This is the story of two singer-songwriters whose artistic styles were as different as night and day, who met by chance on MySpace.  Kenny was a California boy who spent most of his life in the Silicon Valley (San Jose) area as a performing musician, music producer, and sound engineer.  Sabine, who was living at the opposite end of the earth in Melbourne, Australia, was a fan of goth and cult music, loved the color black, and wrote songs about dead girls, which she kept to herself and did not perform in public.  Through cyberspace, they formed a bond, which was strong enough to compel Kenny to travel to Australia to visit Sabine.  He ended up staying with her for almost a year, and knew he had found his soulmate.  Kenny encouraged Sabine to write and perform her beautiful, atmospheric songs, and he also wrote songs about his amazing experiences in Oz, which culminated in the wonderful alternative jazz/folk album Under (2007).  They found that they also shared a mutual love of photography of nature, and of natural settings and environments.  Eventually, Kenny had to go back to the U.S., but invited Sabine to come back with him.  She could not initially go, but then made the trip a few months later after settling business in Australia.  They embarked on an amazing adventure, traveling by car across the U.S. and back, staying with old and new-found friends,  performing on their guitars where they could, and recording their journey  through extraordinary photographs. Kenny encouraged Sabine to perform her beautiful songs publicly, and then supported her by providing backing guitar work and vocals for her music, forming the duo ArtemesiaBlack.  Kenny then produced an album of Sabine's beautiful, wistful songs called Alternative Gothic Swamp Lullabies (2008) through his Basement 3  label.

Oh, I almost forgot -- Kenny and Sabine got married last spring, and are now living happily ever after.

ArtemesiaBlack do not perform many gigs, so I was very fortunate to be able to attend this one, which was far from my home, way up in the Santa Cruz mountains above Aptos Village.  It was at a loft converted into a recording studio next to a modern house on a hillside overlooking a green, quiet valley.  Guests were treated to a fine sit-down dinner, and then a performance featuring the artists dressed in Victorian-era costumes, and a guest "ghost," this time a young girl who was the daughter of fishmongers, who hated her lot in life and wanted to be taken away from it by a dashing young sailor, and who was murdered before she could live her dream, by the name of Lily Diamond.  At every gig, a story is told of a different ghost of a murdered girl.  At the last performance, it was a girl named Irma Fox.



Although still billed as a duo, ArtemesiaBlack often adds band members, which greatly enhances the audience members' experience of perhaps sensing some paranormal activity about.  For this show, Mike Freitas performed on drums and percussion, with David Sierra on upright bass (who was literally right next to where I was sitting).  Here, they perform "Rosie" from their debut album.



Some of the songs were very atmospheric - this one seems to have been channeled to Sabine directly by the ghost herself.  This song also appears on the album.



This next song was supposedly written by Irma Fox herself (Irma was not present at this gig, as Sabine explains, "she's on tour"!) The style is very Burlesque.

 

This next song is a new one by Sabine called "The Bride."



This song is about Lily Diamond, the guest of honor, preceded by a monologue (I think it is supposed to be the ghost speaking, using Sabine as a vessel, with her permission of course!) about the grisly manner of poor Lily's demise.  This music, like the Irma Fox tune, is completely divergent of Sabine's musical style.  This is torch, baby! Bassist David Sierra speaks at the beginning of the tune.



Kenny also played a solo set of his own unique music.  This song, "Bottom of the World," is from his album Under (2007).



I have to say that this was one of the most entertaining, intriguing, fascinating, and pleasurable shows that I have ever been to. Kenny and Sabine are personable, gracious hosts who treat everyone like great friends.  They are wonderful to see live, but if you can't, Alternative Gothis Swamp Lullabies is available through their website.

I am a fan of the of the alternative folk-rock all-female band BLAME SALLY. A rabid, batshit crazy, drooling at the sound of their music fan.  It's kind of embarrassing, but there you go. I have already written several blog reviews of these gals and taken loads of photos.  Last January I got a lovely new HD camcorder and began shooting video, but alas, Blame Sally by then had gotten too famous, selling out music halls with a capacity of hundreds.  Luckily, their fame has allowed members of the band to branch out and record CDs of their individual compositions.  They have also gone out and played solo gigs at smaller venues.  These are great, because they have allowed me to get up close and personal with them and make an intimate video of their performance. I was able to review Monical Pasqual this way in a recent blog.

