This Weeks Play List

New CDs added this week include:

Arcade Fire - "Funeral"
Tom Waits - "Real Gone"
The Ditty Bops - "The Ditty Bops"
Camper Van Beethoven - "New Roman Times"

The Section Quartet at The Echo

It was a wonderful finale for the Section Quartet's residency at The Echo. They again had over 300 people in attendance to see them and their guest stars.

The opening band, The Ditty Bops, were a wonderful sort of country swing band with some demented lyrics and two female lead singers. The women played guitar and mandolin and they were supported by a stand up bass, violin and keyboards. Lots of fun.

The Section came on and played a couple of songs, including my current favorite, "Grace" by Jeff Buckley. The first guest was a guy who's name I can never remember; something Maldinado or something like that. They joke that he channels Morrissey, and he does a great job on his music. I've seen him before with The Section. Then up came Sam Phillips. Now, the deal
was: Each performer would do one of their songs and one cover. Sam performed a beautiful, scary version of "Edge of the World" and then covered beautifully, "Green Grass" from Tom Waits latest CD.

Up next was Greg Dulli from the Afghan Whigs. He had enough attitude to fill a couple of rooms. He was also the crowd favorite based on the amount of yelling and applause that he garnered. I couldn't tell you what song of his he performed with The Section, but his cover song was an old UFO number. He spent most of that song sitting at a table that was put on the side of the stage (it looked like he was in a club watching the band... cute idea), drinking from a shot glass and smoking a cig.

Finally, Grant Lee Phillips came up; guitar in hand he sang one of his songs and then did a cover of Bowie's "Ashes to Ashes". That was it. Clocking in at just over an hour, it was short but very sweet.

That's about it. I chatted with Sam and Eric but don't really have anything to report. Oh wait, I do. I was chatting about all the Phillips around (I brought up Glen Phillips) and wondered aloud that they must all be related. Sam said, "We must be, but we're all afraid to find out". Very cute line.

I am heading into the most intense concert week that I have ever had. On February the 8th I will be seeing Jill Sobule at Largo. Then Deb comes out and we do 4 nights in a row from the 10th to the 13th. And then on the 16th is Sam at The Silverlake Lounge. That's six shows in 9 nights. I must be crazy.

Jill Sobule at Largo - She kissed a boy

Once again we were at Largo for Jill Sobule. Jill opened with “Que Sera Sera” and segued (really, it was a segue) into “All the Young Dudes”. She was so proud of her segue, she actually stopped the song for a second to beam, “I just segued Doris Day into David Bowie”. It was a night of covers and she was about to do another one, but first she had a newer song: One that she didn’t remember the lyrics to. ::::grin:::: So, up on stage I went to hold her laptop while she sang. When the song was over, instead of taking the laptop back, she just started fiddling with the touch pad and then told the audience to sing along with the “da da da” part of The Associations, “Never My Love”. I of course joined in quietly. But, near the end of the song, she turned to me and said, “I want you to sing with me”, and so we sang the final chorus and refrain together. I leaned in to share the microphone and we sang the final words, “Never my love” slowly, gazing into each other's eyes. Then she leaned over and kissed me on the cheek. Oh my God! How many shades of red did I turn Margo? Speaking of Margo, she looked adorable in her t-shirt that she purchased from Jill’s web site. It reads ”My Bush would make a better president”. Actually, this was the first Jill show I’d seen were there was actually a lack of politics. There was some social commentary, but no politics. Meanwhile, I got 2 requests played. The easy one was “Mexican Wrestler”, which she likes to do. The other, and it was a big surprise that she was excited to do it was “Kathy Lee”: Her story of forbidden love with the ex t alk show host. Many in the audience had never heard it so it was fun listening to everyone laugh during the song. The guy next to me was obviously a huge fan since he knew the lyrics and sang along to the entire song. Part way through the song, Jill looked over at him, obviously surprised that someone was singing along. Jill played for a good hour and 45 minutes and I got another shot on the stage to do my stuff. Throughout the evening, she had a cello, stand up bass and second acoustic guitar coming and going on stage. Kevin Posey, the guy that winked at me the last time I saw her sang one of his songs with her and the band to open her set. After the show I chatted with Jill about a couple of things and then got a big hug from her when I asked to join the tour (holding a laptop and getting kissed every night seems like a great way to spend my time). I also got a nice compliment about my singing with her from a couple who were chatting with Jill. Normally I wouldn’t mention this, but they were a couple of film people (wrote and directed or produced a movie with John Doe… don’t know which one though). I was sort of waiting for the movie deal, but they had to leave. Oh well

Arcade Fire - "Funeral"

I'm on my third listen to Arcade Fire's "Funeral" and I really like it. It's really hard to pinpoint who they sound like. I guess it depends on the song. At first listen I too was reminded of the Talking Heads. But then they started to sound more like the Pixies, and every time Regine sings I can't help but be reminded of Bjork. But they don't sound enough like any band to say that they are copying someone. A very unique style and worth checking out.