[Portland, OR] On this, my second house concert at Doverlaff, there was no
hesitation because I knew the quality would be high and the people interesting.
So I waltzed in with TheBirds&TheBeesANDTheFlowers… well, we probably more
shuffled in … but we were enthused! The show started with all of the fellow
house-concert-hosters sharing. I was most intrigued by Max Beery from Seattle,
in his ratty beard and hat with a delicately-flowered pin on the side. We got
to chat during an intermission and he invited me to visit, to sleep on the
floor, etc etc and informed me he was in his 70s. Is it only men who want to be
sure you know their advanced age? I remained charmed-I’m-sure by Dan and
Cheryl, the hosts. Dan effuses love and it feels genuine—touching shoulders—raving
about minor past musical successes. Cheryl reigns him in with constant
interruptions, the important details, the logistics – they’re lovely. As TheBirds&TheBeesANDTheFlowers
and I made our way downstairs, Cheryl ribbed TheBirds&TheBeesANDTheFlowers
that she better not prey on all the hot young men down there (the musicians) –
it was so dry and subtle, I almost missed it. Those wiley nurses. So one of the
said hot-young-men who turned out to be Chris Baron spent the ten minutes
before his show perching on various people’s laps (young, old – mostly old as
most of the people there are over 60). Similarly, “crazy” was part of Dan’s
introduction for Chris. I was skeptical but I really liked him. He was
touching. The emotion in the songs felt genuine and the melodies had those
turns-to-comfort I like so much. A lively guitar. He had a bit of a Nick Cage
look and manner to him – which I liked too. He also had a story to introduce
each song. I enjoyed the Texas references. Reminded me of Deathcab for Cutie,
Bright Eyes, The Shins, Devendra Banhart, Paul Simon, and Sufjan Stevens. I
decided Sufjan was the closest match. A memorable lyric: “If you think someone’s
going to take something from you, take it from them first.” It sounded sweet
that night but sounds sort of menacing now. Sometimes it seemed like he was
trying to sing at a higher pitch than what he could handle. I forgot to mention…
I really enjoyed that TheBirds&TheBeesANDTheFlowers wasn’t so happy with
the bands at the last house concert – if you love everybody, do you really love
anybody? (Papaya) Although this sort of firm belief of mine gets tripped up by
Love’s “Alone Again Or” because there was a phase in my life (a super running happy
time in my 20s) when that line “Somebody said to me; You know that I could be
in love, with almost everyone; I think that people are the greatest fun” really
resonated with me. But then the next line “And I will be alone again tonight,
my dear” sort of brings us right back again, now, doesn’t it. And so, at this
house concert, TheBirds&TheBeesANDTheFlowers turns to me with her wise eye
laugh and lays it all out – he’s more a songwriter than a performer and then something
about tremolos and baritones and … I can’t even replicate – basically she
agreed with my impressions but in much more technical terms – and so of course
she’s got expertise in music too. So I should change her name to TheBirds&TheBeesANDTheFlowers&MUSIC
but that’d be silly… sure do like her.
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