{"id":8287,"date":"2011-08-07T20:02:10","date_gmt":"2011-08-08T00:02:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.opticality.com\/blog\/?p=8287"},"modified":"2011-08-07T20:03:50","modified_gmt":"2011-08-08T00:03:50","slug":"jesse-ruben-at-rockwood-music-hall-stage-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/opticality.com\/blog\/2011\/08\/07\/jesse-ruben-at-rockwood-music-hall-stage-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Jesse Ruben at Rockwood Music Hall Stage 2"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I\u2019ve seen <a title=\"Jesse Ruben\" href=\"http:\/\/www.myspace.com\/jesserubenmusic\" target=\"_blank\">Jesse Ruben<\/a> do a full set at <a title=\"Rockwood Music Hall\" href=\"http:\/\/www.rockwoodmusichall.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Rockwood Music Hall<\/a> once before. Lois was sick that night. I had nothing but compliments for Jesse and you can read about it in the second half of <a title=\"Alex Wong and Jesse Ruben at Rockwood Music Hall\" href=\"https:\/\/www.opticality.com\/blog\/2010\/11\/05\/alex-wong-and-jesse-ruben-at-rockwood-music-hall\/\" target=\"_blank\">this post<\/a>. Last night he played Stage 2 and had a full band.<\/p>\n<p>Everything I said about Jesse in the above-linked post was true last night, but it was a significantly better set. The full band was a nice enhancement and the set was more energetic (either because of the band or because of Jesse\u2019s choice of songs). His stage presence was exceptional (as it was the first time).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.opticality.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/JesseRuben.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"background-image: none; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; padding-top: 0px; border: 0px;\" title=\"JesseRuben\" src=\"https:\/\/www.opticality.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/JesseRuben_thumb.jpg\" alt=\"JesseRuben\" width=\"96\" height=\"216\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>What impressed me most was his songwriting. I said that the last time too, but I\u2019m sure I heard new songs and if the older ones held up on second listen, that\u2019s impressive too.<\/p>\n<p>For the most part, Jesse played rhythm because he had a high-quality band behind him. On one song, he called up two special guests and sang with them without the band. He finger-picked beautifully, so he can play the guitar nicely as well!<\/p>\n<p>The guests were <a title=\"Kyle Patrick\" href=\"http:\/\/www.myspace.com\/kylekylepatrick\" target=\"_blank\">Kyle Patrick<\/a> and <a title=\"Karly Jurgensen\" href=\"http:\/\/www.karlyjurgensen.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Karly Jurgensen<\/a>. It was convenient to call them up, since Karly had the set before Jesse\u2019s (<a title=\"Karly Jurgensen at Rockwood Music Hall Stage 2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.opticality.com\/blog\/2011\/08\/07\/karly-jurgensen-at-rockwood-music-hall-stage-2\/\" target=\"_blank\">covered here<\/a>) and Kyle had the set afterward. They sang gorgeous harmony (no surprise), but Jesse was the huge star in the song, called Advice (I believe). It\u2019s an amazing song, his guitar play was excellent, and he sang most of it without harmony either.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.opticality.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/JesseRubenKylePatrickKarlyJurgensen.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"background-image: none; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; padding-top: 0px; border: 0px;\" title=\"JesseRubenKylePatrickKarlyJurgensen\" src=\"https:\/\/www.opticality.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/JesseRubenKylePatrickKarlyJurgensen_thumb.jpg\" alt=\"JesseRubenKylePatrickKarlyJurgensen\" width=\"240\" height=\"188\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Twice he put down the guitar and sang his heart out at the mic. The first time was a cover of Joe Cocker\u2019s The Letter. Really well done. Here\u2019s Jesse singing with more than a bit of passion:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.opticality.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/JesseRubenSinging.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"background-image: none; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; padding-top: 0px; border: 0px;\" title=\"JesseRubenSinging\" src=\"https:\/\/www.opticality.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/JesseRubenSinging_thumb.jpg\" alt=\"JesseRubenSinging\" width=\"88\" height=\"216\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Supporting Jesse, left-to-right on the stage:<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Greg Barbone\" href=\"http:\/\/www.myspace.com\/gregbarbone\" target=\"_blank\">Greg Barbone<\/a> on grand piano. We\u2019ve seen Greg on a couple of sets, both on the same night. We were highly impressed with his play. That was true again last night on Jesse\u2019s set.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.opticality.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/GregBarbone.