Paul Belbusti at Books and Company

Friday, December 02, 2005

I saw Paul Belbusti (http://www.myspace.com/paulbelbusti) last Friday. It was the first show of his new career. It was a good turnout for Books and Company, more people than seats. Not that there were a lot of seats, but it was really appropriate for this kind of music. Nice and intimate.
I haven't heard the whole album yet, but judging by the performances and the couple of songs online, he's doing pretty good work. He's kept what was good about leftandright and added to it a deeper level of craft.
The quality of his material was especially apparent when compared with the other guy playing that night. Mike Lasala tries to sing like Creed, I don't know why. It's just silly when a guy growls like that with an acoustic guitar. Worse, though, is that his lyrics are obvious and trite. There's a principle in creative writing that dictates it is better to show than to tell. Well, Belbusti shows and Lasala tells. There's a difference between flat out saying that life is hard and crafting a story about a person whose life is hard. Now, I certainly can't claim objectivity in my opinion. I consider Paul a friend, but I do know his work is good.
As I like to temper my praise with criticism, I think that he writes too many songs to or about the lover. Girlfriend songs (or fiance songs, as it may be.) I don't know why so many otherwise talented songwriters default to love songs.
Anyway, it was a good show. Paul played a short set with a few originals and covers of "Summertime" and some Bruce Springsteen song. With Frank Critelli hosting and praising Lasala, I wanted to like him, but couldn't. Al Raebuck was there, but had a cold, so just played backup to Lasala.

Photographs coming shortly.

*Update*
Now! With Pictures!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/oldangelmidnight/sets/1496913/

Paul Belbusti	that dude is a total sellout. Posted by Paul Belbusti on Monday, December 05, 2005 at 1:45 PM [Remove] [Reply to this]

	King David	I don't know, does that even count as selling out? When I think of selling out, I think of giving up some artistic credibility for commercial success. I don't know if this guy ever had any artistic credibility to begin with. Maybe he just sucks. Posted by King David on Monday, December 05, 2005 at 3:11 PM [Remove] [Reply to this]

	Paul Belbusti	no, i meant paul belbusti is the sellout. and trust me, it's true. Posted by Paul Belbusti on Tuesday, December 06, 2005 at 8:10 AM [Remove] [Reply to this]

	King David	Oh, yeah, but he's always been a whore. Posted by King David on Tuesday, December 06, 2005 at 8:55 AM [Remove] [Reply to this]

Frank Critelli

I think this review is accurate. I will, however, say this about Mike Lasala: Sometimes people need to be "told" instead of "shown," and Mike does satisfies that need. He throws it down in a straighforward way. I think the approach is appropriate for his style of mainstream acousticy-rock, and I've always appreciated him for that. Belbusti is a different animal. I was always a leftandright fan, and I'm really digging Paul's new solo CD. He's challenging both musically and lyrically. It's sloppy perfection, and it's exactly what I need to be listening at this time. Posted by Frank Critelli on Monday, December 05, 2005 at 3:31 PM