Notes on Previous Evening

Note: While it seems just far too obvious and almost boring to me, I'm going to just go on with it and write about my musical experiences here in San Francisco. Perhaps a pattern for spinning will emerge from these little exercises; thus the point of making them public, I suppose.

When my buddy, Alex suggested we go see Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears I immediately agreed. Having heard a bit of their first album, Tell 'Em What Your Name Is, I knew enough about their sound to know it'd be a good enough time. My expectations were low, recalling them to have a bit more shtick than I believe to be necessary. I write now, as I listen to both the debut and the recent release, Scandalous because after the show last night I bought both of them.

The energy of this show was jiggling all over your face from the get-go. They're an incredibly tight little number with a delightfully animated horn section. Comprised of some bazooka-lookin' baritone sax, trumpet, and tenor sax/tambourine/flamethrower. I need to talk about this guy, David McKnight. I have never, ever, seen a more scorching performance out of a tambourine. Thanks for that, bro. An otherwise visually misleading, uniformed crew, the horn section dances sincerely while awaiting their parts. Eduardo Ramirez (bari) and Darren Sluyter (trumpet) give it.

Joe Lewis appears in a baseball cap and dashiki, almost exactly like that one on my Dad, above. Sorta like Darius Rucker's cousin from the actual country. His undeterminable belting is only slightly reminiscent of Eddie Murphy's take on Buckwheat's Greatest Hits, and charming as all get out. I suppose I am struggling, however, with the level of caricature. I still haven't decided how contrived it is, and if it isn't, whether people/I appreciate the sincerity or find it amusing. It makes me want to hear something a little more raw out of them. To straddle that fence of bringing something unfettered to the table while keeping it all meticulously tight is possibly a level of maturity that's yet to be reached here. I would really like to see them get there, though.

"Booty City," a track off of the new album pays precise homage (or rips off, however you feel about that sort of thing) to Mandrill, and the title track "She's So Scandalous" vaguely whispers the bass movement of 2Pac's song by basically the same name. I feel a little bit of Johnny Guitar Watson from these guys, in that it's super slick and shamelessly assimilating from other tunes they love. I always appreciated how Johnny could pull that off and wondered how much criticism he got for doing so, if any. (Essentially, these are also the fundamental elements of hip hop.)

At points in the show Lewis used this jarring vocal effect on his mic that took me to the revival, and at other times the groove was so steady it took me to warm, clean sheets on a sleeping porch. Hailing from Austin, these guys are bringing the Southern elements of big, deep, guitars and funky delta swang. It was a super sexy party, but I have to take off points for lazy between-set tunes. While the compilation album they played is one of my favorites, Chains & Black Exhaust, and features the exact vibe they're striving for, a live DJ would have been more appropriate in my opinion.

Post show we headed down the street to catch friends, Shotgun Wedding Quintet chopping it up in preparation for tonight's edition of the SF Jazz Hotplate series, a tribute to the music of Cab Calloway. Word is, there will be a special guest from local Bay Area hip hop legendary lore. I have a feeling I'll be writing about this one tomorrow....