W E D N E S D AY, A U G U S T 1 6 , 2 0 0 6Boz Scaggs/James Hunter In ConcertI was at Town Hall last night (one of my favorite venues in NYC) for agreat double bill: Boz Scaggs and James Hunter.</p><p> The Hunter set waseverything I expected: he was casual and funny, his US pickup bandwas very tight (the drummer is a definite talent) and the 40 minute setwas terrific.</p><p> The only problem was having to sit down -- Hunterdefinitely deserves to be heard in a smoky club with a beer in your handand a gal on your arm, figuratively speaking of course.</p><p> He even gotabout half the crowd to give him a standing ovation -- something thatnever happens for opening acts.Scaggs was very good, too, getting enthusiastic roars from the decidedlymiddle-aged audience.</p><p> I'm not too familiar with his music (I got onboard with "But Beautiful," his marvelous collection of jazz standards).But the Steely Dan vibe (with more soul but still laid-back) was great.Everything was precise, from the backup singers to the horns to thehumidifier that was strapped to the microphone, giving a smoky jazzyaura to the air around Boz.The staging was unintentionally hilarious: all the black musicians wereon the right and all the white musicians were on the left.</p><p> My onlycomplaint was the audience.</p><p> A yahoo three rows behind me talkedduring the first song.</p><p> When he started talking during the second song(very loudly) I turned around and stared until he looked over, my face amixture of pleading, come-on-buddy, and anger.</p><p> He shut up.</p><p> Then hiscompanion started talking.</p><p> They would stand up and leave during themiddle of a song (as did the celebs in attendance from the Strokes et alwho walked in and out every 10 minutes or so, presumably to do someblow or just to be wildly annoying).</p><p> The guys gabbed on, whooping overone song, insisting as another one began that "this is gonna be good"and then talking about what they were gonna do after the show.</p><p> It'svery, very hard to enjoy a concert in even an intimate venue like TownHall when you've got schmucks like that around.And then there were the people who tried to be "black." The twobackup singers were black, one a plus-size gal who had most of thesolos and dueted with Scaggs on one number to much delight.</p><p> As shedug into a solo turn, a white guy behind me said out loud, "Sing it,Next Blog»sal1mineo@hotmail.comSEARCH BLOG FLAG BLOGFOLLOW BLOGP O P S U R F I N G .</p><p> C O MS U R F I N G T H E WAV E S O F P O P U L A R C U LT U R EB Y M I C H A E L G I LT Z & F R I E N D SPOPSURFING.COM: Boz Scaggs/James Hunter In Concerthttp://popsurfing.blogspot.com/2006/08/boz-scaggsjames-hunter... 1 of 37/28/09 8:57 PMFAV O R I T E L I N K SAmericablogFive O'Clock Lightning baseball blogDeep Pop -- Lori Lakin's BlogThe Back Page -- Jason Page on ESPNRadioCine-Blog -- George Robinson's BlogDocuments On Art & Cinema - DarylChin's BlogBrucie G's Wondrous Blog OfAdventure and Mystery -- BruceGreenspan's BlogB L O G A R C H I V E▼ 2009 (17)▼ July (3)1939 -- The Greatest Year ForMoviesSwimming Bans Those Hi-TechSuits!Best Movies Of The Year -- TheMaster List► June (3)► May (1)► March (2)► February (1)► January (7)► 2008 (86)► 2007 (781)► 2006 (2412)► 2005 (5)C O N T R I B U TO R SBiboyMichael in New YorkAaron POPSURFING.COM: Boz Scaggs/James Hunter In Concerthttp://popsurfing.blogspot.com/2006/08/boz-scaggsjames-hunter... 2 of 37/28/09 8:57 PMPOPSURFING.COM: Boz Scaggs/James Hunter In Concerthttp://popsurfing.blogspot.com/2006/08/boz-scaggsjames-hunter... 3 of 37/28/09 8:57 PM
