The Hoppy Okapi

So many shows to blog about, so little time! A few highlights from May, before I forget about them entirely:

We started and ended the month with “surprise” shows. The first, I learned about by chance the day before the concert, and I’m so glad I did. We saw Po’ Girl at the same church near Adams Avenue where we saw Gregory Page during Roots Fest. I first discovered Po’ Girl at Hear Music in Santa Monica last year, where I bought their “Home To You” CD because it reminded me of the Be Good Tanyas (1st place on my Desert Islands Discs), without realizing that one of the contributors to the album actually WAS from the Be Good Tanyas (I am perceptive, sometimes). So through random browsing of events on signonsandiego.com, I found out about the Po’ Girl concert. It was presented by Acoustic Music San Diego, a wonderful group that presents concerts several concerts a month and sells some of the best chocolate chip cookies ever made (big, buttery, crispy but not too-hard, seriously good, homemade chocolate chip cookies!); I had no idea that the group or the concert series existed before the fortuitous Po’ Girl discovery, but I’ll definitely be going back!

This was another one of those extremely intimate concerts that I absolutely love. We were seated in the third row of the church, and there were probably 40 or so people total for the event…I actually feel kind of sorry for every single person in San Diego who was not there, because it was an amazing show. I like “Home to You”, but it pales in comparison to seeing the ladies perform live – they were so talented, gracious, funny, and beautiful, I was completely entranced by them. Among the many instruments played throughout the evening, Allison Russell played the clarinet, and it was the first time EVER that I was sad to have quit clarinet lessons in the 5th grade. Also, Awna Teixeira somewhat reluctantly broke out the glockenspiel for one song, and was so utterly brilliant on the accordion that I may postpone my theoretical harp lessons to play gypsy music on the accordion instead.

Next up on our whirlwind May wrap-up: Jesse Cook, performing at Humphrey’s By the Bay. It was our first ever trip to Humphrey’s, and it was a very different experience from the small acoustic shows and bar stages that we’ve been frequenting. Humphrey’s is an outdoor venue, with three sections of seating in front of the stage, with one side open to the bay where those with boats can motor over for some free entertainment. The atmosphere was kind of a bizarre mix of high-society meetup and Hawaiian luau vacation resort craziness. The last time we saw Jesse Cook (opening for Diana Krall in Santa Barbara, maybe eight years ago?), there was just him and his guitar, playing beautiful flamenco melodies. I have not been following him in the meantime, and was pleasantly surprised to see him on the Humphrey’s schedule, and even more surprised to see how his career has apparently exploded since we saw him last. The music was AMPED, with more of a world-beat feel, Latin and maybe African rhythms mixed in with the flamenco influences. Mr Cook was joined onstage by another guitar player, a bassist, a wild-haired and generally fun violinist, and a fantastic drum player, and they had a great time playing together and making great music together. There were quite a few hard-core fans in the audience, and much dancing in the aisles at the end of the show.

We ended May with yet another show at Humphrey’s. I found out on Friday that I’d won tickets to see Craig Ferguson that night, thanks to San Diego City Beat. I’d submitted an online entry several weeks earlier, and not even realized that the show hadn’t taken place yet, so the tickets were a fantastic surprise! We used to watch Craig on the Drew Carey show, and were fans of the movie Saving Grace, and I’m happy to report that his live routine did not disappoint. Live comedy is always a bit of a grab bag for me – sometimes it seems like the comics just try to say random, offensive things and hope someone in the audience is drunk enough to laugh – but Craig Ferguson was excellent from start to finish, creating humor from personal narrative and a well-honed sense of the ridiculous, with only a few cringe-worthy moments (and most of those were still funny).