Kaki King at Public Works, April 3, 2015

Public Works presents Kaki King, with Christopher Willits and Shovelman
2015-04-03
Public Works
161 Erie Street, San Francisco, CA 94103
8:00 PM, Friday, April 3, 2015

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2015 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2015 event list! ☸ On to the next event!

[8:37 PM lights down]

1. [8:38 PM] ?
2. [8:45 PM] ?
3. [8:55 PM] ?
4. [9:02 PM] ?
5. [9:08 PM] ?
   [set ends 9:17 PM]

[9:25 PM lights down]

1. [9:25 PM] In the Beginning
2. [9:37 PM] Thoughts are Born
3. [9:42 PM] Notes and Colours
4. [9:47 PM] Ooblek
5. [9:52 PM] Anthropomorph
6. [9:56 PM] The Surface Changes
7. [10:00 PM] Trying to Speak I
8. [10:07 PM] Trying to Speak II
9. [10:11 PM] It Runs and Breathes
10. [10:19 PM] Battle is a Learning
11. [10:23 PM] We Did Not Make The Instrument, The Instrument Made Us
    [set ends 10:28 PM; pause to get CW's rig set up]
     
    Encore with Christopher Willits
12. [10:43 PM] ? (untitled improvisation)
    [show ends 10:58 PM]

[umm, I went home. Kinda lame, I know, but I didn't have the juice to sit around for another few hours…another one of the sad side effects of getting older]

• ShOvELmAn: barn shovel slide guitar, harmonica, loops, vox;
• Kaki King: acoustic guitar, effects;
• Christopher Willits: guitar, midi guitar, vox.

Got a break with traffic tonight and ended up zipping over to SF about thirty minutes faster than originally projected. This might sound good in theory, but except for getting us front row seats, the result is that we ended up with significantly more time to kill than originally planned, and sitting outside in the chilly wind blasting across the streetscape was not very pleasant. Cooold for April!

Warmed up a little once we got inside, but the chill lingers in my hands and feet even now. Oi! Wish I'd worn thicker jeans!

Eventually it's time to go, and shovelman takes the stage. Over the next 45 minutes he proceeds to set up a half dozen loop based blues tunes, using his electric shovel to set up percussion, droning bass, and shimmery slide links, sometimes adding harmonica or gruff vocals. The gimmick has worn a little thin by the end of his set, but I'd see him again in a couple years, assuming that he'll improve with practice, and that his repertoire will broaden a bit.

Set break is short, and soon enough the room goes dark for the main event. Music fills the room as lights begin to dance across the surface of Kaki's guitar. Showtime!

The next hour it's a fantastic trip, similar by a huge variety of images and a correspondingly broad array of sounds. It's hard to imagine that all of the sound was coming solely from Kaki's guitar, and I wouldn't be surprised to find that she was relying on pedal controlled backing tracks or other prerecorded aids in addition to her regular looping tools. Which isn't meant to be a cut of any kind, only an observation – I was spellbound by the gig! I dunno if I'd see this particular show again, but I'm certainly interested in hearing more from Kaki King in the future.

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2015 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2015 event list! ☸ On to the next event!