Northampton, Mass. First Night ~ 2010 December 31 ~ The Lonesome Brothers ~ Klezamir ~ The Ray Mason Band
Concert Going Partner and I decided to make it a two-for-one weekend. We'd end 2010 with a First Night celebration in Northampton, and ring in the New Year the next day with the Grand Slambovians in Norfolk, CT.
The incentive to go was that the fab Ray Mason would perform twice, with the Lonesome Brothers and with the Ray Mason Band. The venue where these performances were held was a church hall with folding chairs, a big square concrete room with booming echoes, and not even in a good location -- it was a few blocks out from the center of town where most of the action was. Oh, well; they did have good coffee and desserts.
First up were the Lonesome Brothers, a roots band with Jim Armenti on guitar and vocals and Ray Mason on bass and vocals. Jim and Ray take turns singing songs, and sometimes audience members try to confuse them as to whose turn it is. One of Jim's songs, "Down By the Water," has been recorded by a lot of people. Both Jim and Ray are excellent songwriters, but Jim's are a little bit more mainstream, and Ray's a bit more quirky; compare the Jim song title just referenced with a typical Ray song title, which might be "Water Off of a Duck" or "Warm Vinyl," for instance.
After the Lonesomes were done, Jim went offstage and changed to a more colorful shirt and came back out again in his Klezmer musician guise, to play clarinet, guitar and other instruments for the wonderful Klezamir. If you know Klezmer music you don't need me to tell you the audience was clapping along and doing a bit of dancing in the aisles; and if you don't know Klezmer music, I suggest you go and check it out. It's eastern European Jewish pop, and man, is it good. Klezamir featured a stylish female vocalist with a theatrical delivery and a great voice.
Then we went off and watched the early fireworks. Sensible of any First Night celebration to have early fireworks, as well as the ones at midnight.
After the fireworks we returned to that same echo chamber, venue #11 on the map, for The Ray Mason Band. Tom Shea, who is Ray's lead guitarist, had also played drums for the Lonesome Brothers, so no wonder he looked familiar. Since I'm very familiar with the RMB's catalog I kept a set list.
First set: Castanets - Summer Kind of Thing - I'm Not That Kind of Guy - Reverb and a Zip Code - Lock - Big Hug - I Want to Be a Holiday - Wilson Road - English Leather.
Second set: Holes in Your Liver - When She Walks By - Everley - They Don't Make Records Like That Anymore - Water Off of a Duck - Don't Mess With My Routine - I Miss My Loneliness - If There's Ever a Way (title?) - Everybody Knows This is Nowhere - When I Meet You On the Moon
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