From: owner-jangle-poets-digest@smoe.org (jangle-poets-digest) To: jangle-poets-digest@smoe.org Subject: jangle-poets-digest V9 #224 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, October 12 2008 Volume 09 : Number 224 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [JP] "Season of the Witch" - Maura Kennedy 10/9/08 Kenny's Castaways NYC [MercyHouse1@aol.co] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 11 Oct 2008 01:27:49 EDT From: MercyHouse1@aol.com Subject: [JP] "Season of the Witch" - Maura Kennedy 10/9/08 Kenny's Castaways NYC Maura Kennedy blew away the crowd at Kenny's Castaways last night with a set spanning ten of her new songs -- and blew my mind with four completely unexpected, from out of left field, pre-Halloween trick-or-treats -- one being her very first song, written when she was a teenager, "Summer Could've Lasted Forever" -- along with Sandy Denny's "Listen, Listen," U2's "Wild Honey," and Donovan's (and the Strangelings' ) "Season of the Witch." Even before it happened I knew, with the same certainty as in the case of the Strangelings 4/7/07 Acoustic Cafe show where Anne Saunders was present -- the show, incidentally, where the Strangelings first played "Season of the Witch" -- I knew beforehand that this was going to be one of the most important shows ever for me. One of the most important shows ever -- but one that I almost missed! I had planned on going for weeks -- this was Maura's most exciting show yet, as she was slated to brave a full hour solo, all by her lonesome, for the first time ever, in this her Brave New World stomping ground, the East Village in NYC. Maura has great new songs, a fresh and lively presentation, a hardcore contingent of diehard loyal fans at all of her shows, and live performances which have been gaining in authority and confidence from week to week, as she gets better and better every time I see her. Watching Maura take the tiger by the tail in this way has been one of the most exciting things ever for me. I've made sure not to miss any of her NYC solo shows so far, driving to NY from Boston and back again that same day for every one of them, between work days, as all of these have been weekday shows. So far, so good! But on Monday a scheduling conflict arose from out of nowhere -- an unexpected death at my church here in Quincy, with me to sing at the funeral the same day as Maura's Thursday night show at Kenny's Castaways. A double whammy of bad news for a Monday! "Monday, Monday, Monday" (Tegan & Sara) I was devastated. But on Wednesday I learned that the funeral was in the morning, leaving me enough time to make the trip to NYC in time to see Maura that same day at 7PM. The joy was indescribable. It was like resurrection joy. Since for two long days I'd already given up hope of seeing Maura's biggest show ever, having experienced sort of a death of hope, I was in a strange "In-Between-Days" netherworld during my entire drive to NY, seeing everything in terms of new life wrested out of the jaws of death. I just didn't even dare believe that this second chance I'd been given could possibly be true. What's true enough is that I was thinking how much Maura reminded me of Sandy Denny, one of my all-time favorite singer-songwriters, while she was singing one of her own songs midway through the set. And then, almost as if on cue, Maura popped out "Listen, Listen" by Sandy Denny, from the album _Sandy_, completely unexpectedly. "Listen, Listen" -- You can bet I was listening, all right, sitting on the edge of my seat! How'd she do that? It was like Maura had hit me with some kind of strange spell, with me bewitched and bewildered, what with her picking the pocket of my mind like that. "It's strange -- sure is strange -- You've got to pick up every stitch -- Oh no, must be the season of the witch." Witches in Bikinis was the group that was going on after Maura, but at 9PM - -- leaving Maura much more than the 45 minutes she had expected to play, thinking that she would've had to clear the stage for an 8PM act going on after her. That's why all 4 of Maura's rareties for the evening -- "Listen, Listen," "Summer Could've Lasted Forever," "Wild Honey," and "Season of the Witch" -- were nearly or actually unrehearsed, as well as being unannounced specials. Brave New Girl in the Brave New World! Chains Patience Some Kind of Life Just the Rain New Way to Live Sun Burns Gold Freefall (for Bruce) Listen Listen (last played by her in 1985) Time Will Steal Your Heart Shadows with the Lonely Summer Could've Lasted Forever (last played in 1984) Wild Honey (never before played by her) Season of the Witch (my request from the floor) Make It Last Maura was going to play "Shining Eyes" after "Make It Last," but the venue cut her off by turning on the sound system. And she would've had time to play it too, but for one other thing. "Season of the Witch" was not on the agenda at all. But before "Make It Last," Maura said, "I'm going to do one more song, unless there's an encore, which I doubt. But if you stick around, you can see Witches in Bikinis at 9 o'clock. I don't know why they're called that -- maybe for Halloween -- it must be the season." I immediately blurted out from the front row, right in front of her -- " -- Of the Witch!" :-) So Maura's launching into the unplanned "Season of the Witch," without missing a beat, unfortunately also contributed to preventing her from playing the planned closer "Shining Eyes." But I must tell you, Maura positively shone with a different light altogether on "Season of the Witch" ! She was so relaxed, so into the flow of spontaneity, so large and in charge. "Life Is Large" and Maura was totally in charge! She was so "on," and by then she had the audience eating out of the palm of her hand. With all of the surprises she kept pulling out, like doves and rabbits out of a hat, she was weaving a kind of magic that was all her own, and it seemed that there was nothing, absolutely nothing that she could not do next. The possibilities were endless. This came as almost a shock and a revelation to me, even though I've seen her play in the Kennedys tons of times, for many years, since 1996. "Writes great songs -- lovely singing -- great guitar playing -- knows more songs than you can ever imagine -- willing and able to perform songs without any rehearsal at all -- is there anything that Maura cannot do?" A number of us passed the time at the bar a long time after the show had ended. Friction Farm (Aidan Quinn and Christine Stay), Gordon Nash, Pete Kennedy, Maura Kennedy, and myself were still there when the four women of Witches in Bikinis took the stage, cast off their witch costumes, and started their scantily-clad set. "They're really wearing bikinis!" Someone exclaimed. "Well aren't we lucky!" Someone else yelled out over the loudness of the music. Lucky! -- This was a watershed show for me, a show I would never want to miss, and to think I came so close to missing it altogether. I told Maura it almost frightens me thinking of all of the songs she can play -- and that if this show was any indication at all, I would want to make every Maura Kennedy solo show in the future too, as if my life depended on it! 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 #224 **********************************