I’m on a run of great music, last night it was Aoife O’Donovan, Bruce Springsteen, and Hawktail. That Springsteen guy wasn’t there but he must be fairly good as Aoife did a cover version of his album Nebraska. The songwriting was good. I think he might have a future. It’s so nice of Aoife to give him exposure by playing his songs. I hear he’s from New Jersey so I expect he doesn’t expect much. I went as I so often do to shows involving Aoife with Kevin, it was at the Bowery Ballroom. There was some confusion as to when the show started. The tickets said 8 PM. I didn’t see it, but Kevin said the website said doors were at 8:00. I got there at 7:00 as I like getting a spot up front at the Bowery and other similar standing venues. You can then stow your coat under the stage. Thanks to the plague I haven’t been to the Bowery in years. There was a time that I went there several times every year, perhaps as many as half a dozen times some years. They have a strange setup. I got there at 7 and even though doors were at 8 I could go in, why? Because I couldn’t go all the way in. You enter through the front door and walk into the basement which is a bar and lounge. Being me what I do is stake out a spot right in front of the door to the performance space. That’s back upstairs on street level. The building used to be The Tree Mark Shoes and I expect it is landmarked as the building still has the sign engraved over the front. I should have taken a picture.
Now for some musical history. I first saw Aoife in the band Crooked Still when they played Falcon Ridge. I think that was 2004, maybe 2003. I became and immediate fan of the band and saw them at every opportunity. I even road tripped up to Massachusetts to see them in Sommerville. I’m me so I got friendly with the band and eventually started to do the merch for them when they played in New York. The original cellist was Rushad Eggleston. When he left the band he got replaced by two people Tristan Claridge and fiddler Brittany Haas. Brittany is now one fourth of Hawktail. See, it all comes together. The folk world is small. Brittany was just out of college when she joined the band. I got her drink ticket the first time I merched for the band, as she was too young. We will continue to see how small the folk world is. Before there was Hawktail there was the trio, Haas, Kowert, Tice, Britany was joined by bassist Paul Kowert of the Punch Brothers, and guitarist Jordan Tice. The first time I saw them was at a Jenkins House Concert. That was one of the greatest concerts I have ever seen by anyone anywhere. They are the epitome of Chamber Folk. They were then joined by mandolinist Dominick Leslie to form the current quartet. OK, enough history. I’ll run through more later.
I’ve been a fan of Aoife’s for 20 years but I had this on my calendar as “Hawktail” as I first heard about it from Brittany and in the post she didn’t mention that it was opening for Aoife. I would have gone if Hawktail was the only one playing as they are on my never miss if it’s at all affordable and I’m free list. Kevin met me before they let us into the performance space at 8. I got friendly to the other front of the line crowd. Half the people were there to see Aoife, and half were fans of that Bruce guy. I really should check him out. Before they opened the doors Brittany walked in and I got my hug and hello. You know me and my hugs.
I didn’t see anyone else I knew for a long time. I thought that very odd as everyone playing was very much in my musical circles. Then I heard someone call my name, It was Jim. I met him at another Aoife show years ago. As it is a small world he was until a year ago Fred’s boss. Once we were inside Kevin and I made friends with two gentleman from Montclair NJ who came in for the show. We ended up talking a lot of music. There was also talk of math and teaching. I was with not just my people, but my peoples.
So, what makes Hawktail special? More than any other folk act they stimulate the Bach part of my brain. The four instruments, fiddle, guitar, stand-up bass, and mandolin (or octave mandolin), have an intricate conversation with each other. That’s how I listen to it. I was going to say, “That’s how you should listen to them,” but I’m trying to avoid making judgments like that. I won’t speculate about others, just tell you how I experience it to my enormous pleasure. There were times that Brittany’s fiddle was having a conversation with itself, the high and low notes were deeply engaged with each other. You have to play fast to pull that off. Don’t misunderstand, this was not gymnastic exhibitionism, this was all in the interest of the music. There were so many times that I closed my eyes and was left the Bowery Ballroom and was in a pocket dimension in the midst of the dancing notes. This matched, perhaps exceeded that show at the Jenkins’.
Aoife is often supported by a band, not last night. For a performance of Bruce’s stripped down album it was just Aoife and her guitar. I saw her do the same show at Rockwood Music Hall stage one in September 2011. I couldn’t remember the year until she said it from the stage. She used to do residencies at Rockwood in September and I’d go to all the shows. This was very much a home game for me. I have lost track of how many times I’ve seen Aoife, 50? 100? Could be. I’ve seen her in so many configurations, solo, with Crooked Still, with her own band, with her two female trios, Sometymes Why, and I’m with her, and other one-time parings. Sometymes Why, Aoife, Kristin Andreassen, and Ruthy Unger played the Fates in multiple concert performances of Hadestown. I told you it’s a small world. That involved two-thirds of the show I loved the idea of, though it never happened, the Unpronounceable Tour, Aoife O’Donovan, Anaïs Mitchell, and Antje Duvekot. I’ve seen Anaïs with both of the other two. I guess I should tell you how to pronounce her name, it’s ee-fuh. The Irish have their own ideas about spelling.
