By: Andrea Myers
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Dan Israel headlined the Eclectone Records showcase at the Varsity Saturday night - Photo by David de Young
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In a stroke of sheer dumb luck I strolled into the Varsity Theater just in time to hear Mike Nicolai strum his first chord. Nicolai stood alone on the huge stage, bathed in red and purple lights and crooning a verse of sweetly cynical lyrics. Concert-goers trickled in steadily during the first few sets, dispersing into the cabaret tables and filling the room. As he breezed through his five song set, Nicolai played a few songs from last year's God Fatigue in the Post Atom Age, including "Lifesucker Waltz" and "Silly Putty."
Nicolai's set kicked off an evening dedicated to the artists on the local label Eclectone Records. Other acts on the bill included John Ewing, Mark Stockert, Robert McCreedy, Martin Devaney, Big Ditch Road, Dan Israel, and a spread of special guests.
John Ewing played a short solo acoustic set, taking the stage in a cowboy hat with a harmonica strung around his neck. Ewing played mostly slow, pensive songs about love and booze, in typical folk cowboy fashion. As the venue continued to fill, many grabbed seats on the carpet in the middle of the room, sitting cross-legged and quiet like audience members at a story hour, or a poetry reading. It seemed that the mellow nature of the singer-songwriter showcase was going to make the evening a sit-down, eyes closed sort of affair, and for variety I was hoping that some of the later full-band acts would spice things up a bit.
In a more dynamic set, Mark Stockert played with an all-star cast that included cellist Margaret Hegg (Shimmy), bass player Peter J. Sands (The Honeydogs), and Brian O'Neil (Big Ditch Road) on pedal steel. What started as a slow, meandering set eventually crescendoed into the fierce song "Devil," which featured guest vocalist Amy Bukstein (also of Big Ditch Road) and the chilling lyrics, "Sometimes I dance with the devil, sometimes I hold her hand / sometimes I pray to the Lord, she's not a jealous man" The band clicked together especially well in the last few minutes, roaring and groaning and putting out a much-needed wall of dark sound.
In keeping with the guest appearances theme, Robert McCreedy borrowed Brian O'Neil again to play bass, and invited young violinist Zach Cline on stage to play a soulful, impressive guest solo. The pace continued to quicken as McCreedy played more up-tempo songs, feeding off the energy of the swelling crowd as the audience reached its largest size of the evening. Label head Martin Devaney hopped up on stage to sing vocal harmonies on the last song, and as McCreedy wrapped up and the clock struck midnight there were still three huge acts left in the showcase. It was going to be a late night.
In what was arguably the best set of the evening, Martin Devaney had the good graces to invite local blues siren JoAnna James to accompany his regular touring band. The set began with a duet between Martin and JoAnna, a new song from Ms. James that left the audience hushed and a little stunned. James radiated an energy that seemed to flow into everyone around her, including Devaney and his band, as they segued into a sampler of new material off of his forthcoming release. Many, if not all, of the new songs had been previewed at a sparsely-attended solo performance by Martin at Roadrunner Records earlier this month, and it was interesting to hear the songs with full band accompaniment. One song, "Flowers on Your Doorstep," featured James playing a beautiful violin part, and O'Neil back on stage again (he had a marathon evening, playing four sets back-to-back by the end of the night) on the pedal steel. Another song featured Josh Peterson and his beyond-this-realm guitar abilities, which Mark Stockert summarized by saying, "He really shouldn’t be able to play guitar as well as he can, but he does it somehow."
By the time Devaney finished his six-song set the clock was marching furiously on and there was only an hour remaining for the last two bands. Big Ditch Road took the stage first, burning through four great songs from their most recent album, Suicide Note Reader's Companion. Perhaps because of the time constraints, BDR played a straightforward, no-frills set that left the listener longing for more. Don't get me wrong - the folks in BDR are one talented bunch and the set they played was technically sound, but there was a definite rush to their set and the anxiety from the time constraints seemed to throw off the normal, down-home BDR vibe.
By 1:30 a.m. it was finally time for Dan Israel and the Cultivators to take the stage, and a large portion of the crowd had gone home. As an artist who has put out seven local records and only recently begun to receive any significant press coverage, Dan has frequently been touted as one of the hardest working local musicians, and he did not appear fazed by the shortened time he had on stage or the dwindling crowd. Israel played a rousing set, favoring the more upbeat tracks off of last year's self-titled release. With Randy Casey sitting in on guitar, and Dave Russ and Kris Bowring filling in the rhythm section, the normally acoustic songs came to life and caused a few of the remaining audience members (this reviewer included) to spring up out of the seats and dance for the first time that evening. Songs that sounded especially great with the band accompaniment were "Good Times" and "Turnin' it Down," and Casey pumped even more life into the songs with a weeping, wailing slide guitar part.
One of the best moments of the evening happened just after two o'clock, as Dan called up a few of his Eclectone pals to sing a rousing rendition of the Stones' "Let it Bleed." Hovering together around the microphone were Martin Devaney, Mark Stockert, Darin Wald of BDR, and Israel, and for one clear moment the purpose of the Eclectone label was blatantly obvious: the individual artists are everyday, laborious roots-rock heroes, but when you put them together they truly become a force to be reckoned with.
Location Info:
The Varsity Theater
Artist Info: Big Ditch Road, Dan Israel, John Ewing, Mark Stockert, Martin Devaney, Mike Nicolai, Robert McCreedy
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