Last Batch of Concert Capsules for 2013
Normally with each concert calendar I summarize all the shows I've been to since the prior concert calendar, but yesterday I figured I'd get the year started off without chaff from 2013. With that done, here are concert summaries for all the shows I went to in 2013 between the last concert calendar on October 6 and the end of the year.
Robert Randolph & the Family Band was a maybe from my last calendar, but when Dr.I said "yes, I want to see that" who was I to say no? They had been described to me as funky, but sadly, when we caught the show at the Beachland Ballroom on October 16 it was mostly boring. Good company, bad concert. This was probably the worst show I saw in 2013.
Mike Doughty has been one of my favorites for many years. He returned to the Beachland Ballroom on October 22. The draw this time was that for the first time in years he did Soul Coughing songs. He'd said in his memoir that they hurt too much to do, but apparently the memoir worked through it. Or maybe he just saw a shot for some money; you can be as cynical as you like about this. In any event, I had a really good time. And miraculously, he did Screenwriter's Blues, and it was good!
gieves and I caught the Mark O'Connor String Quartet on October 30 at the Gartner Auditorium at the Cleveland Museum of Art. It had its moments, but generally speaking it was a bit dull. Both of this string quartets were played, to varying effect.
Judie and I saw Kate Nash at the Beachland Ballroom four days later. Kate clearly meant well, but the show was unfocused, had too many pauses, and was generally chaotic in a bad way. She's still young and will probably fill it out, but this was not a good show.
onabus and I ran into each other at the bar when Chuck Prophet did a solo show at the Beachland Tavern on November 6. I'd seen him with the full band earlier in the year, which was excellent. This was good in a totally different way. Among other things, I learned that Chuck wrote a lot of the songs on Alejandro Escovedo's "Real Animal", which helps explain why I like them both so much.
Dr.Boo and I saw Bela Fleck perform with the classical quartet Brooklyn Rider at EJ Thomas on November 12. The show compared to Mark O'Connor very well; unfortunately it was mostly minor key and slow and a little bit boring. It had moments, but it was easily the least interesting of the times I've seen Bela Fleck.
With two negative classical shows in this very post, you might think I was worried when Dr.I went to see cellist Yo-Yo Ma & pianist Kathryn Stott at the Finney Chapel in Oberlin on November 20. I was not. When you can see world's most famous cellist playing with a woman he's collaborated with for a quarter century from really fantastic seats that let you see every facial expression, it's pretty awesome. The crowd screamed for more, leading to something like five encores. Stott & Ma were like an old married couple, complementing each other perfectly. This was a fantastic concert, and when I write up my 2013 Concert Year in review, this last show of 2013 may have been the best.
Robert Randolph & the Family Band was a maybe from my last calendar, but when Dr.I said "yes, I want to see that" who was I to say no? They had been described to me as funky, but sadly, when we caught the show at the Beachland Ballroom on October 16 it was mostly boring. Good company, bad concert. This was probably the worst show I saw in 2013.
Mike Doughty has been one of my favorites for many years. He returned to the Beachland Ballroom on October 22. The draw this time was that for the first time in years he did Soul Coughing songs. He'd said in his memoir that they hurt too much to do, but apparently the memoir worked through it. Or maybe he just saw a shot for some money; you can be as cynical as you like about this. In any event, I had a really good time. And miraculously, he did Screenwriter's Blues, and it was good!
gieves and I caught the Mark O'Connor String Quartet on October 30 at the Gartner Auditorium at the Cleveland Museum of Art. It had its moments, but generally speaking it was a bit dull. Both of this string quartets were played, to varying effect.
Judie and I saw Kate Nash at the Beachland Ballroom four days later. Kate clearly meant well, but the show was unfocused, had too many pauses, and was generally chaotic in a bad way. She's still young and will probably fill it out, but this was not a good show.
onabus and I ran into each other at the bar when Chuck Prophet did a solo show at the Beachland Tavern on November 6. I'd seen him with the full band earlier in the year, which was excellent. This was good in a totally different way. Among other things, I learned that Chuck wrote a lot of the songs on Alejandro Escovedo's "Real Animal", which helps explain why I like them both so much.
Dr.Boo and I saw Bela Fleck perform with the classical quartet Brooklyn Rider at EJ Thomas on November 12. The show compared to Mark O'Connor very well; unfortunately it was mostly minor key and slow and a little bit boring. It had moments, but it was easily the least interesting of the times I've seen Bela Fleck.
With two negative classical shows in this very post, you might think I was worried when Dr.I went to see cellist Yo-Yo Ma & pianist Kathryn Stott at the Finney Chapel in Oberlin on November 20. I was not. When you can see world's most famous cellist playing with a woman he's collaborated with for a quarter century from really fantastic seats that let you see every facial expression, it's pretty awesome. The crowd screamed for more, leading to something like five encores. Stott & Ma were like an old married couple, complementing each other perfectly. This was a fantastic concert, and when I write up my 2013 Concert Year in review, this last show of 2013 may have been the best.