The late
Jackie Wilson was one of the most dynamic performers in soul music history. His
repertoire ranged from shouters such as “Reet Petite” and “Baby Workout” to
lushly arranged (many would say over-arranged) ballads such as “Night” and “To
Be Loved”. Virtually all of his hits came between 1957 and 1963, but this
classic didn’t come out until 1967. Great for parties, road trips, or
practically any other occasion. (And, if you need something to put you to
sleep, check out Rita Coolidge’s cover version from 10 years later, which was
inexplicitly an even bigger chart success.)
Friday, August 1, 2014
#38 Bright Side Of The Road -- Van Morrison (1979)
Picking a
favorite Van Morrison song is almost as difficult as picking one favorite by
the Beach Boys. This one is so upbeat and positive, though, that it has to get
my vote.
2014 XPoNential Music Festival, July 25-27, Wiggins Park (Camden NJ)
Missed
WXPN’s annual music festival in 2012 and 2013, but was able to make all three
days this year (Friday evening, Saturday and Sunday). Weather held up pretty
well – brief shower early Satuday afternoon, sun alternating with clouds Sunday
with some threats but no actual rain. (The thunderstorm that would have really
disrupted things didn’t come until around 1am Monday morning.)
Best sets
–
1. Lake Street Dive – I had been looking forward
to this one ever since picking up their latest CD, and they did not disappoint.
The crowd, particularly those of us who were standing right in front of the
stage, was really into it. Highlights included “Bad Self Portraits” and “Use Me
Up” (my current favorite) near the middle of their 45-minute set, and “You Go
Down Smooth” at the end. Several of the songs featured notable, but not overly
long, instrumental solos on upright bass, guitar, trumpet, and drums. Normally
mid-afternoon festival sets don’t get encores, due to the need to stay on
schedule, but those of us in front refused to leave, finally organizing a “one
more song!” chant. They did reappear, and ended things on a high note with a
singalong version of the Hall & Oates (this was Philly, after all) classic
“Rich Girl”.
2. Ingrid Michaelson – She’s certainly grown up
some musically since I saw her at the festival several years ago; full band
this time, which she used well. Had a nice mix of songs from her latest album,
notably “Girls Chase Boys” and “Afterlife”, along with older classics such as
“Way I Am” and “Be OK”. Great crowd rapport throughout, as well.
3. Rodrigo y Gabriela – The visuals are a big
part of the attraction with this acoustic guitar duo; if you ever go to see
them, get as close as you can. (Pit seats at Wolf Trap might even be worth the
hefty price.) Gabriela was the bouncier of the two, moving all over the stage
and frequently jumping up and down while playing, while Rodrigo tended more to
take up one stance for the duration of a song and let his fingers do the
talking. Everything I had ever heard by them had been instrumental, so I was
taken by surprise when during the second half of the set they proclaimed a “karaoke”
portion of the show and Rodrigo led the crowd in singalong versions of rock classics by
Red Hot Chili Peppers, Radiohead, and Pink Floyd. Hopefully the fact that a few
of the lyrics were not suitable for the live radio broadcast won’t prevent them
from being invited back in the future.
;-)
4. Marah – I wandered over to the Marina Stage
Sunday afternoon to see Marah, since they had been cult favorites around
Philadelphia for a long time. Since I hadn’t kept up with them, I wasn’t aware
of their latest project (Mountain Minstrelsy of Pennsylvania), which involved
arranging, recording (in an old church) and performing old songs that had been collected
in 1931 by folklorist Harry Shoemaker. Quite a different sound, featuring banjo
and fiddle (and, on one song, bagpipes), along with guitar and keyboards. Also
noteworthy was that the fiddle work and some cigar box guitar was performed by
10-year-old prodigy Gus Tritsch, probably the youngest band member in XPN
Festival history (although his younger brother did join the band for the last
couple of songs). Interestingly enough, the final Marina Stage act on Friday
night featured 79-year-old blues harmonica player James Cotton.
5. Dawes – Dawes performed at the 2012 festival
(which I wasn’t able to attend), and were also at the 2013 festival (which I
also didn’t attend), but got rained out. Those were also the first two years
that WXPN (for financial reasons, apparently) partnered with the next-door
Susquehanna Bank Center (formerly known as the Tweeter Center) on the evening
portion of the festival. SBC schedules evening shows on Saturday and Sunday
featuring WXPN-type artists, and festival attendees with “go-anywhere” tickets
get lawn seats for the evening shows at SBC, as well as first crack at
purchasing inside reserved-seat tickets. So, when I heard that Dawes would be
on the Saturday night bill, along with Jenny Lewis and Ryan Adams, I decided to
spring for an in-house ticket for Saturday.
Although I
did finally get to see Dawes (more or less), the nearly $60 I spent on the
ticket did not turn out to be a particularly good investment. For starters,
when the full festival lineup was posted, I saw that Dawes was only getting a
30-minute set; I had figured the division of time among the three acts would be
somewhat more equitable than that. I was also not particularly overwhelmed by
the SBC experience (yes, I’m spoiled by Wolf Trap). The venue seems to exist
primarily to sell beer and liquor (and also cigars). To give them some credit,
there did seem to be plenty of tables outside where the beverages and food
could be consumed. (Needless to say, you couldn’t bring anything in except
water.) The final straw was when I got to my seat -- 104/C/17, in case anyone
would like to avoid it in the future. The theater portion of SBC is extremely
wide, with 104 being on the far left side, and 17 being the leftmost seat in
that section. From that position, not only could I not see the drummer at all
due to the stage monitors (and was also blocked for a portion of the show from
seeing the keyboard player by someone doing video), but the sound was truly
atrocious. Due to the brevity of the set, the band was limited to 5 songs,
which meant that they did only one tune from Nothing Is Wrong, which is by far their best album. All of which
means that next year I will probably vote with my credit card for the cheaper
3-day pass that does not include the SBC shows, and get more sleep to boot.
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