{"id":8609,"date":"2011-09-04T14:14:51","date_gmt":"2011-09-04T18:14:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.opticality.com\/blog\/?p=8609"},"modified":"2011-09-04T14:20:01","modified_gmt":"2011-09-04T18:20:01","slug":"rebecca-haviland-at-rockwood-music-hall-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/opticality.com\/blog\/2011\/09\/04\/rebecca-haviland-at-rockwood-music-hall-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Rebecca Haviland at Rockwood Music Hall"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rebecca Haviland<\/a> is near the top of our list as both a person and an artist. We would twist ourselves into a pretzel to get to one of her shows. Thankfully, last night required no such acrobatics, given that we were next door at Rockwood Music Hall<\/a> Stage 2 for an earlier show (Chris Ayer<\/a> and Matt Simons<\/a>, both of whom came to see Rebecca\u2019s show like we did).<\/p>\n

We aren\u2019t alone in our love of Rebecca\u2019s music, as the place was jammed. On a holiday weekend in the summer in NYC? Give me a break. Typically the place is a ghost town. Obviously, the few New Yorkers that stayed in town made it a point to show up for the two shows we targeted as well. Smart.<\/p>\n

Rebecca played an excellent set, including a brand new song. So new in fact, that the band had to sit it out (clearly, they didn\u2019t have time to rehearse it in advance). Chris Anderson<\/a>, Rebecca\u2019s regular writing partner now (and bass player in her band) didn\u2019t join either, even though he co-wrote it (or so I think she said). So, they haven\u2019t arranged the vocals or bass part yet either. Of course, Rebecca can carry any song all by herself, even a cappella. This time she accompanied herself on the electric guitar (which she played on every song).<\/p>\n

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

In addition to Chris co-writing many of Rebecca\u2019s new songs, he\u2019s singing harmony on most of them. With every performance, he\u2019s getting more comfortable in that role. He\u2019s opening it up (wonderfully) and seems to be having a good time with it. Keep it up Chris!<\/p>\n

Rebecca played a number of songs off her upcoming CD (currently in the final three weeks of a Kickstarter campaign<\/a>). After last night\u2019s performance, we upped our contribution (we had the distinction of being first as well). That\u2019s how badly I want to get my hands on this CD. If you like bluesy rock, delivered by one of the most interesting, gorgeous voices around, click on the link above and make sure it gets made!<\/p>\n

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

My current favorite (it\u2019s closer to an obsession) is If You, which she got many people in the crowd to sing along with. As always, I sang my heart out. The two young women next to me looked at me strangely (I didn\u2019t care, but I did notice). I guess seeing an old man letting loose was shocking. I know I wasn\u2019t off key (heaven forbid). \"Winking<\/p>\n

She also played Collide With Me, which Lois is in love with (as am I), so she spread the love around (at least among our household). One of the rare times that we didn\u2019t snag a set list or take a photo of it, so I can\u2019t rattle off every song. Of course, she played her signature cover of Led Zeppelin\u2019s Black Dog.<\/p>\n

The band, left-to-right on the stage:<\/p>\n

Greg Mayo<\/a> on keyboards (grand piano and electronic) and harmony. Greg was great (as always). When singing with Rebecca and Chris, the three-part harmony was wonderful. Greg took a couple of solos on the keyboards and was fast and tasty.<\/p>\n

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

My lovely bride, knowing how huge a Greg Mayo fan I am, surreptitiously arranged with Greg to purchase all of his CDs for me. Right before the show, he delivered four of them (handing them to me, and saying they were from Lois). \"Smile\" Still one more to go. One of the CD\u2019s was actually Bergers with Mayo, with the Mayo in that one being Greg\u2019s Dad, Bob. What an amazing gift, I can\u2019t wait to get lost in all of them. Thanks Lois and Greg!<\/p>\n

Chris Anderson on electric bass and harmony. I already mentioned how well Chris did singing and co-writing. Might as well round it out and state (for the 100th time) that he\u2019s a top bass player as well. He had a surprise for the audience (which Rebecca introduced). He bought a new toy<\/em> and debuted it. An 8-string electric bass (isn\u2019t that just a guitar with really fat strings?). \"Winking<\/p>\n

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

Kenny Shaw<\/a> on drums. There\u2019s no doubt that we see more of Kenny than any other drummer, at least in 2011. That\u2019s just fine with me, he\u2019s that good. In the picture below, it looks like Kenny is using a clown cymbal<\/em>. \"Smile\"<\/p>\n

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

I am a drum-loving fool, so I always pay particular attention to the drummer. As much as I love it, it\u2019s only this year that I\u2019ve come to notice something I think of as discipline<\/em>.<\/p>\n

There are drummers that I loved (and still do), for their skills at being super fast and many times super interesting. This year, I\u2019ve realized that a bit too often, they\u2019re also sloppy<\/em>. I\u2019ve really come to appreciate drummers that are machine like in their precision, across styles and genres, while still being fast and interesting when called for<\/strong>. In other words, sometimes understated is exactly<\/strong> what is called for and necessary to support the song.<\/p>\n

Another fantastic night out, surrounded by friends, immersed in music that we love.<\/p>\n

\"KellySamTeichman\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rebecca Haviland is near the top of our list as both a person and an artist. We would twist ourselves into a pretzel to get to one of her shows. Thankfully, last night required no such acrobatics, given that we were next door at Rockwood Music Hall Stage 2 for an earlier show (Chris Ayer […]<\/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":[602,715,819,1367,818,493],"class_list":["post-8609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music","category-2","tag-chris-anderson","tag-greg-mayo","tag-kenny-shaw","tag-music","tag-rebecca-haviland","tag-rockwood-music-hall"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/opticality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8609","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=8609"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/opticality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8609\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8611,"href":"https:\/\/opticality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8609\/revisions\/8611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/opticality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opticality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opticality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}