Monday Night Open Mic, June 8, and Tuesday, June 9

Open Mic, Monday, June 8
Evidently I missed Julie Hill doing an operatic rendition of the words off a condom wrapper. From what I understand she asked for a random object from the audience. Seems as if that could have been the highlight Monday. Damn. It's easy to miss cool stuff if you wander out of that back room.

What did I see that stood out? Rachel Trachtenburg and a friend covered two Beatles tunes (Something and All Together Now) while hula hooping the entire time. Steve Stivola sang an a cappella tune: "I Got a Black Woman in Me," The Scamps played with guitar and bongo-a nice rock feel-the bongo player took an unexpected solo when the guitarist's strap fell off, Kristin from Bellingham, Washington played a couple sweet songs and got a gig. Dan Costello in a moment of beardlessness played a new song, Hard Times. I also played, for once, in order to promote my show the next night. I sang..hmm. what did I sing...I know I did "Do the Berger." Jon normally interprets it with wild, all out Jon Berger dance moves, but this time showed his age and exhaustion in a more subtle, less energetic dance performance. I think I also played my song about Chopping Wood.

Tuesday, June 9, Sidewalk Cafe
The next night, Bob Carlton, Susan Hwang, myself, and Will Lopez played. My appearance had to do with Elastic No No Band's month long residency. As a member of the band, I was asked to do a show. And given the opportunity to invite someone else to play the earlier slot, I asked Susan. She and I have one duet song, Makin' Whoopee worked up that I really like playing and which we did the other night. Preston Spurlock also joined me for a song "New Beatles." Otherwise I mostly played with Trudy Williams who is the bassist for my group, the Key Lime Pie Revue. She and I tried out a new instrumental tune. It needs some polishing, to say the least, but I'm looking forward to developing it and playing it at the OJ All Day Fest on the 19th. Susan did a nice set of her great songs, and it was interesting to hear Will Lopez, who is new to me and seems to have a bit of a jam band-y kind of feel. He played with Alex P. on at least one song, who was doing some wailing guitar work.

Monday Night Open Mic, June 1 & Tuesday, June 2, featuring Awareness

Monday Open Mic, June 1, 2009

I was out of town for the Memorial day weekend, but somehow it felt as if I'd been gone longer than that. I was glad to be back but the crowd seemed kind of oddly unfamiliar to me at the start of the night. Most of my usual pals weren't around, and once sign-up was over it felt a little empty. Level II kicked things off with a fun number where he lip synched to a video he'd made and that was projected on a screen in the back. The video was cool and used little puppet figures to depict a scene in a restaurant. The song had a kind of tag line, "excellent choice" that the waiter repeated after each menu selection. Level II also played Bona Sera. I'm not sure if that was an original or a cover, but it felt like a cover. As the night went on things kind of picked up, however, I was in a weird mood with lots of day job stuff floating around my head and was just kind of tired, so even though I'd signed up and gotten a relatively low number I took off kind of early.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009, Awareness et al

Octavio and Joe Crow played a set together as Hospital, with Joe Crow on drums, doing mostly Octavio's songs. It was a fuzzed out kind of set that got into some avant-gardey style stuff. Then a set by Elastic No No Band (with me on piano).

Awareness
But I was also glad to be around for the first Awareness full set. Awareness, you might remember, is the guy who wears a white mask when he performs, not to mention when he's just sitting around hanging out. Awareness turned up at the open mic a few weeks ago and Ben offered him a set right away. When he was on stage Tuesday, Awareness said that at the point he accepted the gig he only had those two songs, so he wrote ten more in three weeks.

Awareness delivers his songs with a deadpan almost wooden feel, and although he accompanies himself on guitar the songs are performed in something between a speaking and singing voice--more like a chant, maybe. The songs lyrics are self-consciously direct. For example, in one song he repeats several times "I wanna be dumb, I wanna have fun," and in another that he said is about being proud of yourself, he sang "I made a bookshelf, I made a bookshelf, I did it by myself."

But even though on one hand Awareness's whole shtick is kind of gimmicky, I ended up really liking his songs and his set. There was one song in which he said that "existential despair is a waste of time," and then went on to sing/talk about how you should just be out living your life, rather than worrying about what it all means. This seems to be the motto of the Sidewalk Cafe, or at least how I've interpreted it--'just get out there and sing your fucking songs.' So, it was cool to hear that from someone else. I also liked the idea of the song about the bookshelf, because there have been many times where I've completed some task, like recently assembling a complicated toy for my nephew, where I'm thinking 'hey look, I actually managed to follow these instructions, even though they were written by an idiot, and get this damn thing together." So, I understand Awareness's pride in successfully making a bookshelf. He also had songs saying "it's ok to be gay," and "unconditional love is a wonderful thing to have."

