Slinger
Francisco swung and sang pretty low for a cat with the nickname Sparrow.
Regardless, The Mighty Sparrow —
“King of the Calypso World”— enthralled the packed Kilbourn Hall last
Tuesday. At 70 (and with 70 albums to his credit) he is still a riveting and
majestic presence. His style of hopping around the stage and his soulful
preacher-style of singing gave the impression that he was teaching a lesson or
delivering a message, not just singing a song.
The
tune “Man In The Bedroom,” about a woman claiming she mistook her lover for her
husband, was hilarious. Sparrow’s band — trombone, trumpet, keys, and drums
— gave a nice r&b feel to a style that frequently gets noticed solely for
its lush and jovial polyrhythms.
Tiger Cried Beef was a little more monotone than when I caught them last. I got to their Bug Jar
show in time to hear them doing “Halper Moon” — a tune I really like despite
its kind of depressing tone.
They
were opening for the puppet and organ boogaloo of New Orleans’ Quintron & Miss Pussycat and their
guest Harry Merry. Harry Merry
sucked rope. Dressed in a little boys’ sailor outfit and a parked in front of a
keyboard, this guy (rumored to be from Prague) made Wesley Willis sound like
Mozart. It was so bad I left.
I
missed what I later hear was a fantastic set from Quintron ’cause I simply had
to flee this musical (?) root canal. Look, I’m a fan of the odd, the lo-fi, the
weird, the wacky, but I think music fans are slow to call a spade a spade —
or a pile of crap a pile of crap — out of the fear of being labeled clueless
or un-hip. If this was truly hip, then I ain’t hip no more.
Shemekia Copeland packed the Thursday night Montage Grille to the ceiling with her funky blues. I
know folks dig the funky, but wouldn’t I just love to hear her get down ala
Etta? Nevertheless, the gal belted relentlessly and dangerously and the sound
in the room was great. What a beautiful powerhouse.
This article appears in Nov 23-29, 2005.
