I ended yesterday’s entry by saying I had no music until NERFA. I received a Facebook message as I was writing but didn’t read it till I finished posting. If I had I would have had to change the ending. Marty couldn’t use his ticket to see Anna & Elizabeth and The Low Anthem at Zankel Hall. The only reason I didn’t have a ticket for that was that I couldn’t afford it. Not a fan of The Low Anthem but I love Anna & Elizabeth. I couldn’t say yes fast enough. Not only did I get to go, I got to sit in the front row. This show was a big deal, Zankel Hall is part of Carnegie Hall, its ultra-cool basement auditorium.
It was a late show, their third of the night, starting at 9 PM. That worked out well as it gave me time to make and eat dinner at home. I save money and eat better. You haven’t had a cheeseburger till you’ve had one of mine. It’s all in the seasoning and choice of cheese.
I’m still in the north Bronx but Bedford Park is so much more convenient than City Island, maybe even more than Briarwood. How do you get to Carnegie Hall? The D Train to 7th Ave. It takes about 40 minutes door to door. I wasn’t rushed and I didn’t have to sit around waiting.
I was wondering how Anna & Elizabeth would play in a large hall, their shows are so intimate. A centerpiece is their crankie, a small piece of 19th century multimedia technology. The emphasis here is on small.
It’s only a few feet across, I was lucky, almost right in front of it but how could people see the hand painted pictures on it from the back of the room? The solution was a video camera set up in front of it that projected its image on a large screen behind the stage; a merging of 19th and 21st Century technologies.
The moment they took the stage I knew it would work. Not only did it work, it was best performance I have seen them give. I was jealous of all the people who didn’t know them and for whom the discovery was serendipity. Anna & Elizabeth are great musicians but that’s not all they do. They are performance artists that transport the audience to an enchanted realm. I was going to compare them to elves or angels or muses but they are none of those things. When they take the stage they are the only two members of their own magical race. They exist outside of time, so can have a special guest from the 1930s whose spirit and voice inhabit a laptop. I am ashamed that I forgot her name but the audience gave her a hearty applause after she sang her song, accompanied by Anna on guitar. In the hands of others it would be playing a scratchy field recording, in the hands of artists, it’s a real person.
Every movement they make on the stage is choreographed, every word a line in a performance but it remains genuine and sincere. There is a hypnotic cadence to their voices, distinct to their magical race. They share the gift of the elves of creating images in the listeners mind. You would never guess that off-stage they speak and act like socially adept people. There is no artifice. They are the opposite of many musicians that appear natural on stage but are always “on” even when offstage. I can see many of you nodding your heads; we all know those people.
This was not just the best I’ve seen Anna & Elizabeth (notice the longer name comes second), but one of the most memorable shows I’ve seen by anyone. This was one of the special nights that will live in my memory.
I hope the same can’t be said about The Low Anthem’s performance. They are not one of the bands that ever made much of an impression on me. Just as Joe Jackson suffers unfairly in my estimation as I confound him with Jackson Browne, the Low Anthem suffers by association with the Lone Bellow. That association is purely from their names and exists only in my head. They had one great association, Arc Iris, a band I love, is an offshoot of The Low Anthem.
Their best-known song is Charlie Darwin. I was never a fan of the high-voiced male band craze. I love Darlingside despite their vocal range, not because of it. But as I do love Darlingside I’m open to the sound. When they came out and began playing the started to win me over. The front man earned points for taking his sneakers off, revealing cool socks, when he sat at the keyboard. He earned more points when he told the audience to take our shoes off. I did.
The music was nothing like Charlie Darwin, they have undergone a complete metamorphosis. A hint of what’s to come is that John Cage is an influence. What they play now feels like ambient music. You keep waiting for it to get to the point, but there is no point. There’s a mood, a mood that doesn’t vary much from song to song. I lost interest. So did others, people started getting up and leaving. They must have been thinking they’d hear Charlie Darwin. People in tux sitting front row center walked out. It was not a flood but a constant trickle. After a song that felt no different than anything else, it was over. No finale. The crowd reaction was embarrassing. Hardly anyone applauded. The reaction seemed to be, “It’s over? We can go now?” There was no encore and no demand for one from the crowd. The audience stood up, but not in an ovation, they were just leaving. I have never seen a headliner bomb like this. I’ve been to many shows I didn’t like that the audience loved. That always makes me feel alienated. This was just depressing.
On the way out I saw Dan! He was with his friend that has a name. I’m going to call him Jeffrey, that’s probably wrong. I had introduced Dan to Anna & Elizabeth and that was who he was there to see. Dan and I always mock each other’s taste. He likes Dawes for god sake. I’m open-minded enough to stay friends with him. I figured he’d love The Low Anthem. Nope, he was with me and the rest of the audience, shell-shocked. More to his credit, he recognized how great Anna & Elizabeth were. He’s not always wrong, just most of the time.
He needed the C train so we walked to Columbus Circle where he could catch it and I could take the D. I’ve not had much time with friends of late so I appreciated that. Don’t tell Dan I said that. We waited on the same platform. Dan won, his train came first. He left me alone, crying. You can tell him that.
Wise Madness 