Recently I hit pay dirt with the duo of Pam Delgado and Jeri Jones, who performed recently at the Acoustic Vortex, which is a living room in a house in Larkspur, CA.  Long-time friends who started playing together in San Luis Obispo in central California, they play regularly as a duo known as The Pam and Jeri Show.  They have an amazing onstage chemistry where it seems that they almost have a telepathic communication with each other.  They play for each other as much as they play for the crowds, and their joy in making music washes over their audience, lifting the spirits of everyone in the room.

The following videos are a nutshell sample of their fabulous performance.  This first one is one of my favorite Blame Sally tunes from their latest album Night of 1000 stars (2009). And if you couldn't tell, it is also on an official video on my profile page as well as a selection on my profile music player.  Naw, I'm not a sufferable rabid fan, am I?



They also played a couple of songs from the older Blame Sally albums.  This is a hauntingly atmospheric version of a raucous country tune by Pam, from Severland (2007), their third CD.



They played several new tunes which will be on their upcoming EP, due out later this month.  I loved the explanation of and performance of this song by Jeri and Pam.



They played several cover songs from the '70's including this song by Elton John, from who some say is his best album, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1974).



The house concert host, Bruce Victor, a musician himself, was invited to sit in on this song "A Thousand Tiny Pieces" by Sean Hayes, without any previous rehearsal.  The song (with Jeri's vocals),  appears on the album Severland.



This last video was of their closing song - a high energy gem by Earth, Wind, and Fire, from their album That's the Way of the World (1975).  I think this was my favorite performance of the night.

This is a repost of a blog originally posted 1/19/09.

At a recent Saturday night Acoustic Vortex house concert, I had the rare opportunity to witness  amazing live performances by two of the best living acoustic guitarists alive. First up was guitar instrumentalist Teja Gerken.



This short bio, which appeared on my Acoustic Vortex evite for this show, sums up what Teja is about:
"Teja is a central figure in the Bay Area acoustic guitar scene.  Born in Germany, he is a seasoned performer whose playing blends myriad influences into a musical style that hovers around the perimeters of folk, contemporary classical, and world music, often involving alternate tunings, right-hand tapping, and percussive effects. His two CDs of original guitar music, On My Way and Postcards, have received much critical acclaim.  Teja is the founder of the Acoustic Guitar Showcase, a monthly event at the Bazaar Cafe in San Francisco.  He is also on the editorial staff of Acoustic Guitar Magazine and hosts the "Guitar Journeys" radio show on KUSF which occur every fourth Monday of the month."

Teja is a fingerstyle guitarist whose style emulates the late Michael Hedges, and is similar to that of his co-performer Vicki Genfan. Check him out for yourself as he plays on an unfamiliar baritone 12-string guitar.





Teja was instrumental in bringing Vicki to this particular house concert, as they are not only good friends, but have also toured together through both the U.S. and Europe.  They do not perform together.  At this concert they each performed two individaul sets.

While Teja was amazing on his guitar, Vicki's performance was phenomenal, its intricacy almost unfathomable.  Modest and unassuming, she plays with a "slap and tap" technique.



While her "slaps" appear random,  her exacting strikes on the strings using the pads of her fingertips at just the pressure needed for perfect resonance and minimal discordant vibration, are applied with the precision of a brain surgeon.  Her other hand, meanwhile, flies up and down the keyboard, finding each note with uncanny accuracy. Below, Vicki plays "Kali Dreams" from Up Close & Personal





While Vicki's sense of hand/eye coordination is the most acute I have ever seen in my life, this was only the tip of the iceberg of the mind-boggling complexity of her music.  Vicki uses a different, alternative, sometimes unorthodox tuning for almost every song she plays.  This means that, without using any tuning aids, only her own ear, she can precisely tune each string to the exact note she wants and acheiving each complete tuning in under 5 minutes, all the while chatting with the audience!  The tunings for each of her songs are posted in her CD liner notes. Examples (normal tuning is E-A-D-G-B-E): 
"Atomic Reshuffle" - Bb-Bb-Eb-G-Ab-Bb
"Norweigian Wood" - D-A-D-E-A-D capo 5
Vicki uses something like 28 different tunings, and will use any of them at any given time during her performance.  She also does not make a set list, but decides what to play pretty much at the moment.  I can only conclude from all this that this chick has the mind of a supercomputer, or she's a Cylon .

