The main purpose of our visit was to check out songwriter extraordinaire Dan Wilson. The last time we saw him at this same venue, he was promoting Free Life, then his most recent release. He doesn't have a new disc ready yet, but he's been holed up at home writing all winter, so we got to hear some new things planned for an eventual album in addition to some old Semisonic tracks and my personal favorite song - the title track from Free Life.
In addition to writing graceful and beautiful songs, Dan is incredibly funny. He's got this hot music theory professor vibe I just love - he's older, he wears glasses, but he's got this undeniably hip style at the same time. And watching him collaborate on stage with a pianist and back-up singer for a couple songs was a treat - a smile kept sneaking across his face as the professor appreciated the contributions of his students on a certain chord or harmony. I can't wait until he has a new album.
Dan alone would have been well worth the $15 door for me, but we got to see some other great artists as well. The first was Laura Meyer.
Laura is the kind of artist Hotel Cafe was made for - a tiny girl with a beachy-hippie style playing lovely finger picked guitar and singing sweet, sad songs about love and traveling the world searching for and experiencing it. She' s a beach babe and fellow sister of uncontrollable curly hair, so she resonated with me. And I give her credit for smart marketing - her website has 4 songs available for free download, and I already got an e-mail from her this morning thanking me for coming to the show last night. I hope she goes places.
Jim Bianco is listed under the genres Rock, Music, Singer/Songwriter, Contemporary Singer/Songwriter, Country, Americana, Adult Alternative in iTunes, and he actually fits (at least partially) in all of them, which is a strange and rare feat. It's an even stranger feat to assemble a band of dopplegangers for some notable celebrities. Tammy and I renamed them the "Separated at Birth" band.
Jim himself bears a small resemblance to Bradley Cooper, and the guitar player to his right strangely resembles Geoffrey Rush.
The sax player looks like a shorter haired George Clooney, and the keyboard guy could pass for Johnny Depp, don't you think?
OK, maybe it was the drinks talking. I can tell you that the opening song had me swearing I was hearing the Mighty Mighty Bosstones and loving every minute of it. Song titles like "Shut Up and Kiss Me" and lyrics including "My friends and I are sinners...." confirmed we were dealing with a rogue talent in the best way possible. And any band that can rock a strip tease song as part of their set is fine by me.
But my favorite new artist of the night was Joey Ryan, who is in the middle of a month long residency at Hotel Cafe to promote his newest album, Kenter Canyon.
There isn't anything NOT to like about Joey Ryan. He's good looking, the songs are solid, and he's smart enough to entice the amazing Sara Bareilles to guest on one of his songs ("Broken Headlights"). "Off Chasing The Wind," a new unrecorded track he performed at the show, pretty much sums up his style - beautiful harmonies combined with thoughtful, intelligent lyrics that are romantic and touching without being syrupy.
You can find Joey at Hotel Cafe Thursday nights for the next few weeks, so if you're in town, check him out. And tell him his "front row cynic" sent you.
Well said!
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