From: owner-jinglejangle-digest@smoe.org (jinglejangle-digest) To: jinglejangle-digest@smoe.org Subject: jinglejangle-digest V1 #42 Reply-To: jinglejangle@smoe.org Sender: owner-jinglejangle-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-jinglejangle-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk jinglejangle-digest Sunday, March 22 1998 Volume 01 : Number 042 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [MLL] kibbutz review part 1 [Rachel ] [MLL] kibbutz review part 2 [Rachel ] [MLL] kibbutz review part 3 [Rachel ] [MLL] LA [Rachel ] [MLL] another Rachel post [Rachel ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 21 Mar 1998 16:47:47 -0500 (EST) From: Rachel Subject: [MLL] kibbutz review part 1 note - if things are too long they get sent back to me. Subject: KMR #29, Mary Lou Lord, Peter Hayes, Raging Teens in concert Newsgroups: rec.music.reviews,rec.music.misc Follow-ups To: rec.music.misc Keywords: Mary Lou Lord, Kibbutz Music Reviews Sender: Michael Zwirn (zwirnm@ari.net) Organization: ARI Internet Kibbutz Music Reviews #29, "Because it's fun" 17 March 1998 I appreciate live music differently than I appreciate a recorded work. I consider the art forms equally vital and essential, but a successful evocation of one form works for reasons totally at odds with the attributes needed for a successful evocation of the other. Live performance is of the moment, bounded within the space and time of its creation. Its impermanence and evanescence is a great part of what makes the concert-going experience so vital; one can say without a trace of derision that "You had to be there." It's true. Nothing can replicate the ebb and flow of a skilled band working in concert, in the sense of the word implying cooperation and a shared sense of purpose. Conversely, the appeal of recorded music is its ability to convey into perpetuity the musical vision of the artist and producer, a permanent musical imprint on the social fabric. Recorded music is a young phenomenon in human history, but it has become so ubiquitous that it's easy to forget that the only way that music was experienced for millennia was at the time of performance. Merely the term 'live performance,' the way that we use it today, seems anomalous; our need to specify that the music was being created at the same place and time that the audience experienced it is a bit off-putting. Because I write mostly about recorded music, I'm always slightly at a loss when starting to review a concert. In most cases, I'm tempted to start by comparing the musician's performance with his or her recorded work, but that isn't always fair to the musician or to the performance. Approaching the February 21st Mary Lou Lord concerts (acoustic and solo at DCCD, electric and with a band at the 9:30 Club), I was reflecting on how unusual it is to see the different faces of a performer presented back-to-back. In my case, I was most enthusiastic about the acoustic performance, since the somewhat overly exuberant production on Mary Lou's full-length Got No Shadow left me a bit disappointed, and served to dim her charms by separating her from her guitar. I actually do like the record, but it didn't live up to my expectations, and I had to keep trying not to hold that against her on a personal level. After getting a chance to watch Mary Lou in action, however, any lingering resentment vanished. The afternoon show at DCCD was set to begin at 4:00, and people began gathering a good hour beforehand in order to have a good spot near what was passing for a stage, namely the alcove where the soundtracks, jazz and blues discs are kept a few steps up from the main section of the store. There was a good crowd by the time Mary Lou arrived, with the same guitar and the same peculiar hatbox that are pictured on the front of the new record, and the crowd was quickly shooed down the stairs, only to be invited back up again a few moments later, after she had plugged in her amp and set up the microphone. As it turned out, Mary Lou and a guitar take up remarkably little space, so a good portion of the throng assembled in the store were able to fit on the alcove, forming a tight little semi-circle around her, with her back against the far wall and hemmed in on all sides by fans and on-lookers. Mary Lou looked around a bit nervously, observing that she wouldn't be able to leave even if she wanted to, and then started in on her acoustic set. The first piece was "She Had You," whose unflinchingly brutal portrayal of a has-been romantic rival was masked by Got No Shadow's gloss, but emerged with venom intact in the live performance. Jimmy Bruno's "He'd Be a Diamond," from the self-titled EP, was sweet and poignant. Mary Lou then did a completely revised version of the song which has become her signature piece, "His Indie World." While the original was a vignette of romantic desperation within the incestuous world of indie guitar bands, dropping names like there was no tomorrow, this updated "His ND [No Depression] World" takes on the alt-country movement spearheaded by the offspring of Gram Parsons and Uncle Tupelo. It's a similarly hilarious piece if you can recognize the names and in-jokes, with lines like "He says my songs are only for truckers/He wishes that I could be more like Richard Buckner." What really caught my ear in this version was the update of the original's "Kim and Kim and Kim and Kim," this time name-dropping two Scott Millers, one a member of the country-rocking V-Roys and the other the lead songwriter of the Loud Family (who are not an alt-country band!). ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 21 Mar 1998 17:01:57 -0500 (EST) From: Rachel Subject: [MLL] kibbutz review part 2 from michael zwirn Mary Lou introduced "His Lamest Flame" as a response to Elvis' "His Latest Flame," singing the electric guitar solo goofily while strumming the acoustic chords, then went into one of her earliest songs, "Western Union Desperate," singing the version from Got No Shadow rather than the grunge-era original which appears on a 1993 Kill Rock Stars seven-inch. She told anecdotes throughout the performance, including a fascinating one about a touring band called the Kelly Family -- "part Von Trapps, part Hanson" -- and quoted other bands to illustrate her musical heritage, like the Cure, the Byrds and the La's, whose "There She Goes" led rather too easily into "Lights Are Changing." Probably the highlight for me, however, was Richard Thompson's "1952 Vincent Black Lightning." Thompson is almost certainly my favorite songwriter, and since his songs are covered so frequently (and so well, as on The World is a Wonderful Place) hearing a new interpretation of his material can be a revelation. Mary Lou's take on the song is that of a love song rather than the cynical tale that RT relates; indeed, she introduced the piece as a love song of a boy, a girl and a motorcycle. Since I haven't yet received Pace of Change, the promotional EP with her studio version of the song, I can't compare the two, but based on the live rendition, Mary Lou's appreciation of RT's music is both sincere and nuanced. After the nine-song set, Mary Lou graciously stood around for a lengthy round of autographs and met with fans for more than a half-hour, despite being nagged by her Sony/WORK handlers to move on to the sound check at the 9:30 Club. Without a car, I was a bit concerned about getting to the club, but was offered a ride and quickly accepted. Unfortunately, this would mean that I ended up standing outside for almost two hours waiting for the doors to the 9:30 waiting for the doors to open, but the weather was mild and I was chatting with some of the other fans waiting in line. Mary Lou did her best to persuade the doorman to let her fans in a bit earlier, but there wasn't much she could do, and it was dark by the time the doors opened, and a line had begun trailing down V Street outside the club. The current iteration of the 9:30 Club is a fairly stylish place by the standards of general admission rock clubs, vastly nicer than First Avenue in Minneapolis, a roughly appropriate point of comparison. If nothing else, the veggie burgers are excellent, albeit pricey. I had the chance to speak with Mary Lou for a few minutes, petting the tiny puppy that travels with her on tour and chatting about music. She had enthusiastically plugged her opening band, the Raging Teens, and their guitarist Amy Griffin, so by the time the openers were setting up their instruments to a mostly empty club, I saw Mary Lou up on the balcony watching with interest. From their name, I had pegged the Raging Teens as punk, and based on Mary Lou's description of their guitarist, I had expected something along the times of a Kill Rock Stars girl-punk band. I could not have been more wrong. Raging Teens are rockabilly, and very good rockabilly at that, straight out of Sun Studios circa 1956, although I greatly doubt that Miss Amy's pierced nose would have been tolerated in such a setting. Kevin Patey, Mary Lou's current companion, is a classy, suave presence on stage, oozing charisma and singing a fine mix of 1950's classics and neo-traditional originals, and Miss Amy truly is a superb rockabilly guitarist. With her pigtails, an enormous pink party dress and pierced nose, she is likewise a striking figure on stage. Within a few moments of taking the stage, Raging Teens had the indie rock crowd bouncing around as if at a high school sock hop. The band has two independently released cassettes available, and play mostly in the Boston and New Hampshire areas. I'd highly recommend catching them if they are playing nearby. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 21 Mar 1998 17:05:26 -0500 (EST) From: Rachel Subject: [MLL] kibbutz review part 3 The Peter Hayes Condition, a power-pop trio, was playing next, and although I wasn't aware of it at the time, Peter Hayes is something of a permanent fixture around the Washington area. His High Back Chairs, according to Trouser Press, were the premier local power-pop band, but little of whatever distinction the Chairs could have claimed was in evidence here. The Condition had big hooks and impressive enthusiasm, but the sound mix drowned Hayes' voice, and he was distracted by some girls at the front of the stage doing their teenage groupie impersonation. The overall impression I got was a second-rate Smithereens, if they substituted Deep Purple for the Who influences, and had less memorable songs. Mary Lou and her band showed up on-stage around a quarter 'til ten o'clock, and started quickly into the Nick Saloman song "Supergun," which never particularly impressed me on Got No Shadow. "His Lamest Flame" followed, and then a loud, aggressive "She Had You," which owed a bit to electric Neil Young in the guitar tones. Although I found the first few pieces were a bit flat, the band began to gather steam shortly. The folkish "Down Along the Lea" and the uptempo pop jangle of "Western Union Desperate" and "Some Jingle Jangle Morning (When I'm Straight)" were delivered with Mary Lou's customary blend of wry sincerity and insouciance. The band then left the stage and Mary Lou did an acoustic set featuring "He'd Be a Diamond," the heart-stoppingly beautiful "Two Boats," and "Camden Town Rain," one of her earlier songs, along with several pieces from the independent