As a consolation prize, Bivester and I decided to head up to catch OtR in Lexington. Karin's voice and Linford's playing are balm for the green burn of envy one gets from not attending a run of CJ shows. Needless to say--and yet I will anyway--it was fan-fucking-tabulous. They are in top shape.
The show was at a new club in Lexington called The Dame--catch a show there if you can. It's a neat little place with decent acoustics and everyone that worked there was very friendly. I especially liked the old school dining room tables and chairs--you know the kind, with gold sparklies all over it and metal trim--and a very tall booth, and the Jessica Rabbitesque stencil on the faux frosted doors. We sat a rickety wooden table up front.
A trio called Birddog opened up for them, decent sound, a couple of better than good songs.
We sat at the table for two hours before the opening act came on. The show was on college time, which means it started at about 11 o'clock. I shouldn't be grumpy about it, but dang it, I'm old and living like that hurts anymore. Anyway, it was worth the fatigue. One of the great things about an OtR show, especially one in bar, is that when geese are present, it just doesn't matter. You can hardly hear them; Karin's voice has such projection. It was an intimate show, just Linford and Karin, in unkempt mode. They seemed happy enough and Karin was gracious about their reception.
I brought them a bouquet of flowers from my garden, so they dedicated The Seahorse to "the flower person". Hopefully Bill will be able to give you the complete set list, the highlights for me were:
(a smokin') rendition of Summertime. I've heard this song done by virtually every female jazz singer (well-known-wise) and Janis Joplin too and I have never heard it like this. Amazing. I still get chills.
When I go--this was the false ending song, before the encore and it was excellent.
For the encore, they did three from GD/BD. Latter Days, Faithfully Dangerous and Poughkeepsie. Now, I can't remember the last time I was in a bar and could hear a pin drop, but I assure you, it got like that for about 90 full seconds during Poughkeepsie.
One of the things that surprised me when I first saw OtR live was how inferior their recordings sounded when compared with real life. I thought she sounded excellent on them, and really, she does, but I can't explain to you how different it is live. It's almost like her voice is three-dimensional. Whatever is going on, it just does not translate to recording accurately, and something is lost. This comprised some of the conversation on the ride back (along with various and sundry political and music topics) and I decided that it's a shame she's flesh and blood and will die one day, because when she does, the truth will die with her. I hope that doesn't sound too morbid--it's meant as a loving tribute.
Thanks,
Anna Belle