A Few Thoughts Regarding Leonard Cohen

First, I will beg your forgiveness for not having updated since May; it's been a strange couple of months.

Since I'm on the topic of forgiveness, there are many things I forgive Leonard Cohen for. I can forgive his endless introductions of his band members, for those words show his gentlemanly bearing and infinite humility (qualities that many other musicians should learn from; any performer that has stomped off stage in a huff, I'm looking at you). I can forgive using a loop on a keyboard during "Tower of Song;" he was blessed with a golden voice, after all, and that allows the focus to be on that voice. I can look past his not singing several of his own songs in concert, taking a back seat as the back-up singers take the spotlight, as if he were saying, "There are other great musicians in the world; you should really be taking note since I like them too." I can't stand anything even remotely sounding like country, but how anyone can imagine doing anything other than taking his sweetie by the hand and dancing to the delightful hoedown that is "Closing Time?"

Several weeks ago, my friend Kevin called me at about 11am. He had a spare ticket to see Leonard Cohen perform at the Tower Theater in Philadelphia. As I recall, I told him that I wasn't all that familiar with Cohen's music, having only heard several covers. I didn't hesitate long, since, hey, free ticket, and I wasn't doing anything else that day (unemployment does have a few benefits). It was one of the best impulse decisions I have ever made.

Cohen's performance at the Tower Theater stands as my favorite live performance ever. As already noted, Cohen stands before his audience as a consummate gentleman, doffing his hat to his band with each introduction and treating his audience with every ounce of gratitude for sharing the evening with him and his compatriots. Even though he had a ridiculously large band backing him up, not once did a song seem overdone. Despite being 75 years of age, he presented an infinitely more polished show with more enthusiasm and grace than musicians a third of his age. And he was skipping off the stage like a giddy schoolboy! How he could have so much energy after performing for almost three hours boggles the mind. If I were to do such a thing, they'd have to carry me off halfway to being a cadaver under the heat of the stage lights.

The only thing that truly irked me and dampened the experience was the audience. I understand that they were all very excited by the show and to see one of the greatest lyricists in known human history, but did they have to give a standing ovation every three songs? Was it necessary to cheer wildly after the first thirty seconds of each song? And what the hell was with the inappropriate laughter in the first couple lines of his recitation (billed as "Recitation with N.L.," it's a variation on "A Thousand Kisses Deep")? That piece is the most soul-grinding piece of love-agony I have ever heard in my life, and people found it amusing? I don't suppose it's much to ask, but I would prefer the gentleman to be allowed to present his poetry without the constant interruption of people that absolutely cannot resist shouting.

I guess I can forgive the audience too. Their enthusiasm did get to be infectious. Especially the couple in the row in front of me that couldn't resist jumping out of their seats to kiss behind a nearby column. Sorry for staring, I just thought it was such a romantic thing to do.

Having thus had my mind and all expectations blown, I could not help but purchase Live In London. I'm not sure my bank account can handle the blow of reckless spending, but this is worth a little debt. It's also about as close to the Philadelphia show as I'll ever get short of having a recording of that specific show. Everything is spot on, and I don't believe the setlist to be varying much from what I saw.

Just as the performance at the Tower Theater is my favorite live experience, Live In London is the best live album in my collection. Nothing else can compare. It is one of the most soul-rending things ever committed to record to grace my music shelves. The audio quality is superb, Cohen's in-between song comments bespeak his graciousness, and the arrangement is magnificent. You cannot ask for more. If you are a fan, or are inexperienced with his music and just interested in wetting your feet in his material a little, Live In London comes highly recommended.

Now that I am through forgiving Leonard for anything that might be conceived as a shortcoming (mind you, none of it was, none of it could possibly be), I ask for his forgiveness. I am sorry I never gave his music a chance before being dragged to a concert that I had to bribed into by a free ticket. I am sorry for disregarding the advice of friends who recommended his work to me. I also hope he can forgive my audacity, my bold arrogance for thinking myself so high and mighty as to having any authority to forgive anyone of anything.

