Bless her heart, Candye
Kane is giving the big C the big fight. Clearly in pain and
looking a bit tired, the still ever-beautiful performer sang the pain (hers and
mine) away Wednesday, October 9, at Abilene. It was the best I’d ever heard her
sing as her band — starring the incredible Laura Chavez on guitar — bopped the
swingin’ blues. Not long on self-pity or hand-wringing, Kane’s set was both
emotional and inspiring. She bemoaned her weight loss and waxed nostalgic for
her 300-pound frame of yore. But I’m here to tell you, the big broad was still
there in all her randy, raunchy, Rubenesque, rocking glory.

The faithful readers of my rants have been known to give me
shit when I bounce around from venue to venue like a pinball. So this week,
though there were multiple events on my radar (“Machete Kills” will have to
wait until next week sometime), I decided to hit one show and dig it from
load-in to load-out. It was So Last Year’s
CD release show Friday night at Lovin’ Cup, with guests Adam Clark and Joe Percy. It was a night of
song-centric wonderment from all three artists.

Percy, of Sans Ego fame, took the stage with his guitar and
his uncle — that would be Paul Morabito of the Moovies and Chesterfield Kings
fame — on bass. Percy established his musicality and quirk by opening with
Ween’s fun and falsetto’d “Freedom of 76” before launching into an otherwise
totally original set. His guitar gently wept, and though electric, he played it
Push Star/Velvets style with a decidedly acoustic strum and attack. Morabito
held the bottom end Longhorn-style and plodded about in a more of a freeform
counterpoint than actual support. It twisted and mingled well with Percy’s
gentle lyricism.

Reminding me of Ryan Adams sans the nicotine, Adam Clark took
the stage with a set of music that can be viewed two ways. If he were an
acoustic artist, the set would have seemed ramped and amped up. If he were an
electric artist, then it would have come off reserved. Not knowing his plugged
or unplugged roots, I had to focus on the music at hand. It was lovelorn
lyrically with a percussive attack from the two acoustic guitars parked up
front. It was quiet and the band had a little trouble getting the preoccupied
crowd to turn an ear, but the audience eventually came around. Good music will
do that.

The star of the show, however, was Logan Van Epps, whose So
Last Year was there to celebrate the release of its CD, “It’s Later Than You
Think.” Manning the piano from center stage, Van Epps led his full band through
some interesting, un-brandable pop. His voice is mighty flexible, though he
spent most of the time flexing its upper register, its beauty only matched by
the introduction of an abbreviated string section about halfway through the
band’s short set.

This article appears in Oct 9-15, 2013.