Mmm. Found a reason to be ALIVE! Last week’s The 9 was everything I really needed to get me inspired again. A dazzling show with an incredible lineup, a close-to-sold-out house and a lot of fun interplay betwixt the nine artists – presumably this is the way it should ALWAYS be, but Justin was commenting that only one other 9 really equaled this night’s sense of camaraderie and energy.
I knew a couple of the artists, a couple of the artists that I didn’t know were clearly familiar with one another, and the holes in the circle quickly knit themselves together. I certainly knew Justin Trawick and Paddy Kilrain and have gotten to know Laura Baron a little more closely through the recent BlackRock Sing Out for Sandy event and I’d at least encountered Karen Collins and Ted Garber before. Kevin De Souza, Owen Danoff and Laura Van Duzer were entirely new to me – but the whole line up was just packed with good times. In theory I tend to prefer a slightly more varied lineup (we were all singer/songwriters playing guitar with the exception of Laura Van Duzer, a singer/songwriter playing piano) but I think that’s just the open mic host in me speaking. In practice it was a remarkably concrete, solid show.
My previous gig with the 9 was in Baltimore with a crew that felt a lot more insular. (Maybe *I* was more insular?) I was invited to play along with one other artist but in a style that I didn’t really excel at and though I’d invited lead guitarist and percussionist to perform with me, after the abject failure of the former I got really nervous and canceled the latter. I was pretty convinced I’d sort of “failed the 9 test” and that Justin wouldn’t invite me for another one, but in Takoma Park I was a pretty logical choice and I think I totally vindicated myself. Even Dave Eisner (who, though a long-time friend at this point has always been kind of lukewarm towards my music) remarked that it was the best he’d ever seen me and that it was the best connection he’d seen ANY artist have with an audience in a very, very long time.
Maybe this earned me my nickname of Warlock? Especially since I’d been playing in Ellicott City a couple of nights ago and a guy was calling me a “teddy bear” – “I mean, you play so fierce like you’re all scary but you’re just like SUCH a teddy bear!” – it was great to have Ted Garber come up to me and say “You’re SUCH A WARLOCK! I mean, you’re like a warlock getting on the stage and no-one expects you to be SO FUNNY!” I’m a fucking warlock! Casting spells on Ted’s tambourine.
And I WAS pretty marvelous, if’n I DO say so myself. Charming and sparkly and generally bad-ass. I especially needed this after the abject failure of the two previous shows – the one in Ellicott City was probably completely undermined by a play off game and the weather (but saved in spirit by playing with Kristen and the newly-discovered wonder that is Ken Gutberlet, as well as the bizarre silliness that is David Morrealle in a state of severe sleep deprivation) – the one in Annapolis just painfully under-attended, underlined by high expectations. To have a show which reminded me that no, I’m pretty frakkin’ spectacular even when I’m SOLO was really, really necessary.
Justin Trawick invited me to play along with one of my absolutely favourite songs (his 9/11 tune, I really do need to figure out what it’s called) and “1 2 3” which turned into a bizarre little night of boys having WAAAY too much fun on stage. Getting to play along with Paddy Kilrain on a slow song was only topped by getting to play with her on a fast song (which resulted in my folk hopping higher than I thought I could) – and ALL of that paled in comparison to getting to have an all-star supergroup for Slight Departure in the form of Ted Garber on harmonica, Justin Trawick on percussion and Kevin de Souza on bass. It danced with being a trainwreck, but we danced well, with style, panache – and it was a pretty awesome trainwreck (perhaps releasing kittens and cool toys upon an unsuspecting populace Living next to the tracks).
I’m Living in anticipation and fear of the videos being released by Institute of Musical Traditions. Trainwrecks that are a lot of fun Live are very rarely as much fun when replayed again later. Let’s all keep our fingers crossed because it was SO much fun I’d like to relive it a bit.
