The Bridge School Benefit Concert: 10/23/11

By Taylor Jones

taylorjones9393@gmail.com

In 1986, legendary folk-rock star Neil Young of Buffalo Springfield, along with his wife Pegi Young, started the Bridge School foundation in order to specially educate children born with severe physical and speech impairments, including their son Ben who has cerebral palsy. Acting in compassion and inspiration, the Young family started an annual concert series to raise funding for the school, its resources, and its international accessibility. Today we gather at the sold-out Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, California, to celebrate the twenty-fifth annual Bridge School Benefit Concert.

Upon entering the gates of Shoreline, I find myself immersed in a sea of audience members. They come in all shapes and styles: big, small, short, tall, indie, rocker, punk, hippie, black, white, orange, blue, and all colors of the rainbow, each one just as excited for the day’s musical acts and happy to contribute to such a worthy cause.

Armed with his acoustic guitar and harmonica, Neil Young traditionally opens the show with his song “I Am a Child,” performed in dedication to the students of Bridge School. After he and his wife Pegi welcome the attendees to the festival, Young introduces the first performer of the day, Beck Hansen, better known simply as Beck.

A said apprentice, Beck toured with alongside Young when he was first getting off the ground and learned the ‘tricks of the trade’ through him. Today Beck plays with the band mates he recorded the album Sea Change with for the first time in ten years. Performing a collection of melancholy, yet uplifting melodies, the band blends together very well despite their time apart. The bass player plucks an upright bass in adherence to the all-acoustic event, while Beck coordinates progressions with the piano player. Ending his set, Beck takes us back to Odelay of 2004 and bumps the “jig-saw jazz and the get-fresh flow” of the classic track “Where It’s At.”

A Bridge School veteran Norah Jones takes the stage next. However, this year she has brought a new country-folk sound as opposed to her previous, smooth jazz and soul vibes. Jones being a talented singer, pianist, and guitarist, pulls of her new country act with ease. Accompanied by a drummer, upright bass player, and a guitarist/vocalist, Jones conveys her Western storyline tunes by hitting tight harmonies with the male vocalist. Although this set provides a new reflection of Norah Jones, including a touching rendition of Dolly Parton’s “Jolene,” I would have liked to hear her vary her style, because she only played country and strayed from the warm, relaxed sound of the Norah Jones I fell in love with.

As the day progresses and the grass on the lawn becomes hardly visible, Los Invisibles featuring Carlos Santana and Cindy Blackman strut out on stage. Awing the audience with their Latin flavor and rhythms, Los Invisibles perform an assortment of Santana songs, which feature none other than the infamous Carlos Santana himself. With an array of material dating from early Santana to modern songs like “Smooth,” the band does not cease to impress with their tight arrangements. But of course, no Santana concert can be complete without an uncontrollably skilled drummer, who was Dennis Chambers last time I saw Santana, and is Cindy Blackman today. As the rest of the band cuts out, Blackman forcefully urges the momentum onward with her driving drum solo. Following a few minutes of technical smashing and bashing over independent rhythms, Blackman begins a solid beat to groove on while the band gradually builds the song back up.

Let me put on my jacket and my beanie, for the sun is setting and the night show is about to start. Foo Fighters are the first act under the spotlights and plan to perform “songs that sound good when you play them this way [acoustically],” jokes lead singer Dave Grohl. Going in to the show, I suspected Foo Fighters would play selections from the album Skin & Bones, a live recording of their 2006 show at the Pantages Theater in Los Angeles. Suitably, they do perform many of these songs, including a version of “My Hero” in dedication to Neil Young and his efforts to put on the concert every year. They also play hits such as “Times Like These,” but sometimes can get repetitive by spending too long on jams that are based on one simple riff. Ending their set with a solo performance, Grohl plays an emotionally gripping version of “Everlong,” my favorite Foo song. However, I wish the rest of the band had played the song with Grohl. One reason it is my favorite Foo song is due to the fact that Taylor Hawkins straight up nails every drum fill and displays an incredible amount of endurance to rock so unrelentingly hard. Overall, the Foo Fighters were great but could have been better.

Nobody quite exudes the essence of “suave” as much as jazz singer Tony Bennett when he gets a hold of the mic, and after more than fifty years in the music business, it’s rightfully so. While Beck was learning the ‘tricks of the trade’ from Young, Bennett had written the book and mastered all of them. Bennett warms the hearts of the bay area when he performs his signature song “I Left My Heart in San Francisco.” Playing with musicians including Howard Jones, a favorite drummer of Count Basie, Bennett’s band presents a vintage sound that has blossomed from their decades of experience in jazz. As Bennett spins one last time and accepts his applause from the audience, he clears the stage for the next artist, Dave Matthews.

