kliger
1 post
May 25, 2012
6:01 AM
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As soon as I read, way back in February, that Adam Gussow would be playing in my current home town of Paris, France, I put it on my calendar with a series of big fat reminders. That was before my shit hit the fan, but at least I didn’t forget the gig. Like a lot of the people that came out on this warm, summer-like Thursday evening, I’ve been learning to play blues harp watching Adam’s YouTube videos. It’s easy to underestimate the attachment that this creates.
Last night was the first summer-like evening this year in Paris. The Plastic Bar is on a small street that seems to be in extreme compression, squeezed between the Marais and the Bastille. This is old, weird Paris, part preservation project, part an example of how cities, and in particular this city, is the artifact of man-made technology that has resisted better than any other. The Plastic Bar seemed like a neighborhood hangout, but to better understand what this implies, you gotta understand this corner of the Bastille as one of the world’s most interesting crossroads: architecture studios, fashion models and design studios, design schools, galleries, clubs, bars, bars, bars, cafés, the Opera house all co-mingle above a maze-like transportation hub. The crowd was half hipsters who come here as a part of a daily/weekly ritual meetup before they really go out for the evening and half a blues harp crowd that came out because, somehow, they found out that Adam was in town.
I didn’t write down the set-list, but suffice it to say that say that over 3 hours and two and a half sets, Adam ran the table from the high energy crowd pleasers (Crossroad Blues) to the slow stuff, to the obscure. After the first set, I went to the swag table to buy the three CDs Adam had for sale (if he was selling tee-shirts, I would have bought one, but alas…). Since there was no cover charge at the door, a friend of Adam’s passed through the crowd with the Hat; the crowd filled it up with euros (that Adam should convert to $$ ASAP before more shit hits the EU fan). Being a hot night, the half the bar filed onto the street to escape the heat, grab a smoke and hang; the Hat followed.
Adam seemed glad to hear the English language spoken without an accent. I hung back to talk: first about the CDs he was selling, how much I loved the cover photo on the Southbound CD, of Adam leaning against the pickup truck, whose amazingly unclassifiable color makes for a great the image…
Some of the musical highlights for me were: a cover of Hugh Masekela’s, Grazing in the Grass, a song I have hazy memories of hearing the radio when I was very young. Hearing it shook some long dormant neurons at the center of my brain and made me think that the song, somewhere along the way, had a vocal accompaniment. When I brought this up with Adam during the break, he had no memory of a vocal track. After a quick #spotify research and listen, I came to understand that there were two popular versions of the song in the late 60s: The Hugh Masekela instrumental version, which was the one Adam obviously knows. Additionally, the song was covered by a Los Angeles group called The Friends of Distinction, who added the vocals and had a hit with it. That was the version I remembered.
Adam ended the second set with a remarkable version “Lotto 54” (I think), which is a Satan and Adam tune. Everyone in the bar was on their feet clapping and stomping, including Adam. Kicking back by the bar, I talked harps and amps, mics and petals with Serge.
Another surprise was being able to verify a sonic illusion that I always perceived in his playing, even watching his YouTube videos: it sounds like there are two harps playing. I remember reading that guitar players often say this about Robert Johnson’s playing. I guess this comes from a combination of technique, tone and amping, but it is a very impressive acoustic effect and broadly augments his sound.
Anyway, it was a great evening.
BTW Adam, I’m sorry for bringing up the Lee Oskar buzz-kill.
Last Edited by on May 25, 2012 6:03 AM
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