Peter Principle

On Sunday, Nov 19th, I took a break from unpacking to go to a concert by Sonny Landreth and his band at Villa Montalvo. It was held in their small Carriage House Theater, where we had seen Sonny a year ago. Good thing too, since it got down to about 40 degrees outside.

Sonny put on a great show, and played most of the tunes from his live album, “Grant Street”. I was also impressed with his new drummer, who put on a great performance of his own.

Unfortunately, given that Villa Montalvo probably won’t put on any good concerts next year, I don’t know if Sonny will be coming back to town.

On November 18, after 12 years of living in a rental duplex in Los Gatos, I finally moved to a smaller place. I had spent virtually all my free time for the preceding month preparing for the move. Not actually packing, mind you. I only spent about 15% of my time packing. The other 85% was spent just getting rid of stuff.

All that effort was to sort, sell, donate or just junk a houseful of possessions. I became an expert at selling on Craig’s List. And I don’t know how many loads I took to Goodwill. After that experience, I’ve decided I hate material possessions. Maybe those nomads had it right after all.

After all that preparation, the move itself went so well as to be anti-climatic. I hired a team of 3 guys from Moovers, Inc. They showed up before 9am, and started loading up the truck. We were over at the new place by 11, and finished unloading in less than 4 hours.

My good friends helped me unpack my kitchen that afternoon. I might still live out of boxes for the next few weeks, but at least I can make espresso.

On October 21, we went up to the city to see a great concert by the James Cotton Blues Band, put on by the San Francisco Jazz Festival. They put on a great show, and the old-timers James Cotton and Hubert Sumlin proved they can still rock out with the youngsters.

It was held in the beautiful art-deco Herbst Theatre, just down the block from symphony hall and the opera house. The theater, with its wonderful murals, was a great setting for an evening of classic blues.

“Harp-player extraordinaire” —New York Daily News

Grammy-winner and 2006 Blues Hall of Fame inductee James “Superharp” Cotton heats up the house in this night of explosive harmonica and gutbucket grooves. One of the all-time great showmen, Cotton has driven audiences wild for more than 50 year – from his youthful apprenticeships with Sonnyboy Williamson and Muddy Waters to nearly four decades as a leader. In this Festival performance, Cotton is reunited with his storied guitar collaborator Hubert Sumlin—himself a Blues Hall of Fame inductee in 2005 and a Howlin’ Wolf veteran. As the New York Daily News described the Superharp experience: “We’re talking about the blues, loud and fast and getting down dirty, we’re talking about James Cotton.”

Program Notes

Though fellow Blues-Hall-of-Famers James Cotton and Hubert Sumlin are known for their indelible contributions to the Chicago blues, their long-lasting friendship and musical collaboration date back to their juke-joint days in Memphis, Tennessee.

Cotton began his blues tutelage under the wing of legendary harp player Sonny Boy Williamson. The gifted, restless teenager soon was blowing down the back roads of Arkansas and Mississippi with Howlin’ Wolf’s band—that is, when he wasn’t hosting his own radio show at the age of 17. Word got out about Cotton, and soon Muddy Waters came calling, adding Cotton to his band, where he’d remain for 12 years, contributing his distinctive sound to such classic blues tracks as “Got My Mojo Working” and “Close to You.” By the late ‘60s the irrepressible showman in Cotton—this was the same man who, when opening for Williamson on the juke joint steps, often out-earned the headliner in tips—was itching to lead his own band. Though the 70-year-old “Superharp” no longer turns the back flips that were once a feature of his shows, his fiery, soulful harmonica playing still packs plenty of acrobatic trills and thrills.

Jimi Hendrix called Hubert Sumlin his favorite guitarist, and Stevie Ray Vaughan named him “the heaviest, most original guitar player I’ve ever heard.” It makes sense then that Howlin’ Wolf plucked Sumlin out of Memphis to contribute his stinging solos to Wolf’s classic Chess Records sides. Following his long tenure as Wolf’s lead guitarist, Sumlin fronted his own groups starting in the mid ‘80s. His recent album, About Them Shoes, features rock guitar royalty Keith Richards and Eric Clapton paying homage to this undisputed blues master.

On Saturday, I went to the Agenda Lounge in San Jose to hear jazz singer Kim Nalley. She presented a tribute to singer, pianist and composer Nina Simone, known as much for her musical ability as well as her politics.

It was a tough venue, in an outdoor courtyard on 1st street. We sat on rows of cold metal chairs while planes flew low overhead and cars drove by with thumping stereos. But when Kim started singing, she blew away all of those distractions. She sang some classics, like “I loves you Porgy”, “The Other Woman”, and a version of “You can have him” that just became my new favorite. But she also gave us a view of Simone’s activisim with “Mississippi Goddam”, “Four Women”, and “Why?” about the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King.

Kim Nalley obviously loved and respected Dr. Simone, and shared her admiration with all of us. Nina Simone died in 2003 after 30 years of self-imposed exile in Europe. Kim Nalley is keeping her memory alive.

Last Wednesday, I went to see The Lion King, as presented by the American Musical Theatre of San Jose. Since I’m one of the 3 people in North America that has never seen the original Disney animated feature, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. All I knew was that Elton John had written a song about a farting warthog.

Turns out, it was pretty entertaining. But I kept feeling that I had missed out by not seeing the film. It seemed that many of the scenes sketched or summarized an action sequence from the movie. “What are they doing here? Oh, maybe reminding us of a scene from the film.”

But the songs were good, and well sung by the cast. And the costumes were great. I had expected a bunch of actors dancing around in cat suits, like … well, in “Cats”. Instead, they were all well and truly human actors, who carried carved lion masks like aboriginal dancers. Occasionally, an actor would take his mask, to assume a more “human” role, or lower the mask to hide his face to act more feline.

Other character costumes even more imaginative – a combination of puppetry and disguise. I was amazed that the actors could sing, dance, and work their puppets simultaneously without skipping a beat. And an actor and his puppet might have very different postures and expressions. You could look from one to the other to see both reactions to a scene.

The costumes seemed appropriate. After all, the animals in Disney movies really talk and act like humans most of the time. They only wear their animal form. But they occasionally revert back to their animal nature, as if a puppet momentarily escapes from the grasp of its puppeteer.