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.