Hello, everyone!
Ken and I went to see David Wilcox last Friday evening.
I don't remember reading much discussion on the list before about this
wonderful singer/songwriter/guitarist extraordinaire, so I will record my
enthusiasm for him (and his eight albums) now for all to see.
David played a great set at the Variety Playhouse in Little Five Points,
Atlanta, GA, with a nice mix of tunes going back to his second album and
representing selections from most of his albums to date.
I was very pleased that he picked "Chet Baker's Unsung Swan Song" to
revisit; it was the highlight of the night musically for me. (kd lang
covered this one on "Drag.")
A beautiful, thoughtful, quiet song. Disturbing if you consider it is about
what was most likely a suicide by window jumping, but a moving meditation on
regret, nevertheless.
David always plays a mix of lighter tunes with the "serious" ones. He
played a Chuck Brodsky song called "Blow 'Em Away," which is about, well,
blowing away the unfortunate souls who cross your path on the highway.
(David does voice of Gandhi, shaking fist at sky: "I have respect for all
forms of life! EXCEPT YOU!)
Ken and I were both impressed by David's imitative skills. In addition to
Gandhi, he embodied a rather self-centered Southern-style preacher (whose
story he told in the song "God is All about ME), a redneck, and a bemused
woman on a date (What? Don't you want to be the supporting actor in the
movie of my life?)
Talk about down to earth! David seems the epitome of approachability
onstage. At one point, an audience member requested what must be an obscure
song of his about one of the world wars, and David went into a story about
the song, but then said he would do another one that he wanted to play,
explaining that the death portion of the show was over and we were now on
the upswing of the evening.
This was followed shortly after by the sounds of rain pelting the roof of
the theater. So David played one of his new songs in honor of the rain.
(Which sounded really cool in this old theater.)
The rain and the song.
He even schooled us (sort of) in the ways of his alternate tunings,
admitting that when performers seem to be searching for something when
tuning, they really are...searching to remember how to tune up for the next
song. ("The last one was DADGAD. So this one must be in...")
But you could say he finally brought us around to the tonic chord for the
evening with a wonderful, solid performance.
So, in summary, buy his "East Asheville Hardware" CD first, if you haven't,
then all seven of the others. You won't be sorry.
P.S. The new Mary Chapin Carpenter CD is wonderful...
so until next TIME,
enjoy plenty of SEX,
with LOVE,
Steve
(that's the name of her album...time, sex, love...)
_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com