I know it's probably been said before, but Leonard Cohen really is our man. I hope he continues to show us how a musician should write, sing, and behave.



with thanks to Kevin for offering the opportunity to share a fantastic evening with him and his family

Pool of Frogs and A Black China, Live @ Oasis 9/18/08

Once again, I forgot to bring a camera to a live performance. I hope your imaginations work well, or you feel like plumbing through these bands' myspace pages for photos from that night.

Anyway, I had heard that friend Johnnie Wang's band A Black China was going to be playing last Thursday, so I decided to clear my calendar well in advance and hit New Paltz since I hadn't seen them play in something like 6 months or more.

I arrived at Oasis about 7 minutes to 10pm. Since the bands were not scheduled to perform until 11, I figured this gave me about an hour to sit around, drink myself at least mildly stupid, and at least entertain the fantasy of chasing attractive young women around the room. As it were, I hadn't gotten halfway through my first beer before members of both bands came in with a rather glorious mountain of gear. That parade of equipment continued for about 10 minutes.

First band up was Pool of Frogs. First thing to note is that they were pretty loud. They started with a very spacey intro, then moved into a high-energy alt/punk/folk/rock sort of thing. Note "high-energy": these guys were so active during their hour or so set you'd think they were blood relatives of the Energizer bunny.

This live performance was the first real experience with this band; since I'm not a fan, I can't give you a run down of songs played. When I first heard them, I thought to myself, "This is the sort of music Weezer would make if they had a set of balls among them." But, I know precious little about Weezer, so perhaps my first impulsive comparison isn't entirely appropriate. The first song played resonated with me; nothing ever changes indeed (it should be on their myspace, go have a listen when done reading). Pool of Frogs is highly erratic, wild, and fun. The players couldn't sit still while playing, which I like since so many bands consist of members who stay in one place throughout a show, as if their feet were held in place by cement. The bass player was jumping off his amp, the drummer kept climbing past his kit up to the frontman's microphone; they just would venture wherever the hell they wanted to at any moment. Spontaneity of performance is a good trait to have. They made good use of some strategically placed feedback, and when singing backup, they knew how far away to be from the microphone to give a good effect.

I found their performance to be immensely fun. I think they had fun too. Pool of Frogs enjoys what they're doing, and it shows. For the approximate hour they performed, they were wild and goofy and just plain had fun. I especially like the Lite-Brite positioned on stage spelling out their band's name. It was a quite a fun show, and highly recommended.

Following Pool of Frogs was A Black China. I originally encountered this band through multiinstrumentalist Johnnie Wang. Last time I saw them perform, it was probably at the beginning of this year and they were still a three-piece band at that point. Since then, they have added another member. The current linup is: Jamal Ruhe (guitar/bass/keyboards/vox), Johnnie Wang (guitar/bass/keyboards/vox), Matt Grande (drums/vox), and Jesse Towey (bass/guitar/keyboards). During their performance, everyone alternated guitar and bass duties, with Johnnie handling keyboards.

Like Pool of Frogs, A Black China began with a spaced-out introduction, very mellow and not particularly suited to the late-night drunken bar set as the din of shouted conversations blended into the music in strange ways. There performance was marred by a classic problem with Oasis: the microphones needed to be turned up. It was difficult to make out vocals over the instruments. I don't know why exactly this is, but more than a few performances at Oasis are like this. Acoustic qualities of the room, equipement, who knows.

Aside from that, their performance was downright awesome. Their songs are a nice blend of romantic singer-songwriter, shoegaze, and, when needed, a solid thrash. There's a lot of wide-ranging influence in their music. They really brought out the thrash with the second-to-last (initially last) song. They were talked into doing one last tune, and brought out this soaring, sprawling, spacey trip into weirdness that lasted for something like 10 minutes (I think; I didn't time it precisely).

All in all, I'm glad I went out that night. Both these bands are quite awesome in their own ways, and I recommend catching them at you soonest convenience. Check their schedules and get out for a show.

