Flashes of Panic

So I missed the parking lot meeting (no updates, by the way, though they used a lot of my emailed input in the “overview” document which was mailed around) in favor of a show at the Iron Horse. I found myself thinking that Tom would really like having a venue like this nearby, then read this morning that he was thinking the same thing, more or less.

The show was Sarah Harmer, with Rich Price opening. I’d never heard of either before, so it was all very adventurous. Price wasn’t a disappointment. He’s got a voice like David Gray, but it’s as though Gray decided to perform nothing but Kathleen Edwards songs. He wasn’t much for stage banter, flying directly from song to song, some by himself, some with a three-piece backup band. (The guitarist looked too young to get served at the bar; the drummer was playing with a seriously reduced kit, just kick, snare and hi-hat. He played mostly with brushes and once reached behind himself to smack the crash on Harmer’s drummer’s kit, which amused me. Making the best of what’s within reach.) Price announced that they’re doing a benefit tonight at Northampton High School to benefit Leeds Elementary, with a full set (“We’re going to rock the house for the kids,” he explained) so in the unlikely event that (a) you read this, (b) you’re in easy driving range of NHS, and (c) you missed the show last night, you might want to head out tonight.

Sarah Harmer did succeed in topping Price (it sucks when your opening act steals the show) although her band managed to have worse haircuts. It was interesting that I was thinking “Kathleen Edwards” because Harmer, also Canadian, has a lot of common starting points. Just remove most of the whiskey and a lot of the bitterness. She’s at once so unselfconscious and almost intimate on stage that I had trouble looking right at her for a while—like it wouldn’t be polite. (I haven’t quite figured that one out yet, so if it doesn’t make sense to you, don’t worry.) They had some problems with the mix, like maybe the bass was up too loud, or someone wasn’t damping their strings, and like many, Harmer isn’t a uniformly great songwriter, but (now that I’m listening to her CD “All of Our Names,”) I can see that a lot of her stuff is flat when recorded, but comes alive on stage. (And, in some cases, vice versa.)

I really like having a place like the Horse nearby. Between that and the Calvin, there’s a venue for nearly all my favorite acts (those still performing, that is) and there’s always four or five shows a year worth going to. Also, the Horse is small enough that most of the time you’re safe in assuming you won’t need to bring earplugs to the show, and you won’t leave with the residual tinnitus I know so well from high school.