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-- Sarah Godfrey
Dan Bern
Dan Bern has been stuck in the bins marked "folk," but he's a rocker at heart -- or at least that's what he tried to be at Jammin' Java on Saturday.
He and fellow musicians Paul Kuhn and Garrin Benfield were amped up to a beer-bottle-shaking volume in the small, packed club. The arrangement didn't always serve them well; Benfield, in particular, seemed to have trouble hearing his own bass. And too often the incisive lyrics that distinguish Bern's songs -- the very lyrics that the folk community prizes -- became indistinguishable.
That said, the material from his just-released "Breathe" stood out, particularly the song "Suicide Room," about perseverance in a place primed for sadness. "Tongue-Tied" revealed his self-conscious side, as he sang, "Trust has been a little frazzled / With a song that might be sold in 20 years to sell beer" and also "Sorry if my song's a little shy."
Only the former statement seemed like the truth: Bern's intensely but never overbearingly rhythmic acoustic guitar underscored the passion with which he leaned into the microphone and unleashed his songs.
Benfield and Kuhn -- who played an intriguing six-string electric violin he called the Cellocaster -- proved great foils for Bern, whose stage presence is another of his many gifts. He revealed why he'd changed his tuning from G to E: It made it easier to lean over and pick up his beer. And he took time to praise the kitchen/bar staff. "We almost rock," he said. "Those guys rock."
-- Pamela Murray Winters
