On Saturday, March 28, 2008, the Media Center Studios welcomed back THE SOUND, a night for bands and students produced by Danielle Fairbairn, the Media Center’s Youth Services Coordinator. The opening band was Corner Street Light featuring the music of two PALY students who happen to be brothers, Charlie and Freddie Avis. (www.cornerstreetlight.com). They gave us a great show despite the fact they were missing band members due to the holiday weekend. Sai of the band Middlefield subbed in as bass. Freddie is a convincing vocalist and their original songs stand up to anything you hear on the radio. The second band Your New Secret gave us an excellent show. I caught up with them after their set and learned they are all experienced musicians and have already been on tour. That explains why their sound was super tight and clean with great original songs delivered with impact by principal vox Mike. (www.myspace.com/yournewsecret). Now Middlefield is a great band with a promising future. Sai the lead guitar and main vox is quite an exceptional musician. And their original songs and arrangements are really ambitious and interesting to listen to (www.myspace.com/middlefield). The band is made up of local high school students including students from PALY and Gunn. We were really lucky to have so much talent in the house!
One of the features of THE SOUND is that at the end of the evening there was voting by the studio audience. The winning band will be competing against winners of future “THE SOUNDS” and then during the battle of the bands produced at THE SOUND, the winning band will be featured on American Songwriter. The winning band for this past Saturday was (DRUMROLL) Your New Secret. And this takes nothing away from the other bands. The more you play and stay together, the better you get! And Your New Secret was a more mature band with a consistently excellent performance.
On a side note, the sound board for the night was run by Youth Advisory Council member Eduordo De Armas., a high school sophomore who evinced an interest in learning audio. Eduardo is the first student trainee using the Media Center’s new studio audio system.
For more information about THE SOUND or the Youth Advisory Council and other opportunities for youth at the Media Center please contact Danielle@midpenmedia.org. For questions about training and classes the Media Center offers to hone your studio production skills, check out www.midpenmedia.org to see what’s being offered and then telephone 650-494-8484 and speak to Dave to sign up.
On Sunday, March 22, 2009, Steven and Tina Suen hosted a party to remember to celebrate the Biscuits and Blues 14th year, their third year of ownership and the fact that the club may be approaching black ink status. Congratulations Steve and Tina, and many thanks for a wonderful evening of Blues.
I’m not sure Steven and Tina were planning on FIVE hours of continuous music, but the artists kept coming. By the end of the evening, house drummer J. Hansen was dead on his feet… and house guitarist Chris “Kid” Andersen had played everything else that wasn’t nailed down. You’ll be able to catch Chris on April 6 at Biscuits and Blues.
Our master of ceremonies for the night, Jazz Journalist, Joseph Jordan introduced himself and we were off! Joining Chris “Kid” and J. Hansen in the house band were red-shirted Bob Welch on keys and quiet Lorenzo Farrell on bass. They kicked it off for us with some standards including John Lee Hooker’s “I Got the Key to the Highway.”
First to join the House band was Kim Nalley, sensational in voice and in her red dress, singing “Wild Women Don’t Get the Blues.” She’ll be at the Biscuits and Blues April 11. Note to self: be more “wild” and get a red dress.
Then 18-year-old Todd Morgan of Todd Morgan and the Emblems sat down at the keys. At one point he played with a well shod foot — I think it was during “Whole Lot of Shakin’ Going On.” Usually as a rule, I don’t approve of feet up on the dashboard but in this case I’ll make an exception. I caught up with Todd later and asked him what was the deal. He said that “the blues is the easiest and the hardest music to play — the chord progression is simple, but if you don’t feel it, you can’t play it. It’s all about the feel.” Definitely catch Todd because he sure can feel it.
Bobbie “Spider” Webb took the stage after Todd Morgan and very generously said of Todd: “Jerry Lee Lewis’s got nothing on him.” Bobbie sang The Thrill is Gone and he played the tenor sax for us. And Bobbie is also the Blues DJ every Tuesday 9am-12pm KPOO radio, 89.5 FM.