Vicki also employs different techniques using her keyboard hand.  Here she approaches the board from above.



On top of being one of the best music composers and guitar instrumentalists in the world (her performance of "Atomic Reshuffle" won her the title of "2008 Guitar Superstar" against all-male competition - see the video of her winning performance on her myspace page), Vicki is also an accomplished singer-songwriter who possesses a quite lovely singing voice with a warm, emotive vibrato.



Vicki mixed her instrumental and vocal performances evenly throughout her sets. She has produced four CDs, three of which are available at CD Baby.  I bought the two that were being sold at this performance, 2006's Up Close and Personal (which includes a CD of instrumental only (up close) and a CD of songs that are vocal-based (personal)), and the newly minted 2008 import Uncovered, the best compilation of cover songs that I have ever heard so far.  It is absolutely wonderful, but so far seems to be only available at Vicki's shows.

One of the songs that Vicki played was The Beatles' "Norwegian Wood" (in fact, it was her opening song).  Below is a video (included in the evite) of a past performance of this song.



This song from Up Close & Personal is a beautiful cover of "Ain't Got Love"



She also played "Atomic Reshuffle" at the end of her 2nd set to a standing ovation from the 60+ mesmerized attendees, prompting an encore song.



I knew that I was witness to something most unique and amazing that night.

When I started on my life-changing musical journey in 2005, Kimrea was one of the first local musicians whose show I caught at the old Sweetwater Saloon in Mill Valley, CA.  It was an open mic and she played several songs solo, then several jazz and bossa nova standards with the crackerjack house band.  I was immediately taken by her amazing voice, great skill on the guitar, and ease on the stage.  Her songwriting style is basically Americana, roots music, and folk-rock, but she has also successfully dabbled in the genres of rock, jazz, bossa nova, R&B, soul, and Country.  She currently has a steady gig with her long-time band Dreamdogs at the No Name Bar, which she uses for rehearsal space for her other gigs and generously invites friends to sit in with the band for fun jams.  Kimrea has released four albums - Dreamdogs (2001), Pre-Platinum: Live at the Sweetwater (2004), Monday Night at the No Name: Live (2005), and Big Time (2007).

I was finally able to get some recordings of this great, consistently excellent band at a community "jam" organized by Kimrea to raise funds to cover expenses for her 19-year-old daughter Barbara (BeeKee) Begley, a sophmore in the Performing Arts program at New York University.  The Tam High grad is there on a scholarship and is a straight-A student, but New York is still a very expensive place to live.  This benefit jam was set in the beautiful 142 Throckmorton Theater.

The Dreamdogs consist of three consummate professional musicians, all of whom perform in multiple bands and other projects.  Guitarist Joe Lococo is the hardest-working full-time musician I have ever met, frequently working a gig with a different band every night, sometimes (as this night) two separate gigs back-to-back on the same night!  Bassist Russ Whitehead and drummer Joost Vonk round out the band.  For this gig, Kimrea invited Jules Broussard Band keyboardist Phil "Roscoe" Gallo to sit in.  They opened the show with Kimrea's song "You Are The One" from Big Time.



There were many guests artists who sat in with the Dreamdogs crossing many genres of music, mostly covering R&B and jazz artists. These guests included Michael Lamacchia, Matt Lax, and Lisa Kindred.  Here, local musician Brian Byrnes tackles the classic "Unchain My Heart."



Guitarist John Cross then covers Grant Green's jazzy instrumental "Cantalope Woman" with notable solos by Joe Lococo and Roscoe Gallo.



