From: owner-jangle-poets-digest@smoe.org (jangle-poets-digest) To: jangle-poets-digest@smoe.org Subject: jangle-poets-digest V9 #14 Reply-To: jangle-poets@smoe.org Sender: owner-jangle-poets-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-jangle-poets-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk jangle-poets-digest Monday, January 29 2007 Volume 09 : Number 014 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [JP] "Diamond in the Rough" C&M Thompson & Cadence 1/27/07 Good Folk Coffeehouse [Nieldsfore] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 28 Jan 2007 15:27:46 EST From: Nieldsforever@aol.com Subject: [JP] "Diamond in the Rough" C&M Thompson & Cadence 1/27/07 Good Folk Coffeehouse To the best of my recollection this was the first performance of Cadence with the Thompsons since the 1/10/04 Avon MA show during a Patriots-Titans playoff game which featured Cadence, the Thompsons, and the Kennedys, an important Strangelings forerunner remembered by me as Pete's Angels, the Four Bitchin' Babes show, CC and the Sunshine Band, or Cadence and the Evolutionary Ensemble. :-) (Not counting Chris' guest appearance with Cadence on the song "Evolve" at the Acoustic Live booth on the midway at FRFF '06.) The Good Folk Coffeehouse lived up to its name last night, because it was full of good folks and good folk music. I felt redemption in some measure too, for having passed up Cadence's Evolve CD release show at Good Folk some years ago, when I went to the Iron Horse instead to see TN that same night -- because this time out I resolved a very similar direct conflict the other way, opting for Cadence and the Thompsons at Good Folk instead of N&K at the Sounding Board. As Cone Head says, living well really is the best revenge. :-) The Good Folk Coffeehouse is housed in the Rowayton United Methodist Church in what appeared to me to be a fairly posh, upscale old CT harbor town on Long Island Sound, just down the coast from downtown Norwalk and South Norwalk, home of each summer's SoNo Arts Festival. We arrived at the church early enough that I was able to be around for a really interesting Thompsons rehearsal of a variety of songs that were either new (and still unplayed) or less-played old, along with a different arrangement of "Changed My Life" (my request) where Cadence would play the drum and Meredith replace the keyboard solo (as heard on the album Live) with a flute part. Meredith is extremely brilliant that way, popping out a completely new and improvised flute solo without any fuss and without missing a beat. And, as it turns out, Cadence not only had never played "Changed My Life," she didn't even know the song! So Cadence is truly brilliant in her own way as well, supplying a percussive beat to a song she didn't even know, just by watching and listening and following her musical instincts. Before the Thompsons set, there was an open mike that featured Jeff Greenberg playing a couple of songs on bamboo flute; Gary Jones playing a version of "High Germany" followed by the "Whiffenpoof Song"; and the venue head honchos Bill and Brandy (who provided the sound system and the really great food, respectively) playing a Portuguese song from "Black Orpheus" followed by "Sentimental Journey." Between the open mike and the Thompsons set there was a long break with "all-you-can-eat" homemade casseroles, soup, and desserts, with a donation basket on the table to recoup expenses. The only other venue off the top of my head with so much mealtime fare (over and above desserts I mean) that comes with the show for practically a song is the Puppet House in Stony Creek, also in CT. So many NE venues, and so many good ones at that! :-) And then came the musical feast, the evening's main course. Ain't No Grave (Meredith lead vocal, all verses) First Step Lines of Longitude Children Shenandoah (a cappella) Old Man of the Mountain Balm in Gilead (a cappella) Changed My Life (w/ Cadence) Wood & Stone (w/ Cadence) Clearwater (w/ Cadence) Harvest Moon Tanglewood Tree Black Eyed Susan Cornell Fight Song Things We Said Today (Beatles) Hallelujah Amazing Grace (a cappella) Edelweiss - encore singalong The a cappella songs were really breath-taking, and the rarely played Beatles cover reminded me of how many veins the Thompsons are able to tap into, mining the musical past for treasures out of a gold mine and striking it rich! :-) I had such a great time. It's always great to see Cady, and the Thompsons continue to impress me as a folk duo among folk duos, largely unheralded, still by and large a "hidden treasure" after all of these years, but just like the song by Shawn Colvin, a "Diamond in the Rough." When I finally got home in the wee hours to my hobbit's hole in the Boston area after the long, dark ride home from SW Connecticut, facing the weary prospect of an early morning and having to somehow pull it together to do a solo at church ("In the Bleak Midwinter"), I thought to myself, how like old times in my "Sweet Holy Grail" Nields days! Isn't "sleep optional" so often the way of it? Tired but happy. Just as Carly Simon sings, these really are the "good old days" -- ! :-) Bruce Check out the Kennedys' Official Home Page: http://www.KennedysMusic.com/ Fab photos, the Official tour diary, dashboard Buddha haiku, groovy merchandise...what more could you ask for? ------------------------------ End of jangle-poets-digest V9 #14 *********************************