From: owner-jinglejangle-digest@smoe.org (jinglejangle-digest) To: jinglejangle-digest@smoe.org Subject: jinglejangle-digest V6 #18 Reply-To: jinglejangle@smoe.org Sender: owner-jinglejangle-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-jinglejangle-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk jinglejangle-digest Wednesday, February 19 2003 Volume 06 : Number 018 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [MLL] Mary Lou, Portland February 16, 2003 ["Michael Zwirn" Subject: [MLL] Mary Lou, Portland February 16, 2003 Mary Lou Lord, Feb. 16th, Dante's Very charming gig. First time I've seen Mary Lou in awhile, although I have probably seen her more than any other single musician. She did two solo sets, starting very early for Dante's standards, and the material that she chose was a mix of her own favorites and long-time selections, along with some new covers that I haven't heard her play before. Seeing a Mary Lou Lord show, you expect a 75-25 mix of covers and her own material, as befits her career as primarily busker and interpreter rather than songwriter. She did a mix of familiar material by her favorite artists (Nick Salomon of the Bevis Frond, Elliott Smith, Richard Thompson, Big Star), as well as her own material spanning her early days ("Some Jingle Jangle Morning," "Western Union Desperate") to her more recent stuff ("Aim Low", "Throngs of Blowtown"). She also did some covers I'd never heard before: Springsteen's "Racing in the Streets," AC/DC's "Love at First Feel," the Green Pajamas' "She Turns Me On" in addition to the covers that she often sings, but hasn't recorded (Guided by Voices, "Blimps Go 90"). Mary Lou looked great and was modeling hats that she knits and designs (http://www.retrovixen.com). Her voice was pretty solid, although I still think that a vocal teacher could make her sound somewhat more assertive, and her guitar was fine although she kept complaining about it being "a piece of shit." Nicole Campbell, a Portland singer-songwriter, opened. She has a good, impressive voice, but crappy mid-tempo weepy songs. Classic example of technical skills exceeding artistic abilities. After around seven or eight miserable lost-love ballads, it was a revelation to her acoustic guitar cover of the Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit." Now that's a song. - ------ Michael Zwirn, michael@zwirn.com http://zwirn.com (t) 503-232-8919 (c) 503-887-9800 ------------------------------ End of jinglejangle-digest V6 #18 *********************************