There were two guest bands at this gig as well.  I had not even heard of the fantastic alternative Bluegrass band The Brothers Comatose before this, but apparently they have been noticed, as they will be a part of the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival this year.  This quintet performs with a fast-paced, foot-stomping style with smooth harmonies and attention-grabbing, hooky tunes.  They are definitely stars on the rise, a band that excels at their live performances,  and an act not to be missed!  Check them out for yourself:



Brothers Comatose fiddler Philip Brezina then sat in with Kimrea & Dreamdogs for Kimrea's song "Waiting For the Last Train." This was the first time that Philip had even played with the band and so his performance was completely improvised!  It was a beautiful performance all around and clearly the best of the evening.



Kimrea's daughter Barbara, an aspiring actress, singer, and ukulele player, performed several songs with renewed polish and confidence, her considerable natural talent nurtured during her first year at NYU.  Here, she performs a song that mom Kimrea wrote when she was 19:



The show closed with the second guest band,  the amazing Afro-Caribbean funk band James Henry and Hands On Fire.  They got practically everyone in the room up and dancing.  Their songs are incredibly long.  The one I recorded was almost 12 minutes long, too long to post on YouTube (they have a 10-minute limit), but postable on MySpace.  They are a band to be experienced!

James Henry & Hands On Fire


The whole show was one of the best that I'd ever experienced for its gathering of great local musicians and the incredible diversity of music performed.  I invite you to check all these great bands when they perform live in your area.

One of the hottest venues for featuring woman singer-songwriters and female-fronted bands is the Dolores Park Cafe, in the South Castro district of San Francisco.  Although the performance area is shoved up against one wall of the small eatery and rather cramped for bands,  some of the best musicians in the country love to perform there.  I went there previously to listen to the fabulous hard rock band Dolorata, to a standing-room only, spilling out to the street crowd.  What I have found is that the vibe and ambiance of the place during the performances is exciting and amazing.

I recently returned to catch the acts of two local songwriter/pianists and favorites of mine.  The first was Monica Pasqual, of my favorite band in the world, Blame Sally.  Monica has a viable solo career going, with a personal style that is different from that of her band, which she calls "dreamy folk pop."  Her piano style is very atmospheric and passionate, her lyrics profound and emotional.  She is currently completing work on a solo album. The songs below will be on this new CD.  Studio versions of these songs can be heard on her music player.  The set opened with "These Darkened Days" (lyrics posted on Monica's blog), using Margrit Eichler's famous decal-covered piano.



This next song, "I Knew You When" is, I think, one of her most beautiful, emotion-filled songs, and also featured on her player.  She had started to play another song, but changed her mind.  Apparently, some of her songs are too emotional even for her to perform in public.  I guess we all will have to buy her upcoming album to listen to those gems.



Of course the night would not be complete without Monica performing at least one of her contributions to Blame Sally, so she played an alternate version of their moderate hit "Fillmore Street" from Severland (2007) (which has been re-recorded by Blame Sally for a new live album which will be released soon),  done in her distinct "dreamy folk pop" style.



Next up was the piano-driven energetic power-pop trio True Margrit.  Led by singer-songwriter Margrit Eichler (who is also a sound engineer and owns a recording studio), the band also features bassist Gary Hobish (also a sound engineer who owns a mastering business) and drummer Andrew Bacon.  They have just finished a new album, The Juggler's Progress (2009), which has its release date in October.  They have two previous albums,  Deceptively True (1999), and Seaworthy (2005), available at CD Baby.  Below is the song "The Opposite Man" from the new album.



Most of the songs in the set were from their new album, but they also played a few from Seaworthy.  This next song is one of my favorites from that album.



Two more True Margrit songs from this performance can also be found here.  There are also more videos on their website.

Great stuff. I hope that you support these wonderful artists by going to concerts and buying their music!

I have known about Los Angeles-based Russian singer-songwriter Marina V for a couple of years now.  Her music is bright, piano-driven alternative pop featuring her beautiful, classically-trained soprano vocals.  She is an extremely hard-working musician, constantly on tour between recording and promoting her substantial body of work.  Her five albums are available for purchase on her website, and if you buy them here, she will gladly autograph them for you, and will not have to give up her profits to a middleman, such as CD Baby, where they are also available.  They are: Something of My Own (2003), Simple Magic (2005), Russian Bootleg (all in Russian) (2006), Live at Soundmoves (2006) (sold out, but Marina will make a CDrom for you), and Modern Fairytale (2008).  She is also trying to raise money to finish her new album, Unbalanced, and is selling a pre-release copy with the first five songs from the new album at her shows.