Oh, and he had a song about himself "I am anonymous/I have a mask on/who is Awareness?/I prefer to be a secret identity/I am a celebrity/Who is Awareness?" It really is rather interesting to think about identity as it relates to performing. Maybe another time I can get into questions about the idea of celebrity, which is something I find interesting. Masking your identity is one way to prevent a kind of specific identification/celebrity---although of course the mystique of it and the oddity of it ends up creating its own kind of interest.

By the way, even though Awareness was anonymous to the regular Sidewalk crew who were around that night, he seemed to have attracted a number of friends, who I imagine he reached out to with information about his gig and who must know who he is. A couple friends ended up performing a song with him on stage--and in that moment wore masks of their own.

And, the show had a surprise ending. As his finale Awareness brought out a fairly polished baritone voice to sing a song that he said was from Les Mis.

OJ Half Day Month Before All Day BBQ Video

Hey-check it out. Justin Remer made this video.

Bushwick Book Club Goes to Beatrice at the Merc, May 27, 2009

The Bushwick Book Club, the literary songwriting endeavor that Susan Hwang has been running at Goodbye Blue Monday, has been getting some nice publicity recently and also broken out into a new venue. Ron Hogan, the presenter of a literary series at the Mercantile Library asked if songwriters from the B. B. C. would interpret two new novels for an event timed to the Book Expo conference (the event was held at the Slipper Room on Orchard Street). Four of us: Susan, Phoebe Kreutz, Duck and Swallow, and myself signed up and were asked to write songs about debut novels by Sarah Rainone and Rakesh Satyal. Three of us focused on Sarah Rainone's novel "Love Will Tear us Apart," which is written in the alternating voices of four friends who reunite at a wedding. (Susan wrote a song based on Rakesh Satyal's book "Blue Boy.")

Reading these books can be a good way of getting inspiration for a song. In my own case the books seem to shake loose concepts that have already kind of been floating around in my subconscious. I took Sarah's book as a jumping off point to look at weddings, focusing on a lineage of marriages in my family. I actually did a fair amount of research to try to get details of my grandparents' wedding, or at least what it possibly could have been like, and I also spoke to my mom about her wedding to my dad. I have no way of really knowing how accurate my interpretation of this history is but at least in my own mind the process helped me develop a better understanding of the personality dynamics in two generations of our family.

By the way, interestingly enough both authors read from their books and also performed songs themselves. Sarah appeared as one of the characters from her book--a gay male character named Shawn--and performed the Joy Division song that provided the title of the book. Rakesh evidently has another career as a cabaret singer and performed "Part of Your World," from The LIttle Mermaid (I understand the song makes an appearance in the book).

I was really glad to see the Time Out New York article this week on the Book Club. Susan runs the whole thing in an efficient but very low key way, and it's nice that she and the project are gaining some recognition.

I'll be back in October for "Confederacy of Dunces."

Monday Night Open Mic, May 18, 2009

Geez, I hate to say this, but I was really not all that drawn in by what I was seeing Monday. Could it be I've just been hanging around too long? I don't know but there seemed to be a lot of folks who were finding their sea legs--not that there's anything wrong with that. I did like Milo's "I Ain't Your Mailman," and Debe Dalton's new song "52 Minutes." 

I'll be away for Memorial Day. In the meantime, enjoy some photos from the OJ Half Day BBQ 

http://gallery.me.com/herbscher#100217

OJ Half Day Month Before All Day BBQ, Sunday, May 17 2009

This year's OJ All Day Festival is coming up June 19th and 20th, and yesterday Olive Juice threw a kick-off barbecue in the back yard (back shed?) at Goodbye Blue Monday. People started showing up a little after four, and at first it seemed as if we might have needed to call in a specialist to get the barbecue lit. At one point Susan Hwang asked: "How many hipsters does it take to light a barbecue?" I know it takes at least two, one to light the charcoal and another to make a video documentary about it. In fact there was more than one video crew on hand. Justin Remer is making a promotional video about OJ All Day for YouTube, and a local Brooklyn Cable Access program was there shooting a piece on Goodbye Blue Monday. In any event, with a little help from Goodbye Blue Monday's proprietor, Steve, two grills got going, one for veggie dogs and another for the fully meated variety.

By about 7 Matt Roth called things to order and after a brief bit of introduction got some performances going. First up was a group I was unfamiliar with called either Birth Control or Wooden Ghost. I am under the impression that Toby Goodshank normally plays with them, but he was not on hand yesterday. The group centered on a guy/girl duo and was supplemented for a few songs by Brer Brian on trumpet and by a bass player. My memory is going to be fuzzy on a lot of the particular songs played last night but I enjoyed these guys. At one point somehow a plume of smoke was dramatically released in front of the stage. I know I didn't imagine this because I have a photo, but I still don't know where the smoke came from.

