Thursday night at the Turning Point in Piermont, Chris Smither played a wonderfully entertaining cover of Dylan’s “Visions of Johanna“. Many hummed with the unusual story of the mythical Johanna. My favorite lines go:
| “She’s delicate, and seems like the mirror |
| But she just makes it all too concise and too clear |
| That Johanna’s not here |
| The ghost of electricity howls in the bones of her face |
| And these Visions of Johanna have taken my place” Smither was in close grasp to the audience as he churned through his extensive catalog of contemporary blues and juiced up folk songs. I’ve seen Chris Smither perform 6 or 8 times now and have been impressed with his constant presence of new songs. His songs’ originality are impressive. Unlike most in this situation, Smither did not run through his more well-known songs (I can’t call them hits, sorry Chris) and played for a solid 2 hours without a break. One of the pleasures of the Turning Point ( see my post from 12/31/08) is the intimacy and opportunity to see how these musicians gear themselves up to perform. Smither is quite a tense guy who pulls his “powers” from deep in his gut. His words almost erupt from his mouth like another person was living beneath his tall and aging frame. Smither’s trance like method of performing is quite similar to a person who takes on a more aggressive personality when they sleepwalk.I can’t think of a better way to spend a cold March evening then with a group of close friends and 50 others (including the bald guy who kept sitting on his shoes like a 12 year old girl), the sweets acustic sounds of Chris Smither, well poured Guiness pint (or 4), steak sandwich with fresh hunks of avocado…and of course the haunting aura of the magical and wonderful Turning Point. I look forward to the next show. Although it is not posted on their website, the host announced a visit from living legend Ramblin’ Jack Elliot ( see TBR Ramble post from 1/10/09) later this spring. Perhaps Chris Smither will take a ride down from his MA home to join us!Godspeed… |
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