the Chapel presents the Baseball Project and Dressy Bessy
2014-09-08
the Chapel
777 Valencia Street, San Francisco, CA
8:00 PM, Monday, September 8, 2014

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[8:11 PM lights down, banter]

1. [8:13 PM] ? “Take Your Shoes Off”
2. [8:15 PM] ? “Dressy Bessy”
3. [8:18 PM] ?
4. [8:21 PM] ?
5. [8:24 PM] ? (ded to Baseball Project) “get high now”
6. [8:29 PM] ?
7. [8:34 PM] ? “My First Time”
8. [8:37 PM] ? “dance like you like it” (? maybe “Just Like Henry” or “She Likes It”)
9. [8:39 PM] ?
10. [8:45 PM] ? I'm Not Falling in Love
11. [8:48 PM] ?
12. [8:51 PM] California
    [set ends 8:57 PM]

[9:21 PM lights down, announcements]

1. [9:22 PM] 1976
2. [9:24 PM] They Are the Oakland A's (SM)
3. [9:28 PM] Broken Man (SM)
4. [9:31 PM] Monument Park (SW)
5. [9:37 PM] They Don't Know Henry (SM or ??)
6. [9:42 PM] Pasqual on the Perimeter (LP)
7. [9:47 PM] Sometimes I Dream of Willie Mays (SM)
8. [9:51 PM] Panda and the Freak (SM)
9. [9:54 PM] 13 (SW)
10. [9:59 PM] Buckner's Bolero (or maybe “the Babe” instead? must not've been paying enough attention, doh!) (SM)
11. [10:04 PM] The Day Dock Went Hunting Heads (SM)
12. [10:10 PM] ¡Hola America! (SW)
13. [10:14 PM] Harvey Haddix (SW)
14. [10:22 PM] To the Veteran's Committee (MM)
15. [10:24 PM] Ted Fucking Williams (SW)
16. [10:27 PM] ? Tony (Boston's Chosen Son) (SM)
    [set ends 10:30 PM]
     
    Encore
17. [10:33 PM] Larry Yount (SW)
18. [10:38 PM] Jackie's Lament (SM)
19. [10:43 PM] Past Time (SM/SW)
    [show ends 10:47 PM]

the Baseball Project

• Scott McCaughey: guitar, vox;
• Mike Mills: bass, vox;
• Linda Pitmon: drums, vox;
• Steve Wynn: guitar, vox.

Dressy Bessy

• Darren Albert: drum;
• Tammy Ealom: vox;
• Rob Greene: bass;
• John Hill: guitar.

Arrived super early – just past 6 – and snagged a perfect parking spot, just behind the white zone at the door. yay! Walked a few steps over to the entrance to the Vestry, then waited for the hostess to return and seat us for dinner. Nice wood feel to the interior here, but the lights are kinda dim – don't think I would have been able to read the menu without a flashlight if we had arrived much later! Listened to the waitress give her spiel on specials of the day and settled on the happy hour melt 'n' pint deal; we also selected an heirloom tomato salad to share and Ting chose the meatball entree for her main course. No tequila this time!

The food was pretty good, but not so much better than any of the area competitors. I'll certainly eat there again if prompted by circumstances, but I don't think they'll be on my regular rotation. The beer I got, Old 38 Stout, was super yummy and creamy, a lot like Guinness. Thought I'd drink two, but twas disbursed of that notion when I found that it wasn't on the taps inside the Chapel. Probably could have taken a minute to walk out to the main bar for a pour, but I took the obstacle as a cosmic message that two would be one too many tonight.

We walked into the performance space about 7:30 or so to find it mostly empty. With only a few bar tables in the center of the space – all occupied already – we moved towards the rail to survey our options. Plenty of room up close right now, do we hang there or head up to hang on the front of the balcony? While trying to settle on a plan, Kirk Nelson, a mutual friend via Greg Muck from the Rockridge Yoshi's days grabbed us to say hello and invite us to share his table. Score! Somehow Kirk had gotten permission from Scott or Steve to record the show, so as we visited, he set up mics and a stand behind his table, dead center, about halfway back on the floor. Sweet!

After shooting the breeze for awhile, Dressy Bessy came out to warm us up. They were adequate, but not interesting enough for me to want to see again. Yer basic one- two- three- and away we bop slop pop 'n' roll. I should warn that I recognized none of the songs, and the vocal mix was murky enough that except for the last tune, anything written above about the setlist should be considered no more than a wild guess. Probably could have improved that by getting a photo of the setlist (as I saw it shared after the set by the fans at the table to our left), but I wasn't motivated enough to jump on the opportunity. Basic pop rock doesn't really float my boat these days, but at least the band appeared to be enjoying themselves, and putting positive spirit out into the world is always a good thing to do!

Break seemed a little short, and the start of the set caught me running down the stairs from the balcony. Don't think I missed much,but ya never know when someone's going to drop the witty line of the night. By this time the venue was comfortably packed. Not overflowing, but really, quite a good turnout for a Monday night, and the band seemed to be quite cheered by that fact, commenting on it more than once during the show.

It was fun hearing the vocal leads get passed around between songs, just another way to keep things interesting! Likewise it seemed to me that Scott and Steve did a fine job sharing guitar leads as well – neither hogged the spotlight in any way, leaving it up to the listener to ascertain who was playing the part most worthy of attention at any given time.

Linda kept a steady beat going throughout, and while she wasn't particularly flashy (no Moonie-influenced stick twirling), she was certainly good enough to hold down the beat while Mills fleshed out the foundation with similar solidity in his bass runs. Mike's most exciting contribution to the night was his laid back bass solo – so laid back, in fact, that we played it lying down onstage on his back (perhaps in tribute to the amazing ?James Jamerson?), which somehow prompted Steve to try sitting on Mikes upraised knees as if he was a chair. Amusing, sure! Flashy? Nope. Just silly!

And the songs? Like a succession of dazzling throughs from a maniacal master of the mound. Wham! The rockers racing like fastballs past the audience/batter's attention. Changeups and curveballs thrown in for good measure to liven things up and keep us guessing “What's next?” Singalong choruses like “Panda and the Freak” or “Ted Fucking Williams” to keep us in a participatory spirit. Yeah, I had a great time! Baseball and rock 'n' roll make a great combo!

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2014 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2014 event list! ☸ Back to the previous event! ☸