Last night I went to see Deni Bonet (den-ee bo-nay) for the first time since her Carnegie Hall performance on February 24. This might be the longest stretch without seeing her since the first time, Christmas Eve 2001. Deni thought it was later than that but my suspicion was right. No! Even I was too late, I just wrote my blog about the show, It’s Good To Be A Jew On Christmas and discovered that I had seen her the previous Christmas eve, but not in between. This is what I said in 2001;
Deni Bonet made an immediate fan of me last year. Think of Deirdre Flint’s songwriting combined with great violin playing. Last year I got sick and didn’t get to see her shows. Then I changed my email address and got off her mailing list. This time I’m not going to miss her again. She is also quite cute.
When I say I got sick, I didn’t mean I missed one show because of illness, I was in the hospital for a month and didn’t go out for a few months. Now to see what I wrote the previous year. Wow this was a short entry. I can quote the entire thing here:
Last night I made my longest entry. Tonight its late and I’m tired so I think this will be a short one. It will be “just the facts ma’am just the facts.
I finished my holiday shopping today. I bought a book for my friend’s son
Tonight I went to the Knitting factory to see “A Celebration of Jewish Music: What I like about Jew” It starred Sean Altman and others and it was a blast. I’m now a big Deni Bonet fan, she totally rocks. The whole show was great. Most of it was very very funny. I’d have liked to see it with someone not Jewish to see what they thought. I saw it was Marti who in case I didn’t mention it before totally rocks. It’s funny I’ve been to so many Christmas shows but this was my first Chanukkah show. Of course it included songs like Chanukkah with Monica, about Monica Lewinsky. Not something you’d get at most Christmas shows.
That’s a first, quoting an entire earlier entry. I didn’t even mention Marti, the reason I went to the show. I must now include the obligatory, I don’t see Marti enough.
To recap, I’ve known Deni a long time, almost 18 years, and I loved her from the very start. I called her cute. I wouldn’t say that now; not because she isn’t cute, but because I now make it a point to not comment on the attractiveness of female musicians. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that but too often it’s the primary lens women are seen through. It helps that I’ve learned to write about the music. Don’t ask me what I learned; I have no idea, but now I can fill entries with it.
Last night’s venue was a bit different than Carnegie Hall, Paddy Reilly’s Music Bar on 2nd Ave. I’ve been to other Paddy Reilly’s but not this one. First time I went to see Black 47 I made a tour of them looking for the right one. How should I pluralize Paddy Reilly’s? Did I do it right? Is there an accepted correct way of pluralizing a possessive noun?
The show was late, 9 PM. If I was still living on City Island I would not have gone, I would have risked missing the last bus home. Where I live now it’s not an issue. Still, it’s never easy getting to the far East Side, at least not until they extend the 2nd Ave Subway south of 59th Street. When they do they should add a second shuttle from Grand Central to Second Ave. Extending the Time Square shuttle would be almost impossible, as it would have to go right through Grand Central Terminal. I arrived right at 9:00, later than I wanted, but I didn’t miss anything. I didn’t expect a bar gig to start right on time. That gave me the opportunity to say hi to Deni before the show. I was able to get a table right in front of the stage. There was a cover and I didn’t have to order a drink but felt I should, I got my usual diet coke. It was cheaper than Rockwood. That surprised me.
My initial assessment of Deni was terrible. How could anyone in their right mind compare Deni to Deirdre? Yes, I love them as both musicians and people and both their names begin a D but that’s where the similarities end. I don’t know what songs Deni played at that show but I must have been impressed by their cleverness, that’s all her music has in common with Deirdre. The best comparison for Deni is the B-52s. As Fred Schneider sang on the recording of one of her songs there is something to that. If I were to write about 2001 Deni today I’d say she writes infectious intelligent party music. I’m pretty sure I started saying that early on. Deni radiates fun. I don’t know how many times I titled blogs quoting her song, “I can’t get anything done; I’m having too much fun.” When I took Carey to see her the first words she heard Deni sing were “I want an orgy!” Carey of course loved her. How can you not? Deni got her start playing on Mountain Stage but she was never folk, always rock. We had arguments over this, she liked calling her music pop, but I’m much too big a snob to accept that. There’s too much content and too much oomph for pop.
That’s not all there is to Deni; she’s a classically trained violinist. She’s now bringing that part of her talent to the front. Her most recent album, Bright Shiny Objects is all instrumentals. I worked on how to describe them. I was thinking chamber rock, as a direct analogy of the chamber folk that Harpeth Rising and Hawktail play. I decided against it. “Chamber” sounds too stately. Chamber folk is folk music played with classical sensibilities. The tunes on Bright Shiny Object are classical music played with rock sensibilities. The closest thing might be Keith Emerson’s piano concerto.
This was a bar gig, that means there will be drunks. I don’t like drunks. It’s part of why I don’t drink. So there were people shouting while Deni played. There were people inappropriately talking to the band. There was spilled beer. One of those was by Deni, but that was from stomping too hard. The one near me was from trying to dance while holding two beers. It missed me by a foot. But the most annoying drunk helped me put something in focus. Deni was playing one of the instrumentals. I did, what I often do, I closed my eyes. I reached that wonderful place you go when you get lost in music. It’s a universe without space or matter, the only dimension is the time the music unfolds in. The nirvana, totally losing self, there is only the music. When I was deep in that world a drunk touched me. He didn’t just touch, he leaned on my shoulder. I withdrew from the magic world and returned to earth. I thought I was going to see a friend next to me, not a total stranger who confused my shoulder with support. He saw me take notice and shook my hand. He wasn’t a bad person, he had no ill-will, but he broke the spell. What did that put in focus? The magic world he pulled me from. I never would have appreciated being in that world, if I hadn’t been pulled out of it. There are not many musicians that can transport me there, Deni can.
I looked at my notes and there’s just one item I haven’t hit on. When introducing the drummer she said, “You might remember him from Black 47, Thomas Hamlin “Hammy.” As someone that saw Black 47 many times, especially at Paddy Reilly’s, I can assure you that if you can remember Black 47 you weren’t at Black 47. That’s a lie as I was sober, but I am the exception that proves the rule.
Deni’s band is tremendous, in addition to Hammy there was; Chris Flynn (The Itinerants, Musical Director for The Annual All-Star Irish Rock Review, and The Crash Combo) on guitar & vocals, Ado Coker on keys & vocals, Brian Stanley (Garland Jeffreys) on bass. No I didn’t remember that, I just copied and pasted from the Facebook event. I would have remembered Ado as I talked to her after the show and admitted I didn’t remember her name. I haven’t seen Deni in too long but I have seen her enough that I should know her band. Ado has been with her for a while. We’ve all heard solo artists let the band take the fore and the usual reaction is, “It keeps the band happy but I can’t wait for it to be over.” When Deni lets the band loose, they make great music. They don’t just have technical skill, they can play with inspiration.
The show was late so I planned on racing out and heading home. I didn’t. I stayed and talked to Andy, Deni’s husband, then Deni and Ado. I can’t resist talking to fun people.
I took a surprising route home. I walked all the way to 6th ave to catch the D train instead of just a few blocks to Park to catch the 6 to the 4. I like taking a walk after I’ve been sitting at a concert. It’s especially nice when walking in Manhattan on streets that aren’t busy.
I’m off to more great music, from people I love, tonight. I’m seeing Robinson & Rohe do their enchanted Christmas show at Common Ground Coffeehouse. I think there are still tickets available, come join me.
Wise Madness 