Posted: Thu Jan 21, 2010 8:25 pm Post subject: Robben's acoustic set at Throckmorton Theatre Feb 20th
Robben just booked a gig at the wonderful 142 Thockmorton Theatre in Mill Valley, CA on Sat Feb 20th, joined by Toss Panos and guitarist Jonathan McQuen. And I have the joy of opening for him with pianist Michele Brourman. Hope to see you there!
Joined: 19 Sep 2003 Posts: 646 Location: City of Trees, USA
Posted: Tue Feb 16, 2010 3:48 pm Post subject:
I'll be there! (And hope to have a chance to say "hello," Anne.) This should be even more fun than the first one. And will Robben be playing the drums a bit for you again? _________________ - BlueRunner
It was another night of magic at Mill Valley’s venerable Throckmorton, the cozy 95-year-old movie house that’s now home to music, theatre and community events. Billed as “an intimate evening of original music as well as some classic blues,” the show brought out a wide variety of Mill Valley locals, cabaret fans who’d heard Anne sing last fall at the 142 Throckmorton in her Kurt Weill-based “Bilbao Moon” production, and long-travelling Robben Ford aficionados. None were disappointed.
Introduced by Robben (as “one of my favorite singers, for obvious reasons, including that she’s a great singer!”), Anne Kerry Ford opened the show, accompanied by long-time friend Michele Brourman on piano. When Anne sings, the word “intimate” just seems too stand-offish. She connects with an audience like no one else, bringing artistry, precision and soul to every number she sings. Among the highlights were Landesman and Wolff’s classic “Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most,” from 1955, and the Ira Gershwin (“George’s lovely wife Ira,” as Anne likes to quip) and Kurt Weill collaboration “My Ship,” from the 1941 Broadway show “Lady in the Dark.”
After a brief intermission (and a chance to say “hi” to Volker Strifler, who was there as just a fan, and Pat Ford, working as both guitar and drum tech for Robben and Toss), it was Robben’s turn, starting solo (poignantly, on a guitar built for him by his friend Taku Sakashta, who had been brutally murdered only two weeks before by an intruder at his nearby Rohnert Park shop, as if to let Taku’s soul continue to sing through his instruments). Then out came Toss Panos, who must have a PhD in physics, the way he can make time bend at his whim. The two were then joined by Robben’s “special guest,” Jonathan McEuen.
Highlights included Robben’s amazing new arrangement of the Blind Willie Johnson classic “Soul of a Man,” and Robben and Jonathan sharing vocal duties and passing the bass guitar back and forth for Jonathan’s “Stone Cold World” and “The Day I Made the Devil Cry.” Robben’s voice just gets better and better, and his performance of “Don’t Worry ‘Bout Me” from the recent “Soul on Ten” CD was a revelation. (In introducing Anne, Robben credited her with teaching him how to write lyrics. If the contemplative “When something goes by, it just goes by; when something comes down it just comes down,” from “Don’t Worry ‘Bout Me” is any indication, Robben’s going spiritual places few bluesmen have gone before.)
Jonathan, the talented son of Nitty Gritty Dirt Band founder John McEuen, is making the big jump from Ventura, California, to Nashville USA, with three excellent CDs already out. He’s got a great Buck Owens sensibility (he carries a cell phone with a Bakersfield area code, “just for the ambience,” he told me), which paid dividends when it came encore time, when Robben, Jonathan and Toss launched into “Fool Around,” Jonathan’s 2006 country hit, co-recorded with his friend (and son of another Dirt Band founder, Jeff Hanna) Jaime Hannah. Robben (on his white ‘Tele, of course) was having the time of his life channeling the late Don Rich, and if in between touring with Robben and recording with hundreds of jazz and blues greats, Toss ever gets bored, I’m sure there’d be room for him in Nashville.
Joined: 17 Jul 2003 Posts: 908 Location: Tampa Bay, FL
Posted: Wed Feb 24, 2010 8:58 am Post subject: Thanks!
Thanks for the great review, BlueRunner! I'm sure your Sacramento Blues Society readers will enjoy it too! _________________ Travelling by train of thought
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I'll be there! (And hope to have a chance to say "hello," Anne.) This should be even more fun than the first one. And will Robben be playing the drums a bit for you again?
