Bananafish at the Back Room, February 21, 2020

the Back Room presents Bananafish featuring Barry Melton & Banana
1984 Bonita Ave, Berkeley, CA 94704 USA
8:00 PM, Friday, February 21, 2020

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2020 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2020 event list! ☸ On to the next event!

Tonight's poster

[8:13 PM; lights down; introduction by Sam Rudin; Banana out with his 5-string]

1. [8:18 PM] Voice on the Wind
2. [8:21 PM] Bully of the Town
3. [8:25 PM] Millionaire
4. [8:31 PM] Pretty Saro
   [8:35 PM; add Barry Melton; Banana stays onstage, but only listens]
5. [8:36 PM] Wayfaring Stranger
6. [8:41 PM] Break a Heart
   [8:46 PM; add Banana and the Irish News Boys]
7. [8:49 PM] Red Is the Rose
   [8:53 PM; drop the Irish News Boys]
8. [8:54 PM] Wild About My Lovin'
9. [9:01 PM] Franklin D. Roosevelt's Back Again
   [set ends 9:06 PM]

[9:25 PM; lights down; Barry out; story about getting busted in Colorado in the 60's]

1. [9:27 PM] Colorado Town
   [9:34 PM; Story about hanging out with Mickey Hart in FL]
2. [9:35 PM] Marshmellow Road
   [9:39 PM; add Banana; sales pitch time!]
3. [9:43 PM] Hippie From Olema
   [9:52 PM; add Sam Rudin: piano]
4. [9:52 PM] I Can't Dance
5. [9:59 PM] San Francisco Bay Blues (false start)
6. [10:01 PM] San Francisco Bay Blues
   [10:04 PM; drop Sam; return of the Irish Newsboys]
7. [10:07 PM] the Leaving of Liverpool
8. [10:11 PM] Get Together
   [set ends 10:17 PM; That's all? Yep – Barry's done! Thanks! Lights up, no encore]

• Banana AKA Vecchio Nanner AKA Lowell Levinger: 2010 Corrado Giacomel Modele Banana 5-string acoustic tenor guitar, lead & harmony vox;
• Barry "the Fish" Melton: acoustic guitar, lead & harmony vox.

• Sam Rudin: piano.

the Irish Newsboys:

• Kevin Fagan: harmony vox;
• Jay “The Hat” Johnson: lead & harmony vox;
• Steve Rubenstein: harmonica;
• Catherine McSharry: lead & harmony vox.

The vibe for tonight's show was generally kinda heavy, as Barbara Langer, Barry's wife of 48 yrs, passed away about a week ago. I was surprised that the show wasn't cancelled or postponed, but maybe Barry felt like it would be good to get out and see friends?

I hadn't been keeping up with Barry's recent musical activity, so I was surprised by the appearance of the Irish Newsboys, but after learning that Barry founded the band (with Jay and Kevin) in 2011, it makes more sense to me that they'd show up to support him tonight.

If you'd like to hear it, Richard Selleseth posted his audio recording of the show to the live music archive; thanks Richard!.

Big thanks to Ting for the photo gallery!

Whoa! This section is incomplete for now, sorry!

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2020 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2020 event list! ☸ On to the next event!