{"id":6634,"date":"2011-05-26T15:50:25","date_gmt":"2011-05-26T19:50:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.opticality.com\/blog\/?p=6634"},"modified":"2011-05-27T11:46:17","modified_gmt":"2011-05-27T15:46:17","slug":"live-society-the-thang-and-chelsea-lee-at-rockwood-music-hall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/opticality.com\/blog\/2011\/05\/26\/live-society-the-thang-and-chelsea-lee-at-rockwood-music-hall\/","title":{"rendered":"Live Society, The Thang and Chelsea Lee at Rockwood Music Hall"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve seen Live Society<\/a> once before when they opened a Benefit Concert<\/a> at The Bitter End<\/a>. They were awesome. Ever since then, I\u2019ve followed them and have been trying hard to get to one of their shows (they play reasonably frequently). Unfortunately, it just didn\u2019t work out.<\/p>\n

I was reasonably sure it wouldn\u2019t work out last night either. We had tentative plans. Late in the afternoon, they got moved to Monday night, so I was suddenly free and quite happy about it. Lois was wiped from our consecutive late night escapades (captured in posts yesterday<\/a> and the day before<\/a>), so she stayed home. In a serendipitous turn, our friend (and extraordinary singer!) Amy Rivard<\/a> was working in our neighborhood. She agreed to keep me company and we headed down together. We caught a set at Rockwood Music Hall<\/a> Stage 1 first, but I\u2019ll cover that at the end of the post.<\/p>\n

Live Society was playing next door at Stage 2.<\/p>\n

If you read my thoughts on Live Society in the previously linked post, you won\u2019t have many surprises in what I\u2019m about to say. They were awesome, again. Since the last time was clearly in the context of a Soul Revue, let me at least state that Live Society is an R&B\/Soul\/Funk band, and a darn good one.<\/p>\n

Update<\/strong>: There are a number of corrections\/clarifications and filled-in items below. All of the updated information was provided by the all-knowing, all-seeing Sam Teichman. Thanks Sam! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

Brian Collazo is the front man and lead singer. He also played the acoustic guitar on a couple of songs. He has a great voice and an exceptional stage presence. It\u2019s hard to take your eyes off of him during the show, except that you have to (and do), because there\u2019s a ton of additional talent to pay attention to on stage with him.<\/p>\n

\"BrianCollazoSinging\"<\/a>\"BrianCollazoGuitar\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Jason Vargas on vocals. Jason sang lead on one song (smooth as silk) and incredible harmony on all the others (with a lead verse thrown in here and there for good measure). He\u2019s a got a smile (and a wink) that melts the ladies hearts (I was surrounded by women, not that there\u2019s anything wrong with that!). I could swear that every time Brian refers to him he calls him \u201cJay Vegas\u201d, which might be his nickname, but hey, I\u2019m old, and perhaps I\u2019m just doddering and not hearing it correctly. \"Winking<\/p>\n

\"JasonVargas\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Kevin Collazo rounds out the vocal part of the band. While he doesn\u2019t sing lead on any songs, his harmony is strong and an integral part of the group. He and Jason are also somewhat like original Motown backup singers, in that they physically move in unison (often enough to notice) and make gestures (like hearts, with their hands) to match the lyrics. Very nicely executed. Here is Kevin, singing with Brian:<\/p>\n

\"BrianCollazoKevinCollazo\"<\/a><\/p>\n

John Kaiteris on electric guitar. John is a superb guitar player. He also writes many of the songs that Live Society records and performs. Simply an incredibly talented individual, even though he doesn\u2019t open his mouth on stage (he let\u2019s his fingers do the walking and talking). \"Winking<\/p>\n

\"JohnKeitaris\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Erik Perez on drums. Excellent! This type of music is so beat-heavy that even a decent drummer could bring the overall experience down if they don\u2019t handle the transitions perfectly. Erik does. Problem solved (or actually, never created!).<\/p>\n

\"ErikPerez\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Anthony Candullo<\/a> on electric bass. Solid job throughout the set. A relief (for me) from the night before, where the bass players were overwhelming in their volume. Anthony\u2019s bass blended in just right. Note that Anthony\u2019s name is linked, but the others aren\u2019t. That\u2019s because I can\u2019t find a good link to each of them as individuals. I guess it\u2019s \u201cGo Team!\u201d for Live Society.<\/p>\n

\"AnthonyCandullo\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Scott Harper on tenor saxophone. Scott is listed as a regular member of the band, but I didn\u2019t mention him at the Benefit Concert. So, either I messed up badly, or he wasn\u2019t able to make it that night. In any event, Scott did a terrific job last night on a number of tasty leads. Horns might not be a requirement for this type of music, but they sure are welcome on every single note they play.<\/p>\n

Update<\/strong>: Sam confirms that while Scott is the regular sax player for Live Society, he did indeed miss the Benefit Concert, so I didn’t mess up reporting on that show (though I certainly have on many others).<\/p>\n

\"ScottHarper\"<\/a><\/p>\n

At the benefit concert, they had a special guest keyboard player, Patrick Firth<\/a>. Last night a different special guest sat in on keyboards.<\/p>\n

Jeremy Baum<\/a> on electronic keyboards. Very nicely done throughout the set.<\/p>\n

\"JeremyBaum\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Amy and I both enjoyed the set so much that in addition to signing up for the mailing list (not really necessary since I follow the band and Brian Collazo on Twitter) we also both bought their current EP (they are recording a full-length CD as well). We were both very happy to support the band (tip jar as well) but I\u2019ll admit publicly that I was surprised that a 5-song EP was $10. Hopefully, they\u2019re putting the money to good use, they\u2019re worth it. \"Smile\"<\/p>\n

Sitting to Amy\u2019s left was a beautiful blond (hey, I already mentioned that I was surrounded by women). It turns out that she\u2019s Brian\u2019s girlfriend (though it sounds way more serious than that, not that I should be putting words in Brian\u2019s mouth!). He noted that last night was their three-year anniversary of making their relationship official<\/em>. He also noted that she was very kind to be supportive of him for booking a show on their anniversary. \"Smile\"<\/p>\n

When I first noticed the Live Society show, I also saw that another band was playing the set after them, that I had never seen, but heard interesting<\/em> things about. Unfortunately, when I thought I couldn\u2019t make it out last night, I promptly forgot about anything other than Live Society. When I showed up at Rockwood, at 8:35, I didn\u2019t realize I\u2019d be staying as late as I did.<\/p>\n

Before Amy and I headed into Rockwood 1 we bumped into Chris Anderson<\/a> on the street. If you never read this blog and don\u2019t see live music in NYC, I\u2019ll forgive you for not knowing that he\u2019s one of our favorite bass players. We saw him the two previous nights, playing with The Big Apple Singers on Monday and with Ian Axel<\/a> on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Chris mentioned that if we could, we should seriously consider sticking around to catch the set after Live Society. Of course, that jogged my memory that my original intention was to do just that. Amy couldn\u2019t hang that late so she left right after Live Society was done.<\/p>\n

The Thang Band<\/a> is a nearly indescribable group\/experience (experience is the better word). First, let me note that I can\u2019t believe that they were able to grab the domain name at this late date in the Internet world. Amazing that everyone else let that go! \"Winking<\/p>\n

Of course, I never let indescribable things stop me from describing them, so here goes my best effort.<\/p>\n

What happens when you cross\/mix the following?<\/p>\n