concern for the audience, and the show took a noticeable energy dive from there on in. Or maybe it was the decidedly un-Jonathan Richman-like song he sang about being a victim to other people’s unkindness and cruelty (I don’t the name of it, but I’d put money on it being a cover of a Vic Chestnutt song, who opened the show).
Whatever the reason, JR lost his groove about halfway through, and struggled mightily to regain his balance. Seeing this guy, in his late 50’s, veteran of thousands of concerts, care so deeply about trying to find his way back into the moment, was a real gift. Hearing his conviction that he’d rather fail in his dedication to the moment than be another nail in the coffin of true, live performance and risk and humanity, confirms for me — once again — that Jonathan Richman is a modern-day hero.
Go see him if, and as often as, you can.
Tour dates are here.
People often ask me where I draw my musical inspiration from, and I often draw a blank. Reason being: most of the things that inspire me are not music. Theater, film, art, literature, history, religion, ideas..these are the things that generally get me going.
There are few things worse than being stuck in the audience at a bad piece of theater, but the converse is also true: when theater is really effective, no other art form can touch it for the visceral, exciting, startling feeling it inspires.
This week I had the opportunity to see “DESIRE UNDER THE ELMS”, as good and imaginative a production as I’ve seen on Broadway in a long time. Today I read that the show is closing early (May 24) because of bad box office receipts, mainly due to getting shut out of the Tonys (a travesty). Even if there are some casting issues, I still urge you to go see it before it’s gone forever.
In the musical realm (although there was a good deal of theater in this too), I had another opportunity to see Leonard Cohen perform last night in Waterbury, CT. I caught him for the first time last October in Obernberg, Germany, but Leonard and the show have only gotten better in the intervening months. He’s absolutely at the top of his game: totally present, giving and fully cognizant of his tremendous power at this late stage of his career/life. He’s in NYC this weekend, then has a few more dates in North America before heading back across the pond. Amazingly, there are still seats left at many of the shows. Really, if you can, do yourself a favor and go and see Leonard Cohen. You’ll never forget it.
ANISTAR is one of the best bands I’ve heard in a while. Sadly, they played their last show in NYC last night (the leader, Harel Shachal, is leaving the country to raise his family in Israel), but you can get their CD here, a live recording made a few years ago. I’m listening to it now. All of the players are ridiculous, but Harvey Valdez on Oud is on another level. I may have to get myself one of those things.
I went to see the band for the first time a couple of weeks ago on the recommendation of my friend and sometime-violinist Skye Steele , who plays in Anistar and also fronts his own mighty quintet that was sharing the bill that night. Skye recently put out his debut CD “Late Bloomer,” a fine collection of originals, standards and traditionals highlighted (I think) by Skye’s vocal debut on “I Don’t Want To Live on the Moon.” If you haven’t heard Skye play with my band, you’ve missed out. Check him out playing on : "A Ghost " from last December at Joe’s Pub.
Someone else I’ve checked out a few times recently is Sasha Dobson, a fabulous singer who has that rare something between jazz, country, pop and blues that I like so much. I don’t know a lot about Sasha, but she’s the real deal as far as I’m concerned. I met her, her beau Richard Julian and Josh Radin a few weeks ago when we all took turns passing around Sasha’s guitar and trading songs after her gig at MOTO. The four of us, plus Jon Flaugher and Ian Riggs (taking turns on bass) hung out till the wee hours playing each other tunes — lots of fun. I don’t know Richard’s music as well yet, but I plan to check it out some. Sasha plays Sundays at my old stomping grounds Pete’s Candy Store — be sure to stop in and see her.