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debsConcert went much better than I had expected. The auditorium was pretty full, but I didn't see a single person I knew. Not too terribly strange, I suppose. Anyway, here are my thoughts such as they are. :)
Dar Williams & Anne Weiss, Corvallis High School Theater, 2.February.2007
First of all, the new CHS is ridiculously swank. It looks like something out of a John Hughes movie. Or She’s All That. There is a giant statue of a Spartan (except that the term ‘spartan’ doesn’t seem to apply. Seriously, what’s with the get up?) in the hallway. Whatever.
The theater itself is a pretty nice performance space. However, I will say that I have a pretty limited view as I was in the front row. I’d imagine that back about row H or K it would start looking less nice, as the seating is not really on much of an incline. The colors they chose for the space are calming, and—as is tradition—the upholstery and carpet are on the verge of hideous. But, above all, the place has decent acoustics. And if you squint, you can pretend that it’s not a high school auditorium.
Anne Weiss opened the show. She’s an east-coast native who moved to Portland awhile back, but I hadn’t heard of her until last night. She has the same folksy-rocking sound that Dar does, and their voices are even eerily similar. Anne also has a wonderful stage presence, I think partially because she feels at home down here. She spoke about her previous visits with fondness and one of her songs, Buddhas on the Road, was inspired by the town. I ended up purchasing her Braille disc, and am quite pleased.
ETA: I just remembered a line from Anne's song "Braille" that struck me last night: that's where the sky has skin like incense. That's all, really. I just love that line.
Perhaps the best part of the show was the fact that it was completely acoustic. The last time I saw Dar it was in October of 2005, and she’d just released her “My Better Self” album. That time she toured with her band, and seemed ill-at-ease at the Aladdin. Last night, however, she was relaxed and affable. The thing about folk artists is that they’re usually good story tellers, which is something I really enjoy about these shows. It adds another layer to the experience, creates more of a connection between artist and audience. They don’t hide behind face paint or amplifiers, and they don’t keep everyone at a distance. It’s tradition, not spectacle, and it feels closer to what music performance was always supposed to be. /pontificating
Dar has a pretty standard set of performances pieces, and she did all of the regulars last night. I was a little surprised that she only did one song from her latest album, but that probably had to do with the show being acoustic. As expected, I cried during “The Babysitter’s Here” because that song always kicks my ass. She also played a new for us last night called “The Easy Way.” I can only hope that this means a new album might be in the works.
There was the customary cell phone waving that accompanied “Iowa;” I tried to get a cell-photo of the audience and all the lit screens, but I don’t think it came off too well. Dar ended her set with “Christians & the Pagans,” which she dedicated to the late Molly Ivans. All in all, it was a nice, relaxed evening. I hope that more acts come through Corvallis, as it’s much nicer to only have a ten minute drive home.
Dar performed one of my all-time favorite pieces of music last night. I’m going to stick the lyrics here because I can.
After All by Dar Williams
Go ahead, push your luck
Find out how much love the world can hold
Once upon a time I had control
And reined my soul in tight
Well the whole truth
Is like the story of a wave unfurled
But I held the evil of the world
So I stopped the tide
Froze it up from inside
And it felt like a winter machine
That you go through and then
You catch your breath and winter starts again
And everyone else is spring bound
And when I chose to live
There was no joy, it's just a line I crossed
It wasn't worth the pain my death would cost
So I was not lost or found
And if I was to sleep
I knew my family had more truth to tell
And so I traveled down a whispering well
To know myself through them
Growing up, my mom had a room full of books
And hid away in there
Her father raging down a spiral stair
Till he found someone
Most days his son
And sometimes I think
My father, too, was a refugee
I know they tried to keep their pain from me
They could not see what it was for
But now I'm sleeping fine
Sometimes the truth is like a second chance
I am the daughter of a great romance
And they are the children of the war
Well the sun rose with so many colors
It nearly broke my heart
And worked me over like a work of art
And I was a part of all that
So go ahead, push your luck
Say what it is you've got to say to me
We will push on into that mystery
And it'll push right back
And there are worse things than that
'Cause for every price
And every penance that I could think of
It's better to have fallen in love
Than never to have fallen at all
'Cause when you live in a world
Well it gets in to who you thought you'd be
And now I laugh at how the world changed me
I think life chose me after all
Dar Williams & Anne Weiss, Corvallis High School Theater, 2.February.2007
First of all, the new CHS is ridiculously swank. It looks like something out of a John Hughes movie. Or She’s All That. There is a giant statue of a Spartan (except that the term ‘spartan’ doesn’t seem to apply. Seriously, what’s with the get up?) in the hallway. Whatever.