In fact, Biscuits and Blues was “lousy” with DJs that night, because Steven took the time to introduce them all and thank them for their support — Johnny Brooklyn, Carol Harris, Kathleen Lawton, Bobbie Webb, Jay Johnston and Noah Hayes to name just a few of the dozen or so that Steven mentioned.
Now at this point, I got a tad distracted but I think that Jay Johnston took the stage. I believe he’ll be playing at the Band Shell in Golden Gate Park on May 25. He was followed by guitarist David Landon. David’s having his CD release party at Biscuits & Blues on April 1.
It was at this point that Steven stepped up on the stage and introduced his staff. He praised them for their excellent and dedicated work and credited the success of the club to them — another generous gesture by Steven, who will probably be up for the #1 boss award some time this year. When about twenty minutes later, I saw Steven in his suit and tie sweeping up broken glass, I realized why he was such a great employer. He works right along side this staff to insure the comfort and safety of the patrons. And then I tasted the jambalaya and I guess the chef ought to get an award as well.
The evening continued with the incomparable vocalist Jackie Payne and guitarist Steve Edmonson. They were joined by house band members Bob Welch on keys and J. Hansen on drums. Bassist Colonel Bill Singletary and amazing Nancy Wright on sax also performed. Jackie and Steve will be back on April 18.
Bass player extraordinaire Tebo who has played with John Lee Hooker was up next. Tebo has an amazing stage presence or I should say off-stage presence. His wireless bass gave him the freedom to come right down in the audience. He was incredibly personable and charismatic. Think the bass is not a melodic instrument? Think again. He sang John Lee Hooker’s “Meet me at the Bottom.”
Tebo stayed on to accompany Miss Zakiya Hooker. Introduced as “Blues Royalty”, Ms. Hooker doesn’t need anybody’s name to justify her presence anywhere. Wow. She was petite and big throated, a joy to listen to. Pre-eminent guitarist and composer Lloyd Gregory accompanied her. Lloyd’s appearance gave the Kid an opportunity to retire from the stage for a few moments. On Bari was Cornelius “Snooky” Flowers who played with Janis Joplin among so many notables. Tebo who had been such a star five minutes before floated to the back of the stage and joined the rhythm session, equally easy in all roles. Ms. Hooker performed a beautiful rendition of Stevie Ray Vaughan’s “The Sky is Crying.” Incidentally, Lloyd Gregory will be back at Biscuits and Blues April 5.
Guitarist Anthony Paule stepped up and played in a way I really haven’t heard before. He was grabbing whole chords and bending them, just riveting. He’s had records on the charts and played and toured with some of the greats. He was realistic and not bitter when he remarked that he’s enjoyed all “forty-eight dollars” he’s seen in royalties from his life’s work.
At some point the house band tripped back up onto the stage except the drummer. Jay never got much in the way of a break. I think I saw an IV dripping into his arm at this point… JK. Sax player Nancy Wright came back up.
Mighty Mike Schermer who looks like a regular guy until he starts playing his guitar sang “Big Sister’s Radio.” It took us all back to those early days when all we had was a radio that we often had to “borrow” from someone in order to hear the music we really loved.
Lara Price joined Mighty Mike for a duet of blues country fusion that was truly lovely with their voices blending in great harmonies. They will be together again at Biscuits and Blues on April 23rd.
Oh and be on the look out for Bob Hakins’ pictures. He was the official volunteer photographer and he was everywhere. Oh and he’s another blues DJ. He promises he’ll put the pictures up on flickr eventually.
Lara Price and Mighty Mike stepped off and vocalist Earl Thomas and keyboardist Parris Bertolucci stepped on. Earl has an amazing vocal range and incredible dynamic control. He whispers part of a song and he still fills the room. And Parris Bertolucci was one of the most accomplished keyboardists in the house, pounding out some great solos for us. Earl will be back on March 28. That’s in two days! But then we’ll see him again on April 25 as well.
