Tag Archives: show and tell

show and tell: tift merritt (and an amusing story)

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Let me share my new favorite song.

http://www.vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=1049928&server=www.vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=748D58&fullscreen=1
Tift Merritt Broken from Concord Music Group on Vimeo.

I’ve been listening to Tift‘s latest album, Another Country, a lot. I’ve become quite addicted to the song “Broken.” I can’t even tell you how many times I played it today!

It’s been fresh in my mind since we saw her perform at one of our favorite venues, the Rams Head Tavern, last night.

What an awesome show! She performed for around two hours, full of energy and passion for her songs. We had a front-row table, just a few feet from her microphone when she wasn’t singing from behind the grand piano. It was a bit crowded on that small stage, she performed most songs with a full band.

This is a small, intimate venue. The musicians often come out and meet their fans after the shows. We have a growing collection of signed CD covers!

Now for the amusing story. Well, we found it hilarious. Your mileage may vary.

After the show ended, I snuck off to the restroom before the band came out. When I returned, my husband pointed out a guy standing by the still-closed door to the green room.

Now, since this is a small space, the audience is very close to the stage. I could have easily grabbed a setlist if I wanted to — I have from a few shows. They’re framed with the signed CD-covers.

Anyway, my husband told me this guy took not one, but THREE setlists off the stage. And then he rushed over to the green room, to be first in line when Tift came out.

He must have been an out-of-towner.

Tift and the band came out from the other door and greeted the small crowd that had gathered. She took photos with people (I should really start bringing my camera more often), and we greeted her and got the latest cover signed. (We got her other albums signed when we saw her last year.)

Meanwhile, I looked back as we left, and saw that guy still standing by the green room door. It was in a bit of an alcove, so he couldn’t see the crowd and the band walking around!

Ha ha. Serves him right! I wonder when he finally figured it out.

show and tell: ellen cherry

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Wow, it’s been a while since I’ve done one of these.

When we first moved to Annapolis, we used to go out more often. Because we weren’t so old and boring way back then.

In the tiny downstairs pub of the Rams Head Tavern, they often move tables and cram musicians into the space for some entertainment. This is how we discovered ellen cherry.

Sometimes she’d play acoustic by herself, other times she’d have a band. Once we saw her in the Rams Head “On Stage” area for a CD release party, probably for her 2004 album. Sadly, I think that’s the last time we saw a live performance. Anytime she’s been local, we haven’t been able to make it out.

I still follow her, though her e-mail newsletter and her blog. I’m a bad fan and I haven’t yet purchased her new CD yet, but I’m going to get on that right away. I’ve listened to some samples on her myspace page, and it sounds great!

She’s a local artist (well, Baltimore, close enough), trying her hand at being a professional musician. I wanted to help spread the word.

She’s currently got a new song available for download over at Amie Street. It seems they start out free, but the price increases (up to 98 cents) as songs become more popular.

So, download the song and help ellen cherry become a superstar!

this afternoon, i saw rilo kiley perform in a cave

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cavern head
Well no, not an actual cave, but the basement faux-caverns at Bohemian Caverns, a jazz club in Washington, DC that’s been around since the 1920s.

Our local radio station hosted a “Private Artist Showcase,” where tickets could not be bought; they had to be won. I’ve always had terrible luck being the 10th caller … but they also had entries via e-mail (hooray!).

cavern stairway I found out I won a pair of tickets yesterday, and took an extended lunch to travel into DC for this 30-minute performance.

After sweltering in the sun for 45 minutes (er, they told us to arrive by 1:30 for a 2pm show, but they didn’t let us in until 2:05), we descended the staircase.

There the band sat with an acoustic set-up, playing “Silver Lining” off their latest release, Under the Blacklight.

All of the songs they played are off the new album, which I don’t know very well yet. I did recognize all of the songs. The title track (which they did play), is my favorite on the album so far.

Rilo Kiley

Even if you’re not familiar with the band, you probably heard “Portions For Foxes” off More Adventurous in movie trailers and TV shows when the album was new.

