From: owner-trajectory-digest@smoe.org (trajectory-digest) To: trajectory-digest@smoe.org Subject: trajectory-digest V5 #37 Reply-To: trajectory@smoe.org Sender: owner-trajectory-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-trajectory-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk trajectory-digest Sunday, July 1 2001 Volume 05 : Number 037 Today's Subjects: ----------------- east coast shows [meredith ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 30 Jun 2001 11:53:41 -0400 From: meredith Subject: east coast shows Hi, I really should be cleaning the house getting ready for Veda's show here this evening, but I haven't said anything yet about the two great shows she's been involved in this week, and I don't want to let that go any longer. On Monday Veda and Erin McKeown shared a bill at the Knitting Factory in NYC. This was Veda's first time in the Main Space (and I believe, Erin's as well), and it was nicely well attended. For those of you who don't know, Erin McKeown is one of the fastest rising stars in the singer/songwriter biz right now. Her music gets folded into "folk", though it's not that at all -- there are bits of old tin-pan alley, swing, and blues in her music, mixed in with flashes of jazz. Her main instrument is guitar, but she is a consummate musician, who can pick up any instrument and blow you away with it. She just graduated from Brown University with a degree in Ethnomusicology, so she certainly knows whereof she speaks. Veda hit the stage first, and did a 45-minute set entirely on the grand piano. She opened with a set of songs from the nature portion of _Field Study_, then moved to the Yukon portion for a few songs, telling stories about the songs in between. I particularly liked the segue from the songbird song into "Evolver", the first crashes of the latter starting in before she had faded out the last note of the former. She also did a spoken-word version of "INSTRUCTIONS". The response from the largely Erin crowd was so enthisiastic, she came back for an encore, and did "Tuktiaktuk Hymn". Then Erin and her band (The Nields' Dave Chalfant on bass, and I'm blanking on the name of the drummer) hit the stage and rocked the house with many songs from her CD _Distillation_, as well as a few new things. The highlight of that set was when Veda came back and sat in with the band on the piano. She had never played the songs before, and just had key changes and lyrics scribbled on pieces of notebook paper, and yet when Erin pointed at her and called "solo!" she ran with it to great effect. Her jazz piano background certainly served her well, and it was great. For an encore, they did an almost bebop rendition of "Angel From Montgomery", with killer solos all around. Erin has been a huge fan of Veda's for years, and Veda really admires her as well, so it was great to watch the two of them onstage. Erin had a definite "oh my god, I'm playing with VEDA HILLE" manner about her. :) What a great night. Last night, the two of them were at the Acoustic Cafe in Bridgeport, CT, with Jess Klein also on the bill. Veda went first, and captivated the sold-out crowd with a set of songs from all of her albums ("Driven", "Sweet", "Plants", "Evolver", "Yukon Ho", "Noah's Ark", "Born Lucky", not in that order and I'm missing some as well). Most of the people in the audience had never heard her, and we were worried she'd have to play over incessant yakking, but even the chatty people next to us were quiet by the time she was halfway through. Jess Klein was next. I'm really not a fan, so I don't have much to say. She sounds more and more like Susanna Hoffs every time I see her. Then it was Erin's turn. She was solo this time, and due to the late hour (it was almost 11:30 by the time she took the stage) did a mellow, somewhat punchy set. Veda came back to play piano on a few songs again, and there were some amusing moments as Erin tried to get her guitar in tune against the house's electric piano which, against all logic, was somewhat out of tune itself. (There was one key in particular that made a huge blat when Veda hit it during her set - at the time she jumped almost off the bench, and I was very impressed she didn't lose her place in the song. :) All three performers were on stage for the last song of the set (a somewhat more subdued version of "Angel From Montgomery") and the encore ("I Second That Emotion", preceded by a cute rendition of "The Sunny Side Of The Street" from Veda while everyone tuned). It was a bit more mellow than Monday, but still another great night. I was happy that 70+ people in Connecticut got a chance to hear Veda's music. The WPKN interview with Veda and Erin was really cool, too. They were on for over an hour, with Erin playing live songs (we only got CD tracks from _Field Study_ because there was no keyboard, and also Veda doesn't have her guitar with her on this trip), and much good conversation. At several points Veda and Erin were pretty much interviewing each other, and Valerie Richardson just sat back and let them talk. It was a lot of fun to listen to. So now I have some serious cleaning to do ... tonight should be a lot of fun. ======================================= Meredith Tarr New Haven, CT USA mailto:meth@smoe.org http://www.smoe.org/meth "things are more beautiful when they're obscure" -- veda hille ======================================= Live At The House O'Muzak House Concert Series http://www.smoe.org/meth/muzak.html ------------------------------ End of trajectory-digest V5 #37 *******************************