The Birchmere is a nice little club close by Washington, DC. It started out many years ago as a Bluegrass club, but now features all types of music. As a vestige of those earlier times, there are little signs on all the tables admonishing the patrons to remain silent during the performance. The owner patrols the audience, and, like Sister Helen Therese back in parochial school, will stop and (politely) shake a finger at you if he catches you chatting with your companions when the musicians are on stage. Many years ago, Commander Cody opened his show here by saying "The first thing we're going to do is tear up all these little signs".
So the crowd was a little subdued, but that was OK, it was the acoustic version of Jefferson Starship. About 100-200 people there, fairly enthusiastic; only a few people left early (expecting "We Built This City"?). The sound was very good, and at a pleasantly subdued volume. Being a small club, every seat seemed to be a good one. Not too many seemed to recognize the newer songs. The older Airplane songs seemed to generate the loudest response. Quite a nice selection of tunes - the only one I missed was "Sketches of China", which I suspect would have been a second encore if we had been a bit more demonstrative. No real clunkers as far as the arrangements go, although "Wooden Ships" was dragging a bit. I prefer earlier arrangements of "Other Side", as compared to the slower tempo they're using now, but it was still OK! The real surprise was how good "Shadowlands" and "The Light" sounded in this stripped down setting.
Paul Kantner's voice was in fine form this night, and he kept it lubricated with an occasional slug from one (or was it two or three?) of those miniature liquor bottles. His rhythm guitar was superb, providing a solid foundation for all of the songs. Not too much political commentary, and no poetry. I think he might have gotten a new computer for Christmas, though. Much of his between song patter covered stuff he had found with his web browser. He promised some neat stuff www.jstarship.com, "real soon now"
Jack Casady, with his semi-hollow Gibson goldtop bass, played and sounded great all night. Some highlights : a couple of great solos on "The Mountain Song", scratching the strings on "Your Mind Has Left Your Body", and kneeling on the floor in front of his amp to generate the feedback for "Sunrise". He also played a great bridge between "Have You Seen the Stars Tonight" and "Starship".
This is the first time I had seen Diana Mangano perform. She's very good, with a dynamic voice and a warm stage presence. She's quite successful in reworking the Grace Slick material with her own phrasings, the best of which was probably "Sally Go 'round the Roses". Her reading on "Lather" was a little too mechanical for me, but still interesting. A great cover of "Out of the Rain" received perhaps the biggest ovation of the night.
Gary Cambra, with a very simple rig, stuck mainly to simulated electric piano. His playing filled out the sound nicely, although his occasional solos sounded weirdly out of time, almost as if his output was running on a time delay. Together with Diana Mangano, he helped to bring some of the great Grace Slick songs back into the aether.
In summary, a fine performance. Take a look at the set list; if you like these songs, be sure to see this lineup, you'll enjoy the evening. And probably at a reasonable price, in an intimate setting. Will these folks produce any new stuff comparable to the old catalog? After Baron von Tollbooth and the Chrome Nun Kantner et. al. forsook the acoustic sound for the big, arena filling electric stuff (as heralded by the song that brought me into fandom, "Ride the Tiger"). Of the songs played tonight, only two had their genesis after 1973. "Shadowlands" and "The Light" provided some evidence that this outfit is more than an just oldies band. As performed this night, these two songs had more strength than evident on Deep Space / Virgin Sky.
Random Notes
Someone stole Paul's hat at the Hall of Fame induction dinner ...Why
wasn't that starship ready by 1990? "Washington's been fucking around
/ Ever since 1980" ... Paul, at the start of the Mr. Brodsky story,
"Neil Young, when he landed on the moon..." ... Is it just me,
or is Jack starting to look like Rodney Dangerfield? ... Wouldn't "Science
Friction" be a great song for this lineup to cover? And isn't it apropos
for the current political climate? ... Paul dedicated "Sally Go 'round
the Roses" to Sally Ride.
reprinted from : Journal of Trionic Physics, No. 2, March 1996.
