{"id":10245,"date":"2011-12-14T13:43:14","date_gmt":"2011-12-14T17:43:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.opticality.com\/blog\/?p=10245"},"modified":"2011-12-14T13:48:11","modified_gmt":"2011-12-14T17:48:11","slug":"ximena-sarinana-and-graffiti6-at-rockwood-music-hall-stage-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/opticality.com\/blog\/2011\/12\/14\/ximena-sarinana-and-graffiti6-at-rockwood-music-hall-stage-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Ximena Sarinana and Graffiti6 at Rockwood Music Hall Stage 2"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We\u2019ve seen <a title=\"Ximena Sarinana\" href=\"http:\/\/www.ximenamusic.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Ximena<\/a> Sarinana perform a number of times. We\u2019re big fans. Considering that she lives in LA, we decided to cut a business trip short to return to NYC to catch her show at <a title=\"Rockwood Music Hall\" href=\"http:\/\/www.rockwoodmusichall.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Rockwood Music Hall<\/a> Stage 2 last night (who knows when the opportunities will present themselves!).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.opticality.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/XimenaKeyboards.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px\" title=\"XimenaKeyboards\" border=\"0\" alt=\"XimenaKeyboards\" src=\"https:\/\/www.opticality.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/XimenaKeyboards_thumb.jpg\" width=\"151\" height=\"216\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Ximena has two CDs under her belt. The first is all Spanish, produced when Ximena was living in Mexico (where she is a superstar). The new one (self-titled) is in English, except for track 10, Tu Y Yo (You and I). Both are excellent.<\/p>\n<p>So if we own both CDs, and they\u2019re excellent, why run back to NYC to catch Ximena live? Because the CDs don\u2019t actually do justice to the two things that make Ximena such a special live act:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>She has a <strong>stunning<\/strong> voice which comes across more powerfully\/vibrantly live<\/li>\n<li>She is delightful\/effervescent\/charming\/funny\/natural\/cute and any number of other adjectives (all positive)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Did we make the right decision? Of course! Ximena\u2019s voice was in full bloom last night, charming and mesmerizing. She played a mix of songs from both CDs (can\u2019t let your original fans down by ignoring the old stuff!).<\/p>\n<p>On Normal (a Spanish song from the first CD), Ximena looped her voice at least six times (I\u2019d guess it was closer to eight), each time adding a new harmonizing track. It\u2019s mindboggling how beautiful it was and how creative she is for being able to come up with that many different melodies that blend together so well.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.opticality.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/XimenaSinging.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px\" title=\"XimenaSinging\" border=\"0\" alt=\"XimenaSinging\" src=\"https:\/\/www.opticality.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/XimenaSinging_thumb.jpg\" width=\"176\" height=\"216\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Ximena was supported by two fantastic musicians, left-to-right on stage:<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Aaron Steele\" href=\"http:\/\/www.myspace.com\/asteele\" target=\"_blank\">Aaron Steele<\/a> on drums. I\u2019ve seen Aaron once before (this past January). He was very impressive, but I was sitting inches away from the drums in the much-smaller Rockwood 1, and Aaron\u2019s hard-hitting style overwhelmed me a bit. Last night was an even more impressive performance, with zero negatives.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.opticality.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/AaronSteeleDrumKit.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px\" title=\"AaronSteeleDrumKit\" border=\"0\" alt=\"AaronSteeleDrumKit\" src=\"https:\/\/www.opticality.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/AaronSteeleDrumKit_thumb.jpg\" width=\"179\" height=\"216\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Aaron is fast, steady as a machine, doesn\u2019t over-drum, and delivers a perfectly matched beat to Ximena\u2019s power-pop style. On the jazzier numbers, he can be subtle as well.<\/p>\n<p>Pete Lalish&#160; on guitar. I\u2019ve seen Pete a number of times (with <a title=\"Lucius\" href=\"http:\/\/www.ilovelucius.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Lucius<\/a> as well as Ximena) and he\u2019s impressed every time. Last night I noticed some things I hadn\u2019t before. Ximena\u2019s new music has quite a bit of electronica in it. I tend to think that most of that is generated on a keyboard (and much of it is, by Ximena herself).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.opticality.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/PeteLalishGuitar.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px\" title=\"PeteLalishGuitar\" border=\"0\" alt=\"PeteLalishGuitar\" src=\"https:\/\/www.opticality.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/PeteLalishGuitar_thumb.jpg\" width=\"130\" height=\"216\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Last night I saw that Pete actually produces more of it than Ximena. He spent a fair amount of time on his knees furiously working his pedal board with both hands (with the guitar just hanging on the strap, unattended), making the electronica sounds.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.opticality.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/PeteLalishPedalBoard.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px\" title=\"PeteLalishPedalBoard\" border=\"0\" alt=\"PeteLalishPedalBoard\" src=\"https:\/\/www.opticality.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/PeteLalishPedalBoard_thumb.jpg\" width=\"176\" height=\"216\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.opticality.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/XimenaElectronica.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px\" title=\"XimenaElectronica\" border=\"0\" alt=\"XimenaElectronica\" src=\"https:\/\/www.opticality.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/XimenaElectronica_thumb.jpg\" width=\"151\" height=\"216\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m not the biggest fan of electronica in general (having nothing to do with Ximena), but that doesn\u2019t mean that I\u2019m not impressed at seeing it performed\/produced live, giving fans of the CD a real taste of the same sound in a live setting.