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"background-image: none; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; padding-top: 0px; border: 0px;\" title=\"GregBarbone\" src=\"https:\/\/www.opticality.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/GregBarbone_thumb.jpg\" alt=\"GregBarbone\" width=\"197\" height=\"225\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Nicky D'Agostino\" href=\"http:\/\/www.myspace.com\/nickydagostino\" target=\"_blank\">Nicky D\u2019Agostino<\/a> on drums. We\u2019ve seen Nicky once before as well, and he was excellent last night, as he was the first time, supporting <a title=\"Carley Tanchon\" href=\"http:\/\/www.myspace.com\/carleytanchon\" target=\"_blank\">Carley Tanchon<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.opticality.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/NickyDAgostino.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"background-image: none; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; padding-top: 0px; border: 0px;\" title=\"NickyDAgostino\" src=\"https:\/\/www.opticality.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/NickyDAgostino_thumb.jpg\" alt=\"NickyDAgostino\" width=\"143\" height=\"216\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Kyle McCammon\" href=\"http:\/\/www.myspace.com\/kylemccammon\" target=\"_blank\">Kyle McCammon<\/a> on electric bass. Kyle played the set before with Karly, which was much more jazz oriented. He was really good on this set too, showing versatility in genre and style. He was also significantly more animated on stage during this high-energy pop\/rock set. Jesse said that this was the first time Kyle played with him. That might be true, but I admit to thinking he was joking.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.opticality.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/KyleMcCammon1.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"background-image: none; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; padding-top: 0px; border: 0px;\" title=\"KyleMcCammon\" src=\"https:\/\/www.opticality.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/KyleMcCammon_thumb1.jpg\" alt=\"KyleMcCammon\" width=\"68\" height=\"216\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Will Hensley\" href=\"http:\/\/www.myspace.com\/willhensleyaudio\" target=\"_blank\">Will Hensley<\/a> on electric guitar. We just saw Will for the first time on July 31st at the Blues Brothers Benefit. He sounded good, but I noted that he was covered up (visually) and I couldn\u2019t easily match what I thought was the guitar lead to Will\u2019s hands. Last night, playing for Jesse, Will totally blew me away. He was amazing on traditional leads, and excellent with the slide as well.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.opticality.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/WillHensley1.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"background-image: none; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; padding-top: 0px; border: 0px;\" title=\"WillHensley\" src=\"https:\/\/www.opticality.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/WillHensley_thumb1.jpg\" alt=\"WillHensley\" width=\"156\" height=\"216\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I will be thrilled to see Will play with anyone, just for his skill, until I find out he is willing to play with a dud headliner. <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wlEmoticon wlEmoticon-winkingsmile\" style=\"border-style: none;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.opticality.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/wlEmoticon-winkingsmile5.png\" alt=\"Winking smile\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Likewise, I\u2019ll be very happy to see Jesse Ruben again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I\u2019ve seen Jesse Ruben do a full set at Rockwood Music Hall once before. Lois was sick that night. I had nothing but compliments for Jesse and you can read about it in the second half of this post. Last night he played Stage 2 and had a full band. Everything I said about Jesse [&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":[898,780,781,1069,508,1367,1070,493,1060],"class_list":["post-8287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music","category-2","tag-greg-barbone","tag-jesse-ruben","tag-karly-jurgensen","tag-kyle-mccammon","tag-kyle-patrick","tag-music","tag-nicky-dagostino","tag-rockwood-music-hall","tag-will-hensley"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/opticality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8287","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=8287"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/opticality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8287\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8290,"href":"https:\/\/opticality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8287\/revisions\/8290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/opticality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opticality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opticality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}