Bob Dylan Lets His Music Do The Talking

Without any plans to do so, I found myself at the Bob Dylan concert at Wings Stadium thanks to my friend Greg. Dylan is not one of my favorite artists, but I figured he is such an icon that I just had to see him for myself.

With a five-man band that rocked loosely enough to follow his vocals, Dylan croaked along in a gravely voice much of the night. His voice at 67 is perfect for the bluesy numbers. It's not so perfect for the slower songs.

Dylan was dressed in a white wide-brimmed hat and black suit, looking like an itinerant rabbinical preacher of the 1800s Wild West.

He did move as he sang, played keyboard and harmonica. He even did a brief bit of footwork, but otherwise Dylan was a somber presence.

He gave two hours, with encore, no opening act. Dylan introduced the band, but said nothing else the audience.

After the show, Greg and I were a little peeved that he didn't even thank the crowd. But that's how he is. He is a silent enigma, an icon.

Dylan played a few classics, which he's tweaked just enough to make fresh. Plus many new songs.

At the end, the crowd was stomping and clapping for more. Dylan stood at the edge of the stage with his band, wavering back and forth excitedly, maybe even smiling, before leaving.

Concert Review: Nellie McKay

“I didn’t know the world was like this/If I had known, then I’d be psychic”

It doesn’t take Nellie McKay long to start her crusade against society’s self-appointed thought police. It takes even less time for McKay to pick her first target: feminists. “Feminists don’t have a sense of humor,” McKay admonishes straight away, no refrain. “Feminists just want to be alone/Feminists spread vicious lies and rumor/they have a tumor on their funny bone,” from Nellie's latest CD, Obligatory Villagers. We, the listeners were put on immediate notice that the next 1 1/2 hours would be a different type of experience.

Nellie McKay appeared last night at Kalamazoo Valley Community College. The singer-songwriter is like a young Bob Dylan: hard to categorize, impossible to imitate and subversive, as are all independent thinkers.

She was cyncial, yet also hopeful about our world of violance, corruption and grand stupidity. And she's on a journey of discovery she sometimes shares with the public and sometimes doesn't.

Her music, an unusual mix of cabaret-style songs, rap and jazz, is understandably challenging. If the blonde bombshell can avoid alienating broad cross-sections of the people she depends on to buy her albums, she has the charm, the skill, and the pedigree to make noise in the music business.

At first listen, she’s folksy, talking more than singing. McKay keeps her part of the deal by bringing consistent quality. Perhaps the best descriptor of McKay’s unique sound comes from the starlet herself, who deems her music “schizophrenic voodoo,” a phrase that fits so well.

Did I like the concert? I have to admit "no". I didn't get her type of humor or satire. The good size crowd (mostly the NPR set) laughed at her lyrics or giggled when she went got on her soap box about the election, Columbia University, and her sermon on being a vegan. I personally think they were just being kind and considerate. However, I do have to admit she was a master on the piano. If she just would have played the piano and left the vocals out, it would have been an enjoyable evening, at least for me.

Concert Review: Joe Henry & His Trio

Joe Henry may not be a household name in contemporary American music but he made a small theater full of converts, especially me and my friend Jean at the Sunday night Artist Forum at Kalamazoo Valley Community College. Actually, the small crowd wasn't all converts. A certain number of patrons obviously were familiar with the young man's music, applauding songs in recognition after the opening bars. But it is fair to say that the 100-minute concert introduced Henry and his music to a significant percentage of the audience.

Henry is a singer-songwriter-bandleader-guitarist. He's young, good looking, and has an ingratiating stage presence. He discusses his music with his listeners, which is his prerogative, which is helpful to the first-timers to hear what he had in mind in composing his music. Some conversation were appropriate because most of his program consisted of new songs.

Henry is a composer with an offbeat sensibility. His lyrics are full of weird images and rhymes. Most of his numbers were quirky love songs, delivered to an unnamed subject, presumably female.

There is an apparent lack of emotion in Henry's music and not much humor. But cumulatively his songs do exert a fascination, marred only by the occasional blurring of a key word in a line through slurred pronunciation.

Henry doesn't have a great singing voice, but it is perfectly suited to his songs. Vocally, he operates in the middle register. His tempos are almost always leisurely and only a couple of numbers built to any real intensity. Henry is laid back in his stage presence and in his music, but that's clearly by intent.

Henry led a superior backup band consisting of an amazing drummer and a wonderful standup bass plyer. The band is onstage strictly for support and there were no solos. But the musicianship was high, even though the sameness of the tempos sometimes resulted in a sameness in the music.

Henry's resume is impressive. He's produced records as well as recording numerous CDs. He is also Madonna's brother-in-law. He has made music with John Denver, Roberta Flack, Bobby Darin, and Frank Sinatra, among others. But Henry is probably at his best interpreting his own music, especially in an intimate setting like KVCC before an appreciative and attentive audience.