Date: November 15, 2011
Category: News
A few Friday’s back my wife and I had the opportunity to see Edie Brickell and Heavy Makeup in what was billed as an impromptu s
how in her home turf of Oak Cliff (Dallas), Texas. Yes, the same Oak Cliff of Bluesmen Stevie Ray and Jimmie Vaughan and T-Bone Walker (Oak Cliff T-Bone) fame.
Even though we were at the historic Kessler Theater, and in Oak Cliff, an area that spawned some pretty legendary Blues music, I didn’t expect this to be a Blues night. In fact, I wasn’t certain what it was going to be. We were going to see our friend, Hunter Hendrickson (if you are a Jeff Beck fan, you’ll love Hunter) who was opening the show and we had never seen Edie, so we took the plunge!
If you don’t know Edie’s music, I mean really know her music, you have probably heard her 1988 hit What I Am, reaching #4 on the charts from her debut album Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars. I have to come clean, that’s all I knew until Friday night. You don’t know what you’ve been missing!
First, a show at the Kessler Theater is like having a concert in your living room. If you haven’t been to see this newly renovated theater near downtown Dallas, you should go just for the experience. They have a continuous calendar of events, a great lounge area, and sweet potato tater tots!
Seeing Edie is like watching your best friend perform. In between songs she is talking to the audience, or her friends in the audience, cracking jokes and generally cutting up! That’s Edie! Just check out her whimsical website ediebrickell.com to help give you a visual. She can be hilarious and crazy like a pajama party, but don’t let that fool you. She can also tackle some very serious subjects and do it with style, grace and humor at the same time!
She opened with a funny song called “You Don’t Know Me, Nuh-Uh”. Give it a listen, it’s from the show. Although it was kind a funny, it seemed to have a deeper meaning, and that’s what I began to the depth of her music.
The stars aligned right off the bat when she said “I like songs with call and response”. Call and response, hmmm that sounds like a Blues music queue to me, and proceeded to dip in and out of the Blues all night long. Either just a tinge, or steeped in it to her shoulders. Who would of thought?
Our expectation was that we would hear a great evening of music. But we didn’t expect to be turned on our head! It was like the game show Let’s Make a Deal, only you didn’t know what was going to be behind door #3. She would play a wonderful ballad, then a whimsical playful tune, then a very cerebral Blues tune, then some Caribbean rhythms. It was like a live music juke box, only she was selecting the tunes.
Think Joni Mitchell meets Frank Zappa’s rhythm section meets sesame street meets Bill Holiday meets Bob Marley, meets…! Her keyboard player kept interjecting these playful musical quips that sounded like what you would hear on a Frank Zappa album. In fact on one song, I swear it was the same keyboard sound (like a merry-go-round organ at the fair) used in Zappa’s song Fifty-Fifty that features Billy Preston on Keys (another Texan!). I didn’t catch all the band members (sorry Edie) but Johnny Bush was on Congas and traps and Kenny Withrow on guitar, from the Bohemians. Both were amazing and seemed inextricably as well as spiritually tied to Edie, as you can imagine.
OK, so you know by now, I am a convert to the Edie Brickell school of music. Check out Let it Slide from her latest release, The Gaddabouts. Next time you get a chance to see her, become a convert. I can’t wait! Enjoy!
