babylonDon

Friday night we saw Sonny Landrath, and the Orchestra Baobab. Reviews forthcoming...

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“The irony of the Information Age is that it has given new respectability to uninformed opinion."-John Lawton

Kanadesaga

I am now officially jealous.

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ianmine

he really does put on a great show with his easy grace and slow smile.....second time I see him at BluesFest....the first time being 2 years ago, where he was on stage before Bonnie Raitt and came back to do one song with her during her set....was fantastic!
Yesterday was blazin' hot and sunny....so much of the afternoon was spent working on a pleasant buzz and watching whatever stage offered any shade!
But the evening offered some interesting highlights.....Lucinda Williams, Steely Dan and Richard Thompson namely......but I'll let Don-O tellya all about that

Kanadesaga

OK that does it! I'm seeing Steely Dan this year somehow. It won't be Red rocks dammit! but I will (sigh)

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guest1234567

I saw Steely Dan once. I hated it. There was no wiggle room to jam, everything seemed too rehearsed. I wish I had never seen them so that my memories of listening to their LPs wouldn't be tarnished.

(I have the same complaint when I saw Dave Mathews with my son. He was a huge fan until he saw him in concert.)

Also, I think I was the only person who actually brought a joint. It was obvious that every man around me had to listen to their wives complain the "HE HAS DRUGS!!" It was also obvious that every man around me wanted some.

babylonDon

Sonny Landreth is not an imposing figure. He actually looks like my old landlord, Ralph. Ralph was a spare skinny guy with thick glasses and a big hook nose. Sonny is less disheveled and less confused looking than Ralph, and he was almost certainly more sober.

So to summarize, Sonny Landreth is about the last guy you'd expect to be a master of seduction. But if you could treat a lover, the way he treats a guitar? You'd have to lock yourself in your bedroom every night, or you'd never get a night's rest.

By any traditional notion of the word, Landreth doesn't REALLY 'play' his guitar. He coaxes, and manipulates, and caresses and pinches sounds out of it. And he knows just where the guitar will respond the best.

At points, I would swear he was playing 4 parts at the same time. He was playing slide (on his pinky) on the upper strings, the other 3 fingers were tapping a lead on the lower strings. While, at the same time, he was fingerpicking AND bending strings, for a 'whammy bar' effect......And this wasn't in some 'guitar god' moment, this was just part of the song he was playing.

All in a day's work, as it were.

He just did so many THINGS, to produce sound outta that guitar, and it all just flowed. He never veered out of the confines of the rhythm the bass and drums were laying down. And they were laying it down thick. This was a tight combo.

He plays a lot of slide, but it never seems to be all he's doing at the time, and his whole attitude seems to suggest that if you could do THIS, why would you wanna do anything else?

I had a funny music nerd moment at this show. A guy came up to me, and asked me how Sonny was doing, I said 'pretty damn good, actually'.

He said, "Well I heard Derek Trucks is surpassing him, as a slide guitarist."

I was busy at the moment, and sort of ignored him. But I thought about what he said, and wondered what in hell it could possibly mean. I've had these sort of 'High Fidelity' moments before. My obscure player is better than your obscure player, etc.... But while I've always brushed up against the total music nerd line, I've tried to always stay on the side where there's daylight.

What the fuck could it possibly matter to me at that moment, during a SONG, if Derek Trucks was 'surpassing' Sonny Landreth? And how does that work? Is there some kind of NASCAR like point system for slide players? Did Derek Score overtake him in a WWE style Guitar Grudge Match?

By the time I decided I didn't care that much,I looked over and saw that Sonny Landreth, had made a believer out of the guy.

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“The irony of the Information Age is that it has given new respectability to uninformed opinion."-John Lawton

babylonDon

You guys are getting ahead of me!

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“The irony of the Information Age is that it has given new respectability to uninformed opinion."-John Lawton

guest1234567

Getting back to The Hip, there's a Mexican soccer league that plays on Sundays in the school yard behind my house. I can't help think about the song "The Lonely End of the Rink" whenever I see the goalie and the ball (or pelota!!) is all the way down at the other end of the pitch.

guest1234567

Sorry about that!!!

babylonDon

(Too lazy to log in 'n out, but it's Ian )

I'll never admit to havin' said this??? But that's a pretty dumb song!

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“The irony of the Information Age is that it has given new respectability to uninformed opinion."-John Lawton