Full disclosure and a true confession: I don’t play guitar, and I both admire and envy those that can and do. But if I ever run into the Guitar Genie, and should he then offer to grant me just one wish to play like anyone in the world, my response would be immediate and unambiguous.
In a perfect world, you really ought to hear a legendary performer at a legendary venue. Such was the case on December 5th, when Americana icon Tom Russell performed to a packed house at McCabe’s Guitar Shop in Santa Monica.
Eliza Gilkyson
One of the best singer-songwriters roaming the Americana scene recently played in front of about seventy people at the Grant R. Brimhall Library in Thousand Oaks as part of the Bodie House concert series. Midway through the show, when Eliza Gilkyson called for requests, she received the predictable response:
“’Man of God’!” chorused half-a-dozen front-row folks.
“Y’know, I’m taking a break from that one for a while,” Gilkyson drawled thoughtfully about the song that is a scathing indictment of the Bush administration’s policies and actions. “I think we have enough on our hands to worry about these days, don’t we?”
I’ve heard live music in all sorts of different settings: concert halls, homes and coffeehouses, clubs and casinos, auditoriums, amphitheaters and churches and, once, at a Laundromat on Sunset Boulevard. Until last week, however, I’d never heard a show on the outdoor patio of a seafood restaurant.
It was a chilly Friday night in Palm Springs, just before Halloween, and the restaurant in question was really two restaurants built on one site: Fisherman’s Market and Grill facing the street, and Shanghai Red’s, a small tavern and oyster bar, nestled in back. In a little alcove in between was wedged the Barry Baughn Blues Band.
John Wort Hannam - Slater-Lunsford House Concert 10/25/09
A Canadian with a Country Voice? This is amongst my first thoughts that come to my mind when attending the Slater-Lunsford house Concert on Sunday, October 25th, Lancaster, CA. But then again, do I really know what a Canadian sounds like in the first place?
Left - Doug Moon, Center - El Javi, Right - Lenny Dodge
Saturday, October 17th, AVGS sponsored an AVGS (Antelope Valley Guitar Society) Showcase of some of it’s top performing members – that Butler’s Coffee justifiably promoted as “Guitar-A-Rama-Jama.” The Showcase featured Jason Woodell, Lenny Dodge, El Javi, and Doug Moon. It was a packed house of great entertainment for the evening. Read the rest of this entry »
James Hurley at Butler's Coffee - October 16th, 2009
Have you ever gone to a really good show, you smiled, laughed, enjoyed the music, and you felt really great because you had a chance to get out and really enjoy the evening? Well, this is how I felt after seeing James Hurley perform at Butler’s Coffee on Friday, October 16th. James Hurley was just pure entertainment value 101…
He had my attention, and the audience as well, from start to finish. This is a Read the rest of this entry »
Jimmy LaFave, Live at The Bodie House (9/20/09)
We’ve all seen utilitarian, multi-purpose rooms like this before in so many schools, churches, and offices: plain rectangular rooms done up in neutral colors, built for generic function, devoid of personality. This one at the Grant R. Brimhall Library in Thousand Oaks is different for three specific reasons:
A very appreciative and lively audience at Butler's in Palmdale
[FROM TRACY VIA WAYNESL] Last night, we played Butler’s Coffee in Palmdale. (www.butlerscoffee.com.) They’ve really got their sound system together out there. I loved the fact that each of us singers had our own little monitor perched on a waist-high stand. That really helps when you’re harmonizing.
We weren’t scheduled to go on until 8, but we got there at 5 for a serious sound check. Wayne Slater Lunsford (DesertSong Productions – http://desertsong.net) worked with us, and it really got good. Dave Edwards (Wayne’s partner in crime) was handling a mixer which he had in the back of the house in a cute little semi-enclosed child nursery area. Dave also plays a mean jews harp from back there. Read the rest of this entry »
The Pretenders In Concert
Is there anything better than attending an outdoor concert on a beautiful late summer evening, an almost-full moon shining in a purple sky, the buzz of expectation rippling through the crowd?
From the moment she stepped onstage at the Palomar Starlight Theater, Chrissie Hynde commanded the night and left no doubt that she’d be in charge for the next ninety minutes or so. She radiated confidence, strutting to the microphone, greeting the boisterous audience, and launching straight into the title cut of the Pretenders’ latest CD, 2008’s “Break Up The Concrete.”
AVGS (AV Guitar Society) Blog Desert Song Productions