EPs and a Heatmiser song that I didn't recognize. The band, which remained rather anonymous throughout the show, then rejoined Mary Lou on-stage for a few up-tempo numbers. Miss Amy took over the keyboards, adding a little extra to the basic mix of guitar, bass and drums, for "Lights Are Changing." Perhaps the nicest surprise was the unveiling of something that seemed like a set piece from a low-budget science fiction movie, the theremin, which Amy manipulated skillfully (I'm not sure that you actually play a theremin, it's more like a scientific instrument than a musical instrument) on a giddy, delightful "Martian Saints." Responding to the crowd's enthusiasm, but refusing a number of eager requests (Daniel Johnston's "Speeding Motorcycle," Billy Bragg's "Ontario, Quebec and Me"), Mary Lou ended her show with yet another acoustic set, reprising "1952 Vincent Black Lightning," her own "Subway," and Shawn Colvin's "Polaroids," which she introduced as a song that she had midwifed into existence as long-time friend and supporter of Colvin's music. After the show had ended, I was standing around talking with the former manager of the Mary Lou Lord e-mail list, and ended up being invited backstage to visit with Mary Lou and her band. She and the band are as warm-hearted, charming and pleasant in person as they are on-stage and on record. Rating: Mary Lou Lord acoustic: 4 1/2 out of 5 stars Raging Teens: 4 out of 5 stars Peter Hayes Condition: 3 out of 5 stars Mary Lou Lord and Band: 4 out of 5 stars - --------------------------------------------------------------------- Michael J. Zwirn zwirnm@ari.net alm_zwirnm@carleton.edu Kibbutz Music Reviews: http://carleton.edu/~alm_zwirnm/kibbutz.html Current: Hum, Richard X. Heyman, David Poe, Reign of Frogs, Dan Hartal - ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 21 Mar 1998 17:11:37 -0500 (EST) From: Rachel Subject: [MLL] LA I am still on vacation, here in SF and will see Mary Lou on Monday. Lots of stuff... first, the video - it looked awesome! You can order it from The Box if you get that, by calling 1-800-884-1134 and requesting #314 - this is like pay per view for music vids. I saw "Sunny Came Home" while I was watching, and saw Shawn on Rosie O'Donnell and she was very pregnant. Anyway, the whole puzzle thing they did - It looks very little like what was being shot, well, not really, just speeded up a lot. LA - I must thank Dino and Vinh very much, Dino for chaffeuring me around and buying me lunch and treating me to some advance sound editing - two Mary Lou-philes in the same room! Well, anyway, it was very nice to meet you after all this time. As it was Sean Jordan, Gerry Perez and Charles, who I didn't know was on this list but who VERY graciously gave me his poster from Mary Lou's Troubadour show. Yes, Elliott was with Minnie Driver though I didn't believe it till later! The Troubadour set list is as follows: Supergun His Lamest Flame She Had You Western Union Desperate His ND World Down Along the Lea He'd Be a Diamond The Lucky One Some Jingle Jangle Morning solo - I Figured You Out 1952 Vincent Black Lightning Shake Sugaree (with Elliott) Camden Town Rain Martian Saints Lights Are Changing encore: (solo) Polaroids ok, more in a minute.. rachel "your machinations leave me speechless and resigned and while I won't deny your talent I'm gonna quit wasting my time" -- sarge, "beguiling" - --------------------------------------------------------------------------- my Mary Lou Lord page is at http://pages.nyu.edu/~rkb200/ To join the Mary Lou Lord mailing list, email Majordomo@smoe.org with ONLY "subscribe jinglejangle" OR "subscribe jinglejangle-digest" in the BODY. For info on my zine I'M NOT WAITING go to http://pages.nyu.edu/~rkb200/zine.html ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 21 Mar 1998 17:29:06 -0500 (EST) From: Rachel Subject: [MLL] another Rachel post OK, what else... I had a great time at the show - a great set and much fun. I think I've got the definitive ND World lyrics down, but I'll check with Mary Lou on Monday and report back probably Tuesday night from my own computer. Mary Lou is such a sweetheart, she was chatting with us for a while after the show. Awesome news about Vogue too... any SXSW reports? OK, so I taped KCRW - she played His ND World, I Figured You Out, and His Lamest Flame, not in that order, and they played a song from the record. They talked to her a while but didn't have the best info, but she sounded really good and that's awesome. I taped it but I think you can get it off KCRW's website, but if not I can probably tape it if you write to me. I am really looking forward to Monday's shows (Tower Records SF instore and Bottom of the Hill). I'm glad I got to hang out with the LA contigent of Mary Lou fans, everyone was so so nice to me. Other celebrity moment of my trip was playing Dylan McDermott at chess! Oh, and the Raging Teens are sounding better and better - Mary Lou joined them for backup on the last song. ok, that's all for me for now, better enjoy this lovely (ha ha) SF weather... :) Rachel "your machinations leave me speechless and resigned and while I won't deny your talent I'm gonna quit wasting my time" -- sarge, "beguiling" - --------------------------------------------------------------------------- my Mary Lou Lord page is at http://pages.nyu.edu/~rkb200/ To join the Mary Lou Lord mailing list, email Majordomo@smoe.org with ONLY "subscribe jinglejangle" OR "subscribe jinglejangle-digest" in the BODY. For info on my zine I'M NOT WAITING go to http://pages.nyu.edu/~rkb200/zine.html ------------------------------ End of jinglejangle-digest V1 #42 *********************************