Pre-Ideat Village Catchup

Frank Critelli's series at Neverending Bookstore - March 15, 22, and 29

Frank organized three shows where he would have a different act play with him each week. I had never been into the Neverending Bookstore before. It was always closed whenever I had passed by. Inside, it reminded me of old junk shops in Maine or my relatives' garages. The first room was just books piled on top of each other and on shelves up to the ceiling. Not the kind of place you want to go if you're looking for something in particular, but they had a lot of outdated travel books and biographies of people you don't care about anymore. To the right is the performance space. There is a stage. Frank brought the p.a. and pizza. Others brought wine, beer and snacks. Folding chairs were set up in the performance room. Apparently, they also have anarchist meetings and circus rehearsals there.
Each night in the series brought a different crowd of people. There was the core group that would come no matter what Frank was putting on, but each act also brought some people. It was never a huge crowd, but never awkwardly empty either. Nice and intimate.
The first week was Anne Marie Menta.

She played 60's and 70's style folk. She had a backing band. Her old-lady friends and coworkers seemed to be very pleased.

The second week was Rope.

They always occurred to me as very sinister, but this time they played a little more poppy. His song about being a cow was probably my favorite.

The last week, it was Ray Neal, Chris Buskey and Frank Critelli playing in the round.

They took turns and sometimes played together. They told stories and everybody laughed. It was three friends being friends, with music.


Monitor and the Merrimac, Zack and Baby G at Books and Company - March 30

This was absolutely one of the most special musical experiences I've ever had.


Months ago, Frank Critelli asked me if I would book a night of his Songs from the Sofa series. I thought it would be a lot of fun. I tried to get some bands that don't normally play acoustic shows, but that didn't work out, so I just got some people that would work well together and make me happy.


Monitor and the Merrimac is a guy who plays old timey songs on his banjo. Some of them are civil war songs and some of them are original. I saw him play at Rudy's a while back and absolutely loved it. It's the musical equivalent of a rickety fence. Somehow joyful and despondent at the same time.


I don't know Zack. I was having trouble getting a solid committment for a second act, so Frank told Zack he could play. He plays folk music.


Any time Leila Crockett performs, I make an effort to go. I think she has the best voice around and it's a crime that more people don't know that. When I first approached her about playing this show, she was reluctant, thinking people wouldn't be able to hear her voice. She sings very quietly. I encouraged her to bring her little guitar she uses to write songs and she came around. (That guitar is the Baby G the band is named after.) She brought Kriss Santala to sing backup and play percussion on bottles and books with pencils and Will Ianuzzi to play xylophone, also with pencils as sticks. I don't think I have any way to capture how perfect a presentation this was for Leila's voice. It was a small, quiet room with an appreciative, attentive audience. You could just feel everyone's heart break when she started to sing. And the fact that it was unmediated by microphone or amplification made it so intimate. There will never be another performance like this and I'm happy to have been a part of it.


Lord Fowl and Murdervan at Cafe 9 - April 13

Okay so I missed Bloarzeyd for probably the fifth time I tried to go see them. For some reason, I expected Lord Fowl to go on first and hoped I'd miss them. Instead, I missed the band I was most hoping to catch.
Anyway.


Lord Fowl occur to me as a '70s nostalgia band. It might work if they had someone who could sing and gyrate like Robert Plant. But they don't.


Murdervan occur to me as a '90s nostalgia band. It does work because they don't really play up the schtick so much.

It comes down to a question of artifice. With Lord Fowl, every move seems pre-rehearsed. Everything considered. With Murdervan, they actually seem to honestly feel something. I like a band that seems like it could fall apart at any minute, not a band that has already played this gig a thousand times in their head.


The 809 State and Head Like A Kite at Cafe 9 - April 20


809 State were really annoying. They played mediocre rock songs and actually said "We're going to bring it down a little." at one point. Then they had the gall to play an Iggy and the Stooges song.


Head Like A Kite were okay. It was two guys with drums, guitar, a bunch of electoronic gear and a projector that showed clips from old super 8 home movies. I was hoping for something a little weirder, but it was very poppy and dancey. But look at this pedalboard:

I thought he was setting up a keyboard when he pulled it out. And it's all borrowed gear; they had been robbed shortly before.

http://www.myspace.com/frankcritelli
http://www.annemariementa.com/
http://www.myspace.com/thehighlonesomeplains
http://www.myspace.com/misterrayneal
http://www.myspace.com/monitorandthemerrimac
http://www.myspace.com/leilacrockett
http://www.myspace.com/lordfowl
http://www.myspace.com/murdervan
http://www.myspace.com/the809state
http://www.myspace.com/headlikeakite

More pictures:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/oldangelmidnight/sets/