Accompanied by guitarist Tim Reynolds, Dave Matthews begins his set with an acoustic guitar as well. These two guitarists prove that they can thoroughly jam on a song and give it plenty of movement without needing a rhythm section. Performing the song “You & Me” off the Dave Matthews Band’s latest album Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King, Reynolds demonstrates his unique style of acoustic shredding, in that he can play varied, polyrhythmic melodies like a sitar player. One of the best aspects of the Bridge School Benefit Concert every year is the collaborating between artists, so I love when the duo invites Young onstage to perform the song “Oh, Susanna” with them.

Contributing many of the collaborating artists of the night is Arcade Fire, whose band members take part in multiple songs with other performers. Opening with the song “Intervention” off of Neon Bible, Arcade Fire kicks off their set with a sense of resolution and grandeur that is almost untouchable by their contemporaries. Continuing with the song “Rebellion (Lies),” the entire audience helps chant the lyrics, in addition to the empowering shout-chorus of “Wake Up.” When I saw Arcade Fire at the Outside Lands music festival, they had a larger setup with two drum sets and people moving around everywhere. However, tonight they take it down a notch and provide for a more intimate show using full acoustics, upright bass, a twin piano, and one simplified drum set. In the song “We Used to Wait” off of their latest album The Suburbs, singer Win Butler shares the message that kids today aren’t patient enough to appreciate a song or record as a holistic piece of artwork, and would rather succumb to listening to the popular choruses of whichever songs happened to get radio play. After my second time seeing them, I believe Arcade Fire is truly a treasure of our generation and a quintessential live show.

The Bridge School Benefit Concert and the coming together of musicians symbolizes the power that everyone possesses to help others in need, and to contribute to a cause that really makes a difference. Shown by the sold-out venue, music is the one entity that truly unites us as humankind. On behalf of the audience here at Shoreline Amphitheater tonight, I would like to thank the Young family and the Bridge School foundation for putting on such a fantastic event.

Western Specimens: The Alternative Café 10/8/11

By Taylor Jones

taylorjones9393@gmail.com

            Nearing the shadows of this cold, autumn night, I gratefully enter the warmth of the Alternative Café, a welcoming venue that I feel more and more compelled to attend after every show I see here. As I set my glass of water down on the circular, mosaic table, I start a conversation with tonight’s featured act, Zoe Boekbinder. While we discuss the release of her new album Darling Specimens, she tells me of the success she celebrated at her CD Release Party at Viracocha in San Francisco. Born in a farmhouse in Ontario, Canada, Boekbinder spent parts of her youth in California and became interested in pursuing music during her last year of high school, encouraged by a friend in her theatre group. Starting in 2004, she spent five years touring with her sister in their duo called Vermillion Lies, achieving success with their circus and cabaret theme on stage. In 2009, Boekbinder began to pursue a solo project with a sound she describes as “ragtime pop,” and continues the adventure tonight by performing at the Alternative Café. As we talk, her touring partner Alexander Thompson, playing under the alias The Alexanders, sits down and joins the conversation. Amongst discussing our favorite music and rap artists like Odd Future, Thompson explains to me how he recorded his new album Western Medicine over the past year in his hometown of Chattanooga, Tennessee. Thompson plays guitar, trumpet, and sings, and is preparing to perform his rockabilly folk music tonight. Boekbinder and Thompson met through a similar booking agent when they played a show together in Athens, Georgia, where they exchanged CDs and hit it off, resulting in their current tour together.

            Once again enjoying the comfort of the front row leather couch, I notice the room is filling up earlier than usual and I have a good feeling about the show. Before Boekbinder and The Alexanders are set to go on, an opening rock band from Oakland called Warbler takes the stage. Starting off their set with a chilled-out sound of ambient keyboards and electric guitar plucking, they progress into a heavier, indie rock riff that turns them into a mix of the raw element of Dawes and the electric element of Phoenix. The intro of their next song begins in a similar mood, leaving the drums out in order to sustain the mellow scene. However, the drummer should turn his snare off since vibrations from the amplifiers are causing his drum to rattle and take away from the energy of the performance. As I watch the keyboardist, I admire the clear plastic back of his setup, allowing the audience to look inside and see all of the synthesizers and mechanisms he uses. On one song, he uses these synths in cooperation with various foot pedals to create a soul-powered organ. While the bass player plucks a wild west sounding line on his five-stringed Yamaha, the singer/guitarist stomps his foot pedals for live looping and effects including distortion, reverb and delay, an effect much loved by Brent Smith, the guitarist in my band Mozzo Kush. Warbler has definitely worked on live transitioning in their set, for after the end of the previous song, the drummer starts playing a floor tom and rim pattern that leads into a precise entrance of the other instruments. Although these musicians blend together to create their own sound, that sound often just gets too loud and repetitive. As Scott Grover, owner of the café, once told me, you have to “play to the room,” and in this case that means don’t play so loud that all the sound is going to echo off the walls and feedback directly into the mics. Overall, Warbler has a distinct sound, but does not vary their style enough to keep the audiences’ interest.

