Concert Review: Cheryl Wheeler weaved a magic spell over the Cactus Cafe in Austin Friday night. After opening with "Driving Home," she sang a song inspired by her 50th birthday this summer. She explained that the song had been written shortly before September 11 and that she doubted she could have written it after, since it was titled "I Love Afghanistan." (She was kidding about the title.) After one song, she tuned her guitar with her electronic tuner and noted the strange notion of tuning by eye rather than by ear. She sang of her experience with Fleet Mortgage Company and the difficulty she had getting a mortgage, attributing the problem to the necessity of writing "Songwriter" on the occupation line. She asked if Fleet was the same company that makes enemas. Her lovely "When Fall Comes to New England." was introduced as a seasonal song, a subject she tries to avoid. There is little occasion, she noted, for a song about July 19, and even less for Tuesday, July 19. Between songs she put on her glasses, explaining that she can't hear without them on. She took them off during the songs to avoid them slipping down her nose. She sang "75 Septembers," the lovely ode to her father, written for his 75th birthday 11 years ago. She noted that she wasn't sure how old HE was, but that all of his children were senile. She closed her set with what she described as her two worst songs. The first was written when the "song god" visited her on a walk in the fields. She noted that the "song god is a moody drunk" and that you must "sing it or your head will blow up." The song is set to the chorus of the Mexican Hat Dance and her greatest difficulty in composing the piece was getting the repeated use of the word "potato" to end on its final syllable. This was followed by "I'm going to Poop in the Handy House." Her roommate had rented a porta-pottie (a "Handy House") for a construction job and asked Cheryl if she should ask her crew to limit their use of it to "number 1." Cheryl thought up the song while on tour and left verses on her roomie's phone service (which were in turn posted on other machines) Cheryl is an amazing performer whose writing, both serious and silly is a complete delight.
Dan Eggleston Austin TX Capybaras International Victor Johnson http://www.cdbaby.com/victorjohnson "Velveteen rabbits and moonbeams, Come when you lay down your head. While you are sleeping, they kiss you and tell you, That you are the reason the sun lights the sky." Scarlet-V. Johnson
