Graham Parker and Mike Gent ~ 2007 April 24 ~ First Act Guitar Studio, Boston, MA
Graham Parker (lead vocals, guitar, kazoo on "Stick to the Plan"); Mike Gent (guitar, backing vocals).
Set List
I Discovered America - Sailing Shoes {Little Feat} - Stick to the Plan - All Being Well - Soul Shoes
Review
Graham warned me last night that he was only going to play about five songs at this unpublicized free gig at a guitar studio in Boston, but that wasn't going to stop me from attending, especially since it gave me the chance to bring another friend to a GP show. There were about 20 people in the room, and I think all of them except me and my two companions were employees of the Guitar Studio or associates of Mike's, including Kate Williams, one of the "white chick singers" who sing on Don't Tell Columbus.
GP and Mike played 5 songs. The Little Feat cover ("Sailing Shoes") gave Mike a chance to display his skill on the slide guitar. GP wore a Ren & Stimpy tshirt and Mike wore an Incredible Casuals tshirt. It was a fine little set; I think GP and Mike sound great together. I didn't see any of the duo shows last time out, so it was a treat for me to hear the two of them together.
The highlight of the evening was after the show when Mike was trying out some of the guitars for sale there, and he plucked a star-shaped silver guitar off the wall, and played a few Bowie riffs, and GP wanted in so he took the guitar and struck a few rock star poses with the guitar. Browse through the photo gallery to the right to see some pictures of this goofiness.
Note added later: The photos I took of GP and Mike playing the star guitar were posted on the official Graham Parker website, where a cartoonist from The New Yorker chose one of them to use as a reference while sketching GP for the issue of the magazine dated Sept. 21, 2009. I have included a copy of the cartoon in the photo gallery, to the right.
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