From: owner-shindell-list-digest@smoe.org (shindell-list-digest) To: shindell-list-digest@smoe.org Subject: shindell-list-digest V2 #50 Reply-To: shindell-list@smoe.org Sender: owner-shindell-list-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-shindell-list-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk shindell-list-digest Sunday, April 30 2000 Volume 02 : Number 050 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [RS] Bottom Line 7:30 [Vanessa Wills ] Re: [RS] Bottom Line 7:30 [SMOKEY596@aol.com] Re: [RS] Bottom Line 7:30 [Vanessa Wills ] [RS] correction [Vanessa Wills ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 29 Apr 2000 11:26:19 -0400 From: Vanessa Wills Subject: [RS] Bottom Line 7:30 Just thought I'd offer a brief summary of the 7:30 show at the Bottom Line Thursday night. Most of what Norman and Lisa said about the Iron Horse show was true, so my comments will be spare. The band was absolutely amazing, particularly Larry Campbell, who played any number of string instruments during the show, including a guitar, a mandolin, and a banjo. His kept reminding me of Nick Cave--lean and lank, with long, straight, black hair, combed back, splashing onto the shoulders. He was very serious, like Lisa said, but he did have a winning smile when he chose to flash it. My only regret is that I didn't get a chance to tell him how much I enjoyed his performance. Ah, but I digress. Everything was played really, really fast, except for "Reunion Hill," which Richard performed solo, using the slow, picking style he's adopted for that number. The first time I heard RH done this way, I have to admit, I felt a little cheated--while RonG was blown away (smart guy) I was waiting for it to rise up to that area of great power and drama into which it delves on the CD. I was waiting for Richard's vocals to get stronger, more aggressive, more obviously pained, but it never happened. However, it is also true that a lot of the music I really love, I was (at best) initially ambivalent to. So the second time I heard RH in the new slow version, last night, I absolutely fell in love with it. He did it even without Larry on Thursday, and I agree with Norman--it is truly a different song. I'd love to see it get rerecorded. A couple months ago, I was talking about Richard's singing style, and I pointed out that generally, the way in which Richard creates intensity is merely to get louder. No longer. The quiet, almost seething, intensity of Reunion Hill is entrancing and memorable. He becomes better at using that fabulous voice every minute! :-) I think RH done this slow is also a healthy and brief respite from the lightning-quick go-go-go of the band songs. I mean, "Fishing," was really fast--too fast. I felt like Richard was struggling to fit all the words into the measures. All the same, I don't think this song has ever affected me as much as it did Thursday, so you can take my criticisms for what they're worth. I could have had the song a little slower, but the band all together did make the song more powerful, perhaps more immediate and daunting, as the sound was simply bigger. At any rate, I was in tears by the end of the song, and no small part of this is probably due to the fact that I saw some guy *headbanging* to it! Oh, the shame! (BTW, I have explicatory thoughts about this song: >I was a fisherman, >How full the nets came in, We hauled them up by hand, >And when we fled, We left them just out past the coral reefs, >They're waiting there for me, Running deep What, or should I say, who is waiting for the INS agent? I--and I think most people--had always assumed that it was the nets, but maybe whoever it was that he fled from is waiting there. Or could they have fled from a "whatever"? I mean, who the heck is this guy, anyway?) The jam by Larry Campbell before "Transit" was *out of this world*. I was thinking, am I at a folk concert or a rock jam? And who the hell cares? I think more now than ever, Richard is straddling the line between folk intelligence and craftsmanship and rock sensibility, which allows him to, well, rock out. Something which, I must admit, I wouldn't have thought him to be doing only two or three years ago. (Note: that still doesn't excuse the grave sin of headbanging at a Richard Shindell concert). The upside is that this is fun. The downside is that this is fun. I feel like oftentimes the power of Richard's words can get swallowed up into the power of an electric guitar. I think this is a great exercise for a couple shows, but I'm kind of glad he'll be returning to his life as a solo acoustic guitar player (even if it is a tad lonely, as he jokingly lamented). The St. Agnes Prison Choir Band, as they were christened last night, played all of the songs Norman mentioned, but did only one as an encore--"Sing Me Back Home." Can I tell you the harmony was very cool? Though both Larry Campbell and Lincoln Schlieffer sung on it, you could really only hear Larry's very distinctive voice. It had some sort of midwestern twang to it, methinks. And he was even better harmonizing on Shades of Grey. He sang a different rhythm from Richard's on the "You're gonna pay" line--faster, more conversational, and very looming. Or maybe it was especially scary cuz the guy looks like Nick Cave? BTW, Richard donned no coat, just the customary black t-shirt. I met lots of listers--RonG, RockinRon, Eric, Michael O'Hara (and his very cool mom), and probably other people who I'm forgetting--forgive me, I am lacking in the sleep department. A few words on the band itself. Larry was amazing. His playing was surprising but responsible, accenting or counterpointing the songs with style and grace. Lincoln on bass was OK. Dennis McDermott on drums was, to echo Lisa's description, "uninspired." When Richard introduced the band, the audience applauded dutifully for Lincoln and Dennis, but Larry got whoops and hollers, and a very rousing round of applause, which he wholly deserved. Well, that's all I have to say about that. I'm sure I'll be e-mailing soon with something I forgot to mention, or something stupid I said that I better take back. I also can't wait to hear what other listers at the Bottom Line thought. Oh, BTW, this was my first time at the Bottom Line, and the place is pretty cool, basically a big restaurant with long wooden tables and straight-backed chairs, and a stage on one side of it. Seating was pretty cramped (for example, I wanted to get up for the standing o that the band received, but was unable to, due to the fact that my chair was seemingly inextricably intertwined with someone else's and the legs of the table). But the sound was great. OK--as the moon said, "Now my work is done." ;-) Peace, Love, and Mischief, Vanessa - -- "If we're to be damned, let's be damned for what we truly are." --Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the Starship Enterprise-D ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 29 Apr 2000 12:37:47 EDT From: SMOKEY596@aol.com Subject: Re: [RS] Bottom Line 7:30 Thanks to everyone for the great reviews! As you may or may not know, I'm going to be seeing Richard for the first time in a couple of weeks, and it's great getting such a vivid "preview" from everyone! Vanessa, I may be wrong, but I've always thought that last verse of "Fishing" was the immigrant talking to the agent, not the other way around? SMOKEY ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 29 Apr 2000 12:59:35 -0400 From: Vanessa Wills Subject: Re: [RS] Bottom Line 7:30 Yeah, I think you're probably right--I guess I was thrown off by the fact that the rest of the song is written from the point of view of the INS agent. BTW, I hope you enjoy a great concert! :-) But then, I'm sure you will. - --Vanessa SMOKEY596@aol.com wrote: > Thanks to everyone for the great reviews! As you may or may not know, I'm > going to be seeing Richard for the first time in a couple of weeks, and it's > great getting such a vivid "preview" from everyone! > > Vanessa, I may be wrong, but I've always thought that last verse of > "Fishing" was the immigrant talking to the agent, not the other way around? > > SMOKEY - -- "If we're to be damned, let's be damned for what we truly are." --Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the Starship Enterprise-D ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 29 Apr 2000 13:01:11 -0400 From: Vanessa Wills Subject: [RS] correction I wrote: <> But what I meant to say was that most of what they said about the Iron Horse show was true for the Bottom Line show, as well. Of course, I'm sure *everything* they said about the Iron Horse show was true. :-) - --Vanessa - -- "If we're to be damned, let's be damned for what we truly are." --Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the Starship Enterprise-D ------------------------------ End of shindell-list-digest V2 #50 **********************************