Why am I starting to blog at 8:56 PM? What the hell was I doing this morning? I didn’t sleep late. I did kill two hours watching Obi-Wan Kenobi and Ms. Marvel. I’m not sure if I can continue to watch Ms. Marvel; it plays more like a Disney Channel teen sitcom, complete with animated graphics, than a Marvel TV show. I have my typical Star Wars issues with Obi-Wan that were avoided by the Mandalorian after its slow start. I don’t want to give any spoilers, but you know how if the Empire employed 20th century soldiers with rifles Luke, Han, and Leia would have been shot dead after their first encounter? There’s an issue along those lines. I did get a lot of Gord’s Gold stuff done; paperwork for this week’s show and gathering material for next weeks.
Last night was the second Tuesday of the month so I went to John Platt’s On Your Radar. There were musicians playing. Musicians that I promoted every day for a month. It should take no effort to remember their names. There, that bought me enough time to remember that it was The Other Favorites, Leslie Mendelson, and Elliah Heifetz. I think of the latter two as the oddly spelled Jews. Mendelson is usually Mendelsohn or Mendelssohn. Elliah looks like somebody took the j in Elijah, turned it into an l, and moved it one position to the left. Perhaps it was some dark magic on the Hebrew version Eliyahu. Then I realized it’s a closer to Hebrew spelling of Elia. I talked to Elliah afterward and found out it’s the Latvian version along with the usual problems transliterating from Cyrillic to Latin letters. None of that is important but I always find these things fascinating. What is in a name, a rose by any other name would smell as sweet; but if you put an accent on the e it becomes disrespected wine. I’ve been told by my resident Oenophile, Hank, that the disrespect is undeserved.
Oh right, I’m supposed to be writing about a concert. This was the first sold out On Your Radar since the Pandemic started. I think this was the first that sold out in presales. I certainly never posted SOLD OUT on social media before. I was not aware of any of these artists, so I was surprised. Even someone as plugged in as me has blind spots. They are all local, they are all good, and they all have followings. The show was sellout but the only people I know are the few remaining OYR regulars, Richard &Vicki, Phyllis & Dan, Fred, and the irregular Matthew. He’s a big fan of the Other Favorites. Oh, I didn’t see him, but Glenn was there too.
Elliah was up first. He was joined by his musical and romantic partner, get ready for an amazing feat of memory, Jane Bruce. I have a mnemonic, I think of the baseball player, ex-Met Jay Bruce. Elliah won me over during his interview with John by making dad jokes, majoring in Medieval English Poetry, and having anxiety. He’s, my people. Maybe he’ll write a song about Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
Oddly, I am finding it easier to say what I like about his music by saying what it’s not. It’s not generic sensitive singer-songwriter drone. The word that came to me listening was subversive. Its not that he’s saying outrageous things, he’s not Dan Bern. It’s more a matter of defying expectations with his language and music. There’s an act that I dislike so much that I will give no clue to identity, it is simply, The Act. When they come to a place to make an artistic decision, they don’t. Elliah is the opposite.
I’m going to be more honest than usual. Leslie Mendelson started with two strikes against her. The first is that she cowrote a song with bête noire, Jackson Browne. I know many people love Jackson. John Platt loves Jackson Browne. You probably love Jackson Browne. I don’t. My antipathy has become a running joke. Then Leslie came out, talked to John, and I liked her. That erased one of the strikes. I never told you what the second strike was. It was Jackson Browne writing a song with her. I take being a bête noir seriously. So sad to say I like her music, she came back from a two strike count. Well except of course the song she wrote with he who shall not be named.
When the Other Favorites came out my reaction was, “they look like They Might Be Giants. Fred thought so too. As soon as John asked who there songwriting heroes were and they started with Dylan, and went on to Paul Simon, we knew that was not to be. What they are is damn good Americana musicians, even if they call it Unamericana. I should know their names but hey, I used my last brain cell remembering Jane’s name. You can’t expect me to remember them. I’ll call them Flans and Linnell. Linnell didn’t play accordion. Linnell didn’t play accordion, he played guitar. He played fantastic finger-picking guitar.
After the show I schmoozed with Elliah and Jane, grabbed some pizza, and headed home. Today I waited around for the super to come and fix a light switch. He said he’d be there by three. He wasn’t, I texted, and he said he’d get on it. At four my roommate came home which left me free to go out. I needed exercise. I did my new routine, walking through the Botanical Garden. I got to 5.6 miles. I discovered new parts of the Garden. I’ll write about that tomorrow.
Now I’m stuck on how to finish this. I think I’ll declare victory and go home.
Wise Madness 