From: owner-jangle-poets-digest@smoe.org (jangle-poets-digest) To: jangle-poets-digest@smoe.org Subject: jangle-poets-digest V9 #96 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 Tuesday, September 25 2007 Volume 09 : Number 096 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [JP] Separately or Together - Strangelings Weekend 2 [Nieldsforever@aol.c] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 24 Sep 2007 22:42:04 EDT From: Nieldsforever@aol.com Subject: [JP] Separately or Together - Strangelings Weekend 2 It took the Nields to get me into Albany for the first time, when I saw my 100th Nields show at Valentine's in 1997, long before I knew John Rozett lived in that neck of the woods in NY state. It fell to Gandalf Murphy to get me to the Night Eagle Cafe in Oxford for the first time, in 2004, another NY site that had languished long in Bruce's Black Hole. This time it was the Strangelings that drew me to another spot I'd never yet gotten to, the Caffe Lena in Saratoga Springs. My first time there! The East Coast ocean's such a magnet for me, it's just been hard to "Go West Young Man"! I sang at a wedding that same afternoon in Quincy, and surprised both John Rozett and the Strangelings by showing up at the gig in a suit and tie. Although I stuck out like a sore thumb dressed that way, as Sandy Denny sings, "It Suits Me Well." Incidentally, the processional at the wedding I attended was the Pachelbel Canon, which made me think of the new Nields song, "Endless Day," which is based on that. I actually kind of like John's name for that song better though - -- "Grounded." Jud Caswell set the stage with a good brief opening set. Then came the Strangelings, arranged in about the same way as at the GFP at Falcon Ridge -- Pete Kennedy behind Rebecca Hall stage right, Ken Anderson behind Maura Kennedy stage left, and Eric Lee behind Chris Thompson Lively, front and center. Chris lives up to her new billing as a Lively, because the energy she brings to her singing of songs like "Matty Groves" and "Sirens" is really something. Drummer Cheryl Prashker had another show that night, and so was not in attendance. But where would they have put her on such a small stage? The Lena stage is at the corner of an L-shaped room, a little like the Club Helsinki arrangement in Great Barrington, only backwards, as far as the shape of the room goes. There really was barely enough room for the 6 Strangelings, even without Cheryl. There was so little elbow room on stage in fact, Maura had to balance the glockenspiel in her left hand while she played it with her right, because there was no place for the stand. And Chris didn't even bring her flute onstage at all, although I must admit, with Eric filling out the high end on fiddle, the flute wasn't much missed, and Chris was freed up to concentrate on one less thing. Chris' guitar playing on "Scarborough Fair" was so good, I had to move about to make sure neither Pete nor Maura were playing on that one. I moved about quite a bit actually, because I couldn't see Pete very much of the time from my angle, with Rebecca standing right in front of him. Strangelings 9/22/07 Caffe Lena -- Nuah Harvest Moon Tanglewood Tree Hard Way to Learn Johnny Come Down to Hilo Wildest Sea Season of the Witch Sculptor's Song A-Soalin' Matty Groves Sirens Nuah ending Wake Up Children Didn't It Rain Man of Poor Fortune Wayfaring Stranger Anna & the Magic Gown Scarborough Fair The Coo Coo White Bird On My Way (encore) Another long show, like the one at Sierra Grille, where they did almost all of the songs that they do. At that previous show, I thought they were preparing material for their many appearances at FRFF. This time though, it must be that they just love to play all those songs together. The 3-part Chris/Maura/Rebecca harmonies were fantastic as always, and the ever-growing, ever-developing, ever-shape-shifting chemistry between Pete and Eric was exciting to watch on jams like "Didn't It Rain" and "The Coo Coo." I even thought for the first time that Eric and Maura look a little like brother and sister! Eric is so definitely a Strangeling now, he's even looking more and more like one of them. 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 #96 *********************************