Pool of Frogs website and myspace
A Black China website and myspace

The Dan Brother Band, Live At Oasis, New Paltz 8/14/08

On a steady diet of rum-and-Cokes last Thursday, I saw some pretty wild music. The evening started out pretty mellow: I drove to New Paltz out of pure and utter boredom, looked around the town's much-beloved independent music store, made an impulse buy (wait until Thursday for more on that), went to the bar, had a beer, walked around town to see what was happening, went back to the bar, had another beer, and pondered just where I had heard the name "Dan Brother Band." They were the band playing at Oasis that night, and the name sounded dreadfully familiar. So I stuck around to find out who they were. As it turns out, the name was familiar because I had seen a myspace bulletin regarding the theft of Dan Brother's guitars and gear sometime last year. Not one to let that rather infuriating hurdle stop him, Dan has since replaced his lost equipment and continues to fight on.

The evening was bizarre on some notes. In a night-long fog of beer and rum (for a change, this blog lives up to its name), I saw strange men acting strangely in sunglasses and tie-dye t-shirts, had discussions outside with random college acquaintances regarding proper dental care, and discussed Max Rebo with the bassist's wife, a fellow underpaid English major.

Enough digressions; let's get to the music. The Dan Brother Band, as far as local blues rock goes, is exemplary. I've seen numerous local bands in this genre, and these guys are truly cut from better cloth. Dan Brother is a quick and vicious guitar player as well as a melodious singer. Dan Brother: the f#cker can shred. An unfortunate tendency in some of the younger blues rockers is attempting to sound like they're about 50 and smoke three packs a day; Brother doesn't do that. He may be sounding kind of rough, but that's what the genre calls for.

The band is tight. They work really well together and bring the rock. Timing is spot on, solos don't go longer than they need to, everything falls into place beautifully. One particular item of note was a bass solo (courtesy bassist Jason Upchurch) that featured elements of "Smooth Criminal," which was really wild.

Brother also appears to be a heck of a Hendrix fan. The band performed "Purple Haze," "Hey Joe," and "All Along the Watchtower," all in a Hendrix style. I don't mind much because Hendrix was and still is phenomenal, and I'm glad that Brother and company feel the same way. If anything, the number of Hendrix-styled material, be they covers or covers styled like other covers, displays the potency of the band's playing, and also links me neatly to my next point.

While I feel that The Dan Brother Band is the best local blues rock band I've seen, I also feel that they could benefit by expanding their horizons. There's a large number of blues rockers in this area; the arena is overflowing, so perhaps changing gears a bit would be a good thing. Set themselves apart from the crowd. Experimenting never hurts, and they're too damn talented to hang around this stagnant pool. But even if they keep going the way they are now, they still put on a great show. I usually don't go in for this kind of music, and they kept my (somewhat hazy) attention for most of the set. No other blues rock band in my life has retained my attention, drunk or not, for almost three hours.

By 1:40am, the audience seemed to have thinned. The only people by then who appeared to still be enjoying the music were the gay couple who ruled the dance floor. I was beyond tired and left twenty minutes later during the band's second break. I wish I could have stayed until the end of their set, but time and long drives were not conducive to staying an extra hour. Not once in the time I was watching them did they ever falter, screw up a song, or lose their energy. I can only assume they continued with the same fervor they started out with and left the crowd pleased.

I'm glad I stuck around for the music based solely on that vague recollection of stolen gear. The Dan Brother Band is incredibly adept at what they do, so if blues rock is your thing, I'd recommend checking them out.



The Dan Brother Band is:
Jason Upchurch: bass
Rob Curtis: drums
Dan Brother: guitar/vocals

The Dan Brother Band at myspace

photo: Dan Brother on the back porch of The Corner Stage, 368 E. Main Street, Middletown NY
photo by: Michael Bloom

/Remind me to avoid $1 rack drinks in the future.
/Also, remind me to bring a camera next time I check out live music; I wish I had some shots from the show to post here.