[atlantaprog] Re: February meeting

> -----Original Message-----
> From: atlantaprog-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx=20
> [mailto:atlantaprog-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Allen=20
> Welty-Green
> Sent: Sunday, January 26, 2003 4:50 PM

=20
> The opening band was a no show, so the club had Paine's Promise start=20
> early... as a result, I missed their set :-(  but I caught most of=20
> the Cobweb Strange set - they turned in a pretty good performance for=20
> being so cold! They did try and warm up the place a bit with spot-on=20
> covers of Hendrix's Fire and Sabbath's NIB (with Brandi taking the=20
> role of Ozzy/Lucifer!) in between their own moody, intricate=20
> originals - not the sort of covers you'd expected from a prog act,=20
> but fun nonetheless.

My drummer Rob and I went.  Yes it was very cold, and the place was
heated by a space heater.  I *do* have to complain about one thing...
***$7*** to get in on a Thursday night???  And the place had no heat
except for a lone heavy duty space heater??  And it was $15 to get in if
you were drinking (I believe that Allen said that the $15 included free
beer, so that is almost forgivable).  The girl at the door said "that's
normal" when I inquired about paying $7 for a Thursday night in the
middle of nowhere (well, sort of) with no real heat.

I hate to ask what the price is on a weekend.  I don't think that when
(if) my band starts playing clubs around town we are going to play
there.  I can't see justifying the $7 to my friends (who I have to beg
to come out on a weeknight anyway, nevermind ANY cover).  If I hadn't
driven 40 minutes in the cold I might have turned around at the door.

Well anyway...

The show itself was good.  The no show I guess explains why Paine's
Promise went on early.  I caught the last 5 songs or so, and very much
enjoyed them.  Like I said to my drummer, you can tell that Veronica has
listened to a lot of Alex Lifeson.  She had that type of guitar tone
down, and her style reminded me of his as well.  My only complaint is
that I could really not hear Veronica sing!  Was the sound guy asleep?
He was 10 feet away from me.  Surely he could hear that you could not
hear her singing!  Even so, I really enjoyed the part of the set I saw.
I was impressed by the band's music and skill, and to be honest, I went
in not really sure what to expect, good or bad.  I'm glad it was good!

Next Cobweb Strange went on. OK, we could hear the singer this time.
Yea!  I only stayed for about half their set I guess.  I took off close
to 11:30 as I still had a 40 minute ride ahead of me and did have to
work the next morning.  Again, I could hear some of the influences (at
least as guitar goes, since I am a guitar player).  I could definitely
hear a Steve Howe/Yes influence in the guitar playing, purposely or not,
esp. when Holly was playing her clean parts, and the syncopated parts.
(BTW, I looked up everyones names on their website so I wouldn't look
like a total idiot here :-=DE ).  I really liked her sound when she =
kicked
in the distortion though.  She gets a really nice tone from her
equipment (looks like a Voodoo Strat right into the front of a marshall
half stack with a wah on the ground and that's about it).  I could also
definitely hear some jazzy licks in there too, not just bluesy stuff.
Cool.

2 comments about the Cobweb Strange set, and I mean these as
constructive, so please don't go "How dare he!"  I'm only saying what I
hope someone says to me when I play a show!

1) Don't start the set with the song that you started the set with.  It
was a slower song, and I think you need to come out with a bang!  Put
that song somewhere else in the set, like towards the middle or
something.

2) We didn't even know that Brandi could sing until the song "First" (if
I remember the name correctly) was played and she sang.  She definitely
has a killer voice, and we did not hear it again (like I said, we left
about halfway through, or maybe a little later, but around 11:30 or so -
maybe she got more mic time andwe missed it, in which case..
Nervermind.)!  It's an under-utilized talent in the band, and I for one
would like to hear her sing some more.  Maybe She and Wade could do
harmonies or trade off (like in First) in some songs...


OK, one last comment, and PLEASE don't take this as a "sexist"
comment...  I don't MEAN for it to be...

Very impressed by the girl guitar players of the night.  MOST of the
girl guitar players that you see are "folkies" or something similar, or
"punks" in the vein of Kitty or even Veruca Salt where (the folkies)
play almost only chords in open position or with a capo and (the punks)
play only barre chords and the occasional Cobain-esque solo.  I can only
think of a few girl guitar players that really have technique and any
kind of feel (Jaye Foucher, Jennifer Batten, Liona Boyd, Badi Asaad, and
even Bonnie Raitt are the ones that I can think of).  Maybe it's just
cause there are generally MORE guy guitar players and the ratio of OK to
very good is actually the same.  Anyway, it was a treat to see *2* of
the ones that fall into the technique (and feel) category in one night!



Alex F/Brain21

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