Summer 2011

Most families take vacations at the shore or treks to the mountains, and there’s always some sort of father-son adventure built in. But my son and I found that we don’t need a road trip—music moves us. And with the looming thought of him moving into his dorm as he heads off to his freshman year of college, we decided to stay close to home, and the television and iTunes.  These were the maps that lead us to the venues, and there were many. 

Out adventure began with Lee Fields, discovered thanks to an episode of Entourage that played his song “Ladies” during the closing credits. Waiting for him to go on tour was like waiting to ride Space Mountain. Finally there was a date in New York. He played the Music Hall of Williamsburg with Charles Bradley, and what a ride it was. Bradley is an unsung singer with so much emotion in his voice that you feel as though you’ve lived through every breakup and prejudice he’s experienced. And Fields was well worth the wait, he crooned and sometimes belted his way through his stellar album My World. 

The trip to see Aloe Blacc was a bit easier, since we only had to go to the World Café, which is probably the best venue in Philly to see a live show. We heard the incredibly powerful piano intro that opens “I Need a Dollar” for the first time in a promo for the show How to Make It in America. I practically ran to my computer to see who it was. Aloe is a true throwback, in the style of 60’s and 70’s soul singers like Sam Cooke and Bill Withers. Aloe channeled these legends as well as some James Brown for eighty plus minutes, he even paid trubute to Michael Jackson during his encore when he played “Billie Jean” he certainly did not disappoint.

Next on the itinerary was Thievery Corporation and Damian Marley. We’d both seen them a few times, but we were still excited to see them together at the Dave Matthews Caravan at Bader Field in AC at the end of June. We went to Teplinsky’s for lunch that day and my son spotted the “Flag Guy” for Marley’s band seated at the bar. Following in their father’s footsteps the Marley boys parade the Jamaican flag throughout the show, waved in time to the music. I guarantee that not many people outside of Jamaica even know who the flag guy is let alone an 18 year old from Narberth, but he spotted him right away. Of course I had to approach him and acknowledge his effort. He told us his name was Judah, how appropriate. Marley played for an hour that night and included a few of the songs from the album he had recently recorded with Nas.

Thievery’s show was a bit of a letdown, and that’s saying something considering they are one of my favorite groups (I’ve seen them sixteen times in seven different cities.). Thievery is essentially the creation of Rob Garza and Eric Hilton, two producer/DJ’s, who fuse Reggae,Trip Hop, Electronica, Funk, Soul and Indian sounds into a seemless blend of  music that is both captivating and addicting. The band utilizes anywhere between 4 to 8 guest vocalists who bring this one-of-a-kind sound to life during each show. Their energy on this early summer show was severely lacking, most likely because Eric didn’t even make it to the show (they never mentioned why).  But the summer was still young, so we trudged ahead to Kennett Square.

Mavis Staples at Longwood Gardens was a treat. The 70 year-old singer still has her voice and recently won a Grammy for her collaboration with Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy. She played the Staple Singers big hits “Respect Youself”, “This May Be the Last Time” and “I’ll Take You There” leading the audience in a sing-a-long.

The most recent show was Trombone Shorty at the Folk Festival a few weeks ago. Ironically this was probably the one show that I wasn’t really all that excited about. It was hot and rainy all weekend and I’d been to the Olde Pool Farm before in those conditions. As it turned out, we had a great time. Golf carts took us from the parking lot right to the venue. We got there with a few minutes to spare and managed to score seats in the 5th row. His up-tempo beats instantly transformed Schwenksville into Mardi Gras. It was impossible not to feel happy during his set. We’d discovered Trombone Shorty through Treme, David Simon’s gritty portrait of life in New Orleans, post Katrina. Who says TV can’t be educational.