I was lucky that she was able to book this gig at the G Spot, the home of my good friend, singer-songwriter Susan Z, who, with the Help of her husband Mike, set up a lovely stage with a good sound system and lighting in her back yard.



Susan opened the show by playing several of her tunes on Marina's piano and Nick Baker's guitar.



Marina then took the stage with her partner Nick Baker on guitar.  Here she performs the title song from her forthcoming album Unbalanced.



She played several songs solo also. Here she plays "Babushka (Grandmother)" from Modern Fairytale, in her native Russian language.



Marina engaged the audience with delightful stage banter as she talked about her life, her work, and the origin of her songs. Here she performs "Killing My Dream," about a former friend who turned out to be a S.O.B., from the album Simple Magic, with Nick on guitar.  There were a lot of children at this concert who were playing together, laughing and shrieking, and totally oblivious to the musical performance going on, so that is what you hear during this song.



At the end of her set, Marina performed "Make This Minute Last" from Simple Magic.  During this song, Susan's 4-year-old Rachel, decided to gift Marina with a little stick-on heart with a picture of Snow White on it which she placed on top of her piano. Then Rachel came over and gave one to me too, while I was filming! LOL! This song was too beautiful to not post over a little thing like that, though.



The audience sat entranced under the decorative Christmas lights strung up by Susan and Mike's lighting spots.



After her set, I was able to speak with Marina V at length and found her to be one of the most delightful people I have ever met.  She is beautiful inside and out.  She is currently on tour (check out her website to find out if she is playing near you, and then go!).  She is well worth supporting as an independent artist!  Also I want to give a huge THANK YOU to Susan Z for opening her home for touring artists and hosting Marina!!

I had initially gone to this Acoustic Vortex house concert to support my great friend and wonderful singer-songwriter Susan Z and to videorecord some of her performances, particularly the song "Angelo (Boys Like That)" a song written for piano, which can be heard on Susan's MySpace player.  When I arrived at the venue, however, there was no piano or keyboard in sight, and I thought, "Well, crap."  Susan plays the piano beautifully, and I was a little disappointed.  But then she told me that she had been rehearsing with the other performer at this gig, songwriter and guitarist Brian Gore, and that they would collaborate on several songs.  Apparently Brian had written the music for guitar for "Angelo" and would play while Susan sang it. I could hardly wait to hear this version, but by the end of the show, they still hadn't played it, and had forgotten all about it!  Yeesh,  but at least I was able to capture a few other collaborations, and these are the best of those.  These performances were done without the use of the sound system, so are completely acoustic. The first video is of Susan's composition "Falling" with Brian providing some extra guitar.



These next two videos are examples of Brian's beautiful, atmospheric songwriting.  He does not sing himself, but chooses talented singers like Susan to interpret his lyrics in their own styles.  I consider myself so lucky to have been witness to this particular collaboration.





Finally, I have to say that I was very, very taken by Brian's beautiful guitar style and totally, and unexpectedly, fell in love with it.  He has several CDs for sale, but I wasn't expecting to buy any since I already had all of Susan's, so I didn't bring any money to buy them with.  So, I am posting this video featuring Brian's signature sound, and you'll probably love him too...



Hopefully there will be another collaboration between Susan and Brian in the future!

Cindy Buck has become one of the best promoters, supporters, and presenters of independent music in the San Francisco Bay Area.  Her focus is on showcasing and providing venues for female singer-songwriters and female-fronted bands, though this is not exclusive, as several top male musicians have also performed at her venues.   One of her greatest achievements is her yard concert series, which is held in the backyard of her home in the East Bay hills.  The large, grassy yard boasts a large stage, professional sound system, a BBQ lunch, lawn chair seating, easy-access facilities, and well-worth the sliding-scale entrance fee, all of which goes to the musicians performing for that day.  On this day I had the privilege of watching three amazing acts who demonstrated a wonderful diversity of music styles.


