So, there was a time once when I went to National Cathedral in D.C. to see the choir of Westminster Abbey perform. It was nice, it really was. I remember my Music History professor going on and on about the acoustics in the place, how you could hear the tiniest of voices from rows back and still feel like you were face to face with the young singers. She was totally right, by the way. But, in addition to its monstrously high ceilings and rib-like enclosure, there was a cold hollowness about it. It was filled on Sundays, mostly, with the faithful coming to worship and seek solitude for their misgivings and forgiveness for their sins, but in that moment, it felt like doom. I swear, at one point I knew what it must have been to be Jonah inside the walls of that large whale.....
Well, that was a few years ago, and I dunno if it was due to that overwhelming sense that I got inside of that holy place, but after that, I have MUCH preferred small venues to oversized ones. There’s really nothing more satisfying than getting so up close to a performer that you not only scream the lyrics to the songs that you know into their mic, but you learn some of the chords of the songs they play right then and there. This is why I love going to D.C.’s Black Cat for shows. The dark little music venue that’s caught between a fancy restaurant and a neighborhood market, has so much life and history in its walls that you can feel the energy when you walk in. The doormen are always friendly and truly don’t mind answering questions that range from the very basic, “Yo! I have to piss, where’s the john?” to the very important, “Can we take pictures during the show?” Not to mention, the stages that they reserve for live shows are super intimate settings. The one up the short winding stairs is big enough for large acts with stacks and stacks of amps, while the one on the entrance level, The Back stage, is nestled behind the main bar. I love the Backstage. The performer is given a very basic 2 ft. high, 7 ft. by 9 ft. stage area and there are never any guard rails or gigantic men to get in the attendees’ way.
Actually, last Wednesday, I was fortunate enough to catch 2 performers that I have been salivating over for the last year. And then here they were, in my home away from home! Opening that night was Ben Nichols, lead singer of the band Lucero. He and Chuck Ragan, of Hot Water Music, were on a mini tour, of sorts, and it was ALLL acoustic! Now, Lucero was here last year ON my birthday, I missed the show and it was a real bummer. I HAD to go see Ben. It was neat, too, because while on stage, he even talked about how much fun he was having on tour and professed that, “Hell, I am on vacation, really.” And that was when the audience-performer relationship came to light. Lucero comes through DC every time they tour and have an avid following. Their southern, grass roots rock approach to folk is not only refreshing, but reminiscent of the same man Nichols insisted he do a cover of, ‘70’s alt folk great, Townes Van Zant.
In between songs, he’d lean forward, and one particularly jolly, thick red bearded fellow would hand Nichols a small glass of what I believe to have been scotch. In addition to the drinks, there were laughs as Ben joked and the fact that the audience knew, the closer he got to drink four and five, the likelihood of his remembering lyrics got slimmer and slimmer. Nichols knows, though, from past visits, where ever he’d leave off in a song, about 50-80 of the 100 present would be there to pick up the next lyric. Ben never got drunk enough that night to forget anything, and actually got through the entire song “The War”, which might by far be my favorite off of Lucero’s 2005 release, Nobody’s Darlings. A song that tells the story of being drafted off to fight in World War II, it struck a very familiar chord with some of the audience members, perhaps those that currently have soldiers in Iraq, and there were a few sniffles and running eyes. Needless to say, when the boys of Lucero come back to the area, I am SOO there!
Bringing it home that night was the very charismatic Chuck Ragan. I mean, you couldn't expect anything less from this guy after years of heading up the punk rock outfit that is Hot Water Music. Recently, Ragan was even quoted as saying that he'd gotten "tired" of screaming, and basically just wanted to do the folk thing for a while. He was well on his way, with a fiddler in tow, even. Interestingly enough though, my boyfriend and I noted that during his set, and actually only about 5 songs in, his voice was so powerful, he was actually breaking the mic amp!
During his performance, in a fever of desperation, Chuck's voice pleads with the audience during the aptly titled track "Open up and Wail":
Open up and wail Open up and cry
We are not the type and far young to die
In a rattled cage heads against the wall
Through dangerous nights
No more lullabies
We’ve got what it takes
Everything that needs to make a fighting chance
At carrying the load of falling day to day
A gruesome cold reality square in the nose
Bleeding to the toes
The night was filled with songs that traveled in the same vein as this rally cry, like the song, "The Boat". Ragan's theme, or gift to his audience, really, for the night was undoubtedly uplifting. Even as I had to mosey on out of the Black Cat at a super late hour for a work week night, I felt refreshed, like I had been hit in the face with a bucket of cool water. Yeah, refreshing to say the least....
Please tune in next week:
Oh, and let's try this again!!!- The Metro rail system was all berserk this weekend, so my apologies for not being able to report on the J Roddy Walston show...I am sure it went smashingly, though!
From Iota Club, Clarendon, VA: Sons of Bill
