Monday, November 19, 2007
Carla & Company
Carla & Company, together with guest choreographer Gesel Mason, presented a lively program Saturday night at Dance Place. Carla Perlo, one of Washington's notable community dance educators and founder of Dance Place, demonstrated her conviction that "dance is for everyone" with an easily accessible program danced by a multi-generational, diverse troupe.
The packed house laughed through Mason's "How to Watch a Modern Dance," performed by Rita Jean Kelly and narrated by Richard Pilkinton. As Kelly performs wildly exaggerated imitations of Alvin Ailey, Isadora Duncan and Martha Graham, Pilkinton skeptically asks, "What the hell are they doing onstage?"
"The Space in Between," a Mason premiere, belied its origin as the culmination of a repertory class for adult students. To driving music by Radiohead, 11 dancers stand upright and motionless in slouchy camouflage khakis and T-shirts, as another dancer, in bright clothes, weaves her way through the human forest. The piece is striking in its mix of abrupt stillness and jarring motion, as if the dancers were oil on water suddenly agitated by solvent.
Perlo's premiere,"Let It Flow," featured eight dancers in flowing blue and green dresses and slacks. They swayed and turned, as if in liquid, their shadows projected larger than life on a backdrop. Moving from the ethereal to the everyday, the dancers interspersed children's games and vernacular play with the more abstract motions of flowing arms and torsos.
The final two pieces of the evening, "All Wrapped Up in Myself" and "All Wrapped Up in My Community," were nicely juxtaposed. The first featured six women with colorful batik wraps that transformed from beach towels to capes in a kaleidoscope of pattern. The last work was a celebration based on Israeli folk dancing that culminated with the audience joining in a large circle dance -- a joyous end to an uplifting evening.
-- Barbara Allen
Georgie James
Retro-pop duo Georgie James is a cinch for the shortlist of Washington's most promising bands: Its full-length debut, "Places," is so addictive a confection it ought to be covered by the Controlled Substances Act, and its concerts have been hailed far beyond the District.
Friday night at the Black Cat, at what doe-eyed, honey-voiced singer/keys player Laura Burhenn said was their first hometown gig since their album's September release, the band -- core members Burhenn and singer/multi-instrumentalist John Davis, plus live ringers Andrew Black (drums), Paul Michel (guitar, vocals) and Michael Cotterman (bass; he's also a Washington Post employee, we must tell you) -- served up 45 affable minutes of '70s-inflected sonic sunshine, ably re-creating the Paul McCartneyesque hooks, Paul Simonesque harmonies and Paul Welleresque grooves of their record. But there was no added urgency, or humor, or grit, or any of the qualities that, when present, make a live show superior to listening at home.
To be fair, the largely (and typically) indifferent Black Cat crowd might not have been seeing their local heroes at full strength: Last month, the band canceled 10 shows because Davis was sick. That said, both halves of Georgie James were in fine voice; Burhenn, especially, showing off a becoming vocal huskiness that gave "Cake Parade" and "Long Week" a smokier feel than their recorded incarnations.
For all their hummable tunes and irreproachable chops, Georgie James was at a disadvantage, going on after Aqueduct, a Seattle-based novelty act that can't begin to approach Davis and Burhenn's songcraft, but could teach them a thing or four about how to rock a crowd.
-- Chris Klimek
Cafe Tacuba
Cafe Tacuba has a long-standing reputation as an exhilarating live rock band, and Saturday night's two-hour show at the 9:30 club largely lived up to the acclaim. Led by charismatic vocalist Ruben Albarran, this almost two-decade-old combo from the Mexico City suburbs pleased a packed house with frenzied ska-punk, melodic pop, rap-rock, folkloric-tinged sounds, and '60s- and '70s-influenced art-rock.
Tacuba began stiffly with the quiet melodrama of "Seguir Siendo," the opening cut of its new "Sino" CD. Any fears that the band's approach had turned cold dissipated quickly, however, as Albarran, with his black bowler hat pulled low, flashed a mischievous smile, and keyboardist Emmanuel Meme Del Real segued into the bright, twinkling pop of "Tengo Todo." The pop soon gave way to a number of hyperactive, older, ska-rooted numbers. While too many of these cuts predictably blended Albarran's trademark nasal squeaky phrasing with the Rangel brothers' guitar rhythms, the more distinctive tune, "Las Flores," got the room pogoing with a sugary-sweet chorus and a bouncy beat enhanced with melodica and keyboard accents.
