Shinyribs at Sweetwater Music Hall, July 28, 2018

Sweetwater Music Hall presents Shinyribs, with opener, Evan & the Live Oaks
19 Corte Madera Ave, Mill Valley, CA 94941 USA
9:00 PM, Saturday, July 28, 2018

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[8:57 PM band out; lights down]

1. [8:58 PM] Otherside
   [Add Ginger]
2. [9:04 PM] Feelin' Free
   [DE swaps to acoustic guitar]
3. [9:10 PM] Sutro Tower
4. [9:14 PM] Workin' Man
   [DE swaps back to guitar]
5. [9:19 PM] Quinn the Eskimo
6. [9:25 PM] Home
7. [9:29 PM] Smoking on Sunday
8. [9:33 PM] Maybe Later
9. [9:37 PM] Get Me Out of California
10. [9:40 PM] Builder
    [set ends 9:47 PM]

Evan & the Live Oaks

• Russell Bourne: guitar;
• Daniel Erik: guitar, acoustic guitar;
• Milo Horstman: guitar;
• Steve Jaeger: bass, harmony vox;
• Ginger LaFontaine AKA Annie Simmons: tambourine, lead and harmony vox;
• Evan Lanam: drums, vox.

[10:14 PM lights down, announcements, band out]

1. [10:15 PM] Red Quasar
   [KR on blue Gibson guitar]
2. [10:19 PM] A Certain Girl
   [KR takes off the guitar]
3. [10:24 PM] Walt Disney
4. [10:29 PM] I Gave Up All I Had
5. [10:33 PM] Baby What's Wrong With You?
6. [10:42 PM] Sweet Potato
   [KR picks up the Gibson]
7. [10:53 PM] No Diggity
   [Band off, KR on guitalele]
8. [10:59 PM] Escalade
   [Girls back, KR swaps to Gibson]
9. [11:02 PM] Take Me to the Alley
   [Band back, KR swaps back to guitalele]
10. [11:06 PM] Bitch Better Have My Money
11. [11:10 PM] I Got Your Medicine
12. [11:14 PM] Don't Leave It a Lie
13. [11:19 PM] Golden Years (with an extended tease of Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except for Me and My Monkey)
    [KR picks up the guitalele again]
14. [11:26 PM] Who Built the Moon
15. [11:31 PM] Waterfalls
16. [11:36 AM] Take Me to Lake Charles
    [11:39 PM KR swaps from guitalele to the Gibson; guitar off later for drivin' and testifyin']
    [set ends 11:48 PM, all off]
    
    Encore
    [11:50 PM KR back, on 8-string ukulele, with both girls]
17. [11:50 PM] Brookfield Pancakes, err, damned autoderange; that's supposed to read: Brokedown Palace
    [Band back, KR swaps to the Gibson]
18. [11:56 PM] You Never Get Too Big and You Sure Don't Get Too Heavy
    [KR: swap to 8-string ukulele]
19. [11:59 PM] Poor People Store » ? » Swingtown » ?
    [show ends 12:10 AM]

Shinyribs

• Jeff Brown: bass;
• Winfield Cheek: Hammond Sk2 keyboard;
• Keith Langford: drums;
• Kevin Russell: 6-string guitalele, 8-string ukulele, guitar, vox;
  
  with the Shiny Soul Sisters:
• Kelley Mickwee: harmony vox;
• Alice Spencer: harmony vox;
  
  and the Tijuana Train Wreck Horns:
• Tiger Anaya: trumpet, trombone, harmony vox;
• Mark Wilson: baritone saxophone, tenor saxophone, flute.

Ting and I were lucky to catch a great show at the Sweetwater Music Hall last night from Shinyribs, AKA Kevin Russell (late of the Gourds) and crew.

The crowd was pretty sparse for the opener, Evan & the Live Oaks, which meant we had plenty of room to dance and get warmed up for the main event.

Most of their set were Evan's original tunes, and while they were OK, nothing really caught my ear as “the next big thing”. After their set, Ting mentioned that she'd like to see them again, but I bet that was based on hearing the Mighty Quinn. Personally, I think I could wait awhile: give the folks time to grow into their playing skills and to continue the practice of song-writing. To mess with an Arlo quote: it's easy enough to catch songs from the Big River, the trouble is learning which ones to keep and which ones to throw back. And don't fish downstream from Bob Dylan.

Thirty minutes later, the crowd had grown much thicker, and everyone was rarin' to go. Seemed to me like a mix of seasoned (older) fans who knew exactly what they were in for and an all-age blend of locals out to enjoy Saturday night at the hometown hot spot. Shall we get it on?

Kevin came out in a powder blue suit and blue suede wing-tips, dancing and moaning and pleading and sweating over the first three numbers as he and the band worked the crowd into a gleeful, bouncing frenzy. Looking for someone to lead you to the promised land? Ladies and gentleman, let me introduce you to your high priest and chief celebrant, Kevin Russell!

Hot-diggity, what a time!

I know that Ting and I saw the Gourds once or twice in the late 90's/early 00's, but those shows didn't make enough of an impression on me: I recall a vague feeling that I didn't need to see them more, so I didn't. Guess I had made a bad decision: with last night's show, I've seen the light: KR is a talent not to be missed!

Last night Kevin reminded me a lot of a riled up Ed Volker, and the liberal helping of cover tunes – A Certain Girl (Allen Toussaint), Take Me to the Alley (Gregory Porter), Golden Years (David Bowie), Everybody's Got Something to Hide… (Beatles), Waterfalls (TLC !?!?), Brokedown Palace (Grateful Dead), You Never Get Too Big and You Sure Don't Get Too Heavy (Doug Sahm), Swingtown (Steve Miller) – plus the generous helping of that swampy New Orleans sound only reinforced the notion that he must have been influenced by the Radiators.

I'm sure that the Gourds and the Radiators crossed paths at High Sierra over the years … maybe someone can tell me whether or not I'm conflating a constellation out of separate stars in the sky.

Unlike the dual-guitar attack of the Rads, Shinyribs uses a two-piece horn section and a pair of back-up singers to add auditory spice, and this swings things from a rowdy rock and roll base way over into deep soul gumbo. Kevin can play guitar just fine, but if mind-shattering solos are what you're after, you probably won't fill your quota at a Shinyribs show.

Despite the down-played guitar element, I was already won over by the time they hit the encore, and starting it with a sweet trio rendition of Brokedown Palace really sealed the deal for me. Shinyribs is in no way a Dead cover band, but if you appreciate the mystic celebration of bacchanalian rites, you should give 'em a try!

I feel like I should have been able to ID the instrumental jam sandwiched around Swingtown… it sounded familiar enough for me to know where the changes were going, but I couldn't summon any words up for the title! Guess I gotta ask my musician friends for tips on solving that problem: if they can remember hundreds or thousands of tunes, why can't I?

Big thanks to Ting for the photo gallery!

Whoa! This section is incomplete for now, sorry!

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2018 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2018 event list! ☸ On to the next event!