josh alan friedman @ jefferson freedom cafe, 9.20.2008
made a rare foray out to the east side to hear josh alan friedman at jefferson freedom cafe. as long as i've been getting their promo schmatter (um, since my daze as a fw weekly scribe), the first time i ever set foot in the j'int was when my middle dtr was married there back in april. shame on me. this time, tho, the confluence of factors (three days off from the j-o-b, coupled with an oppo to see, hear 'n' meet one of my heroes of scrawl _and_ music) made it a perfect storm of sorts. and the evening didn't disappoint, either. a congenial setting, a good-sounding room, good coffee 'n' pastries. 'twas, um, all good, in fact.
the program opened with a screening of blacks and jews, dallas-based actor kevin page's 2004 doco about josh and his "life obsessed with negroes." the flick, which has only been shown a dozen times so far and won't be released to dvd anytime soon (sigh), follows josh's adventures as a chronicler of the seamy side of times square ("the crossroads of the world") for screw magazine; an outlaw cartoonist with his brother drew friedman; a purveyor of "atomic acoustic guitar" thrills in dallas, once he'd "sold his soul to the devil and moved to texas" (_not_ to escape the wrath of the mob, he emphasizes); the son of an acting teacher mom and screenwriter-novelist dad; and the only white kid in a segregated lawn guyland school (he grew up in glen cove and great neck and was surprised to learn that darrin kobetich, who inherited his winedale tavern gig, is a fellow guylander) -- including josh reading his own account of a surrealistic encounter from his yoof.
then the music. while it was a little strange hearing josh performing live songs that we'd just seen in the movie (he alluded to the event being "like the guy who opened for you playing half of your set"), it was awe-inspiring for an idiot clod electric player like yr humble chronicler o' events to hear a cat producing _so much sound_ with just his hands (well, he _did_ use an octave pedal at times, most effectively on a hendrix "stone free" cover, but y'know...). using a flatpick and occasionally a coupla fingers, he has an extremely aggressive attack, hitting the box more percussively than anyone i've seen since corey harris that time at caravan, tapping on the gtr body, using lotsa harmonics and ripping off lightning-fast runs. he interspersed his opening "born under a bad sign" with a snatch of mountain's "blood of the sun" and wowed the crowd with hot doc watson-style picking on "black mountain rag," inserted a few new lyrics (learned from the songwriter) into jerry lieber's "down home girl," played some "piano guitar" on ray charles' "what'd i say," and fulfilled my wishes by playing "jeff's boogie," the song he first knocked my socks off with at the now-defuct borders at i-20 and hulen a decade ago. (dig the clips below for examples of his art.)
a very gracious fella, too. he signed my copy of his latest tome, tell the truth until they bleed -- a must-read for anyone who appreciates fine music writing; i see it as a kind of successor to peter guralnick's essential early anthologies feel like going home and lost highway -- and gifted me a copy of warts and all (a collection of his 'n' his brother's cartoon wonderment). would dig to hang and shoot the shit with him sometime when we're more at leisure.
my sweetie took a bunch of pics and posted some of 'em to her photo blog. also in the house: crazy picture guy scotty mankoff, who has a photo exhibit coming up october 4th at kettle art in deep ellum. yeah!
ADDENDUM: josh's book tales of times square is being made into a movie. so there.
the program opened with a screening of blacks and jews, dallas-based actor kevin page's 2004 doco about josh and his "life obsessed with negroes." the flick, which has only been shown a dozen times so far and won't be released to dvd anytime soon (sigh), follows josh's adventures as a chronicler of the seamy side of times square ("the crossroads of the world") for screw magazine; an outlaw cartoonist with his brother drew friedman; a purveyor of "atomic acoustic guitar" thrills in dallas, once he'd "sold his soul to the devil and moved to texas" (_not_ to escape the wrath of the mob, he emphasizes); the son of an acting teacher mom and screenwriter-novelist dad; and the only white kid in a segregated lawn guyland school (he grew up in glen cove and great neck and was surprised to learn that darrin kobetich, who inherited his winedale tavern gig, is a fellow guylander) -- including josh reading his own account of a surrealistic encounter from his yoof.
then the music. while it was a little strange hearing josh performing live songs that we'd just seen in the movie (he alluded to the event being "like the guy who opened for you playing half of your set"), it was awe-inspiring for an idiot clod electric player like yr humble chronicler o' events to hear a cat producing _so much sound_ with just his hands (well, he _did_ use an octave pedal at times, most effectively on a hendrix "stone free" cover, but y'know...). using a flatpick and occasionally a coupla fingers, he has an extremely aggressive attack, hitting the box more percussively than anyone i've seen since corey harris that time at caravan, tapping on the gtr body, using lotsa harmonics and ripping off lightning-fast runs. he interspersed his opening "born under a bad sign" with a snatch of mountain's "blood of the sun" and wowed the crowd with hot doc watson-style picking on "black mountain rag," inserted a few new lyrics (learned from the songwriter) into jerry lieber's "down home girl," played some "piano guitar" on ray charles' "what'd i say," and fulfilled my wishes by playing "jeff's boogie," the song he first knocked my socks off with at the now-defuct borders at i-20 and hulen a decade ago. (dig the clips below for examples of his art.)
a very gracious fella, too. he signed my copy of his latest tome, tell the truth until they bleed -- a must-read for anyone who appreciates fine music writing; i see it as a kind of successor to peter guralnick's essential early anthologies feel like going home and lost highway -- and gifted me a copy of warts and all (a collection of his 'n' his brother's cartoon wonderment). would dig to hang and shoot the shit with him sometime when we're more at leisure.
my sweetie took a bunch of pics and posted some of 'em to her photo blog. also in the house: crazy picture guy scotty mankoff, who has a photo exhibit coming up october 4th at kettle art in deep ellum. yeah!
ADDENDUM: josh's book tales of times square is being made into a movie. so there.
posted by stashdauber at 7:11 AM
1 Comments:
It was kickass. "Famous & Poor" has influenced my playing prob. more than anything I've listened too. I've never been to NY but when I hear him play Harlem Time I feel like I have.
Love the pix
thanks
laterK
Post a Comment
<< Home