Naughtiness face-off

Went to see Guy Davis last night. Good voice, good playing, good song choices, good backup musicians. Very good sound. Questionable lighting (it's a bit stark in there - they really could work on warming their lighting up some, you feel a bit like you are watching a lecture not a concert). And an audience of middle aged North-Shore types, the same people you'd run into wearing their Tiva sandles at the Folk Fest. And they were in for a nice, enjoyable, fairly gentle night of music. A pretty big contrast from Les Savy Fav the night before - or was it? Take a listen to this one, and tell me what pushes your buttons the most - the lyrics to The Chocolate Man, or Tim Harrington putting a shaker ball down the front of his pants and retrieving it out the back? Ya, ok. Pretty weak comparison maybe. But give me another time and place and it might not be so clear. Ya, ok. Still pretty weak. But give me some points for trying to find the thread.

And as for performance - it was also an interesting contrast. Both of these guys know how to play an audience. With Guy Davis, he's got to find another way of engaging them and making them comfortable, as I'm guessing the middle aged North Shore folks aren't going to love watching him put a shaker ball down his pants (well, except me. I'd be up for that). Little stories, little jokes. A little smooth perhaps, but it works for what it is and for the audience he has. I prefer something a little less...contrived I guess...but that is splitting hairs. Maybe the shaker ball was contrived too, but somehow I don't think so. Don't get me wrong, I suspect many things have ended up in Tim Harrington's pants at concerts, but I imagine they aren't always shaker balls.

But back to Guy Davis. This is the only video I managed to take before the Cap College Concert Police (a mousy middle aged woman in this case) shut me down. I had hoped to record one of his banjo moments, which were highlights for me. I do love banjo. Next time, next time.