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s the set list, which was a big hit. We attended the early show, but Ximena was on again for a second show, after a short break!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.opticality.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/SetList1.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px\" title=\"SetList\" border=\"0\" alt=\"SetList\" src=\"https:\/\/www.opticality.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/SetList_thumb1.jpg\" width=\"131\" height=\"213\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Graffiti6\" href=\"http:\/\/www.graffiti6.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Gaffiti6<\/a> opened the show (both shows). We knew nothing about them, other than the many tweets that I saw, including one from another musician that we both really like, <a title=\"Valerie Mize\" href=\"http:\/\/www.valeriemize.com\/MIZE\/MIZE.html\" target=\"_blank\">Valerie Mize<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ValerieMIZE\">ValerieMIZE<\/a> Valerie MIZE<\/p>\n<p>Hey, NEW YORKERS! Catch UK Harmonic Awesomeness<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Graffiti6\">@Graffiti6<\/a> at <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/#!\/search?q=%23ROCKWOODmusicHall\">#ROCKWOODmusicHall<\/a> w <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ximenamusic\">@ximenamusic<\/a>TONIGHT! 2 Shows! <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TommyDD\">@TommyDD<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JamieScottG6\">@JamieScottG6<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>OK, so instead of me making up a new description, pay attention to Valerie\u2019s: \u201cUK Harmonic Awesomeness\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>I would describe them as power folk. Two acoustic guitars (the duo that formed Graffiti6) and an electric bass.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.opticality.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/Graffiti6.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px\" title=\"Graffiti6\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Graffiti6\" src=\"https:\/\/www.opticality.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/Graffiti6_thumb.jpg\" width=\"240\" height=\"182\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Jamie Scott sings the majority of the leads, with Tommy Danvers (TommyD) joining for a lot of very powerful harmonies. The bass player (Pete Cherry) was excellent and added three-part harmony to many of the numbers.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.opticality.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/JamieScott.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px\" title=\"JamieScott\" border=\"0\" alt=\"JamieScott\" src=\"https:\/\/www.opticality.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/JamieScott_thumb.jpg\" width=\"240\" height=\"181\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.opticality.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/TommyDanvers.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px\" title=\"TommyDanvers\" border=\"0\" alt=\"TommyDanvers\" src=\"https:\/\/www.opticality.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/TommyDanvers_thumb.jpg\" width=\"103\" height=\"216\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.opticality.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/PeteCherry.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px\" title=\"PeteCherry\" border=\"0\" alt=\"PeteCherry\" src=\"https:\/\/www.opticality.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/PeteCherry_thumb.jpg\" width=\"156\" height=\"216\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The crowd was extremely enthusiastic in their support for Graffiti6. I thoroughly enjoyed their sound, but I\u2019d have to listen again to have a better sense of whether the lyrics will grab me if I give them another shot.<\/p>\n<p>As we were leaving, we ran into one of our favorite musicians\/people, <a title=\"Alex Berger\" href=\"http:\/\/www.myspace.com\/alexbergermusic\" target=\"_blank\">Alex Berger<\/a>. Come to Rockwood 2 on Tuesday (12\/20) to see him play at 9pm. Stay for <a title=\"Alex Wong\" href=\"http:\/\/www.highceilingsmusic.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Alex Wong<\/a> immediately thereafter. That\u2019s where we\u2019ll be. <img decoding=\"async\" style=\"border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-right-style: none\" class=\"wlEmoticon wlEmoticon-smile\" alt=\"Smile\" src=\"https:\/\/www.opticality.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/wlEmoticon-smile2.png\" \/><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.opticality.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/AlexBergerHadar.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px\" title=\"AlexBergerHadar\" border=\"0\" alt=\"AlexBergerHadar\" src=\"https:\/\/www.opticality.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/AlexBergerHadar_thumb.jpg\" width=\"240\" height=\"181\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We\u2019ve seen Ximena Sarinana perform a number of times. We\u2019re big fans. Considering that she lives in LA, we decided to cut a business trip short to return to NYC to catch her show at Rockwood Music Hall Stage 2 last night (who knows when the opportunities will present themselves!). Ximena has two CDs under [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":4,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17,2],"tags":[840,1176,1367,1014,493,954],"class_list":["post-10245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music","category-2","tag-aaron-steele","tag-graffiti6","tag-music","tag-pete-lalish","tag-rockwood-music-hall","tag-ximena"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/opticality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/opticality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/opticality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opticality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opticality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10245"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/opticality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10245\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10248,"href":"https:\/\/opticality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10245\/revisions\/10248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/opticality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opticality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opticality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}