James Velvet's Mardi Gras Playlist

James Velvet and the Lonesome Sparrows headlined the snowbound Fat Tuesday show at Cafe Nine, playing their favorite New Orleans songs before a small but enthusiastic audience of about a dozen. They played Dr. John, Professor Longhair, Hank Williams, Huey Piano Smith and more.

Such A Night
Aiko-Aiko
Mardi Gras in New Orleans
She Walked Right In
Jambalaya
Don't you Just Know It (Huey Piano Smith and the Clowns)
Move It On Over
Put me in a Trick Bag (Earl King)
Don't Take Everybody to be Your Friend (Sister Rosetta Tharp)

James said Kriss Santala's plan was for singer songwriters to sing Mardi gras songs, so they relearned their favorites.

James Velvet, guitar vocals
Johnny Memphis, guitar vocals fiddle whistle
Dick Neal, guitar bottleneck slide Johnny Java, bass

Velcro Lewis

Two guitars, bass, vocals, drums, beards and...electric washboard, oh these boys are filthy! Velcro Lewis and his 100 Proof Band, the love child (nice word for bastard) of Secret Machines, Kings of Leon and the Black Keys. Or as one guy at the bar just turned around and said, "these guys are like Deep Purple meets Canned Heat!" Hmmm. Not so sure about that.

Bass player lays down a heavy groove, drummer marches down on snare and big bass drum turned upright. One guitar on rhythm and another swirling dirty slide leads. The singer yowls and shakes morroccas or plays a lap guitar on a stand. Sometimes the drummer sings. And all the while the bald guy rasps his thimble covered fingers across that washboard. The barfly behind me asked how you put a pickup on a washboard. Don't know but he's got it plugged into a guitar amp.

And that's the end of that song.

Bass line now a cross between Train Kept a Rolling and White Rabbit, all attenuated and repeated, under a vocal chant of "feet don't fail me now". Swirling distorted lead guitar fantasy.

Last song is a boogie dedicated to memory of Elvis's stillborn twin Jesse. And what it reminds me most of is Alvin Lee and Ten Years After.

David's Harp @ Yale

An Evening of Turkish Music

10/20/09

Sudler Recital Hall

David's Harp is a six piece ensemble: santouri (hammer dulcimer), flute, violin/viola, keyboard, daf (drum), and guitar/mandolin. The bandleader sings in all sorts of languages, Landino, Hebrew, Greek, Arabic, Turkish, Spanish, which means I couldn't make out most of it. Samples may be heard on the band's MySpace page: www.myspace.com/davidsharpensemble.

The theme for the evening was a sampling of music from the various cultures passing through Turkey. The title is a bit of a misnomer, as most of the songs were from various Jewish subcultures, with a few Ottoman and Greek songs in the mix.

The first few are Sephardic songs from Spain, Sarajevo, and a lively song from Bosnia. Verdi borrowed the melody from one for his aria in La Traviata. Then came two rembetik songs in Greek. A common theme of rembetika is to yearn after minority girls rejecting Greek men--songs about unrequited love of Armenian and Jewish girls. The two Greek songs are about the "Jewish girl who stole my heart" and another about a Jewish girl washing her hair.

The first set was full of beautiful ensemble playing, fairly light--not like the whiney "amanades" one might have expected. The intricate santouri playing is a rare treat. The second set was upbeat, with an Ottoman Janissary March and Jewish folk songs from Yemen, Persia, Egypt and Israel. Bandleader Joseph Alpar would often put down his santouri sticks and pick up his darbuka. That's a hand drum also called a dumbek, kind of like a small middle eastern conga. He got great sounds and rhythms out of it; which made sense when he later explained that it was his first instrument. The daf player was also making great sounds all night--each drum was remarkably expressive. The daf looks like a big tambourine, wide and shallow without without the cymbals around the rim. Instead it had links of rings, chain-like, inside the rim, rattling against the skin like a snare.

