First Show of the Year (for me, anyway)

Here it is, more than halfway through January and I'm just now seeing my first live music of the new year.  Better late than never, I say!   There are a lot of gigs coming up that give me the feeling that this is going to be great year for live music here in the S.F. Bay area, and this first gig was definitely a good way to start.

Loretta Lynch, 77 El Deora, and Gayle Lynn and the Hired Hands at Slim's, San Francisco 1/16/09

I've known about Loretta Lynch for what seems like years now, and I previously had their first cdr from a couple of years back.  I've also had the pleasure of seeing various members' other bands over the past decade or so - bands including Ramona the Pest, Hoarhound, The Hanes Family, and possibly others I'm forgetting.  I even shared a bill once with Lynch members Val Esway and Ari Fellows-Mannion (and what a strange bill that was), but this was the first time I'd actually seen the whole Loretta Lynch on stage.

But first, the openers.  Gayle Lynn and the Hired Hands played sweet sounding country music, with good, lonely sounding pedal steel (can pedal steel sound any other way?) and pretty vocals.  I've gotta say that they were a little too peppy for my taste though.  Even the so-called "weepers" sounded happy to me.  I like my country to be more morose than this.  Still, the crowd (many of whom were decked out in full country regalia, and a good many of whom seemed to be past retirement age, which is unusual for a show at Slim's, methinks) seemed to enjoy it.  There was even dancing down in front, but of a vastly different kind than what usually goes on at Slim's (that might be because of the kinds of shows I usually see there - I think my last couple of shows at Slim's were Candlemass and Finntroll...).  This was sedate, with couples dancing like they were at a prom.  There was even this one guy with flashy looking two tone shoes looking like he was caught in some serious dance competition in which he was expected to grimace and make dramatic gestures pretty much the whole time.

Greg showed up during Gayle Lynn's set, and between bands we ventured across the street so Greg could have the guy in the market not understand what spanikopita was, and still fail to understand even after much back and forth attempts at clarification, and then not seem to get that it tastes better when heated.  The upshot of this was that we missed some of 77 El Deora's set, but we quickly concluded that this was perfectly OK because 77 El Deora seemed determined to pile on the cliches like nobody's business (that was an intentional cliche there, in case you were wondering).  It's too bad, because when we first reentered the club, they had a dark, kinda Johnny Cash vibe, but it only lasted for a minute or so.  Oh well.

Loretta Lynch definitely stood apart from the others, being much more eclectic.  Given the musical backgrounds of the members, this shouldn't surprise anybody.  The focal point of the band are the beautiful voices of Heather Davison, Val Esway, and Ari Fellows-Mannion, with Dan Olmsted adding an edge on electric guitar.  Heather Davison played washboard, Val Esway usually played bass, and Ari Fellows-Mannion played acoustic guitar and mandolin, but there was some occasional switching of instruments happening as well.  There was a drummer too, but I forget his name.  Sorry drummer.  The voices really carry the day here, with the harmonies just getting inside you and making you shiver.  Ari's voice especially gets me - she sings like somebody with one foot in some better world.  Their set was a mixture of originals, traditional songs, and covers (the Lis Phair song, Flower, was especially smutty),  Around us, the country dancing continued.  Then, they launched into a cover of The Ramones' I Wanna be Sedated, which was just cool to hear in this form.  They started it in slowed-down country fashion before jacking up the tempo towards the end.  It was over just as we started pogo-ing.  As an encore, they played a Johnny Cash song (Cry Cry Cry, I think). 

They gave out a free cdr too, for all of those of us on the mailing list.  Greg got to play CD bunny, hopping around with a little basket and dispensing CDs to the eager crowd.  I'm listening to it right now.  Yay!

So that was the first show of the year.  I had planned on writing a separate post about my first music purchases of the year too, but I'll just tack it on here.  My first cd purchase of the year was Woven Hand "Ten Stones" (coincidentally, they're playing next week), my first vinyl purchase of the year was Om "Live in Jerusalem", and my first download purchase of the year was Manilla Road "After Midnight Live" (a radio show session from 1979!).  It's only January, and I've already bridged decades worth of musical formats with my wallet.  Long live music, in whatever form it appears!  That said, the Manilla Road purchase is, I think, only about my second mp3 purchase ever.  I'm still pretty old school in that regard.  I can remember back when cds were new, and I was kind of forced into starting to buy them once it was the only way to get certain releases.  The same thing is happening now with mp3 purchases.  I'm being dragged kicking and screaming into a future I had no say in.  Ha.