First up was contemporary folk singer-songwriter Blair Hansen, who writes very personal songs about issues concerning religion, politics, and social freedom.

Blair has two CDs out, Blair Hansen (2003) and Smile (2005), with a third coming soon. I was blown away by her strong, devastatingly emotive and beautiful vocals, demonstrated here with the song "So You Think," about a former best friend's issues with religion.   



Next up was a fantastic trio from Austin, TX, Shotgun Party.  Fronted by singer-guitarist Jenny Parrott who is also the principal songwriter for the band, it also boasts fiddler extraordinaire Katy Rose Cox (more on her later) and recent addition Andrew Thomas Austin-Petersen on upright bass.

Shotgun Party is currently on tour, promoting their just-released new CD Mean Old Way (2009), which for now is only available at their shows.  Their debut CD Shotgun Party (2007), which features a different bass player, is available at CD Baby.  The music style of Shotgun Party is hard to categorize, but to me it is the most amazing amalgam of Texas Swing, Old Time, Country, and Folk, thanks to Jenny's ingenious songwriting abilities.  This video of the song "Moonlight" from their new CD represents the unique style of this fun band.



Katy Rose Cox is integral to Shotgun Party; without her this band would not exist.  But being the highly talented fiddler that she is, she is also involved with several other projects and bands.  After her tour with SP promoting Mean Old Way, Katy will be starting another tour with her Bluegrass/Country band The Maybelles.  She also spends time with her alternative punk/Bluegrass band UncleFucker (I believe that's her in the profile pic ) of New York.  Katy also picks up the mandolin on occasion, playing a song on it during her SP set.  The violin is her forte, though, as she demonstrates on the beautiful Latin folk song "Y Yo" written by Jenny for the new CD, in the video below.  I have to say that I was totally in love with Shotgun Party (as I believe the rest of the audience was) by the conclusion of their set.



Last up was the Rock/Country quartet The Lynn Bobby Band.  Fronted by songwriter and guitarist Lynn Bobby, the band also features lead guitarist Howard Vatcher, bass player Don Vatcher (Howard's brother), and drummer Kenny Susan.  They have a new CD out which apparently is only available at shows.  I had the CD in my hand but could not buy it as I had run out of cash, so I don't even know the name of it, drat it all.  The Lynn Bobby Band is local, however, so I will be able to catch this great band at a later time.

I forgot to mention that it was unseasonably cold for this late May outdoor concert, with a drizzly marine layer and biting wind.  The gals of Shotgun Party had a particularly hard time keeping their hands warm during their set, and we in the audience were bundled up like for winter and generally freezing our asses off.  Cindy eventually built a small bonfire on the patio which provided some welcome warmth (as well as a bit of smoke) for all.  Thus the meaning of the banter at the beginning of this video for the song "Keep My Love Around" which can also be heard on their MySpace player. 



Lynn can also write beautiful ballads.  This atmospheric, dreamy song, "Beneath the Surface," is my favorite.  The recorded version can also be heard on their player.



I must mention that the excellent sound quality of these videos is the result of the work of professional sound engineer Dana Jae, who has made these yard concerts immensely enjoyable for artists and fans alike.


This yard concert was amazing, and Bay Area concert-goers can look forward to two more of these fabulous productions,  as well as several other shows produced by Cindy and shows produced in conjunction with WomenGig and Fabulosa Fest Women's Music and Art Festival.  All lovers of live music should make a date to attend these concert venues and support these wonderful and highly enjoyable independent musicians!

Heather Combs is one of my most favorite singer-songwriters, and I have had the greatest pleasure of watching her live performances on numerous occacions (she is in at least four of my photoblogs).  Her house concert appearances are ledgendary.  Any singer-songwriter who is fortunate enough to share a house concert bill with her is automatically treated to a full house of enthusiastic amd appreciative music fans.  Here, at a KC Turner house concert,  fans were treated to the lovely folk/Americana stylings of Pennsylvania-based Christine Havrilla.  Both Heather and Christine are prolific songwriters ( see Heather's CD's and Christine's CD's, Heather  also has a new FABULOUS just-released 6-song EP, Rough Cuts (2009) ), masterful musicians, and have amazing stage presence.  I jumped at the opportunity to film their performances in a beautiful house on a hill.  The living room had great acoustics, but the lighting could have been better for filming.



