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Songwriters Showcase March 2007
Showcase 188 was a big improvement for VOCAL’s image, since the men were cleared from the stage and the night was opened up to the ladies of VOCAL. Kim Gammon, Marti Hartung, Jen Smith and Stephanie Boarman entertained a crowd of enthusiastic supporters as Ladies’ Night 2007 was presented at the TapHouse Grill.
The March 19 Showcase was kicked off by Kim Gammon who produced and hosted the special event. Kim played ‘Long Road (Going Home)’ to start the evening of great music.
The next two performers traded off songs in the popular in-the-round format. Marti contributed ‘Sing the Blues’, ‘It was Yeah’ and ‘Sitting on a Window’ (nicknamed ‘The Cat Song’). Demonstrating a skill for blues infused licks as well as gentle rolling melodies, Marti gave a multi-faceted performance.
Jen showed a lot of soulful insight with ‘Not By My Own Strength’, ‘Whisper’, ‘More Than a Survivor’, taking on themes from religious experiences, to empathetic humanity accompanied by passionate six-string rhythms.
Kim transitioned the evening from the first set to the featured performer with her heavenly voice on ‘My Angel’. Accompanying Kim for the song was mandolin player Barry Lawson, who was part of Stephanie Boarman’s featured performance with husband Jeff Boarman.
Stephanie was in great form, captivating the audience with select cuts from her bluegrass catalogue including the more melancholy and passionate tunes such as ‘Bury Me in Kentucky’ and ‘Don’t Take My Baby Away’, as well as the light-hearted and humorous tunes such as ‘Cappucino Cowboy’ and ‘Don’t Mess With Daddy’s Little Girl’. The set was high energy and beautifully played as the performers stayed true to the bluegrass form with one condenser mic and each member moving in or out as the song required.
Thanks goes out to all of the performers for a fantastic evening, to Kim Gammon for pulling the night together, to Jim Uzel and Gary Shaver for making the sound and MC thing happen and to Richbrau’s TapHouse for providing a great venue.
Songwriters Showcase February 2007
Showcase 187 was a great event for all in attendance. The attendees were treated to great sounds from Steve Nuckolls, Larry Cody and Dave Pollard.
Steve kicked off the evening with his list of great songs including “Making My Getaway”, the true sotry of “Honest, Dependable and Fair”, “Hearts Caught Off Guard” and one of the first songs Steve ever wrote, “Alley Man” about his neighbors living in the byways of the fan district. Steve’s sound was superb as he delivered his brilliant, insightful works to the Showcase crowd.
Larry Cody took his famous songs that are a story in themselves and combined them into a musical novel for the evening. Taking the listener from the blush of love at first sight, to a young man’s eternal dedication to the woman he loves. Larry’s hero starts out so in love that he promises the young lady “I’ll Give You Day and Night”. As time goes by, the hero changes his mind and decides to pursue other ladies, but doesn’t understand his misgivings over the decision and wonders why “My Heart Wouldn’t Try”. Now that he’s back out in the game, he realizes that really, he’s “Going Round in Circles”. Then one night he’s having dinner with a wonderful lady and thinks, ahhh, “This Could Be the One”. He finds later that he still has these great feelings for his new interest and realizes, “Now I Know”. Finally our hero jumps in and tells his love, I want to be “Your Good Time Guarantee”.
Thanks to Larry for such an interesting presentation and his always entertaining songwriting. Also, thanks for his contribution to the review this month.
Headlining the Showcase for February was Dave Pollard who celebrated the release of his latest CD “Perfect Poetry” the same month. Some of the highlights from Dave’s set include “From the Start”, “Shattered Chains”, “Take Me Whole” and one of my favorites, the title song from the new CD “Perfect Poetry”, accompanied at the Showcase by Gary Shaver on saxophone. Dave’s voice was great as usual and the guitar work sounded fantastic.
The Showcase absolutely would not be possible without the dedication of Gary Shaver and Jim Uzel, our MC/Sound Crew. Thanks to all those in attendance and to Richbrau’s Taphouse for hosting.