Next up was Rolando Morales who played the blues Latin style. Kid slipped in on drums to give the house drummer a break. It was during Rolando’s beautiful and Latin-soulful set that I learned from Steven that Steven and Tina are opening up the upstairs lounge of Biscuits and Blues mid-April. Christening it the Union Room, they hope to attract emerging local indie and rock bands. In order to keep Biscuits in business, he wants to expand and use every resource to keep 401 Mason Street a premier music destination. It should be a very exciting venue with plenty of room for collaboration and crossover.
Miss EC Scott was next up and sang the Jimmy Reed classic “Baby What You Want Me to Do”. Miss Scott’s ability to put over the lyric as well as blast out a great tune captivated the house. Miss Scott hosts a blues video cable television show, The Jook Joint. She’ll be back at Biscuits and Blues on April 24.
Then Lloyd Gregory came back up, joining class act Janice Maxie-Reid on keyboards and Derrick Hughes on vocals. Formerly of Tower of Power, Derrick delivered his signature high-energy mix of blues and funk. In July Derrick will be performing at the Scarborough Jazz Festival with Roberta Flack. Lloyd gave us more of his very smooth, very cool mix of soul and jazz.
A word about Janice Maxie-Reid. The picture of composure and professionalism, Janice sat down at the keyboards looking as if she was ready to pour out tea. Instead she ripped the black and whites in a steady stream of riffs from gospel, jazz and R&B. Stunning.
The house band returned, joined by Rick Estrin. Several of the house band members are in fact members of the band Rick Estrin and the Night Cats. So it was little wonder that they locked in and gave us a great performance. Rick is a guitarist and a blues harp phenomenon, and a great showman too boot. He’ll be back at Biscuits and Blues Friday night the 27th, so I better post this immediately!
It was at about this time I ran over to see who was running the sound board and met up with engineer Kali Boyce. She’s a blues fan and a performer as well. Her act is a little unusual in that she performs as Soul Singer/Guitar Slinger TuffNStuff, the last Delta Drag King. I will be checking her out.
After Rick Estrin, Tia Carroll sang “Night Time is the right Time.” Guitar phenomenon Craig Horton joined her along with Tia’s bass player Frank De Rose. Kid showed up on drums and Bob Welch was back on the keyboards. Tia will be back in the house on April 29 and Craig will be back on April 21.
Blues diva San Jose’s own Jessica Johnson then took the stage and sang a steamy soulful set in her signature red high heels. Right on her “heels” came gum smacking Lisa Leuschner who delivered a fiery Chain of Fools. Guitarist Gennaro gave us what for and then the final act of the evening was funky blues guitarist and vocalist GG Amos. She was joined by her drummer Randy O’Dell. GG is new to our local scene, but I’m sure she’ll quickly make it her home. And the Still Standing Award went to the House Band for being able to leave without the aid of a stretcher and I’ll give myself a pat on the back. I yawned when the cool air of Mason Street hit me on the way to the O’Farrell parking garage.
Thanks Steven and Tina and to the Bay Area Blues Community for the best birthday party I’ve ever been to. It also happened to be the longest, but as long as the music kept coming, no one wanted to leave.
American Songwriter (”that’s Scott and me!) celebrated St. Patrick’s Day with Love On Mars, Bill Leigh’s four-piece band at the El Rio in the Mission. They played a ten song set and were made to perform another by “the won’t take no for an answer crowd”. Bill plays guitar, is the principal songwriter and lead vocalist. Steve Bolinger plays bass and does harmonies and back up vocals. Joe Colgan plays lead guitar and does some back-up vocals as well. Drummer Rosie Panzarello hangs out in the back but keeps the rhythm forward and driving. She wasn’t mic’ed for singing but she sang along with many of the songs. The band has played together for 3 years. They are so tight, that it seems as if they have been together longer than that. Rosie and Steve frequently locked eyes when nailing the floorboards down on to the rhythm. Joe is a gifted artist, soloist surpreme, and Bill’s vocal range is remarkable, running from bass to a lovely falsesetto. So with that much talent and multi-tasking going on, it is little wonder that the band delivered satisfying song after satisfying song.