On the "Sino" CD, this eclectic outfit reaches back to both '60s classic rock and '80s New Wave. Live, "Sino's" homage to the Who, "53100," proved less successful than "Volver a Comenzar," which started and ended like a New Order dance-pop track but with gorgeous Pet Sounds-era Beach Boys harmonies in the middle. The group also saluted homegrown influences with their cover of Mexican rock band Botellita de Jerez's pop-punk "Alarmala de Tos," and their own "Ingrata," which inspired crowd-surfing as it transformed from norte¿o to hardcore punk.
Throughout the evening, the band's gift for melody and harmony would prove to be its most potent weapon. A facility with Spanish was not necessary to appreciate catchy encores "Eres," "El Baile y El Salon" and evening closer "Como te Extrano," to which the band gleefully tacked on a speedy thrash ending.
-- Steve Kiviat
'Django Reinhardt Festival'
"We're getting paid by the note, so we hope you like a lot of speed," said bassist Brian Torff at the Kennedy Center's KC Jazz Club on Saturday night. Would Gypsy swing enthusiasts have it any other way?
Torff's comment came after the quintet he was deftly anchoring, featuring manouche guitar wizard Dorado Schmitt, raced through a dazzling arrangement of Django Reinhardt's "Belleville." The performance, however, wasn't notable only for the propulsive two-guitar attack sustained by Schmitt and his son, Samson; it also capitalized on two of the ensemble's most appealing assets: violinist Florin Niculescu's singing tone and accordionist Ludovic Beier's soulful resonance. More often than not, their contributions -- and seemingly inherent lyricism -- colorfully complemented Dorado's raked arpeggios and dashing, single-note sprints.
One band may not constitute a "Django Reinhardt Festival," as the concert was billed, but certainly high spirits prevailed. That was especially true during "Sweet Georgia Brown," when the precise yet wonderfully lighthearted interplay proved nimble enough to evoke the Harlem Globetrotters in action. (Even so, nothing got a rise out of the crowd more than the sight of p¿re and fils simultaneously playing the same guitar.) Punctuating the swing pieces were a few ballads, including an emotionally affecting piece recently composed by Dorado, which featured him on violin, teamed with Niculescu.
In any other ensemble Samson Schmitt would be playing lead guitar, not rhythm, and when the opportunity arose he proved his mettle with a crisp interpretation of his father's early hit, "Bossa Dorado."
-- Mike Joyce
Marc Cohn
Two years ago while touring, during a Denver carjacking incident, Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Marc Cohn was shot in the head. Back on the road now with an impressive new album to promote, he appears to have fully recovered. And he'll always have an interesting anecdote to relate.
At the Rams Head Tavern in Annapolis on Friday night, Cohn alluded to the shooting when introducing "Dance Back From the Grave," the first song he composed for his new CD, "Join the Parade." Written during the Katrina aftermath (and initially inspired by a Rick Bragg essay about the recuperative power of New Orleans residents), the song, Cohn said, was also shaped by the emotional and physical challenges he faced during his own recovery. With the help of a rootsy five-piece band, he conveyed the lyrics' ultimately jubilant spirit so forcefully that the recorded version seemed muted by comparison.
Best known for "Walking in Memphis," with its echoes of early Elvis and Sun Records, Cohn is still conjuring the Southern music he loves with both affection and attention to detail. When he performed "Listening to Levon" on piano, he paid evocative tribute to the haunting vocals that Arkansas-born Levon Helm contributed to the Band's sound. Another high point came when Cohn put down his acoustic guitar and delivered "29 Ways," an old favorite of fans, with pulpit-pounding fervor. New or familiar, acoustic or electric, the songs always benefited from Shane Fontayne's exceptionally colorful guitar work and Amy Correia's soulful harmonies.
-- Mike Joyce
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