REMEMBERING JOEL OKIDA: HIS WORK FOR THE GUIDE...

    
    The late Joel Okida, music journalist extraordinaire, wrote some wonderful pieces for us.
(In addition, he made many contributions with his hot tips on who to go see or what CD to find, things that never appeared in the Guide's pages.) Our readers can again savor the fine pieces he wrote for us, compiled in one place, right here.     
    
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~    
    
(1) “THREE GIRLS & THEIR BUDDY” with EMMYLOU HARRIS, SHAWN COLVIN, PATTY GRIFFIN, & BUDDY MILLER – review by JOEL OKIDA for the Guide of their June 24, 2009 concert tour show at the Greek Theatre in L.A.     
    
(2) WPA (WORKS PROGRESS ADMINISTRATION) superstar band – review by JOEL OKIDA for the Guide of their October 6, 2009 show at Largo in L.A.     
    
(3) BOULDER ACOUSTIC SOCIETY that virtuosic ensemble from the Centennial State – review by JOEL OKIDA of their October 21, 2009 show at the Coffee Gallery Backstage, Altadena.     
    
(4) VAGABOND OPERA quote from piece Joel wrote for FolkWorks and sent to us to promote the band's performance on February 23, 2010 at The Edison in L.A.     
    
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~    
    
Here are those feature / reviews, in their entirety...
    
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~    
    
    
(1) “THREE GIRLS & THEIR BUDDY” with EMMYLOU HARRIS, SHAWN COLVIN, PATTY GRIFFIN, & BUDDY MILLER – review by JOEL OKIDA for the Guide of their June 24, 2009 concert tour show at the Greek Theatre in L.A.
    
    REVIEW by Joel Okida
    
    It was a mild summer evening with some thin cloud cover that negated any star sightings.  But that was okay because we had four of them right on stage. 
    
    Voices sparkling with varying degrees of twang and quiver, three sopranos and Buddy Miller's distinct and forceful delivery provided for an evening of defining Americana prose-like singing.  I found Patty Griffin to be near transcendent in her songwriting and elocution of her evening's song selection.  But then I can't find much fault in any of the performances. 
    
    Admittedly, I have been a Buddy Miller fan for a long time, both in his smart and stylish guitar playing but also his singing and songwriting.  Truly an underrated performer outside of the folk/country/roots genre where he is known and well-respected.  His "Shelter Me" and "All My Tears" etched into the night, counterpoint to the sweet vocals of the womanly takes on tales of woe. 
    
    Hey, Emmy Lou is the grand dame of iconic folk/no wig country music so what's not to love?  The "Red Dirt Girl" is still singing pretty much in the same range she did 30 years ago so it's all good. 
    
    I was not a Shawn Colvin fan before, not because I didn't like her music, but because I just never really got around to listening to a lot of her book although she enjoyed many a hit in the genre several years ago.  She was spot on when her turn came around and no slouch on guitar either. 
    
    But I think the youngster in the group at 45, Griffin, would win my honors for charismatic readings of her material.  "Heavenly Day" and "Mary" really stood out and I also liked that deadpan novelty tune, which for lack of not knowing the unrecorded title, must be something like, "It's a Dud" (one of the two "love" songs that she's ever written, according to her).
    
    It was a good night for music, made better by the good music they sent into that night.
    
[Joel's review of that night was one of several that ran in the Acoustic Americana Music Guide. Read all of them at
    
http://acousticamericana.blogspot.com/2011/07/three-girls-their-buddy-emmylou-harris.html ]  
    
    
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~    
    
    
(2) WPA (WORKS PROGRESS ADMINISTRATION) superstar band – review by JOEL OKIDA for the Guide of their October 6, 2009 show at Largo in L.A.
    
REVIEW by Joel Okida, for the Acoustic Americana Music Guide
    
WPA (WORKS PROGRESS ADMINISTRATION) SUPERSTAR BAND at Largo in L.A., Tuesday, October 6, 2009
    
    By Joel Okida
    
    WPA, aka Works Progress Administration, is a superb conglomerate of ace musicians who have put together a collection of songs that are all as rich as they are varied. This band can stretch out across several genres like they are the house band for all things Americana. The musicianship is solid as a rock (and roll) and they let each other shine in both songs and solos.
    
    The core members of sibs Sara and Sean Watkins (of Nickel Creek), Glen Phillips (Toad the Wet Sprocket), and Luke Bulla (Lyle Lovett) are a quartet of solid singers who can back up the vocals with some sharp instrumentals. At the Largo show, semi-regulars Greg Leisz (Bill Frisell, Joni Mitchell, Dave Alvin), massaged out some very spot-on lapsteel riffs, Benmont Tench (Tom Petty) played the hell out of the house upright piano, Sebastian Steinberg (Soul Coughing) punctuated the rhythms on bass, and local skin spanker, Don Heffington, rocked each number like this could be his old band. The interplay was tight and each song was ripe with melodies juicy and soulful.
    
    The polished presentation of every song might be due to the many Watkins Family Hour shows (with frequent guests) transferring over from the old Largo haunts to this band, this concert and the tour, but maybe the talent pool here really is not capable of making a mistake, much less doing a less than top notch show.  Yet for all this crisp and inspired playing, the band is loose and almost cozy in demeanor.  That they get to share the load and make each other's songs shine even brighter makes good company for musician and listener alike.
    