The songs are wildly fascinating by the way. Each song is crafted and differentiated in some way that is not forced but feels very organic. I suppose the word that comes most to mind is “composed.” The harmonies are rich with counterpoint and each song has so many layers that the room is just filled with the pulsating overtones. After the set, I asked Bill about his song writing process, and yes, the songs are composed, almost obsessively so. Bill has a thorough background in composition. He says that sometimes he gets carried away and that Steve has to rein him in. So the other members of the band assist in the refining of the arrangement but Bill is the genius behind their unique sound.
Highlights for me, to name just a few: In the song “Complicated”, the three men harmonized with such purity, I could close my eyes and imagine a Glee Club they were so beautiful and lush; Lyrics like a “dream can light the way to what we can become” in “Dreams;” the makesmewannadance-ness of Too Long; exquisite melody of “Fool of Me;” and every solo — that’s how good these players are. Rosie seems particularly gifted in that “oh this looks so easy sort of way.” I caught up with her in the back garden and she didn’t start playing drums until her early twenties. Which means it’s never to late to go for something you love. But it also means she was gifted at the get go to be able to play with such authority.
Love On Mars has more than enough songs but has yet to cut a CD. The three songs on their myspace page don’t quite do the band justice, but what’s that like? Scott and I have been planning to get demos of our original songs up and out there — in case those who don’t write but can play hear them and want them — but it hasn’t quite happened with the rapidity we’d envisioned when we started writing songs two years ago. But hey, it’s on our list.
So, Love On Mars, hear them live when you can and I’ll be counting on adding their CD to my awesome CD collection of our awesome local bands.
Westwood and Willow in the Studio, March 3, 2009.
Kevin Sullivan is a 17-year-old singer/songwriter from San Jose. His (currently) one-man band is called Westwood and Willow. He plays the acoustic guitar and sometimes a harmonica. We had the good fortune to hear him over at the Red Rock in February and found him quite arresting. The Red Rock is a great venue but it can be a tad distracting if the caf-fiends are installed in their booths with their coffee and lap-tops clattering and chattering away. When Kevin started to play at the Red Rock, the Interneters in front of me looked up. Everyone looked up. In his signature red and blue watch cap, Kevin’s impossible to ignore. So we had to have him over to the studio. And he gave another great performance.
Westwood and Willow sang six original songs for us: Stay That Way, Cherry Red, You Could Be Yellow, She’s Running Late, Greedy Traveler and Room Full of Flowers. Kevin’s brother Sean of the band Pericardium played the shaker and the tambourine on Greedy Traveler.
Despite his good-natured youth, Kevin already writes great poetry about life’s hardships and disappointments. But he’s a writer going forward. His songs are full of realistic assessment of life, but with optimism about what’s around the next corner. His ability to write with authority is a great gift in someone so relatively young. His singable but fresh melodies match his lyrics nicely. And he interviews very well to boot. He’s natural and friendly in an impossible-to-fake way.
There is something really unusual about the quality of Kevin’s voice. He explores all the hidden corners of his range and really tests the boundaries — in a way I find compelling. Those tests occur at moments where there is often a risk being taken in the song story as well — as in both the choruses of Greedy Traveler and She’s Running Late. He uses dynamics and rapid shifts in tempo in a very forceful and moving way. Kevin doesn’t always visit the same interpretation of a line in the chorus the same way, so it feels fresh and surprising again and again, but you can still sing along — very tricky.
His lyrics are full of layered imagery that sticks with you long after the song is over. He draws meaningful pictures with melodies that tell stories of inner and outer journeys, missed connections, spiritual awakening and soul-shattering mistakes. And yet, he’s young, vital and seventeen. It’s only natural that Kevin evolve on his musical journey and I’ll be eagerly waiting for his CD; but listening to him perform that night in the Studio, I hope he keeps that je ne sais quoi, I hope that there’s a small part of him that will always “Stay That Way.”