            Sitting down on a wooden chair, Alexander Thompson of the one-man-band The Alexanders presents himself in a blue and yellow striped sweater over a collared shirt, looking through hip, dark rimmed glasses that almost scream “indie musician!” Kicking off his set with a song called “Big Boy,” Thompson surprises me with a soothing voice that has some pop influence, with lyrical schemes like Feist and Brit-pop artist Kate Nash, but keeps the music indie by incorporating his folk guitar melodies. On another song called “Gay Friends and Sugar Cookies,” Thompson explains how the title didn’t win him many fans throughout the Midwest, so he’s been more open to playing it in California. After this happy song that displays his soft sound and voice, he changes the mood by playing “Misery,” a tune that reflects the story-telling songwriting style of Paul McCartney. While playing “Jesus Plays Roulette With the Sun,” Thompson plays a bass line on the low E string and strums the rest of the chords to accompany himself like Jimi Hendrix did before Noel Redding joined the band. Thompson owns his folk-pop sound and compliments his touring partner very well.

            When featured act Zoe Boekbinder steps on stage in her rose covered jacket, she debuts not only her new CD, but a wide smile and a welcoming presence that makes the audience temporarily fall in love with her. Boekbinder is well known for her Boss loop machine, which she uses to harmonize with herself as well as to launch drumbeats and other pre-record patterns. In order to do this, she needs two mics, one to record her live loops and another to sing overtop of them. Her “ragtime pop” sound resembles the vibrato of Shenandoah Davis, who coincidentally produced her latest album Darling Specimens. With Davis, Boekbinder searched through her house for objects to hit with drumsticks, including lawn mowers, glass, pianos, and even recorded the crunch of chewing celery. After obtaining these samples they sent them off to various electronic beat makers to produce some very interesting loops, resulting in a song called “Artichoke.” The song “Salt Water” also incorporates a lot of these out-of-the-ordinary sounds for percussion instruments, while Boekbinder plays guitar and sings over them. Although the beats are intricate and innovative ideas, the artificial aspect of the pre-recorded beats interferes with the natural flow of the music at times. She shows on songs like “Just Because” and “Sour Lemons” that when she plays all live, with just vocals and guitar, the songs come out much more gripping. On the next song, which she is yet to title, she explains how she had taught loop machine classes at New Folsom Prison and asked inmates to write words for her melody. As a result, Boekbinder transposed these hip-hop lines to fit her song, a folk adventure with questioning lyrics like “where would I be without my hook and verse?” After leaving the stage temporarily, she teases the encore-pleading audience by waving her hand in and out from backstage. Following this toying, she takes the stage again to end with her own, comical version of “Single Ladies” by Beyoncé. Since she starts the loop really fast, she commits to the beat and tries to sing the song at an incredible pace, engaging the audience in belting the chorus and giving everyone a heartfelt last laugh. Once she finishes, the appreciative spectators line up to buy her new CD Darling Specimens as well as The Alexanders Western Medicine.

Links:

http://trudeaupublishing.blogspot.com/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Alexanders/132830603442993

http://www.zoeboekbinder.com/

*(All Photos by Richard Herbert)

Lights inside keyboard

Warbler

The Alexanders (Alexander Thompson)

The Alexanders (Alexander Thompson)

Zoe Boekbinder

Zoe Boekbinder

           

Simple Living at The Alternative Café: 9/29/11

By Taylor Jones

     Ask yourself one question: “have you ever smelled that oddly comforting, musty air that puffs out from under the cushions when you fall into the warm embrace of a leather couch?” Well if you sat in the front row at the Alternative Café last Thursday to hear folk singer-songwriter Kenny Chung and Texas rocker Daniel Whittington, you most likely would have. As the audience mingles, I sit down and talk amongst new friends, one being Jordan Levine, the sixteen-year-old drummer hired by Daniel Whittington. While we wait for the show to begin we talk about bands we both admire including Neutral Milk Hotel and The Raconteurs, in addition to the unique art that fills the room. Studying the café’s new exhibit “Imaginary Maps of the Real World” by Czechoslovakian street artist, Ales Bask Hostomsky, I find myself entranced by the abstract urban images he uses to depict the clash of social struggles and political propaganda he’s encountered between his life in the Czech Republic and the United States. Leaving my post on the couch for a while, I stroll around the café until the lights dim and I know the show is about to begin.

