From: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org (ecto-digest) To: ecto-digest@smoe.org Subject: ecto-digest V5 #385 Reply-To: ecto@smoe.org Sender: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk ecto-digest Sunday, November 21 1999 Volume 05 : Number 385 Today's Subjects: ----------------- sarah slean, pamela means [meredith ] Susana Baca concert review [joann.whetsell@oberlin.edu (JoAnn Whetsell)] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 20 Nov 1999 17:28:23 -0500 From: meredith Subject: sarah slean, pamela means Hi! Okay, so now I've got some time to post something substantial about Sarah Slean's NYC-area shows this week. Sarah was at CB's Gallery on Wednesday, and I couldn't believe how packed the place was by the time she took the stage. (Judging by the attentiveness level of the people in the back, I'm sure most of them were Atlantic squid. :P) I had been worried that she'd be cheated out of some of her audience, since CB's did their almost-usual thing by moving her set time up an hour with no prior warning. She was originally supposed to go on at 10, but ended up going on in the 9 o'clock slot. Everyone I knew who had been planning to attend was there in time, though. Before Sarah took the stage we sat through a split-slot with Jo Davidson and Amy Fairchild. I'd never heard of Davidson, but I had heard of Fairchild (but not any of her music). Davidson was pretty straight-ahead acoustic stuff, trying to be soulful and meaningful, but not really coming up with anything to catch my attention. Amy Fairchild was much better: she has a compelling stage presence, and her songs were much more catchy and less pretentious. I wasn't moved to buy a CD, but I wouldn't walk out of another performance of hers, either. Then for some unexplained reason some guy from Vancouver had the stage for 15 minutes and played three really, really bad songs. His singing voice was okay so long as he didn't try to belt anything out, but unfortunately he turned up the volume a lot. In between one of the songs he asked what he thought was a rhetorical question: "You guys must really be sick of the acoustic guitar by now, huh?". He was quite taken aback when he got an enthusiastic "yes!" response from the crowd. :} Then, finally, Sarah and the band appeared and launched into "Habit", one of the best songs on _Blue Parade_, and we were off and running. As I said earlier, I haven't had a wide goofy grin on my face through a performance like that since the first time I saw Veda play. I can't recall the set list in the exact order, but I do know that she played "Blue Parade", "Jerome", "Eliot", "Last Year's War", "Twin Moon", a "candy-ass pop song" I don't know the name of that was highly amusing, some song about a circus, and a few others I know I'm forgetting. Oh yeah, the highlight of the set for me was "High", which is my favorite song on _Blue Parade_. Halfway through it my friend, who had never heard a note of Sarah's music before and was just there because I told her to meet me there (and ended up enjoying herself immensely) turned to me and said "this is her hit". :) "Twin Moon" was positively transcendent live, too. In between songs Sarah was adorably goofy. She's definitely young, but wow, what a career she has ahead of her. Thursday night we did it all again, this time in Dan Stark's living room in Jersey City. I'm still amazed that the entire band, plus drum kit and double bass were able to fit in there with room for more than 15 people to sit and watch. I'm already plotting how to get that to happen in my living room. ;> The sound was great, and Sarah was a bit weirded out by the experience (it was her first house concert), but she ended up having a good time and she and the band delivered another wonderful performance. She solicited requests, so that way I got to hear "Weight", my favorite song of hers (and one of my top 10 songs ever) live. It was quite an understated version, but still powerful, especially from my spot sitting practically at her feet. :) "Last Year's War" clicked with me the second time around -- gods, what an incredible song that is! Other songs included "Angel", a few of the same songs from the previous night, and "Universe". Between the two shows she managed to cover all of her best songs, so I was happy. It was also wonderful to meet Sarah - she's so sweet! And her manager Heather is *way* cool. She's definitely in good hands. Thanks again, Dan and Leif, for hosting a wonderful evening! It was well worth the two way-too-late nights and the two utterly zombified days at work. :) So after those two way-too-late nights, yesterday evening I went down to the Acoustic Cafe to see Pamela Means. It was also my first