the earth says hello....

so, among many other things i did last sunday, i went to the media club to see serena ryder. ( or here.)

opening was joel kroeker . someone i've always meant to check out but haven't got around to it. i would put him in the singer/songwrite category, a little folk/country. it was enjoyable, and i would probably check him out some more. the one thing that we all decided was that he seemed really sincere on stage. sadly, i have nothing else to say about him. not because he wasn't good, but too much happened after his set.

ok, here's my small bitch about the show. because, really, what a blog entry be from me with out a bitch session. :) we were hanging out up front, and my new friend who we met in line goes to the bar to get a drink. now, we've been talking off and on during the set break and she even offered to get us beers as well. which we decline at this point. i mention this because to anyone around us, it looks like we are all together. anyways, she comes back and the girl that is behind us tries to refuse to let her back in. i had to tell the girl she was with us. and then she was all like, yah, but i'm short. well then, perhaps you should have gotten to the show earlier like we all did to get a good place up front. i'm sorry, i didn't realize being short allowed you to be rude and selfish. plus it's not like any of us are giants.

now, i'll be honest here. before the show, i wasn't all that familar with serena ryder's work. what i've heard, i really like. but i don't own any of her albums so i what i knew was kinda limited. besides wanting to go just to see her, we also went because it was cheap and it was at the media club. the media club is a great venue. the sound is always good and it is a very small club. i think the capacity is around 150.

i'm going to start off with ...the girl can sing! such a big voice out of such a wee lass. she started off solo, and acappella. she played a few songs solo, and then brought out her band. i really enjoyed how much fun they all seemed to be having and really seemed to enjoy playing together. serena ryder seemed not only happy to be performing for us, but genuinely appreciative of any audience acclaim.

now, because i didn't really know song names or even songs for that matter, the cover versions tend to stick out. i thought she did a great version of 'sisters of mercy'. and i loved 'good morning sunshine' as i have loved that song since i saw 'hair' the movie.

of the originals, the ones that i know the names of that stood out were 'my heart cries for you', 'out of the blue' and 'weak in the knees'. but the song that blew me away the most was called 'sing sing'. just her voice singing, her feet stomping and her hands clapping was so powerful.

she was incredibly charismatic. she told stories of playing the legion the other nite in tofino, and how 'drunken jeff' called her 'big ears'. another story was about how she had lost her voice, and was on the ferry. she wanted to get a coffee and was trying to write down her order. the waitress got impatient with her and left. a second waitress saw her with her notepad and chastised the first one with.. "she can't hear you! that's why she didn't answer you."

here she is covering 'morning dew'. she made us laugh because she said she couldn't sing, dance and play tambourine at the same time. she did just fine. :)

she totally blew me away. i will be going out and picking up her cds as soon as i can. and 'good morning sunshine' is my new song obsession.