     Opening the bill tonight is local Pacific Grove artist Kenny Chung, a young singer-songwriter on the rise. Chung kicks off his set with an original folk song called “Talkin’ Early Mornin’ Ramblin’,” displaying his multi-instrumental talents by playing acoustic guitar, harmonica, and singing. In this song, Chung channels the energy of one of his greatest influences, Bob Dylan, narrating a social commentary about how people needlessly fight and argue with each other, because at the end of the day we are all human and we all have far more similarities than differences. After a round of applause from friends and passerby drop-ins, Chung begins to play “My Woman,” a song about unrequited love. This blues shuffle describes how he gives his woman all he has to give, but nevertheless she treats him like an animal, alluded to by such imagery-evoking lyrics like “she makes me sleep in the stables.” The shuffle pattern of this song is driving throughout, and as a drummer I think incorporating a rhythm section would solidify the effect of the beat and make the groove of the song more defined. Next, Chung covers “I Don’t Live In a Dream” by Jackie Greene, another one of his favorite artists whose set we saw together at the Santa Cruz Blues Festival. After studying Greene’s song, Chung didn’t just cover the tune on a whim, he really took the time to capture the intended emotion of the song and put himself in the place of a man recognizing reality. Ending with his newest song “I’m Still Here,” a piece filled with much dynamic movement and a chorus resembling an early Neil Young, Chung demonstrates that his songwriting is improving with every show. After the performance I interview Chung about his music, and he states that his latest song entails how a lot of his friends have moved away to college, and he is “still here,” going through his own kind of schooling making friends and connections while learning about the music world first hand. He says that when people graduate high school, they don’t always keep in contact as much as they’d like to, but it’s only natural because everyone is out starting to live their own individual lives. Appropriately, Chung’s EP titled Simple Living is a collection of songs written during his time in the Monterey Peninsula and can be downloaded via Bandcamp.

     Strapped with his polished acoustic guitar, Daniel Whittington takes the stage for the second act along with his three band mates Marc Davison on guitar, Brett Whittington on bass, and Jordan Levine on drums. Only their third performance with this lineup, the group plays what Whittington describes as “Texas rock,” which sounds a lot like the down-to-earth, easy listening aspects of Ryan Bingham. Obviously comfortable on stage, Whittington demonstrates his southern hospitality and talks to the audience like he’s just playing a show for some old friends. This personal aspect of his performance really enhances the mood of the show. Davison, rocking a FDNY sticker on his Fender, utilizes a plethora of effect pedals to create his own polished, graceful sound like a country/soul version of The Edge from U2. To complement the guitarists of the band, Brett on bass and Levine on drums hold down steady grooves together to support Whittington’s melodies. As Brett plucks a consistent bass line, Levine drifts into a second-line feel on the snare to create a steady blend of rhythm. While introducing his song “Talulah,” Whittington jokes “this song is like one of those ‘choose your own ending’ books” since he felt the lyrics could either be about a baby or a prostitute. As the tune progresses, Davison’s electric guitar adds layers of sweet honey-like tones to complement Whittington’s acoustic performance. Although Whittington’s style is very polished and impressive, his compositions tend to be consistent in slow songs that don’t contain enough elements of movement. As an artist, you have to keep the audience’s interest with frequent musical changes in order for them to maintain interest. After “Talulah” the band starts to pick up the pace of the set and plays some heavier rock songs, which Levine plainly enjoys by changing the beat and thumpin’ those toms. The band ends their show with a song called “Taking You Home,” on another rockin’ note and bids the audience goodnight, telling them about their CDs for sale at the merch table. Whittington’s latest album Private War and additional music is also available via Bandcamp.

     By the end of the show, Kenny Chung’s EP titled Simple Living represents the relaxed folk and blues atmosphere provided by the Alternative Café tonight.

Links:

http://trudeaupublishing.blogspot.com/

http://kennychung.bandcamp.com/

http://music.danielwhittington.com/

(All photos by Taylor Jones)

Ales Bask Hostomsky's art

Kenny Chung

Kenny Chung

(Left to Right) Marc Davison, Daniel Whittington,
Jordan "Riff Raff" Levine, Brett Whittington

Jordan Levine and Brett Whittington

Marc Davison and Jordan Levine