From: owner-jangle-poets-digest@smoe.org (jangle-poets-digest) To: jangle-poets-digest@smoe.org Subject: jangle-poets-digest V9 #141 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 Sunday, March 30 2008 Volume 09 : Number 141 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [JP] Spring arrives and The Kennedys bloom [Jeffrey Epstein Subject: [JP] Spring arrives and The Kennedys bloom _________________________________________________________________ How well do you know your celebrity gossip? http://originals.msn.com/thebigdebate?ocid=T002MSN03N0707A 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? ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 29 Mar 2008 12:35:47 -0400 From: Jeffrey Epstein Subject: [JP] Spring arrives and The Kennedys bloom (resend) THE KENNEDYS AT JAMMIN JAVA Vienna, Virginia March 28, 2008 Consistency is a performance trademark of The Kennedys. I once told Pete I find it remarkable that I can hear the same show over and over and it still seems fresh. I just never get tired of them. But when they arrived in the Washington area yesterday, I was slightly apprehensive...I wasn't sure what to expect from P & M after this wacky winter for them. But I needn't have worried. Pete and Maura were in fine form and good spirits, even doing the old back-to-back guitar hero pose more than once. Both seemed healthy and trim. Pete is still cool, and Maura is still beautiful. Pete even SMILED several times during the show! This show at Jammin Java was hilariously billed as a "CD Release Party" for Better Dreams (I bought mine last year!) and the new material comes over great, even in the limited environment of an acoustic show. (TK only used five instruments: Maura's red acoustic guitar, one of the orange guitars, the brown electric sitar, and the two ukes.) Obviously you don't get the benefit of the production on the CD, as on a song with backing vocals like "Speed of Soul." But even without that, or the Rickenbacker, they pull off these numbers well. To make room in the set for them, some tunes have been dropped, such as "Half a Million Miles." But they still performed a bunch of old favorites, including Matty Groves. Then in the second set, it was time for the big twist: Two solo numbers from the MySpace pages. Maura gave the same explanation as here on the list...that they simply wanted an outlet for an occasional solo number here or there. Of course, they could have performed these tunes together, but it seems doing them solo is the point. In each case. the other member completely left the stage and watched from the side. Maura was up first, and said she was a little nervous. She knocked out her popper "Make It Last" on an acoustic guitar and it sounded fine. I watched Pete watching Maura with an expression of pride and affection -- he seemed to get a kick out of being part of the audience. Then Pete did his tune (one I have to admit I didn't recognize - about coal miners). He jokingly cautioned the audience that if Maura's vocal persona was "angelic" his was "demonic" - but of course that rough vocal just fits that kind of blue-collar earthy music. Maura watched him from the wings smiling, much as she does during "Rhapsody in Blue." For what it is worth, here is my take: I found it all oddly reassuring. It seems really no different than an act like Peter, Paul, and Mary doing solos in their show. Perhaps the solos are a sort of pressure-relief valve for P & M, and if so they are entitled after 14 years. They got a standing ovation at the end of the set of course, and knowing what was coming, I remained standing as they returned. Must have been a lot of newbies in the crowd, though, as I quickly found myself the only one standing - - so I sat down! :) Pete did not bother to ask everyone to stand again, though...they just played "Stand" while we sang with them from a sitting position. Well, we're not kids anymore....save those knees! :) Anyway, even with all the new material and changes, it was still the usual rock-solid TK show, with enthusiasm and panache. Spring has arrived, and all seems right with the world. Set I Life Is Large Speed of Soul I Found A Road In My Dreams Breathe 9th st. Billy Namaste Give Me Back My Country American Wish Matty Groves Set II Dharma Cafe River of Fallen Stars Midnight Ghost Me Myself and I Djago Rheinhart instrumental Maura solo: Make It Last Pete solo: song about a coal miner And Your Bird Can Sing Not Fade Away Eight Miles High Rhapsody in Blue Encore: Stand - --------------- - -Jeff Epstein 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 #141 **********************************