Erin Regan was the focus of a benefit and sort of tribute at Goodbye Blue Monday on Sunday. Kudos to Joanna Kelly and Kate Wheeler for organizing the lovely affair (and anyone else who might have helped who I don't know about). There was a fair amount of Erin Regan merch for sale, including buttons and silk-screened t-shirts that I gather were hand-crafted by Kate and Joanna. It seemed as if even the Erin Regan wrist bands were painstakingly made by someone out of bright pink gaffer's tape.
The performers of the substantially-lengthed event were Daoud, Casey, Dashan, Toby, Kung Fu Crimewave, and the Everybody Knows. Kung Fu Crimewave featured a couple Erin Regan covers in their set, including Your Mom's Car. Erin also played a short set of her own songs. The evening reached a climactic moment in the We are the World-style all-star ballad (see photo) which referenced the hope that her foot heal quickly "for the children." Erin was also presented with one of those oversized checks, like the winner of the million dollar sweepstakes.
Erin has been through an ordeal with a problematic broken foot that hasn't healed and has resulted in financial challenges. Quite a bit of money was raised to help her out the other night.
I wrote in another post about songs I find annoying that are sort of musicalized versions of people's diaries. Somehow, even though Erin's songs draw from incidents in her own life (as far as I know, anyway), they seem to rise well-above these sorts of trivialized journal entries. It's hard to point to exactly why her songs work so well and others don't, but I think it's a combination of sharp imagery, gorgeous melodies, a beautiful voice, and impassioned performance. There have been moments at Sidewalk when Erin has totally swept me away in some deep moment of performance. I wish she was still hanging around the joint.
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