Next up were The Wowz, or at least two-thirds of them, in the person of Sam and Simon. They sat side by side and Wowd us with their harmonies and cool-sounding songs.

Rachel Trachtenburg played two songs, one about a black cat and one about a pigeon (if I remember correctly). Rachel played one song at the keyboard and on the other played ukelele and was accompanied by Chris Brodeur on air violin (Chris hummed along while miming the violin playing--it was a kind of charming effect, actually).

Rachel was followed by her dad Jason who played some of his recent hits...I seem to remember "I don't want to tempt.....time." That catchy sensation.

Then Schwervon! rocked the place. It's always amazing to me what these folks can do with just the two of them. It's one of those things where it's hard to pin down exactly what makes it work, but somehow the sum of their voices and playing adds up to more than the parts.

Finally, Ching Chong Song. Every time I see these guys I am more impressed. The stuff they come up with is stunning, really. The songs that Julie and Dan write are so different and original. It's hard to see how they come up with these ideas that seem so off the charts from anything else out there. But then they have continued to develop them in performance, and now with Susan Hwang woven in on vocals and accordion they are more musical and moving than you could imagine. On one song Susan played this traditional Korean drum and somehow it worked beautifully, even though it was a kind of funny (i.e. humorous) song. They also had a bass player for the first time that I've seen, a guy who played stand-up and contributed a percussive element that helped give the songs a frame and form in which to sit.

Throughout the night, between acts, Matt continued to talk about the elements of OJ All Day--the haircuts and massages that will be available, the crafts booths and vendors, etc. etc. on top of all that great music. Something like 40 perfomances are scheduled.

One of the things that has impressed me about OJ All Day is that, although Matt is clearly at the helm of it, the endeavor brings out a community of folks who all pitch in to pull it off. It's interesting how the OJ community stems from and overlaps with the Sidewalk gang but then also has gone off in its own direction. Aside from all the fun music, it was nice to hang out with these folks last night. I'm looking forward to the Festival in June for more music and hanging and community and fun stuff. See you there.

Ben Godwin, Thusday, May 14, 2009

I stopped in to catch Ben Godwin's set on Thursday. Ben was in town from London with his wife Dawn and cute baby Calliope. Ben was part of the regular crew there for a long while and eventually we ended up having some fun times when he played bass with me in the Key Lime Pie Revue. Ben is a really good musician and he picked up the tunes we played quickly and really helped me realize my rock and roll dreams in what amounted to my first band. So thanks for that Ben. He was also one of the first portrait subjects when I renewed my interest in photography, and I always loved the shots we did at the Museum of Natural History (one of which can be seen here).I remember when we did those shots that we were worried we might get kicked out of the musuem. Eventually a security guard did come up to us......and gave us advice about how to get better shots!

Ben played some new songs, including a couple written for his daughter about toes and such. He also returned to some of his classic material like Skin and Bones. I'm always impressed by Ben's guitar playing and he did some nice work on a couple quieter tunes that had a bit of a jazzy feel to them. Ben played a big red electric guitar that he borrowed from a friend and he also had another friend of his sitting in on a stripped down drum kit for several songs. It was great to see Ben, Dawn, and Calliope, although I was sorry I couldn't catch up with them more and also that I had to cut out before seeing the rest of that night's sets.

Ladies Love Lach (and Guys Too)

When Lach stepped down from running the Antihoot in July 2008 I made a video in which lots of folks from the scene at that time reminisced about him and what the Sidewalk scene has meant to them. The video was meant as a tribute to Lach, but as an extra benefit (maybe just to me) it also captures some of the personalities who were present at Sidewalk around that time. I'd been meaning to get the video online one of these days, but guess what, even without me it somehow mysteriously found its way online, with extra-added titles and stuff. Well, enjoy. It's linked in the list at right in 5 parts called "Ladies Love Lach."

Monday Night Open Mic, May 4, 2009

Maybe it was me but I thought things were kind of sluggish the other night. I guess it happens occasionally. 

I was glad to finally get a chance to hear Barry Bliss, who I'd heard a lot about in the last few years but who had been living out of town until recently. Barry did a song called Do Not Call On Jesus, at the piano. Unfortunately I couldn't make it to Barry's show the following night, but I look forward to hearing a full set sometime soon.

I was also glad to hear Jen's Revenge who told me that she hung out at Sidewalk for a long time in the 90s. She said she first encountered Lach when he was hosting an open mic briefly at a place called Rainbow on St. Marks. Well, that's another location to add to the list. According to Jen Lach might have only run things there for a few weeks. In any event, Jen performed a very funny song that integrated the catcalls and remarks she hears yelled at her on the street as well as pick-up lines she's encountered.