The theater itself is a pretty nice performance space. However, I will say that I have a pretty limited view as I was in the front row. I’d imagine that back about row H or K it would start looking less nice, as the seating is not really on much of an incline. The colors they chose for the space are calming, and—as is tradition—the upholstery and carpet are on the verge of hideous. But, above all, the place has decent acoustics. And if you squint, you can pretend that it’s not a high school auditorium.
Anne Weiss opened the show. She’s an east-coast native who moved to Portland awhile back, but I hadn’t heard of her until last night. She has the same folksy-rocking sound that Dar does, and their voices are even eerily similar. Anne also has a wonderful stage presence, I think partially because she feels at home down here. She spoke about her previous visits with fondness and one of her songs, Buddhas on the Road, was inspired by the town. I ended up purchasing her Braille disc, and am quite pleased.
ETA: I just remembered a line from Anne's song "Braille" that struck me last night: that's where the sky has skin like incense. That's all, really. I just love that line.
Perhaps the best part of the show was the fact that it was completely acoustic. The last time I saw Dar it was in October of 2005, and she’d just released her “My Better Self” album. That time she toured with her band, and seemed ill-at-ease at the Aladdin. Last night, however, she was relaxed and affable. The thing about folk artists is that they’re usually good story tellers, which is something I really enjoy about these shows. It adds another layer to the experience, creates more of a connection between artist and audience. They don’t hide behind face paint or amplifiers, and they don’t keep everyone at a distance. It’s tradition, not spectacle, and it feels closer to what music performance was always supposed to be. /pontificating
Dar has a pretty standard set of performances pieces, and she did all of the regulars last night. I was a little surprised that she only did one song from her latest album, but that probably had to do with the show being acoustic. As expected, I cried during “The Babysitter’s Here” because that song always kicks my ass. She also played a new for us last night called “The Easy Way.” I can only hope that this means a new album might be in the works.
There was the customary cell phone waving that accompanied “Iowa;” I tried to get a cell-photo of the audience and all the lit screens, but I don’t think it came off too well. Dar ended her set with “Christians & the Pagans,” which she dedicated to the late Molly Ivans. All in all, it was a nice, relaxed evening. I hope that more acts come through Corvallis, as it’s much nicer to only have a ten minute drive home.
Dar performed one of my all-time favorite pieces of music last night. I’m going to stick the lyrics here because I can.
After All by Dar Williams
Go ahead, push your luck
Find out how much love the world can hold
Once upon a time I had control
And reined my soul in tight
Well the whole truth
Is like the story of a wave unfurled
But I held the evil of the world
So I stopped the tide
Froze it up from inside
And it felt like a winter machine
That you go through and then
You catch your breath and winter starts again
And everyone else is spring bound
And when I chose to live
There was no joy, it's just a line I crossed
It wasn't worth the pain my death would cost
So I was not lost or found
And if I was to sleep
I knew my family had more truth to tell
And so I traveled down a whispering well
To know myself through them
Growing up, my mom had a room full of books
And hid away in there
Her father raging down a spiral stair
Till he found someone
Most days his son
And sometimes I think
My father, too, was a refugee
I know they tried to keep their pain from me
They could not see what it was for
But now I'm sleeping fine
Sometimes the truth is like a second chance
I am the daughter of a great romance
And they are the children of the war
Well the sun rose with so many colors
It nearly broke my heart
And worked me over like a work of art
And I was a part of all that
So go ahead, push your luck
Say what it is you've got to say to me
We will push on into that mystery
And it'll push right back
And there are worse things than that
'Cause for every price
And every penance that I could think of
It's better to have fallen in love
Than never to have fallen at all
'Cause when you live in a world
Well it gets in to who you thought you'd be
And now I laugh at how the world changed me
I think life chose me after all
