Music in the City

Written on March 30, 2005
I love spring. I can feel it in the air, though I can't see it on the trees yet. But most importantly, I can feel it with the music that I'm starting to hear. Last summer was a banner year for me, getting the chance to see quite a few live acts. I put some reviews here, there, and everywhere.

In the past week, D and I have seen three different acts. Susie Suh, a Californian, was doing a mellow residency of sorts on Tuesdays at the Knitting Factory. It was a free show, in promotion of her upcoming debut on Sony/Epic. I'd heard a few of her songs because the company had the foresight to send our office a bunch of singles (good to see that they are actually trying to promote this artist instead of letting her sit on the shelf like Fiona's latest). The vibe in the basement level of the Knitting Factory was good, and it seemed that she had more than a few friends in the audience. Her music was comfortable, her voice smooth but more complex than the usual nuevo-folk singer. I liked the show, and it was a good kickoff to a great week.

On Saturday night, we were out in different locations, D interested in dancing, and me catching up with an old friend. We ended up walking in the West Village and stumbling upon Arthur's Tavern near Christopher Street/Sheridan Square where we heard live music of the sort that just makes you smile. Ends up that the house band (Off the Hook) was playing soul and funk from the 70s on up, and over the next hour, we were treated to a set list that included Sly and the Family Stone, 3-4 tunes by Prince, and when the main man, EJ, went to collect donations, Amadou, the lean guitarist, ripped into a version of the Hendrix classic Fire. It was amazing - basically felt like we were taking an extended trip through the looking glass that Mos Def unveiled for us all in "Rock 'n' Roll", representing the diversity of the African American contribution to American music in general. Ends up that Off the Hook have a gig there every friday and saturday night until 3 AM. I'll be back for seconds, I'm sure.

Last night (3/29), D and I went to Rockwood Music Hall to catch Kevin So, who I've seen about 4 times in Chicago and NYC. It was a rehearsal show for his bigger gig at the Bitter End on Thursday, but the venue and the music was just to my taste, with fewer than 20 people in the room, and the warm feeling that you get when you're in the company of the one you love, and listening to an artist who is doing what he's wanted to do, keeping at it, playing with the love of music guiding him more than the hunger for a major contract.

If I were to use one word to describe Kevin So, it would be either "earnest" or "honest". I remember when he sent out an email to his list, a semi-regular offering from the man to his fans, one part marketing, one part journal, one part extended message on your voicemail from an old friend that you've not heard from for a couple of months. He actually wrote about the challenge of moving from the acoustic folk roots that people knew him for into more soulful, piano-based work. He exposed that inner conflict of the artist who isn't wholly wrapped into himself and oblivious of the audience listening and watching him. He shared that it was difficult for him to move forward without support, and that the questions about the direction in which he was going were okay, but making him doubt himself, and finally, a triumphant declaration that this is who he was, and what he was going to do, and he hoped that folks would be along for the ride. I wrote him an email to give him support.

Kevin feels like an old friend, probably because I was onto his stuff early in my post-Asian American arts scene stuff, and his music and his gigs have followed me through the next few years. I like that he's proud to be Asian American, and that he writes about that experience, but that his songs are more about just being, and when he sings about Asian American-ness, it's from his experience, rather than putting the pages of a history book to music. His song "Streets of Chinatown" is about him. Or at least, it could be - and it's not about the "movement". Kevin So rocks.

UPDATE: 4/06/05
Since I loved the Rockwood Music Hall so much (a button of a space on the trendy Lower East Side that has a 2-for-1 special on drinks until 7, and at least 2 - 3 live acts for hour sets between 7 - 10), I decided to meet L there for a drink and to catch up. Ends up that there was a good singer tonight - Amanda Baisinger - singing with just an acoustic guitar (and its player) for company. Who ends up also being of Asian descent, and from California. Her music was less my style, more of a Joni Mitchell, sad guitar sound, but she was warm, and seemed to be very happy to be there. It was her first gig of original material, though when she sang a Joni song about California, she made me want to go there, or at least imagine my life if I weren't so bound to seeing the sun 3 hours earlier than the left coast each day. She came to speak with us afterwards, thanking us for being 2 of the 5 people in the place who weren't her friends, and that she'll be playing the same space on April 20 at 7 PM if we were interested. Cool. Spring. And live music galore.