While I’m enjoying it, I haven’t learned to love the new album yet the same as their previous catalog — definitely check out Execution of All Things and Take Offs and Landings first if you’re interested in hearing more.

Their albums are available over at amazon.com, hop on over and listen to some clips.

Also check out frontwoman (and former child star) Jenny Lewis’ a solo album, released last year.

We got to chat with Jenny briefly after the show and get some CD covers signed, but she wouldn’t pose for a photo. Oh well. I got a couple more during the show — not great, it was dark!

show and tell: jill sobule

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OK, so it’s been a while since I’ve “showcased” any of my favorite musicians. I have a very long list so I should try to write these more frequently!

You are certainly familiar with Jill Sobule. Even if you don’t know her name, you probably remember “I Kissed a Girl” from her 1995 self-titled album.

Her rather extensive Wikipedia entry puts it well, saying, “Her folk-inflected compositions alternate between ironic, story-driven character studies and emotive ballads…”

She writes songs that are silly, witty, serious, and very smart. Sometimes all in the same song!

Her most recent album, Underdog Victorious, came out in 2004. It was in one of the six slots of my car CD player from its release until a few weeks ago when I cleaned all of the CDs out of my car (it was getting out of hand). So, yes, I really like this album!

I’m going to give a few sample lyrics this time, since her songs can be so varied.

“Freshman,” on Underdog Victorious, tells us how Jill followed her heart to become a musician, yet lives like a college freshman:

I still have a roommate
I cook on a hot plate
Unless I order pizza
You should see the boxes
This was my dream when I was 13
And now that it’s true
I wish I was you

In “Tel Aviv,” also from Underdog, she sings from the point of view of a young woman working in Tel Aviv as a prostitute:

I dream of my country
I think of my mother
I send her what I can
She thinks I’m a waitress
She’s proud I’m a waitress
In the promised land

From “Big Shoes” off of I Never Learned To Swim:Jill Sobule 1990-2000 (I don’t think it was released on a previous album), Jill recalls wearing orthopedic shoes growing up:

Mary McKay she had Mary Janes
With that patent leather shine
She was known as Tinker Bell
And I was Frankenstein

Big shoes before they were big
Big shoes I’ll never forgive
My mother made me wear big shoes

Anyway, I guess that’s a good sampling. I couldn’t pick just one!

Jill is also politically motivated. You can download songs from her Huffington Post blog, like “Dick and Harry” written after Dick Chaney shot his hunting buddy, and “Put him in the Hall of Fame,” a fantasy that George Bush stuck with his first passion, Baseball.

My timely reason for writing about Jill now is her recent video on My Damn Channel.

There are a couple of songs (the one in the video below, and another) available to download on the My Damn Channel link above, and samples at jillsobule.com.

I hope you love her, too!

http://www.mydamnchannel.com/xml/mdc_embed.swf?episode=58

entertainment overload: part 3

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This third installment should also be the final for now, as far as I know!

We returned to the Rams Head tonight to see Ingrid Michaelson — a brand-new artist to me.

I noticed her show highlighted in the Rams Head e-mail newsletter last week. They listed her as an “emerging new artist” and that her music has been featured on Grey’s Anatomy.

The Rams Head write-up (not updated to reflect the actual season finale date) said:

Michaelson’s crystalline tones blend Joni Mitchell’s soft-edged vocal shifting with shades of Regina Spektor’s witty kookiness. In the last five months, four of her songs have soundtracked the life, death and sex dramas on ABC’s blockbuster medical series, “Grey’s Anatomy.” Last Thursday’s season finale — featuring Michaelson’s “Keep Breathing” and will be included in the Grey’s Anatomy, Vol. 3 Soundtrack, to be released in September.

Despite the poor structure of that last sentence … I went to her site, listened to her songs on myspace and decided we should go!

I did remember “Keep Breathing” as one of the main songs in the season finale, and really like her sound.

I don’t know where they get the Joni comparison from, but you can definitely hear the Regina. Ingrid is a great singer, and an enjoyable performer.

Another great show to cap off our three concerts in four nights! (And another artist I will be playing repeatedly!)