While the glitz and glamour of the Santa Barbara International Film Festival heralded the closing of State St. in front of the historic Arlington Theater for the mob of fans awaiting an appearance by Ben Affleck, making his pre-Oscar push for "Argo", it was a different story across the way. Through a parking lot entrance and up the stairs, nestled above a maze of shops sits Soho. On this night, it was only the faithful that came out for an appearance by power pop savant Ken Stringfellow, known for his affiliation with The Posies, and maker of a few fine solo records in his own right, including 2012's one man White Album Danzig In The Moonlight. As has been noted before, attendance at the Soho shows runs very hot and cold, and the audience, when it does appear, can be chatty...but this should in no way cast a pall on the extraordinary efforts of the club and bookers. As long as they build it, I will go. It was amazing to see Stringfellow bring these songs to life, alone on keyboards or guitar, save one duet spot. High points of the set were: a passionate take on "Shittalkers!", and a blinding electric guitar version of "Even The Forgers Are Fingering The Fakes". It's always difficult to watch someone pour their hearts out in an empty bar, especially without a full band to camouflage the atmosphere, and to his credit, he gamely stuck to it, no matter how squirm-inducing the songs were. A heroic performance...
Seattle's Maldives were a revelation. While tuning up, I overhead them say, (after observing the underwhelming audience), "Just treat it like a practice". Started out with banjo-fed folk, then moved into Crazy Horse territory, and proceeded to burn the place down. Ferocious country rock of the highest order, bringing to mind nothing less than late-period Uncle Tupelo. Caught me out like a whack on the side of the head. See them.
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