Other stuff/people: Liv Carrow, JT Hathaway, Enid Ellen (with white dots of facial makeup and a shirt shredded in strips), Christopher Kelly, Jon Berger, Richard Ringer (told of breaking into a friend's residence to steal back his own cap), Touching You (sang a lovely song about how 'humans are shit' and made the case that he's the smartest person on earth), Josh Fox, followed by his dad Howard Fox (who I believe sang "My Way"), Poez.

Friday, May 1, 2009

I was at Sidewalk for a very solid Friday evening bill.

Aaron Invisible kicked things off. Some interesting songs. He seems inspired by a Dylan folk-vibe kind of thing and in fact covered a Dylan tune. He has an unusual singing voice, very different than what you would expect from talking to him and hard to describe, a little whispery, a littly reedy, a little high-pitched.

Jon Berger performed with Sanjay, his guitar playing sidekick. I really admire Jon for moving into the singing realm, even though his tonality is sometimes, shall we say, approximate. It's interesting because, although I guess you could call what he's performing songs, they're really more like sung poems. Jon also read some poems on an unaccompanied basis between his singing forays.

The Venn Diagrams. It seems as if the Venn Diagrams and The Young Dads have formed some kind of alliance because The Young Dads came up to introduce The Venn Diagrams. I love the material that The Venn Diagrams choose. They opened with "Take a Walk on the Wild Side," and had the audience singing along with the doot doot doots. They also had an audience member come up and blow soap bubbles. Then they sang a Kurt Weill song in a mix of German and English, and I think another song entirely in German. They gave a lesson in high-fiving (aim for the elbows) and performed a cover of 9 to 5. They also spoke about their mutual affection for Bea Arthur and did the theme song to The Golden Girls. It seems they have developed a specialty number for tip jar time...."We're in the Money." They closed with Dream a Little Dream. These guys are immensely talented. Jeffrey has a sublime voice and Rick provides very tasteful and tasty accompaniment. Their means of interpreting the songs they cover is usually to smooth them out and calm them down. Maybe what I mean by that is that they add a simple elegance. Anyway they stick pretty close to the original melody, but there definitely is a Venn Diagrams style to the tunes they interpret. Jeffery and Rick are both very funny, but they may lean a little too heavily on the in-between song schtick, especially since the dry humor of including songs like 9 to 5 and The Golden Girls stands so well on its own. In any event, I love what they do and always enjoy their shows.

The Young Dads. Holy moley. The young dads wore business suits and had an elaborate Powerpoint presentation to accompany their songs. What can I say? These guys are brilliantly funny. Their set was basically a take-off on corporate America with mock business graphs charting aspects of their songs and their performance. Between numbers they would pretend to take cell phone calls about business matters. One of the lines that kind of cracked me up was when one of the Dads said "excuse me, I've got to take this," in a very officious, businessman kind of way. There was one "cell phone conversation" in which the same Dad (I think) got into this chant of "yes, buy, no, sell, buy." He kept chanting that over and over like some sort of mantra. I've written about most of The Young Dads songs before and they did many of the favorites we know and love I've Planned Stuff for Us, What's the Use of Having a Threesome, Get the Most of My Membership, and the one from the perspective of two 9th grade girls, which is amaving, really, as a study in character.

I'll say it again, not only are they reliably funny, but The Young Dads are extremely musical. I'm always impressed by their harmonies and that they create a very full sound with just a bass and whatever you call the drum thing that the one Dad sits on. They're also in an interesting realm mixing comedy with songwriting. A lot of comic songwriting is very heavy-handed. I think the Young Dads have carved out a new kind of space for well-crafted comic songs. And yet another thing...I really liked the theatricality of their performance. I've said before that not enough performers at Sidewalk pay attention to the holistic aspects of their shows. Even if it's just how the band is dressed or how the stage is arranged, I think there's something to be said for thinking through the style of your presentation. Yes, maybe corporate America is an easy target. Not everything about that world is so black and white. But the Young Dads certainly drew from the images and stereotypes of that environment to create a truly original show at Sidewalk.

Monday Night Open Mic, April 13, 2009

The vibe was good this past Monday. There were all sorts of little things that made it fun, at least for me. I saw some friends who hadn't been around in a while, met some new people who seemed pretty interesting, hosted an edition of the Sidewalk Talk Show, and got to see some interesting performers.

Perhaps the most interesting was someone who went by the name Awareness. He was wearing a mask the entire time he was waiting his turn. It was round and white and held on by a strap around his head. I thought for sure he would grow uncomfortable at some point and take it off, but the guy was hard core and kept it on the entire two hours or so he waited and through his performance. One of his songs was called "I Like Rare Form," about the band Rare Form, which Awareness seems to like (I haven't been able to locate a band called Rare Form, at least through searching the web, although there is a group called In Rare Form-maybe that's it). Anyway, Ben offered Awareness a show.

Some of the performers from throughout the night:

xpunkx-sounding a lot like a 1980s synthesizer band (songs: "Radio Reconditioning" and "Alien Dance."

