April 26, 2006 - 11:06 AM

24 Hour Crush Part 1

So, we had two days of 24 hour crushes last week. You know what a 24 hour crush is, right? You see someone and are a smitten kitten over how pretty they are and how talented and awesome and nice, but since you know there's no chance of anything happening, you just have to let it go. This happens usually when I see a really good girl performer. Like it did last week. Two days in a row. And we're now recovered enough to write about it.

Thursday night, I drove out to the Coffee Gallery Backstage in Alta Dena (just north of Pasadena) to see a fiddler named Lissa Schneckenburger (is that not a cool name?) perform. She was at the New England Conservatory next door to Berklee when i was in school. The NEC was more classically oriented while Berklee's string department was stronger in jazz, blues, and all types of fiddling; Lissa's background in folk and interest in celtic music led her to becoming friends with a number of the Berklee fiddlers, including my friends Hanneke Cassel and Rushad Eggleston.

So, while I didn't KNOW Lissa, I knew her by association, saw her around campus, and watched her play a joint recital with Hanneke. She also played in a fiddle trio with Hanneke and another friend, Laura Cortese, who I used as a vocalist and fiddler for one of my recording projects. Anyways, I received an email from Hanneke announcing her new cd release next month, and I saw that she is scheduled to play at the Coffee Gallery on the 19th of May (Friday night, anyone want to come?), so while checking out the Gallery's website, I came across Lissa on the upcoming events calendar. I thought "why not, Hanneke's CD and concerts back in 2004 were among the top 3 highlights of the year for me; Lissa could knock my socks off".

And, well, yeah, I thought she was awfully cute, too. (she reminded me of the girl that I dated for a spell while I was at Amherst........mmm I'm back, sorry, THAT reminded me of the girl from Amherst, so I went and googled her and found that she's working for an AIDS organization in NYC, and there was a picture, and she looks the same with that brilliant smile. *sigh*...and now I've just Friendstered her and sent her a message saying hi...gosh, ten years ago...) So I trekked out to Alta Dena, and she played (with a guy on guitar and banjo), and she was gooood, and she sang, and I didn't know that she had such a lovely voice.

The thing about traditional folk music, whether it's from the U.K. the U.S., the E.U., or wherever, is that I can get bored with it quickly when it's done straight up and dry in a rather bland way. And I can roll my eyes effusively when you get to the other end of the spectrum, the glossy over-produced schmaltziness of something like Celtic Woman, which I saw on PBS earlier this year. My god, it was so terribly saccharine and I couldn't stop watching, even as my eyes turned into honey, my ears to sugar, and my brain to goop. They out-Enya'd Enya herself. But somewhere beyond that continuum from Matzoh bread boring to glazed donut opulence, there are the ones who take trad music, infuse it with contemporary personality, and make it their own. That's when I like it.

And then there's the unmatched level of joy that goes into the performance of trad music. Sure, you might see some rock star jamming out with a look of bliss on his or her face, or some popster dancing around like a maniac while belting out a tune, but there's always something so damn serious and self-aware in it. A certain amount of preening, posturing, posing that indicates how staged the show is. And you can't even bring up a singer-songwriter, because half...no, 2/3rds...fine, 90% of their songs are of the broken-hearted, woe-is-me variety. Classical is also out of the discussion, because even if you have an uptempo piece of music, the musicians will still maintain their staid decorum.

But if you get to watch a fiddler go to town on a collection of jigs and reels, hold on to your seats. That is pure joy in motion. It becomes even more special if, like what happened during Lissa's encore, the fiddler invites friends from the audience to bring their instruments on stage to join in a tune. Then you have 4 fiddles, 2 guitars, 2 hand drums, and a tin whistle all jamming to a reel and you can't help but stomp your feet to the beat and smile.

After her show, I bought a CD, then introduced myself to Lissa, complimenting her playing and her singing. I told her how I went to Berklee with Hanneke and Rushad, and we gushed about Hanneke's albums for a little bit. Then I wished her well and left (I must admit to being disappointed by her handshake....it was more like a "finger"shake than a "hand"shake, where she only clasps the front 2/3rds of your fingers instead of grasping your hand at the palms. Ever since my 9th grade teach Mr. Kleman taught us to have a firm handshake, I've always been a bit judgemental about people with less than stellar handshakes).

If any of you in the L.A. area want to get in on the Hanneke action, email me. In addition to the Alta Dena show on the 19th, I'll also probably be driving down to San Juan Capistrano on the 20th to see her again at the SJC Library. You better believe it's gonna be a toe tapping good time.

Now Listening To : Grandaddy- Sumday
Random Thought : Second crush to come in the next entry.

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