Westwood and Willow is performing at the CD release party for Pericardium at the Venue in Los Gatos, March 28, 2009.
Last Friday night, March 6, 2009, I attended altie rock band PUNCHFACE’s CD release party at the Bottom of the Hill. The place filled up quickly to the point that fans had to queue up outside. Some people didn’t make it in at all. I made it in and I wasn’t budging.
Three great bands in one venue like that was not to be missed. Picture Me Broken exploded out of nowhere onto the stage and opened up instantly with a brand new song. I asked one of the kid’s moms the name of the song. She said she didn’t even know. She’d never heard it before either. I found out its title is “Live is Evil Spelled Backward” Great tune. And a nice surprise. Anyway, the four kids gave it all they’ve got and the crowd responded in kind. Lead guitarist, Nick broke a string in the middle of his solo and the solo still sounded great. That was amazing. He fixed it in two shakes of a cocktail between songs and Layla gave us some very fun patter.
Then Music for Animals took the stage and literally threw the party for PUNCHFACE. In addition to Eli’s signature white dinner jacket with twinkling red lights, the band exploded confetti from the stage throughout the set and the balloons started making the rounds among the crowd. Their enthusiasm as well as their great playing got the crowd in a real mood to party. These guys are very tight and very professional. That’s why they can relax and make it look easy. Music for Animals is really music escapism at its finest.
Then headliner PUNCHFACE took the stage. Fresh off their month long tour of Japan, the band is tighter than ever. The Merch table was selling strawberry kit kat bars from Japan. No, they are not wasabi flavored. Anyway, when they kicked off their set, Bobby and Nick locked in and that pretty much locked down the rhythm section. You can’t have a train wreck with these guys as engineers. Ryan once again amazed me with his outstanding play at lead guitar. He just keeps getting better, which must mean he still practices! And Justin continues to captivate as he puts over his stunning lyrics against the backdrop of great melodies and imaginative arrangements. “Firefly”, to single out just one song, is outstanding. Its expansive theme is matched by a larger than life hook, that Justin really delivers with passion. He looked pretty exhausted but happy when I caught up with him at the bar after the set. Music is work, folks. One final PUNCHFACE note, Layla joined Justin in a duet on “I Will Return.” She sang a verse and then back-up harmony on the chorus. It was a nice moment. Justin doubles himself on the CD so it was great to hear the rich harmonies of the song live and Layla’s voice was more than equal to the match. They blended well.
Part of the festive atmosphere at the BotH was supplied by other bands who turned out for the show. I saw every member of Please Do Not Fight there. I guess they are still looking for a bass player. Kubes almost flattened me when he started doing the pinball bounce on the dance floor — which was cool. I saw him coming and got out of the way. Finish Ticket was there and I heard that Solid State Logic was milling about in the back. We are really lucky to have such a great band community here that comes out to listen and applaud.
I was surprised to see John Sander running the audio board for Picture Me Broken. I saw him at Ashland Hall in February. At that time, he was running the board on a show he organized featuring a bunch of bands including Fighting the Villain, Rae Lin, The Dialed, et al. I guess he’s doing sound for PMB — which may have been why they sounded so extra good that night. John applied his special sauce.
Lots of people were milling about. Kind of an old home week. Scott ran into an old work colleague from the days before everyone started getting laid off; Justin and Layla’s old vocal coach Neil J. was there — from his days working at the Reikes Center. And was that Layla’s old basketball coach? Then there were the usual suspects — managers, parents, Scott and me, and Music for Animals’ #1 fan was there keeping a low profile in her baseball cap and fatigues.