Why do I love Aoife so much? She combines a beautiful, unusual voice with great musicianship. How many singers do you know who can write fiddle tunes? I always think of her voice tactilely. I know how it feels, it’s somewhere between satin and velvet. It sounds like it should only work with a microphone, but I’ve heard her project acoustically. She can fill a large space all on her own. It is at once delicate and powerful. She combines it all, musicianship, vocal beauty, and exquisite expression. She with her delicate voice can pull off singing the growls of Springsteen. Fine, I confess, I know how Bruce is and I’m a fan. Having is songs sung by a woman transforms them.
During the encore Aoife called in special guests. I thought it would be Sarah Jarosz but no. It was a brass quartet, two trumpets and two trombones! My Gentle Readers know how much I love brass in folk music. We need more of that, especially trombones. We knew that Hawktail would join Aoife before the night was over. They joined her on her songs, and she joined them on one of their instrumentals. She didn’t add a second guitar, but her voice. She sang without words; despite her singing it was still an instrumental. Her voice conversed with the other instruments.
When Hawktail was on stage with Aoife I spent most of my time in that pocket universe. Then I felt a tap on my arm and heard a voice say, “Can we stand in front of you?” I was about to be upset when I reentered the real world and saw that it was not obnoxious strangers, but two people I love, Stephie and Nora. They are also two of my favorite musicians. They are also both short, so it was no problem having them in front of me. This is part of the New York experience. You go see favorite musicians and other favorite musicians are in the audience asking to stand in front of you.
After the show ended I saw I had other people I knew there. First I spotted Ashton, and then saw that Rachael was with him. Kevin just saw Rachael the night before performing at the Paul McCartney tribute at Carnegie Hall. Somehow, she did not see him. Then I saw someone that I felt that I knew. Then I saw it wasn’t the person I thought it was, but she seemed to recognize me. Later she was talking to Steph and Nora and I admitted my stupidity and said, “Do we know each other?” it was Betsy. I’ll blame the plague, I haven’t seen her in ages. Now is when the small world is going to compact into a black hole. Betsy is in the band, The Calamity Janes. I first saw them on the same bill as Crooked Still. The one in the band I became friendliest with is Stephanie Jenkins, not to be confused with Stephanie Coleman who stood in front of me. Stephanie opened for Haas Kowert Tice at that Jenkins House Concert. I thought the name was a coincidence but it’s not. She’s the daughter of the hosts. Their other daughter is Cassandra. The last two times I saw Aoife, Cassie was the opening act. Another member of the Calamity Janes is Dr. Kari Groff. Her friend was my doctor when I went to the emergency room last week. Facebook kept telling me that I should friend the ER doc. I mentioned Taylor and Rachael before. The first time I saw Rachael was when Lake Street Dive opened for Crooked Still at Southpaw and I merched for both bands. I know Taylor independently via the Brooklyn folk community. I could go on and on with these connections. I’ll mention one more. I know Paul Kowert from the Punch Brothers. The guitarist there is Critter Eldridge. He’s Kristin Andreassen’s significant other. Remember Kristin was in Sometymes Why with Aoife. I call this entire community the Aoifeverse. It should be the CrookedStillVerse but that doesn’t work as one word.
I should just post this and go to bed but there’s yet more and I will not be able to write tomorrow. My one issue with the show was how late it was. I get up at 5:30 and usually try to go to bed at 9:30. I never actually make that but 10:30 I sometimes make. At 10:30 I was still listening to music. When the show was over, I should have run home but I couldn’t resist the post-concert hang. The only thing better is the post-concert diner. We weren’t doing that. I finally pulled myself away, but I didn’t get home to 12:41. I was too energized to go right to sleep and didn’t get to bed until 1:30. I got all of four hours sleep.
On the way to school I quickly fell asleep on the D train. That’s fine. I’m a native New Yorker, I wake up in time for my station. I actually woke up earlier, at 59th Street, three stops before mine, 34th street. The problem was, that I was awake but not aware I thought I was on the way home from the concert, not on my way to school. I heard the conductor say, “Next stop 7th Avenue” and thought that I slept until the train reached the last stop, the one after mine, and then turned around and headed back into the City. I worried about how late it as and my watch said 7:00. I was thinking one to two AM. How could it be 7:00? My watch must have stopped. I looked at my phone and that finally brought me back to reality and I knew where I was and where I was going.
I left school early today so have the stiches removed from my hand. I went to the local urgent care. That took far longer than I thought it would be the doctor or nurse practitioner, I suspect that latter was sociable. She was entertained by the fact that I went to the Knick game while bleeding from a cut that needed stitches. The stitches are now out, and she said it healed nicely. There’s a lesson to be learned. The first thing I did when I cut myself was thoroughly clean the wound then covered it in gauze. Those first steps are important to do fast to prevent infection.
Wow this is my first two-thousand word blog in a long time. I used to do this more often. It feels good. Tomorrow I’m off to see the Metropolitan Opera to see Lohengrin then to Voices in the Heights to see ilyAIMY. I will not be writing tomorrow. I will spend all of Sunday preparing and recording Gord’s Gold. God knows when I’ll write again. I should have a lot to write about.
Wise Madness 