Brooke Pridemore-(a new song called "Mouthful of Bees" and "The Year I Get it Right"--Brook mentioned that on Tuesday he'd be heading out on tour)

Master Lee-Accompanied by Brer Brian on trumpet and Touching You on guitar

Joe Bendik-promoting his tax day show ("Pay Day" and a cover of the Beatles' "Tax Man")

Christine--sang a very poppy tune to a recorded track

Coo-Although I'm very tired of hearing her song "If You See Something, Say Something," which she performs in a fake southern twang, Coo is at times brilliantly funny. On Monday folks were cracking up, particularly at her song about women enjoying themselves without male companionship. 

It had been a while since I'd presented an edition of the Sidewalk Talk Show, but I'd been thinking about asking the Brooklyn Tea Party to appear at some point and when I heard that three of the four roommates there were moving out it seemed the time was right. Although you probably already know this, Brooklyn Tea Party is the loft apartment shared by Rachel Devlin, Dan Costello, Brook Pridemore, and Michael David Campbell. When they moved in they built a stage and have been presenting shows on weekends for about two years now. I've always had a great time there and particularly enjoyed the friendly atmosphere and the intimacy of the shows. Since most of the folks who attend the performances are at least loosely tied-in to the Sidewalk community, there always seems to be a sense of comfort there--like being at a party with a bunch of good friends and good music.

Anyway, it was fun talking to Brooklyn Tea Party from the stage at Sidewalk. Of course when it was over I thought of about 10 other questions I'd wanted to ask, but that's the way it goes. From the comments afterward it did seem as if the segment helped introduce some folks to the place, which is continuing to present shows even after Dan, Rachel and Michael move out. Brook Pridemore is staying and will be carrying on with a new group of folks.

Oh, usually I start the Talk Show with a recording of the Sidewalk Talk Show Theme Song, which, coincidentally, was recorded at Brooklyn Tea Party. But this time the recording was unavailable so Brer Brian jumped in and played it on the piano after I hummed it to him a few times. Thanks Brer.

Sidewalk Talk Show This Monday

What a great brew they've been serving on Stockholm Street. Things are evolving at this particular Brooklyn party and the masterminds of the scene will be the next guests on the Sidewalk Talk Show. Come learn all about what's in store. This Monday, April 13 at 10 p.m.

See you there.

Herb

It was a low key evening this past Monday. Hard to know why some weeks the sign-up line is out the door and others it's kind of quiet. It was nice to see Juviley back at the Open Mic after a long time. I've always liked his really mellow vibe. One of the standout acts to me was this guy Rashad, a young guy who played some really strong traditional blues. He was an excellent guitarist, but it's always interesting to me when younger folks tie into traditional music. On second thought, I don't know why I even wonder about that since I was into all kinds of weird older stuff when I was young (and still am). So there. Good music is good music. But speaking of traditional music, that brings to mind the Relatives, who played as a duo Monday (Gabriel wasn't there so Ian and Katie carried on without him). I'm always glad to point out an appearance by Mike Boner who sang about someone for whom "bondage turned him on." The Young Dads cracked everyone up as usual with a new song. Somehow I ended up hanging around until late in the night. I caught Domino, Octavio, and Robyn at the end of the open mic as well as Lady Bright. And by the way, in the area of news, I heard that change is afoot at Brooklyn Tea Party. Interesting.

I'm heading out to Preston's art show at Max Fish now. Really looking forward to that.

Herb

Thursday, March 26, Sidewalk Cafe

I think it was Susan Hwang who organized the bill the other night...at least I'm pretty sure it was she who got me involved. I started off the night, playing with The Key Lime Pie Revue (Marc Steve on drums, Ariel Bitran on guitar, Trudy Williams on bass). It was nice to play again so soon after my Festival gig. Well, soon for me anyway. There seems to be a very nice connection among the members of this version of the KLPR and I'm looking forward to working with these folks more in the future. Anyway, we did a lot of my usual repertoire: New York City Funk, Gwen Stefani, Fishes etc. We played a Professor Longhair song which merged into Why Don't We Do It In the Road. Susan Hwang came on as a special guest and we played Makin' Whoopee with the group, which was really fun. We also did the song we performed together at the Bushwick Book Club based on the Raymond Carver story What We Talk About When We Talk About Love. This was the best performance of the times we've played the song, but I felt that the stark subject matter of it was a little out of character with the rest of the stuff in my set. Anyway, we finished up with a rousing version of Do the Berger. Since Jon wasn't there, Ben Krieger filled in as understudy on the wild dancing and I know he was somehow taunting me from behind me while I played, but I really couldn't turn around to see what kind of annoying acts he was committing.

