George Karos - Karos comes out with acoustic guitar and microphone. Rather that should be microphones since his acoustic guitar needs to be mic'ed as opposed to having a pick-up. He explains later that he had a bad pick-up and thanked the soundman. And it was an interesting sound Karos created. His chording involved fingertip strumming that was on the quiet side that changed into a clearer finger picked style when he opted for detailed playing. The guitar may have been quiet, but his voice was quite bold and striking. It was like the guitar styling of Elly & Rikkert met a vocal merging of Robbie Basho, MIJ, and Denis (yeah, some of those choices are pretty obscure, but he didn't sound like Colin Meloy or Jeff Buckley). Kudos for playing through the fire alarm that fortunately went off rather quickly. It was not exactly a Great White sized crowd as there were about ten people present at the set's peak. It was a nice set and it fits the sort of things I look for in an acoustic set in terms of creativity and dynamics, all within a comfortable throwback sound.
Barrio Andalusi featuring Guillermo Christie - Barrio Andalusi plays and oud and Guillermo Christie plays tambourine, hand drums and an electronic drum box. Andalusi's playing is quite accomplished as he varies from Spanish, Morrocan, Macedonian, Turkish, and more instrumental folk music. Christie's percussion punctuates the music nicely and this is a lovely transportive set. Kudos to the Black Cat for booking this unique set of opening bands along with the headliner playing in another style entirely. The crowd grew to 15 and were quite positive with their support.
Lightbox
Sons of Disobedience - Guitarist/Vocalist Ron Winters joins up with a bass player and drummer and presents the Sons of Disobedience. They play a mix of rock, metal, punk and the bass player's funky bass lines. But it rocks out in a bluesy sort of way much of the time. Yet, the second cut reminds me of the Bad Brains metallic era with the Black Spots demo kind of sound. And a latter cut would truly make the Buzzcocks proud. All in all, they did a great job with a nice variety of songs. A few of the songs kind of laid there, but the highlights were worth it and the playing was excellent. Thankfully the crowd swelled to about 25 not counting the three people in front of me who left in terror with the heavy dose of volume the band created (frankly, it wasn't overly loud). Fun, enjoyable evening of eclectic entertainment (god, I promise I was not trying for alliteration there) and I hope there are many more nights like this. In DC, most of the time, there are.
Side issues - I just wanted to comment on my side-bar. I try to list shows that I go to along with shows I would like to go to or that I think will be enjoyable shows for people that like creative, but entertaining music. Although some are must sees for me, others I make up my mind on covering a few hours before the show. I try to cover a lot of ground and am happy to promote anything of interest, so let me know if you promote shows, especially away from the major clubs.
I also am planning to write reviews for the
We Love DC blog in the near future. I will continue to write most of my reviews right here and will reprint my reviews appearing at We Love DC on this blog after they have been published there. Frankly, whether I write there or not, We Love DC is a must read for music fans, so do give it your support.
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