A Benefit for the Seva Foundation featuring Chris Robinson Brotherhood, the Fall Risk, Corinne West Band, and Wavy Gravy
2014-06-30
Mystic Theatre
23 Petaluma Blvd, North Petaluma, CA
8:00 PM, Monday, June 30, 2014
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[7:57 PM Wavy Gravy takes his throne, announcements]
[8:38 PM onstage, ready; 8:41 PM Wavy Gravy introduces the band]
[Wavy yacks throughout most of the break as the roadies get things all set up – relating “I was a teenage beatnik” and other stories]
[10:06 PM Wavy introduces CRB]
The ride up to Petaluma was surprisingly easy tonight, with only the slightest bit of slow traffic along the east shore freeway in Berkeley and then again on 101 where it narrows beyond Novato – in other words, the usual messy spots! But we arrived quickly, and without significant stress. Walking up to the box office, I was a little perturbed to hear that our tickets were NOT at will call like I expected. Fortunately, I was able to pull up the proper bar codes from my email, so except for setting nerves on edge, all worked out just fine.
Inside, the theater is still pretty empty. Ting heads for the rail, her choice of spot tonight; in retrospect,I should have pushed for the center drink rail at the front of the first tier, sound would have been much better there than next to the pA, but that's 20-20 hindsight for ya! Little by little, the crowd fills in, and by showtime, the venue is about half full…just about right considering that the headliner won't be on for at least two hours! I'm happy to see that Joe Kyle Jr and Barry Sless are backing up Corinne West tonight…makes that folky singer-songwriter thing a little more interesting to have a solid foundation and some rolling pedal steel. A couple tunes in, I'm surprised to see Barry get up and strap on an acoustic guitar – can't recall seeing that before!, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised given how shoddy my memory works sometimes. Corinne delivers a good set, and for the most part, the crowd is well behaved. Sound in the front is kinda whack – loud vocals with only the slightest bit of instrumental mix from the PA, then hardly more than ambient sound from the stage – almost as if the amps are all turned down to !!one!!. Not my first choice for a mix, but tolerable.
After a quick stage turnover, the Fall Risk is up next. First time for me seeing them with James Deprato on lead guitar. Seems like he learned the tunes well enough! I enjoy their set…good bunch o' guys! Space Trucking seems like a strange cover choice, especially given that Sam's no longer in the band to offer a raging organ solo ala Jon Lord! Jeff does his best to shriek and wail like Ian Gillan, but in the end, I have to think that tune remains better as a young man's choice for vocal shredding. Anyways, a surprise right out of left field. Be interesting to find out if that's been in rotation for awhile or not.
After Fall Risk takes their bows, we get twenty minutes of storytelling from famous clown (and delicious ice cream flavor) Wavy Gravy while the stage gear is broken down and then rebuilt for CRB. Wavy is definitely looking a bit worse for the wear these days, and he spends most of the time sitting in a throne instead of standing. His stories are mostly pretty funny, and as far as I recall, more or less all new to me. At one point he reads an old poem to us, and with each reference to an object of the past (typewriter! phone booth! VW bug!) I'm struck by the passage of time, and how it has the power to transform the vivid kodachrome memories of the present in sepia-tinged monoprints of a distant past.
CRB thoughts, four months later? Um yeah! Go brain cells, go! It was a great show, and I'm really glad that we decided to haul all the way out to Petaluma. CRB is the bomb!
Back to the previous event ☸ Back to the 2014 yearbox ☸ Back to the 2014 event list! ☸ On to the next event!