Flashes of Panic

Last night was a Daring Weekday Night Out. (When did weeknights go back to being like school nights?) Over to the Calvin for Nanci Griffith, playing the Iron Horse 25th Anniversary concert. There's not much question about Nanci's politics; both her guitars sported large "Nixon/Agnew" pins (including one which read, "Now more than ever.") Her explanation: "After all, what's the difference?" Since I was just a few months old when Nixon resigned, I don't think I appreciated the joke as much as the rest of the audience, most of whom looked like they had been going to the Iron Horse for around 25 years.

Mark Erelli opened, and echoed the Dar Williams concert a few months ago by reminiscing briefly about his "squirrel-infested" apartment just a few blocks from the Calvin. (Dar introduced songs with the Northampton addresses she had when she wrote them; one of them, it turned out, was right next door to the D.A.R. headquarters.) My favorite of Mark's was "The Farewell Ball," a story about the flooding of the Quabbin.

I wasn't familiar with either artist before, and didn't leave feeling an urge to buy their records, but I'd probably cherry-pick tracks from ITMS. I did notice that Mark had collaborated with Erin McKeown and Kris Delmhorst, who I like (having seen Erin play with the Nields at the Academy of Music, and Kris open for Dar at the Iron Horse). So, considering.

At a (different) Nields show at the Horse, I recall Nerissa explaining how she watched all her friends turn thirty and get in to country music, and swearing she wouldn't go that way. This by way of introducing some song from "Love and China", probably "I Haven't Got a Thing," which might as well be Willie Nelson. Maybe this is a cautionary tale? Hence the title for this entry, which is from a Toad the Wet Sprocket song about Nanci Griffith and Loretta Lynn.

Looking at Mark's site, I almost thought I'd find a connection from him to Tom, but it turns out I was confusing Cliff Eberhardt with Charlie Degenhart.