They shared the stage, trading off on songs, and backing each other with vocals, instrumentals, or both.  Both singers encouraged audience participation.  Here Heather explains the origin of her song "Big Black Heart."



Then Christine played her song "Undone" from her CD Ruby Red (2005), with some beautiful backing vocals by Heather.



Concertgoers all brought libations to share, so there was plenty of local wine and microbrewed ales.  As the night wore on, the house concert became one big party.  Here, Christine performs "Fresh Sanity" from her newest CD In My Chair (2008), with Heather on shakers (and she didn't spill a drop!!).



Finally, Heather played my FAVORITE song which is the ONE song I wanted to film (the others are just frosting on the cake), "Independence Day."  Other than at her concerts, the ONLY place where you can hear this song is on her new EP, Rough Cuts (2009), which is kind of an ironic title, because it is one of the BEST EPs I have ever heard!  Heather produced the whole thing herself, at her home, and it is completely professional-sounding.  "Rough Cuts" my a$$!!  Anyway, I HIGHLY recommend this EP!  Right now I believe it is only available at her concerts. It is an AMAZING rock mini-album.  In this video, Heather corners Christine into playing an impromptu solo, which she executes with the perfection of a seasoned musician.  This was the highlight of the evening.



This was a great night of music. If this doesn't convince everyone reading this to get over to the next house concert near you, I don't know what will.

I had first heard of the Los Angeles-based band Saucy Monky from my dear friend Vagabond Tom, a huge fan of Annmarie Cullen (evidenced by the giant photo of her posted on his page).  About a week ago I happened to notice on my updates that Annmarie had posted a blog inviting fans to join her facebook page. Once there I read her wall post about her excitement of playing a house concert in San Francisco!  The gig was posted on the Saucy Monky myspace page, so I was able to contact Paul, the host and get my RSVP in right before it sold out. 

Saucy Monky is an alternative rock band featuring the collaboration of its two singer-songwriters,  Annmarie and Cynthia Catania, with two other members (currently Steve Giles and Megan Jane, respectively) on bass and drums.  For acoustic shows such as this house concert, they perform as a duo.



Cynthia has produced several Saucy Monky CD's through her record label olivoiL Records, three of which are available at CD Baby - Celebrity Trash(2003), Turbulence(2004), and the newly-released EP Between the Bars(2008).  She also has released two discs as a solo artist - Cynthia Catania(2000) and Missing Venus(2008). 



Annmarie grew up in Ireland and started out as a solo singer-songwriter before she met up with Cynthia.  She has that sweet fun-loving Irish personality and copious amounts of charm, grabbing the attention and appreciation of every male (and female) in that packed room like the pied piper.  She says that she doesn't have an accent, but it does come out at times.  While Cynthia does the record producing, Annmarie handles the producing and directing of the official Saucy Monky videos.  It was apparent from her smiling demeanor and comfort on stage, that she lives to perform.



As electric guitarists, they played their acoustic guitars positioned low around their hips in the classic rock style.  Their famous harmonies were perfectly suited for this unplugged venue, and, according to a concertgoer who had recently seen the full band perform in San Diego, much clearer without the added amplified instrumentation.



They played two sets of approximately 45 minutes each with a short intermission in between, mixing songs from their CDs as well as some new, unreleased material.  I always find it fascinating to hear acoustic versions of their electrified rock songs.  Below is a lovely rendition of what is probably their signature song, "Disco Ball" (two different mixes can be heard on their CD Celebrity Trash), a version of which can be heard on their MySpace player, as well as on the U.S. version of Turbulence (the copy I bought at the show did not have this remix on it, must have been the European version).



This was one of the best house concerts I have ever been to.  It was a nice living room, lovely host, full house of wildly receptive music lovers, two immensely talented, engaging, and smokin' hot singer-songwriters who gave an amazing performance, plenty of wine, ale, and juice to drink, a huge chocolate cake and lots of fantastic homemade cookies!  In other words, a perfect evening.