By the way, I had a Quesadilla, the kind with just cheese, the way God and Mexico intended it. It was pretty good. The White Zin I had with it was a bit soda poppy. I think White Zin is really for people who don't really know what kind of wine they want. I'm trying to cut down on beer, because it's bad for my gout. I think wine is better for a person than beer, anyway.
So, at around 6:45 PM, after we paid the bill, we start to walk to the concert venue, which is at the Claremont Forum. PJ has an address, but doesn't know exactly where it is. He gives me the address and I figure out where we have to go.
OK. If I had figured out where to go, the rest of this post would never have been written. So, I guess, by holding the paper with the address on it, I felt an unjustified sense of my own superiority. In reality, I was as lost as PJ.
Here is an example of how a techno-phobe could easily improve his life if he'd just learn to love his computer. A visit to Mapquest would have solved our problem.
We go to the street (College Blvd?) and walk in the direction we think it will be in. It is one of those North/South addresses. It is night and we are walking down this dark street when we come to Claremont College (or one of them). It is on the corner of this street and another familiar street, but we see no forum. We continue walking until we realize the addresses are going in the wrong direction, mathematically-wise. So we turn back and head up the street. About where we think the Claremont Forum should be, we find a parking lot facing the back of a strip mall kind of affair. There is a poorly made and poorly displayed-not to mention poorly lit-sign that we see, standing up close to it, tells us that the concert is here.
We follow the leftist bumper stickers lined up in the dark parking lot to a tiny building that, sure enough, is the Claremont Forum. It seems that this is not the kind of forum where you would go to see Basketball games and rock concerts. It is the kind of forum where a small group of intellectuals would go to discuss important ideas. The concert hall is a little room, where about 40 people are sitting, listening to M, a local lawyer and office-seeker make a speech. We are almost a half-hour late, but, seeing as how this is a gathering of liberals, time is not of the essence.
I pay my suggested donation and leave PJ, who negotiates a free entrance (because he is a local activist).
The music starts withDavid Rovics, who sings earnest songs of protest in a nasal, thin voice with a bumble bee vibrato. Many of his songs are good, but limited solely to protest the war in Iraq or extole the virtues of revolution. His songs are heartfelt, I am sure, but are limited in theme.
Robb Johnson is the better of the two performers. He also sang about leftist causes, but had a broader range, thematically. He actually had a couple of nice songs about love, fatherhood, his grandparents. I wasn't surprised when I checked out his website and saw that he had translated several Jaques Brel songs. His songs had a Brelian quality to them: witty, sensual, comapssionate.
Each did to sets with an intermission that went on longer than the any of the sets, or so it seemed. Since this was a political gathering, time was made for local political activists to make announcements. One guy, a candidate for the Claremont City Council, spoke for too long about some of the causes he was interested in. He was bearded with long hair and wore the motley street activist threads so popular amongst the aging Woodstock 1 generation. The 2nd guy was pretty much the same, except I guess he had done jail time for his activism. Neither understood the "brief" part of the invitation for them to make brief comments, so M had to interrupt each of them to remind them that we had all come to hear music. Then, as we were about to start, PJ cleared his throat audibly so M would ask him to come up to speak. I'll admit I cringed a little, because the speech part of the evening had already gone on too long. But PJ was wisely short-winded, crisply announcing three events that were coming up without commentary. He understood that it was about the music.
I got a CD by both performers. I haven't yet listened to Rovics. But I have thoroughly enjoyed Johnson's CD. Most of the songs he played were songs from the CD, so I got a 2nd listen. I like "Everythings Alright" and "You in this City" the best. I would recommend you go buy it.
The odd thing about the concert was that the two of them shared one guitar. I think this was because they were on a cheap tour and shared a small car for their travels. Anyway, when the guitar's strings kept busting, it seemed impractical, especially with the Claremont Folk Music Center just up the street.
The first string break came just as Johnson was going into the final song of his 2nd set. I will always wonder about the song he didn't play.
I will report back on the Rovics CD. In fact, look for a CD review blog entry soon. I will review Bright Eyes, Green Day and others.
No comments:
Post a Comment