Marianne Dissard's Super sensual jazzy French lounge-pop.

Marianne Dissard sings in French. I didn't understand a word, but she's intense. Jazzy combo backing, Dissard sings full throated, like a deeper, less warbly Edith Piaf. Facial expressions and hand gestures add to the effect. Super sensual French lounge-pop.

I could fall in love.

With a guitar player, drummer on small kit and Christian the bitters-drinking Italian on keyboards [borrowed from Freddy B], she charmed the small but enthusiastic crowd. Her voice was full of longing and yearning.

Her last song before an uncontrived, unplanned encore, was sung Spanish ("since we live in Tuscon there's tons of mariachi"). Still didn't understand the words, but it didn't matter. Everything made perfect sense.

And kudos to Warren for the perfect sound mix, open yet full and not too loud. Although you could hear the rumble of bar talk during some of her songs, any louder would have spoiled the mood.

Never Seen Anything Like That Before

Minnesotan Paul Metzger's free show at Cafe Nine last night was billed as "head banging, toe tapping, heart soaring banjo jams...escalating solo improvisations on modified banjos and guitars creating a unique live experience." When he started, I would have added head-scratching; by the time he ended it was jaw-dropping.

Metzger's instrument is a banjo with a twelve-string guitar head, apparently tuned like a sitar. Five guitar-like strings run down the fretboard with eighteen other strings in various places. Tuning pegs show up around the rim of the body.

The guy jammed. Sometimes in fits and starts, sometimes blazing fast runs, other times drawing a bow across the strings for sonorous melodies. What began as a curiousity quickly transfixed the audience. I moved around, going up close to try to figure out the instrument and moving to the back to enjoy the reverberations [and because the artist likes to play loud!] Words will ultimately fail to describe the sound--try the video link on Metzger's website: http://www.paulmetzger.net/ or his myspace page: http://www.paulmetzger.net/

I liked sound man Warren's comment after the show about his whole-tone playing near the beginning of his set: "It was not at all ambiguous."

Fun Fun Fun

I walked into the Firehouse 12 live room just as the Devron Douglas Quintent was starting to blow. And I mean it. These guys can blow. Nothing cute or weird, just cats with chops, swinging hard and fast. For some reason, the soundstage said it all. Sax and trumpet up front, piano at the back. Bass leaning against the curve of the Steinway concert grand. Drummer on the side facing across. Applause and hollers greeted the end of each solo. First song finished and I said "Damn that was fun."

They mixed it up after that, faster and slower. Bandleader Douglas on bass, introducting each song [Apology, Playground and more]. He was having fun, smiling and head-bobbing it was infectious. but it was that first song that set the tone. Trumpet and sax playing the theme together to begin and end the song. Lummie Spann impressed with every solo. Josh Evans with impossibly long fingers pressing valves impossibly fast. Curtis Torian unleashing waterfalls of sound from his drum kit, waves splashing across the room. David Bryant was perfect on piano, from lighting runs to Tyner-esque block chords. Devron Douglas played repetive drones and blazing fast runs.

Wow.

Worst Band Ever?

I go see bands play. Sometimes I leave a show thinking I didn't like it, then in retrospect it turns out to be the greatest show ever [Cheap Trick circa 1979]. I don't think that will happen with the X Pun X show I saw Wednesday night.

Two guys--dead ringers for Lenny and Squiggy--chanting over looped synth beats. Their big "hits" were Alien Dance Party, which apparently got some local college radio airplay, and Sex Machine, which got their five friends dancing when they played it the second time for an encore. I for one did not need to hear it twice.

When I walked in, i looked at the bartender and said what is this? He just shook his head. The guy next to me called it a nightmare. Maybe I didn't get the joke. I suppose if they had filled the room and everyone was dancing it could have been a good time, but there were only ten people there, and I figured half were for/from the opening act. Yes, Lenny and Squiggy were the headliners! They had an opener! At least there was no cover charge. I couldn't imagine paying for that.