LIC Notes
| May 2012 |
| S | M | T | W | T | F | S |
| 29 | 30 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 |
| 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
| 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 1 | 2 |
LICNotes Events:
J Walter Hawkes residency at LIC Bar featuring JWH Trio and special guests The Jacob Varmus Group!
Catch Steve Blanco Trio Tues and Fri nights at Domaine Wine Bar!
Catch Steve Blanco Trio Tues and Fri nights at Domaine Wine Bar!
The Hand Band at 8pm, Dave Diamond at 9pm, Jason Crosby at 10pm live at LIC Bar!
Flashback to last Summer's LIC music – B-11 Trio at Dominie’s Hoek on July 4, 2009: Usually it’s best not to have high expectations. I certainly didn’t, given that the Grucci fireworks barges were anchored in the Hudson rather than East River this year, bypassing LIC’s annual brief moment in center ring of the must-do NYC circus. So, a normal quiet holiday evening at the local hostelry of choice loomed...
My choice, as some followers might guess, was Dominie’s Hoek. The weathered chalkboard outside announced something called the “B-11 3” as a musical diversion from the increasing effects of that crude protoplasmic poison we call alcohol. B-11 3? Is that a variant of vitamin B-12… some tricked-out version of a Hammond B-3… the start of a good bingo card?
I must – no, I’m eager to – admit my prejudices here. I’m in this for the buzz of the new. I don’t want to hear another (or the same) version of tunes I’ve heard 500 times since I was 19. Some cat with screwed down hairdo, instead of a covers band.
That’s where those lowered expectations come into play. The trio setting up ‘under the longhorn’ at the Hoek seemed promising only to play all our favorite tunes from the 80’s and before. Pass the Knob Creek, Jen.
Then, as it sometimes does, the plot complexified. The B-11 Trio proved to be a blues/funk outfit fronted by a fluid Bulgarian (“There aren’t many of us left,” he claimed, somewhat enigmatically) guitarist, with a repertoire as wide as any wedding trio and five times the chops. Opening one set with an instrumental riff on the Stones’ “Street Fightin’ Man” that, through spaced-out tempo, took several minutes to reveal itself, they immediately transitioned into a Howlin’ Wolf tune – as the Stones may well have done in their early days. So, big points for authentic authenticity.
While at times the set lists devolved to straight-up rock standards, with, say, “Play That Funky Music (White Boy)” functioning as self-reflection as much as a change of pace, B-11 still pushed to open the proceedings up. They enlivened a Jason Mraz tune, don’t ask me which, with a reggae approach that built into a slow-cooking groove by using echo-delay effects, affecting a gangafied rock vibe. Stevie’s “Sir Duke” then came right at the elbowing crowd at the bar, but by retooling the instrumental break at the end to half-tempo, B-11 showed that playing slowly can both take more talent and produce a more intoxicating pull than proving you have quick fingers. They patrolled over to the funky end of the spectrum through a transition from a slick version of “Waiting For the World to Change” into the classic “People Get Ready” – nicely conceived and executed no matter what the genres. The final set closed with a couple of blues standards, and Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here”, that staple of covers bands, freshened with hard-rock breaks between the verses. Before B-11 finished breaking down their amps, the crowd, sated with more than booze, cashed in its winning hand and dissolved.
While I didn’t necessarily get what I wanted – you can’t, always – in the corporate locution that typifies a good performance review, the night “exceeded my expectations”.
More:
Dominie's Hoek
The Silver Shark is always moving, just under the surface of the LIC scene. He comes up suddenly to snap up some wine and music, and perhaps bare his teeth at nearby lovely mermaids – though he generally doesn't bite. You can catch an occasional glimpse of him at your favorite LIC venue, and regularly here at his blog.