Then I ran into Bill from Heart of Gold Entertainment. He had some info about his project on the Merch table. A new adventure, Heart of Gold is about giving seriously ill young people a chance to experience the healing and transforming power of music. HGE was inspired by Brent Albert, who’s passion for music inspired so many of the people he left behind. Check out www.myspace.com/heartofgoldent. HGE could be a potentially amazing resource here in Silicon Valley. Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital is just one of many hospitals specializing in the treatment of life altering diseases for kids. Families come to the Valley from all over the interior of the state seeking the best treatment for their children. Bill wants to provide them support in the form of music, whether it be CDs or IPODS or maybe even visits with or lessons with our own local artists. If the Bay Area’s musical community got behind HGE, maybe we could even see PUNCHFACE giving a performance at Lucille Packard. Why not? Check in with Bill and see what he’s up to.
It was a great night at the BofH for two reasons — The bands were fantastic and the group of fans was so diverse. You might not see these same people under the same roof ever, except our common love of these great bands that played their best for us brings us together.
We all know it’s coming – but just when, how fast and how exactly will TV and the Internet converge? These and other questions were addressed at a Cinequest Film & Innovation Forum held at the San Jose Repertory Theatre last Saturday, February 28, 2009. I sat in on the 1.5 hour session. Cinequest founder and director Halfdan Hussey opened with a few remarks before turning the floor over to Moderator Kathleen Powell, President of Cinequest who interviewed two VERY INFORMED persons, Tom Morgan, Chief Strategy Officer of Move Networks which provides digital streaming to major networks and players in online delivery of content and Lance Koenders, an advisor to a Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Digital Home Group at Intel.
So Lance started us off with a demonstration of a new chip Yahoo and Intel are developing to create a seamless conduit between your TV and the Internet. You will be able to run Yahoo widgets on your TV while streaming any content you like. The Yahoo interface will effectively turn your TV screen into a computer screen and you will be able to access anything on the web on your TV through widgets with no lag time, while still watching the TV show. The Yahoo widget framework will be rolling out his fall.
Tom then streamed an HD movie live over his laptop onto a wall-size 20′ x 40′ screen in the theatre. Not a single glitch in the video, truly impressive and awesome to see. Of course someone had kicked the plug out of the power supply earlier, so a theatre tech had to come up and plug it in!
Long story short, People, the technology exists to do everything we used to do on TV and traditional TV networks over the internet. The question that is plaguing the industry right now is how to make entertainment delivered via the Internet profitable. Traditional TV networks pay the bills with ad sales. But as TV and video viewership spreads itself out over the viewing options out there, what will the new model be? The experts say within 3-5 years, a monetization model for the new converged formats will be in place, and all providers of traditional TV content will have to move in that direction to survive. What does all this mean for our world, Cable Access? Well, cable and telco companies like Comcast and AT&T that we rely on to broadcast our shows are scrambling right now to find a profit model on the Internet.
Cable may in a good position to compete since they have the fat pipe for both TV and Internet, but if TV as we know it simply goes away, what will happen to Cable Access? The forum did not address this specifically, but as I sat there listening to the future, I realized that there has to be a model for s. But we will have to drive it.
There are more eyes watching screens than ever before and they are watching them all over the world using many different platforms. How do we at Cable Access keep our shows local but also make them of interest to some of the millions of pairs of eyes that are out there looking for interesting content? What can we as content creators do now, while we wait for the “business model” to define itself over the next 3-5 years?
One of the main ideas we heard was that we as content creators need to get our videos out there everywhere we can and generate a buzz around them! Check out www.vuze.com which was mentioned at the forum. You can publish your videos and distribute them to viewers absolutely free with no ads, or if there are no strings on your content, you can choose an ad supported or sell-through approach and make some money. Also checkout distribution on iTunes, working through an aggregator, of course, or videosharing site like blip.tv. Of course, if you want to sell your content (which was very important to the independent film makers at Cinequest), you should check out www.cinemanow.com. Netflix still generates a lot of interest. Their simple model of bringing content to the TV screen through the Internet via the Xbox, or dedicated Roku box on an all-you-can-eat low price subscription basis was mentioned several times at the panel discussion. And don’t underestimate Youtube video with Google Adsense overlays: Christopher Cannucciari, local producer of “Depression Cooking with Clara”, stood up in the audience and said he started the series on youtube with his grandmother about two years ago, and it caught on (the right content at the right time, I guess) and he is making a bundle on Adsense click-throughs now.