I really enjoyed the songs Wilder Worldwide played at the open mic the other night, but didn't know quite what to expect from their full show. But it was very interesting and very richly musical. They featured clarinet and upright bass, in addition to Storm and Jonathan on violin and piano. There's kind of a Berlin cabaret feel to what they do....someone next to me said something about Weill and Brecht when they started....but their ideas are far ranging. Check them out if you get a chance.

I was glad to get a chance to hear The Debutante Hour, which is a duo comprising Susan Hwang and Maria Sonevytsky who switch off on accordion and snare drum. Maria lives out of the country so they have rare opportunities to play together and I hadn't heard them before. Some of their songs I was familiar with from Susan's solo shows (like the Devil Song and Planner song) but it was cool to hear them with the vocal arrangements they performed the other night. They also did a couple covers...Down With Love, which is by Yip Harburg and Harold Arlen (the fabulous team who wrote the Wizard of Oz songs) and "Ain't That Good News," written by Sam Cooke. There was also a short, beautiful love song by Maria. The finale was everyone's favorite 1980s new wave hit "You're Just What I Needed." Franz Nicolay sat in on some songs too, playing the washboard tie.

Next up was Dibs who I thought played a particularly strong set, even though he was hindered (so he said) by a missing capo. I've really grown to appreciate Dibs's songwriting a lot. I know that he was inspired by groups like the Moldy Peaches but I think that Dibs picks up on that spirit and carries it much further into a realm that's really his own. I don't know that I need to do a song by song write up but a couple stand outs were the song he wrote for the Bushwick Book Club based on Flatland. There's a line like "she's so acute/she's so acute/she's such a cutie/when she looks at me, I know the beauty of geometry. Dibs also covered Manchseter England from Hair (once he finished experimenting with keys), and played Ada, his song about the woman known as the first computer programmer (in the 19th century). Because of the missing capo he was digging into his back repertoire to play songs that he could do without changing the key of the guitar. Jon XXXX offered to come on stage and fill in as a human capo, an offer Dibs at first rejected. But then for the last song he changed his mind and had Jon come up, and it was kind of hilarious to see Dibs play while Jon kept his finger clenched on the fretboard. I'll admit Jon did a good job and the song went off without a hitch. It actually was  lovely song about "the one you love" although it was given a bit of a twist when Dibs put his head on Jon's shoulder to sing part of it.

Joe Crow. Joe Crow. I'm so sorry I had to go. Even though I did see part of your show. Anyway you know I love you so.

Monday Night Open Mic, March 23, 2009

I had the realization the other night that hanging out at the Sidewalk Open Mic combines two factors in the experience. One is the comfort that comes from seeing friends and hearing performers that you've become familiar with and the other is the potential for discovering something totally new. I was glad the other night that I was on hand for two acts I hadn't seen before that really stood out.

Earlier in the evening I noticed these two gals standing around in matching blond page boy hairdos, I Love New York t-shirts, and newsboy caps. When Ben started giving the on deck call to Le Funky Bitches Fantastique, I had a feeling that might be them. Le Funky Bitches arrived on stage and delivered their introductory patter in something like a female interpretation of Steve Martin and Dan Ackroyd's "two wild and crazy guys." voices. It was amusing, but you wondered where they were going with it. Matching outfits at Sidewalk can be a tip-off to expect an attempt at Britney or Mariah inspired pop. However, when Le Funky Bitches launched into song they did an amazing version of this country tune with great harmonizing and strong singing all around. Then one of le bitches did her own song about um....her affection for men...for many men. It had the refrain "I can't fuck them all." Writing this at this moment is causing me to laugh all over again at how brilliantly funny this performance was. Somehow I had worked my way up to the front row at that point and I will not soon forget the moment when le funky bitch switched into this guttural, gravelly voice to belt out "I Can't Fuck Them All." It's always nice when performers coming from a comic intent also have musical skill. I hope LFBF returns to Sidewalk (maybe they should share a bill with the Young Dads)...I'm just now noticing that they were on the bill last night at the "Borscht" evening at Sidewalk...so I missed that chance but will have to catch up with them another time.

The other act that really stood out the other night was Jakko and Jay. I walked in once they had already started playing, but there was just this incredible energy coming from the stage. Jakko and Jay were a duo on drums and acoustic guitar, with the guitarist singing most of the vocals. But a lot of the energy came from the drummer. I got the impression they'd played South by Southwest...and also that they might be from Finland. Ben offered them a spot right away and it seems as if they also played Brooklyn Tea Party.

It was a very crowded night the other night. The sign-up took a while and there was a line out the door. Some of the folks who played were: Tidal Friction (some nice rap lyrics), Pete Scalzetti, Phoebe, me. Wilder Worldwide played as a duo on violin and piano. The played a song about origami and I liked how Storm, the violinist, used a credit card to tap her violin both on the body and on the strings at points throughout the song. There were lots of comedians the other night. Maggie Nuthall, a guy named Fred Sophe (?) who did recession jokes, a gal named William who talked a lot about eating, and a guy named Brain who spoke about action movie stars of the 1980s (Stallone, Schwarzeneger, Bruce Willis). Waylon Daniel played with a group that featured a tuba player. And Julie Hill did her version of Hallelujah using the loop machine.

