False Hope And February, Evan Dando and The Yonder Mountain String Band

"Patience is like bread they say. I rand out of that yesterday."- The Lemonheads












This morning I woke and it was sunny and has remained sunny almost all day. I heard song birds...chirping somewhere in the dead brown trees behind our house, over the still frozen driveway where the sun never comes. It was beautiful... it was the promise of Spring and it was of course.... a lie! But that is ok for February is a month where even false promises must be clinged to, cherished and even shared. The fact that the birds might freeze and die a miserable death tomorrow should not impact on my momentary joy. Right?

It has been a brilliant and even pretty good week. Keeping on the theme that I must go out and see live music, no matter how tired and old I am, I hit two shows this week. On Tuesday I went to "The Old Rock House" to see Evan Dando, lead singer, songwriter, chief bottle washer of the seminal indie rock band "The Lemonheads". You will of course remember The Lemonheads for their brilliant cover of Simon & Garfunkel's "Mrs. Robinson" and their crossover hit "Into Your Arms". Dando was the son of a Boston real estate lawyer and a super model. A poor little rich pretty boy. The last time I had seen Dando was 10 years (or more ago) getting tickets for The Lemonheads show. I ran down to Mississippi Nights to get my tickets and there was this bum passed out in front of the door to the place. That bum was Dando. I didn't know it until I saw him later at the very average show that night. Dando, then, and now looks a lot like our local rock star Steve Stolze. Creepily so.

Crack cocaine evidently does funny things to people. Dando was the rising star with his band. Good looking like a model and dating Juliana Hatfield, Boston indie heart throb with her band "The Blake Babies" and her solo career. Dando was doing his gig and also putting in songs on various tribute CD's to Richard Thompson and Victoria Williams. Buuuuuuut....the crack really seemed to take him out of the loop and off the screen for a long time. So i was happy to see him back, especially solo.

"Enough about us lets talk about me. It's not about you, it's not about sunshine." -The Lemonheads

I got to the Rock House around 9:00. On the way down I got to bail someone out of jail. What a great way to start an evening. There was a band called Candle who opened. I was not excited at all but they were great and it turned out that two of them had been with Ben Kweller's original group back when Ben Kweller looked like he was going to be someone. Ooops. Anyway, they were an unexpected pleasure and I will definitely pick up their debut CD when it comes out in April. The lead singer was playing a big old black Gibson like Neil Young's and then they threw in a little pedal steel as well. What is not to like.

Beatle Bob was there so once again I was secure that i was at least at the coolest show in town. I need that.

Dando came on stage about 10:30. Welcomed the crowd and proceeded in classic indie rock shoe gazer style to not really speak again other then singing. he was in black jeans, a hoody and...wait for it...wait for it....Stan Smith Tennis shoes. Sure I have them but i have not seen another human wear them in at least 15 years. They were new and unscuffed. Made me proud. He had no band. Just he and the acoustic. No effect pedals. he then ripped through the following:

Get so down about it
Outdoor type
Error of my ways
He loved her but he didn't
Why do you do this to yourself
Alisons starting to happen
My drug buddy
Frying pan
When I stop dreaming
I don't want to get high
Forget my past
Its about time

No song lasted more then two minutes. Sometimes he merged one into the other. He didn't inter act with the crowd at all but he held us all in the palm of his hand. He is great songwriter and knows his way around a hook like almost no one else. He played about 20 songs at all primarily from the Lemonheads catalogue and it was just an awesome tour de force of pop.

It was the first show I had seen at the Rock House. The upstairs was closed but it is a pretty room. The sound is a little muddy but if you were up front it sounded fine. It was kind of interesting because in back you could watch the whole show on one of their monitors. Makes me wonder whether they are filming all of it?

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Friday night was The Yonder Mountain String band at the Pageant. I did not love the show but I think it has more to do with me then with the show. I had a long day at work, went to a fundraiser for Bill Corrigan, had a burger at O'Connells (stuffed like I was dead) and then headed to the Pageant. We got there at 8:00 for an "evening with" show that was to start at 8:30. I had seen these guys a few years ago and did not love them but the venerable Brian Kukla wanted to see them and it was his dad's birthday so....why not? The place was not too packed when we got there and we found some seats (always a plus for old people) in the under 21 section. It is always kind of a bummer when your under 21 and cannot go down on the floor but that is how they had the crowd configured. I always wonder how they decide how many under 21 people they will have at the show. It has to be more of an art then a science. The balcony was open and i have not been there for a while when they had an open balcony. When the balcony is open they have a 2300 capacity and it filled up quick.

The band came out pretty close to on time. It is just a mandolin, an acoustic guitar, an electric stand up bass and a banjo. No percussion, no electric guitar. It was their crowd though and from the first song the whole audience stood and danced in a way I had not seen since Jerry Garcia died. I think of the 2300 people there 2000 knew every song. I know none of their catalogue so it is always interesting for me but they didn't grab me... last time or this time. They had an elaborately lit stage (tacky and un bluegrass like) and did not really play all that well (other the the acoustic guitarist who is a tremendous flat picker. He really was good. But the problem is in a blue grass band, like a jazz band, like the dead, the band works on a theme and then the guys put in a little solo. Their solos all sounded the same. The mandolin is a neat instrument but it needs to be used sparingly while they have no choice but to use it as part of the rhythm section.

It was a cometent show but after two viewings I will not be tempted to see them again. I got a cool poster though.