Sweetwater Music Hall presents Hard Working Americans and Jerry Joseph
2015-12-18
Sweetwater Music Hall
19 Corte Madera Ave, Mill Valley, CA 94941
9:00 PM, Friday, December 18, 2015
Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2015 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2015 event list! ☸ On to the next event!
[9:16 PM lights down, Jerry alone with an acoustic]
[10:16 PM lights down]
Hey diddly ho, what a dang killer show! I was a little surprised to see how empty the hall was when we walked in at showtime, but this made a bit more sense once I heard that HWA didn't start their set until 10:30 PM last night. Heck! All that rushing for nothing! Oh well, made it safely, and got pretty much the exact same parking spot as our last two visits. Strangely fortunate that bit!
Anyways, a healthy crowd materialized in the next fifteen minutes, so there were plenty of us present to greet Jerry Joseph when he took the stage around 9:15 PM. Dressed in a woolen winter cap, a long scarf, and a sleeveless shirt, Jerry appeared a bit like a wizened old elf: appropriate to the season, eh? It was fun to hear him in this setting, but by halfway through his set, the din of the crowd socializing around me had grown loud enough to annoy even Jerry, who paused to make a snarky wisecrack about giving a career-defining performance tonight for anyone who cared to listen.
He introduced the next tune, the Sound of the Sinners, as being written by Joe Strummer, and it turned out to be an epic, stretching out over nearly 20 minutes. Wow! Would have been even better with a more attentive crowd, but that didn't stop Jerry from pouring his heart out. Well done! Looking things up after the fact, I was surprised to find that it's a deep cut from Sandinista! – I thought I knew that album pretty well, but I guess that one must not have previously grabbed my attention!
At set break I retreated to the sidewall banquet seating in order to rest my knees, which was great until the woman next to me spilled a cup of water on the ledge above us. Time to move! Reseated myself in an open spot on the stage lip for a bit more rest, then shuffled back to my center spot once Neal took the stage to tune his guitar.
First set from HWA was a fun romp, mostly following a fast-slow-fast pattern with the tunes. Rile us up, then settle 'em down. And do it again! Todd was his usual spastic and spacey self, at one point knocking his mic stand into the front row – bohica! – and soon thereafter, managing to unscrew it from its base. Fun to watch, if only to observe how different he is from most folks. Ting mentioned after the show that she thought Todd's toes were long enough to qualify as fingers. “Maybe he acts so strange because he's an alien,” she asserted. Hmmmn. Could be so! I was a little surprised when they called a stop for a set break (and according to a Dec 20 post on the band's Facebook page, it was their first ever such effort). Nothing wrong with taking a break when you need it!
And the second set? After a blast through Jerry Jeff Walker's classic Don't It Make You Wanna Dance?, the band stumbled a little when Bob Weir joined them for Wang Dang Doodle, but I'm gonna blame that on Weir spacing out the lyrics to the first few lines, and the fact that the band members may have been a little nervous about the sit in. And then? Holy Shit! They started Blackland Farmer and whammo!! Lift-off! Like a rocket blasting into the stratosphere, the band took us all way, way, way out into uncharted territory and back, cruising for a few moments through the familiar refrain of New Speedway Boogie before falling back into Blackland Farmer for the conclusion. What a ride! “Do it again!,” I cried, but all that got me was a nervous laugh from the guy on my right. And he thought I was kidding. The rest of the show was solid gold. Double plus good rock and roll. Makes me sorry that I couldn't carve time out of my schedule for one or more of the earlier shows in the run. Note to self: these guys are worth seeing over and over! Let's hope they keep getting together on a regular basis!
Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2015 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2015 event list! ☸ On to the next event!