Mr. Patrick's House, Friday, March 20, 2009

Mr. Patrick had a show at his place up on 139th Street. It's a great place for a house show, with a good-sized living room featuring a nice upright piano. Julie LaMendola booked the night. Olivia from New Orleans started off with a few songs on piano, including one that she said was about the swamp (or maybe it was the sea). The Fools played, although because there was no amp there things were a little problematic for Uchenna who ended up playing piano on a couple songs but couldn't use her bass. Jen did some songs on her own too, including the one about how much she loves her mother....which was quite touching because her mom was there and seemed very moved by hearing Jen perform it. Dibs played a nice set, including this song I've wanted to hear again for the longest time. It's the one in which he describes a journey with a gal all through the City in which he ends up at Sidewalk among other places. Anyway, it's a totally charming song and I was really glad he included it. Part of the reason it is so memorable to me is that I heard him play it the first time I went to Sidewalk in 2004. It really stood out then and was one of the performances that convinced me Sidewalk was the right place for me to start performing. A Fermata played an extensive suite at the piano....a long connected piece. I really hope I get to hear it again sometime so I can absorb all the lyrics and everything, but it was cool. Prewar Yardsale seemed to get off to a bit of a bumpy start. Mike must have been creating on the spot interpretations of their songs because Dina kept telling him to "play the songs the right way." And Mike was reading lyrics off these long sheets on the floor. They were almost poster-size and at some point someone--I think Dashan--was holding one of them up like a cue card. Beau Johnson was accompanying Prewar Yardsale and Mike kept calling out chords or keys in this very pronounced way. So he'd be singing along....la la la la "A" la la la "E." There was something quite fun about the whole scene. They did get their flow going though. They have an interesting vibe and I liked in particular the song where they're chanting "Some buildings are high, some buildings are low." I learned later via MySpace that it's about the M104 bus. Mike and Dina and I have kind of become taxi partners, since we live near one another. And these have been epic journeys. Last time they rescued me from a bout of misjudgement at Cake Shop and this time there was writhing on the sidewalk. I love Ching Chong Song and they played some of my favorite songs, including Old Man. They've been playing recently with Susan Hwang, but it was Ching Chong classic the other night with just Dan and Julie. 

Until Brooklyn Tea Party appeared I hadn't been to many shows in people's homes, but there's something about mixing music and hospitality that make the experience much better than a show or party would be separately. It was great of Rick to make his place available and he really did make everyone feel welcome. I hope he continues to host shows there. And not just because it takes me half as long to get there as any of the other regular hangouts. Thanks Rick.

Monday Open Mic, March 16, 2009

Unfortunately I couldn't make it to the Open Mic this past Monday. Ben Krieger to the rescue.
Herb

by Ben Krieger
Monday night was great, for those of you who weren't there. Slow...and by slow I mean 50 people and my set started around 1:20. I gave two gigs and invited several people back next week so we can "hear more." Solid night of performances as well. There was a French film crew there working on a youth culture documentary. Of course they were picking out some of the best-looking, thinnest performers in attendance and interviewing them out front. Which is great for those acts, but I found it funny that they missed out on Colin ABV (self-proclaimed "bigger and blacker") as he took the stage and blew my mind with the best performance of the night. Colin is like a Big Black J Mascis...a fantastic writer. The French missed out, but then when was the last time you heard a great French act outside of Magma? Fuck the French. And the mice!

Debe Dalton's Birthday, Saturday, March 14, 2009

Is Debe Dalton one of the world's best songwriters? It always seems that way when I go to her shows. Her performance at her birthday show Saturday night had most of us in awe afterward. No matter how many times I hear her songs I'm still impressed at how beautiful and moving they are. I am particularly fond of this one that I think she said is called "Tuesday Wednesday," the one that has the line "the struggle to be a better human being." It captures, I think, the process of being human better than any song I know. I remember as a kid thinking that you reach adulthood and that's it...you're done. But the song shows how in reality life is a constant process of, yes, struggling to become a better human being. I also heard for the first time or at least absorbed for the first time, this song Blue Packpack, which is a personal story about returning to the City at the behest of a lover but then immediately being rejected upon return (evidently the person who inspired the song was in the audience the other night). Debe's songs are really well-constructed and in particular I like that she doesn't compromise on her rhymes. (I don't know if it's just that I'm a stick in the mud or something, but it bothers me when people take wide liberties with rhyming.) Also, although musically her songs seem straightforward at first, they're actually filled with beautiful melodies and very original accompaniment ideas on the banjo. She also played her song Close the Door, which is, I think a masterpiece. And the one about "Little Red Riding Hood too is great. The thing about Debe's songs is that they are very specific and personal, and in other hands they could be cheesy or overly maudlin. God knows we've all heard songs that seem like they're drawn from the pages of someone's diary but have very little craft to them or universal appeal. But Debe's songs are like beautiful pieces of crystal that encompass and preserve heartfelt emotions and the complex results of living in the world.

