Guest blog! Julian wasn’t able to be at the Sanchez/Hammer Tuesday Night Shindig’s 6th round (the last before a summer hiatus) until the end, so he offered it up to his lovely lady, Anne, and me to submit. I do not know what my co-bloggist will report. I look forward to our friendly collusion.
The 6th round, from an insider’s point of view, was a great way to end the current series and say hello to summer. The sun, or at least the brightness of it, streamed in the corner windows where we arrange the would-be stage. Tom and I arrived at 7pm to set up and settle in. Café Racer has been an accommodating venue for this fledgling series, not the usual haunt a la Ballard’s pubs and clubs. There’s a nice neighborhood vibe, almost Portland-ish, and the walks of life can be a little rougher around the edges. With framed, strange art covering the walls, a shiny mosaic scooter, an impossibly difficult Ms. Pac-Man game, and an adjacent barbershop dubbed “Café Razor”, the funky character of the place is welcoming.
As we set up, Shasta Bree breezed in with a lovely smile on her face, which would later prove to be a perfect complement to her lovely, crystalline voice. Shasta heads up The Scarlett Hearts here in town, a band that this blog’s creator is a member of, with his awesome, red Gibson guitar. Sanchez arrived to help complete set up, lugging in 3 stools to make less lonely the one in the corner. He likes an even-steven height of stools for the shindig, and it’s a quality that speaks to his style as a performer. If you’re going to do it, do it with style. And stools are stylish.
Michael Vermillion was the fourth to roll in. He has spent much of the winter on sabbatical in Austin, and though I don’t know him well, he seemed better for it. Calm and cool like cucumber. The shindig set off into the first long set, which has been the pattern. It was a nice audience in the room, some familiar faces , and a few new ones. It doesn’t take a lot to make the room feel populated, one of the advantages to this intimate affair. Sanchez kicked off the show with a request from the lovely couple who has made it to EVERY shindig thus far! He played the first cut from his Silverhands CD, a tune called “When You Weren’t Drinking.” Vermillion followed with a song I’ll bet has “Moses” in the title. He writes great tunes that are often streaked with a brooding, folk-noir sound, not far from a Tom Waits reference. The first time I heard him, it was live on KEXP, and I imagined an older, wizened man fresh off riding the rods. Which reminds me of a great old union song/poem called The Bum on the Rods.
Shasta Bree and I ended out the round, and Shasta sang a pretty song that reminded me of the sepia-toned sounds of Kate Wolf and Alela Diane. (insert note: it’s hard not to equate voices/styles with recognizable references, and I do so with the understanding that not all musicians like to be corralled into a comparison to identify their sound, at least not all the time. Including myself J ) Shasta’s gentle guitar-picking and mournful tune inspired me to play “Aloysius” which we released on The Starlings 2008 EP “Gravity” and will be including on our summer LP release as well. (this July!)
And so it went. Strong songwriting and distinctive vocal styles all around. The shindig always seems to warm up nicely around the 3rd and 4th rounds. More stories and anecdotes and one-liners seep in. Having been part of it for each round, I have to say how refreshing it is to be able to song-swap in a casual, open setting. The line-up is always different, so it creates its own flow each time. It’s never disappointing, and I always learn a lot by watching songwriters sing their own naked tunes. In a very true way, it’s what it all comes down to for me – the singer and the song. It’s the fundamental wellspring from where I started. The head waters.
Highlights for me included Vermillion’s cover of Blaze Foley’s “Clay Pigeons,” which is such a beautiful tune. Sanchez played a song about all the Tom’s he knows (assumed title: “I Once Knew a Fella Named Tom”) that I really hope makes it to an album someday. Such wordplay, such well-done humor, such effective cadence. Shasta’s dusted-off original from the past about that blasted unrequited love stuff. She has a way of hitting what I call “glass notes” that seem made out of, you know, glass. And for me, my personal highlight was my new-old Gibson guitar! It’s the second time I’ve played it at the shindig. It makes me play guitar differently, this late 30’s/early 40’s era acoustic archtop. It’s going to be a main instrument on my solo album that I’ll be tackling this fall, methinks. It compelled me to pull out a newbie song at the end of the evening, one that is slated for the solo record. I knew it would be shaky, most first-time presentations of new songs usually are. But I felt the boldness of the moment. Hopefully subsequent renditions will be doubly strong.
I’ll look forward to re-igniting the shindig this fall, when all summer feet have been re-sheathed, Sanchez returns from his own sabbatical in Espana, The Starlings return from an autumn tour, and the seasonal hunkering down begins.
Shasta Bree http://www.myspace.com/scarletthearts
Michael Vermillion http://www.myspace.com/michaelvermillion
Thanks Hammer! Hear her sing! Go see the Starlings. I gotta get some kind of tool related nickname. Oh wait, that might not work out so well... no no its OK, forget I said anything.
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