Last night’s adventure was seeing Jefferson Hamer and Mary-Elaine Jenkins a the City Winery Loft. It’s above City Winery and next to the their Barrel Room. There is nothing obvious to make it look like an entrance. You’d think it was a service entrance or the way to apartments above the Winery. It’s just a door leading to some stairs. I’m sure many people walk right past it first time there. I know I never even noticed it until the first time I saw a show there.
I met Dan and Kevin there. I was the first one in the room by a significant margin. I wanted to be early but I made great time, I was there before the doors opened. I didn’t want that. It was cold. I grabbed a quick dinner at Papaya King at West 4th street. The prices have gone up, a total waste. The only reason I ate there was because it’s cheap. I think of it as a totally different neighborhood Soho, where the Winery is but it’s just a ten-minute walk. I should have had poutine again. I had the time.
I listed Jefferson before Mary-Elaine even though she was the nominal headliner as none of us were familiar with her and we know Jefferson well. I was not at all surprised that Amy and Melanie were there. Jefferson has played the House of Love more times than anyone.
I’ve seen Jefferson exactly a zillion times but this was the first time in this configuration, leader of a rock band. He was on electric guitar, and was joined by an electric bass and a full drum kit. I’ve seen Jefferson play electric many times but not with the band. If forced to categorize the music I’d say folk-rock but the music was far closer to rock, on the other hand the lyrics were far closer to folk. There are a lot of words to Jefferson’s songs. He plays quite a few ballads, true story songs. He takes a scholarly attitude in his patter, explaining the theory. Jefferson doesn’t particularly look academic, he looks working class hero, but he speaks like a college professor. I’m a college professor, so that’s a compliment. Despite seeing him so many times playing alone and with others, Anaïs, Kristin, etc. I somehow never noticed that his singing voice is reminiscent of Neil Young. Has that been obvious to everyone but me? It’s always weird when things like that hit me.
It was hard to get a handle on Mary-Elaine Jenkins. I enjoyed many of her songs, especially the bluesy ones but she never grabbed my attention. She did tell a joke I loved.
What do you call in Irish guy that hangs out in your backyard?
Patio Furniture
If you don’t get it say it out loud. I was tempted to not give the answer, just post a photo like this.
Would that have been too obscure?
When I got home I made myself a cup of orgasm, aka the No Chewing Allowed hot chocolate I got as a Festivus present from Trisha. There was not enough left in the bag for another full cup so I decided to finish it off in an extra decadent fashion. I added it to a quarter cup of heated half & half and dropped a No Chewing Allowed truffle into it. That requires a special name. A cup of multiple orgasm? A direct jolt to the pleasure sensors? Nirvana? Essence of Happiness? I will market it as the last.
Wise Madness 