At Debe's last birthday a group of her friends gave her an amazing gift. I wrote an article about it for Urban Folk, which you can read here if you want (Urban Folk 16). There was nothing quite as dramatic as that this time, but Susan Hwang did bake cupcakes and Debe blew out all the candles before they were passed out to the crowd.

Bushwick Book Club, Special Edition, March 12, 2009

Just a quick word on the special Bushwick Book Club performance the other night. I'm not sure I totally followed the thread of how this all came together, but Franz Nicolay, who plays with The Hold Steady (and is involved with other projects) puts on a regular night at The Delancey and this Thursday he asked Susan Hwang to invite a group of folks who had written songs for the Bushwick Book Club over the last three months. The Delancey is pretty much of a schlep for me to get to and I was running late (as usual). When I wandered in Susan had just started. The performance area there is pretty narrow and most of us who were performing were all hanging out, standing right in front of the stage. It was a lot of the regular crowd, but in a new environment, at least for me. It's always nice to come into a place and see a lot of familiar places and it was comfortable to hang out with and play for friends there. Susan's song, based on the novel Flatland is totally cool. It has this minimal, rhythmic accordion accompaniment and then she incorporates toy piano while continuing to play the accordion. Everyone who played (with maybe the exception of me) did a great job. Franz, Ben K. Tom Curtain, Frank Hoier, The two Dans (Dan of Ching Chong Song and another Dan-they played a song in Spanish), Phoebe, Dibs, Preston, Dan Costello, and Liv Carrow (!) were all on the bill. My song was a duet with Susan, based on "What do we talk about when we talk about love?". Yeesh. I hope to get a good performance of that out there one of these days. I'm very fond of the song and it's fun doing it with Susan (who does a great job) but somehow it hasn't sunk into my fingers yet and the lyric sheets always seem to fall off the piano at a crucial moment. You probably already know about the Bushwick Book Club but that's where a bunch of songwriters write pieces inspired by a particular book. It happens each month at Goodbye Blue Monday.

Well, almost a whole week went by before I got to writing up last Monday's Open Mic. I think I really underestimated how burned out I was by attending all those Fest shows. I stopped by the on Monday but made it an early night. Here's what I did catch, though....

Ben made his usual introductions....this time though he offered a free beer to anyone who could provide him with access to a charger for his Verizon phone. I don't know, but I don't think that's how they did things at Cafe Wha? and The Gaslight, back in the day.

Liam started things off, whith a song that involved some looped whistling, although he later indicated he was having problems with his loop machine. He also sang an a cappella song.

Debe played this song of hers that I love..."the sturggle to be a better human being." She also played another of her great songs, "Normal." Debe also mentioned her upcoming birthday show, which is coming up this Saturday, March 14.

Isaac Gillespie played...a song that had the lines "no we don't smoke marijuana.." and "we are New York Jews." Anyway, I could swear he sang "we are New York Jews." Maybe it's on his mother's side.

Jordan Levinson then played, with Isaac at piano. It's a song I've heard a few times now and the melody is starting to stick in my head..."calloused hands and everything I want it to be...you never spoke well but I always had a lot to depend on." Jordan really really reminds me of this singer Iris Dement (maybe I said this before). It's kind of a take on a style of traditional country singing that starts with Patsy Cline.

Ben Lerman got up and did some schtick explaining that he's a musical comedian, and talking about his weekly comedy show, Borscht. He sang a song he said he wanted to submit to the American Idol songwriting contest, called "The Idol in Me." It was a rather double-entendre filled little number that had a lot of folks in the audience cracking up. He also sang a song called "I Need a W" for a character: The Coach.

A guy named John Farrell(?) played some cool slide guitar stuff. Shauna played piano.

Brook P. did his song I'll Be Here All Night. Jon Berger was reading from his P. C> He did a poem called Tea (among others).

John Telethon played Driving Around with Josh Fox on tambourine. One of the metal disks on the tambourine flew off and nearly hit me in the eye. That's some pretty powerful tambourine work, Josh.

Isaac G joined John on stage to play Too Many Trains. Baglivi was up next. Before leaving the stage John Telethon whipped off a perfect Mike Baglivi riff on the guitar. Baglivi's two sisters were there and he played a song about their Mom, called Mary Rose.

I think I checked out right about then.

I'm finishing this up on Saturday night and am about to take off to hear Debe Dalton play her birthday show.