    The nearly 90 minute show inside the intimate Largo theater carried over to an "after-show" in the Little Room, the adjacent bar, where the Watkins siblings, Phillips, Bulla, Tench, and opening pop vocalist, Molly Henson returned with another 45 minutes of gems.
    
    This was one of the best shows of the year!
    
[This first appeared in the Acoustic Americana Music Guide at
www.nodepression.com/profiles/blogs/review-of-wpa-works-progress and at      http://acousticamericana.blogspot.com/2009/10/review-of-wpa-works-progress.html]     
    
    
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~    
    
    
(3) BOULDER ACOUSTIC SOCIETY that virtuosic ensemble from the Centennial State – review by JOEL OKIDA of their October 21, 2009 show at the Coffee Gallery Backstage, Altadena. (From the Acoustic Americana Music Guide & NEWS, Nov 20 through 26, 2009 edition.)
    
REVIEW by Joel Okida, for the Acoustic Americana Music Guide
Boulder Acoustic Society at the Coffee Gallery Backstage, October 21, 2009
    
BOULDER ACOUSTIC SOCIETY - GETTING BOLDER BY THE MINUTE
    
    By Joel Okida
    
    The name Boulder Acoustic Society may sound like a monthly gathering of Colorado audio engineers, but, in fact, is the moniker of four lively musicians who come together on stages across the country to entertain many a sell-out audience.
    
    Recently, in the intimate confines of Altadena’s Coffee Gallery Backstage, the band presented their multi-faceted music machine for an evening of spirited song and a few stories from the road.
    
    With a sharp jab or subtle irony, they can get you grinning broadly to any number of rollicking up tempo numbers and then cut you off at the knees with a lament like accordion/keyboard player, Scott McCormick’s “Take My Hand.” From there, they take that lump out of your throat and boost you up with an inspired gospel hymn.
    
    Drummer Scott Aller has the tough task of keeping the beat and adding the varied percussive elements on the vastly different range of tunes that the band generates. Aaron Keim juggles the guitar, uke, lap steel, banjo, alto horn and cornet when not posted behind his upright bass and singing. Few groups can cover as much ground instrumentally and material-wise, but BAS carries their own adventurous Americana songbook and gave energetic readings from that eclectic repertoire.
    
    All songs are credited to the band as a whole on their recent recording, “Punchline,” but in concert each member gets a beam of the limelight. A song such as “Frog Pajama Waltz” allows ace fiddler Kailin Yong to show his bowing chops, while adding fire on any number of other tunes.
    
    Not many bands can be everything to everybody, but BAS touches upon so many musical areas that if they did a show comprised of early music lullabies, bird calls of the Pacific Northwest, Paganini violin concertos and the Star Spangled Banner on ukulele, you would only be mildly surprised, but not shocked at all by how well they do it.
    
    They are now on tour throughout the Southwest with a few shows in the eastern U.S. See them on the road if you’re traveling somewhere along their route. Learn more about this remarkable band at www.boulderacousticsociety.net
    
[This first appeared in the Acoustic Americana Music Guide at http://acousticamericana.blogspot.com/2009/11/review-boulder-acoustic-society-getting.html]
    
    
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~    
    
    
(4) VAGABOND OPERA quote from a classic piece Joel wrote for FolkWorks and sent to us to promote the band's performance on February 23, 2010 at The Edison in L.A.
    
Tue, Feb 23; a “SHOW-OF-THE-WEEK” pick:
8 pm VAGABOND OPERA at The Edison, 108 W 2nd St #101, Los Angeles 90012; www.edisondowntown.com; 213-613-0000. They’ve performed live on radio’s “Tied to the Tracks,” and their energy and musicianship are stellar.
    
    Here’s an excerpt from Joel Okida’s piece on the band in the [then] current FolkWorks (www.folkworks.org) ~
    “As the traveling ensemble, Vagabond Opera makes its way up and down the west coast, they will soon park here and bring an entertainment to our fine, but fickle and financially-strapped city; an evening which promises to be filled with tongue-in-cheekiness, cheery chicanery, and perhaps a skosh of the scoundrel. Performing selections from the their last recording, ‘The Zeitgeist Beckons,’ as well as offerings from two previous CDs, the staunchly acoustic Vagabond Opera brings thrills and chills in their ‘opera in four acts, maybe even five.’ A tantalizing tango, a tarantella tarriance, a wandering waltz, and who knows, maybe even a triple-measured mazurka will be performed with full operatic interpretation and expert instrumental-attended accompaniment.”
    
    
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~    
    
    
(5) Random Joel...
    
Joel tipped us to a show that we put in the Guide for March 10, 2008. He called SLIM CESSNA'S AUTO CLUB (playing that night at Safari Sam's in L.A.) “Colorado psychobilly gospel sweathogs.”
    
He did have a way with words.
    
    
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~    
    
Read the Guide's tribute to Joel,
IN MEMORIUM: JOEL OKIDA, MUSIC JOURNALIST EXTRAORDINAIRE, at
http://acousticamericana.blogspot.com/2011/07/in-memorium-joel-okida-music-journalist.html   
    
Read much more of Joel's work in the current memorial retrospective in FolkWorks, online at www.folkworks.org.     
    
Return to finish reading the current edition of The Guide at www.acousticmusic.net or www.acousticamericana.blogspot.com.     
    
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~