So whether you are trying to distribute your content as a public service, or build up a reputation to capitalize on later, or looking to make money now on ads or pay-per-view, there are a lot of low-barrier ways to break in. Then it is up to you to get your videos noticed through social networking, blogging, and online promoting. The main thing is the business is in a high growth phase despite the current economy, and the best place to be in 3-5 years, when the business models shake out, is on the Internet with lots of content and fans already.
Scott and I ran down to Santa Cruz for Our Satori’s CD release party held at the Kuumbwa Jazz Center last Friday night, February 27, 2009. Asher Stern, Aaron Glass and Mike Pinette were guests on American Songwriter last fall. At that time, their plan was to move in together and practice, practice, practice — which I learned from Mike they did. The result is “Remember to Breathe”, an EP with six great songs. And they have developed many more original songs, which they performed during their 19-song set. They are going on a brief tour the end of the month, and they are ready.
It’s hard to describe Our Satori. They are three guys who could make a living playing to the beach and the tourist crowd. They are laid back and I can hear the influence of California’s beautiful coast and the beaches of Hawaii in Asher’s lyrics and in some of the traditional surf riffs that “surf-ace” in their arrangements. However, they take their strong coastal influence and infuse it with rock, jazz, pop and world music elements. They have created a unique sound, very listenable sound. The sound was there last fall, but it is very defined now and so tightly delivered. I didn’t want to step out and take a call coz I was afraid I’d miss something.
The production values on the CD are GREAT, but visually these fellows are riveting to watch and they are so different from one another. Very distinctive personalities on stage that mesh well. Mike Pinette is a drumming phenomenon. His stick work (can I say stick work) on Back into your Heart – which is NOT on the EP is amazing. He maintains intense energy and momentum while managing to keep the band locked down. If he didn’t, bassist Aaron Glass would probably fly off the stage. The bass as a lyric instrument? Yeh, when Aaron’s playing it, it has melody and presence due to unusually singable bass lines. Aaron has a way of stepping forward to the edge of the stage, sharing his love of the experience with the audience. Lead guitarist, principal songwriter and vocalist, Asher has the face of an angel that has seen some stuff. His voice is beautiful and expressive. His lyrics are straightforward with some startling subtleties that are well set up and flow effortlessly. He has a decided point of view and he is going to get it across to you in every song. Negativity is nowhere. And the sooner you can rid yourself of its influence the fuller your life will be. He sings with moving authority, a voice of experience, not world weary, but world wise. He’s got that kind of message. If you like being down and depressed, steer clear, or better yet, come and be cheered.
The room was divided between people content to hang out at the cocktail tables on the sides of the hall and the crowded dance floor which pretty much undulated the whole night with enthusiastic dancers and fans who sang along. I sat next to a couple of out-of-towners who happened to wander in and they stayed the whole night. They were really pleased with their stumblebum.
Gianni of Jason Bond and the Committee, the band which opened for Our Satori sat in on “All I Need” both on the CD and on Friday night’s performance. The classic sound of the Hammond brings a lot to the song and was a nice touch of support and comradeship. Asher’s beautiful sister Chelsea joined the band on the last song and then sang a cover with the band for the encore. Chelsea has a beautiful voice and terrific stage presence. It was great to other members of Asher’s family there supporting him and the band as well as all the enthusiastic fans who turned out for a great evening.
A WORD ABOUT THE COMMITTEE
Jason Bond and the Committee opened for Our Satori. Jason, Bobby, Nate and Gianni played original songs, primarily written by Jason, in a super tight R&B style. Their formal black suits and some derbys were a nice touch. A nice surprise for me, besides listening to some great blues/funk/soul wrapped around some good lyrics, was Gianni’s Hammond organ with the Lesley in tow. You don’t get to see that out as much as you used too and it has a sound like nothing else. So catch The Committee if you have a chance as well.