night helping out down there - I worked the door, which was fun. I'll be spending quite a few evenings down there going forward, so hopefully all you local ectophiles can come out and support a venue that this area desperately needs, and see some great live music to boot. Pamela did two sets, which made it the longest show of hers I've seen. She her usual high-energy, intense performance, and hit all of my favorite songs of hers from _Bone Spurs_ and _Cobblestones_. She also did a few new ones, which were really good. She ended the show with a scorching rendition of "Maybe You Should" that broke two strings. :> She was called back for an encore and had to improvise a three-string accompaniment that still sounded really good. She's another one who is really sweet, too. She's a genuinely nice person who deserves to be a lot bigger than she is right now. She did make quite a few new fans last night, though -- I know a lot of people who came through that door had no clue who she was or what sort of music she played. She sold a lot of CD's that I could see. Anxiously awaiting reports from the latest Project Lo/Happy shows (I dreamed I went to the Philly show last night, so now I'm wondering if I was right ;)... +==========================================================================+ | Meredith Tarr meth@smoe.org | | New Haven, CT USA http://www.smoe.org/~meth | +==========================================================================+ | "things are more beautiful when they're obscure" -- veda hille | | *** TRAJECTORY, the Veda Hille mailing list: *** | | *** http://www.smoe.org/meth/trajectory.html *** | +==========================================================================+ ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 21 Nov 1999 01:44:26 -0500 (EST) From: joann.whetsell@oberlin.edu (JoAnn Whetsell) Subject: Susana Baca concert review Wow. I am on such a high. I walked home from Finney Chapel feeling like I was floating on a cloud, and only the coca-cola can in my hand, given me by Ms. Baca herself, made me semi-believe that this evening was true. I was so looking forward to this concert, for well over a month, at least, that this evening I began to worry that perhaps I had built it up too much, that it couldn't possibly live up to my expectations. Well, I had no reason to fear. I arrived early and got a front row seat so no tall person could come sit in front of me and obscure my view. There was a pretty good crowd there, including a group of South American people who came from Pittsburgh and held up a Peruvian flag at different times during the concert. The stage was pretty bare. Just black flats as backdrop, There was a band of four-- electric guitarist, electric bassist, and 2 percussionists. They all did back-up vocals too. One played drums (congas?) and several other instruments: the cajita (a small box he wore on a string around his neck that he opened and closed the lid and beat a small stick on the side of it to make sound); another thing that looked like a pottery urn; a round wooden thing that was shallowed out on one side; and that instrument that is made from a horse's jaw. It makes this really neat rattling sound, but it's kind of disturbing to watch someone hit it. (When I saw Sotavento play, they also used this instrument, and one of the dead horse's teeth fell out while the guy was playing it.) The other percussionist played this box that he sat on top of and then beat the front of it with his hands. Ms. Baca wore a sleeveless white satin dress and white vest, no shoes. She was so gracious, and I must say, the sexiest performer I have seen grace that stage since Angelique Kidjo. She had this way of moving, of placing each foot on the ground carefully, and she danced wonderfully. And if I thought she was amazing from her albums, I think she's phenomenal from her live performance. I can't describe the energy in words. She had this very gracious stage presence, and some of her movements were quite balletic, but most of the time she was clearly just enjoying singing and dancing. She didn't talk much, a little bit in Spanish. No one in the band knows much English, but they used hand gestures and stuff to get the crowd to clap along, to dance, and to dance more enthusiastically when we were dancing. They got the whole crowd to stand up and dance by the end, and each of the band members got to do an extended solo which were all really cool, but especially the 2 percussionists. So do check her out, especially if you have any interest in Latin American and/or African music. Her self-titled album is widely available and just wonderful. JoAnn ------------------------------ End of ecto-digest V5 #385 **************************