2003-08-05 - 1:34 p.m. Donna's party on Saturday night was a great success! Rebecca Turner opened the evening by covering Joni M's "All I Want" as a special gift to Donna (I'm not much of a Joni fan, but I do love that line "I wanna wreck my stockings in some juke box dive...") and then played a short set of her wonderful songs, some with the birthday girl chiming in on vocals, and some with Phil Shelley (a great singer/songwriter in his own right) on guitar. Then we got up and yammered on for a half hour. There was no vocal monitor, despite my many pleas for one, so I had that scary experience of not really knowing if I was singing on key. However, I decided not to fret too much about it, and the set seemed to go over well. Dave Wechsler of Pinataland filled in on percussion, and was undeniably the best-dressed of us, in his red jeans and black Cuban shirt. Then Pleasure Mechanics took the stage. They are a loose compendium of musicians--accordion, horns, banjo, violin, guitars, and a rotating pie wagon of vocalists--led with panache by David Benjoya. They do an eclectic array of covers, including "I Must Not Think Bad Thoughts", with Donna and David on lead vocals, which brought down the house. The party itself was enjoyable and chummy. I have yet to have a bad time at Barbes, or with this particular assemblage of friends. I accidentally discovered this new music mag, and have discerned that it must be for elderly "indie" folk like myself. I see no other common thread between the acts they cover. Hmm. thoughts? (0 comments so far) previous - next blog archive contact