Review: Phil Ajjarapu Live in My Living Room
I hosted my fourth house concert on Sunday, July 13, when Phil Ajjarapu played my living room. This gig was dead simple to book. Phil is my fraternity brother (in fact, he's my big brother) so when he announced that he and his faithful dog Molly were on tour to support his solo debut album Sing Along Until You Feel Better booking him was as easy as saying "when do you want to play my house?"
Phil rolled into town Sunday morning. I had made wonton soup for lunch, which is probably proof that I love Phil, because man those are a pain in the ass to make. After lunch we headed down to WRUW for Number 9. My usual cohost Shari was out that day, so Phil took over. I interviewed him, he picked out some music he liked, he played some of his songs live and others off of the CD, and threw in a Beatles cover for good measure. You can find the playlist here, and I've also got the MP3 which I can make available to anyone who wants it. It was a very fun show.
After a quick dinner The Winking Lizard (one of Phil's preferred college hangouts; the last World Cup game ended while we were there) we were back at the house and the guests started arriving. Not counting Phil, Molly, Tulip and myself, we had fifteen people.
People Who Knew Phil But Not Me
Joe & Callista - Phil's old bandmate from Liquid Soul and his girlfriend.
Brothers of Phi Kappa Theta and Kin
Ron
John, Danita & Josh
WRUW Staff Members
undertheivy99 and George
John D
Ed
Other CWRU People
zeldajean and her friend Cheyenne
Other People
Chantal
jackofmany and Beth
We all fit comfortably in my living room. Phil started playing to the accompaniment of two fans working valiantly to keep the air moving on a hot, humid day. As to the dogs, Tulip camped out upstairs during the show. Molly kept running around playing with squeaky toys during the show, which once made Phil lose his concentration and generally led to people grabbing errant toys and hiding them. Note to self: hide the squeaky toys during house concerts!
Dogs aside, Phil mostly went with his guitar but did move over to his keyboard for a few songs. Although this approach obviously lacked the lush arrangements of the album, what it lacked in backing vocals and instrumentation it made up in raw sincerity. A lot of Phil's songs are about things that happened in his life, and he didn't hesitate to share details or commentary on those events between songs at great length. This was the very definition of 'confessional', even if the songs themselves were often lighthearted in comparison to the patter between them.
As always, my living room provided great acoustics. Aside from issues with his voice (Phil lost it a few weeks prior to the show, and it hadn't quite come all the way back) he sounded great. He blew through all eleven songs on the album as well as his two single tracks for a concise and moving set. But you don't have to take my word for it, you can watch virtually all of the gig below. It's a bit blurry, but the sound is what's important and the sound is excellent.
You can hear every squeaky toy, and more excitingly you can hear me intro him at the very beginning. So for those few of you who aren't personal friends, if you've ever wondered what I sound like you can now get a hint of it. Because of the video camera, Phil would mischievously call out "Remember to edit that out!" after various anecdotes, always to hearty laughter.
After the show Phil sold T-shirts and download cards. I served everybody ice cream novelties. As promised, I even had vegan options available courtesy of Mitchell's.
It was another excellent night, and I hope to host a gig again soon. I'd host Phil next time he comes through town, but we really need to get him into the Beachland Tavern or something next time around.
Phil rolled into town Sunday morning. I had made wonton soup for lunch, which is probably proof that I love Phil, because man those are a pain in the ass to make. After lunch we headed down to WRUW for Number 9. My usual cohost Shari was out that day, so Phil took over. I interviewed him, he picked out some music he liked, he played some of his songs live and others off of the CD, and threw in a Beatles cover for good measure. You can find the playlist here, and I've also got the MP3 which I can make available to anyone who wants it. It was a very fun show.
After a quick dinner The Winking Lizard (one of Phil's preferred college hangouts; the last World Cup game ended while we were there) we were back at the house and the guests started arriving. Not counting Phil, Molly, Tulip and myself, we had fifteen people.
People Who Knew Phil But Not Me
Joe & Callista - Phil's old bandmate from Liquid Soul and his girlfriend.
Brothers of Phi Kappa Theta and Kin
Ron
John, Danita & Josh
WRUW Staff Members
undertheivy99 and George
John D
Ed
Other CWRU People
zeldajean and her friend Cheyenne
Other People
Chantal
jackofmany and Beth
We all fit comfortably in my living room. Phil started playing to the accompaniment of two fans working valiantly to keep the air moving on a hot, humid day. As to the dogs, Tulip camped out upstairs during the show. Molly kept running around playing with squeaky toys during the show, which once made Phil lose his concentration and generally led to people grabbing errant toys and hiding them. Note to self: hide the squeaky toys during house concerts!
Dogs aside, Phil mostly went with his guitar but did move over to his keyboard for a few songs. Although this approach obviously lacked the lush arrangements of the album, what it lacked in backing vocals and instrumentation it made up in raw sincerity. A lot of Phil's songs are about things that happened in his life, and he didn't hesitate to share details or commentary on those events between songs at great length. This was the very definition of 'confessional', even if the songs themselves were often lighthearted in comparison to the patter between them.
As always, my living room provided great acoustics. Aside from issues with his voice (Phil lost it a few weeks prior to the show, and it hadn't quite come all the way back) he sounded great. He blew through all eleven songs on the album as well as his two single tracks for a concise and moving set. But you don't have to take my word for it, you can watch virtually all of the gig below. It's a bit blurry, but the sound is what's important and the sound is excellent.
Click to viewYou can hear every squeaky toy, and more excitingly you can hear me intro him at the very beginning. So for those few of you who aren't personal friends, if you've ever wondered what I sound like you can now get a hint of it. Because of the video camera, Phil would mischievously call out "Remember to edit that out!" after various anecdotes, always to hearty laughter.
After the show Phil sold T-shirts and download cards. I served everybody ice cream novelties. As promised, I even had vegan options available courtesy of Mitchell's.
It was another excellent night, and I hope to host a gig again soon. I'd host Phil next time he comes through town, but we really need to get him into the Beachland Tavern or something next time around.