Sidewalk, October 7, 2008

I headed down to catch Jon Berger and Dibs and Sara. Somehow I misread Jon's flyer and got there a little late, but when I walked in, rather than performing in his usual spoken word style, Jon was in full-throated singing mode, belting out his material with accompaniment from his guitarist Sanjay. Jon was really going for it. He did a tune based on the melody of Back to the USSR, but called Back in the USA, which had a line in it something to the effect of "taking it like a Shabbos goy." He sang about "27 times turned down for a date," which was a funny and truthful kind of statement that I'm sure many of us could relate to and, among many others, he did, an interpretation of his classic poem, "Wendy's Getting Fat." 

I didn't realize that Dibs and Sara had once been a regular act, so their performance was a reunion. Dibs was one of the first people I ever heard play at Sidewalk when I came to check it out in 2004. I have a strong memory of him singing this song about wandering around town with a girl and ending up at Sidewalk and showing her the Antifolk world. Dibs was one of a number of people I heard that night who convinced me that Sidewalk was the right place for me to get started performing my stuff. 

Once I did start coming regularly I always enjoyed hearing The Bees, which was made up of Sara B and her friend (Larissa?). Sara played guitar, and I seem to recall did most of the singing, while Larissa stood next to her playing those fruit shaker things and piping in with some vocals from time to time. There was something very charming and funny about their act. I remember that Sara--particularly at the open mic-- would always tell these long stories about the kids she teaches and whatever else was going on. Lach was always trying to get her to start her song, but it seemed like a little routine they had, since the stories were kind of part of her whole act and as much fun as the music. Oh, also the Bees occasionally wore homemade Bee wings. But then they stopped playing and Sara, who had been a regular presence, stopped coming around.

So, it was good for me to have a chance to hear Dibs and Sara play together. filling in a bit of the chronology of things. The songs included the one I mentioned from the Open Mic the other night about Canada, and another about McDonald's, plus what I take was a song by Sara called "Cutie McHoney" which pointed out how the opposite sex can seize your consciousness. There was also a funny song about Mom's socks and a cover of "Stand."Oh and one about liking fruit, which included a sing-a-long.

In the audience: Lisa Bianco and Timothy Dark were there for some of Jon's set, plus Brook P, Bernard, Glovin, Yoko, Casey, Deenah, and Ben K on sound. 

There was quite a delegation of shaved heads in the room and Ben got a photo of Jon, Sanjay and Paul Tabatchnik posing together.