BILL TARA & GINA
@ SUNSET BEACH RESTAURANT
AS WE WALKED IN AND TOOK A SPOT AT THE BAR THIS TRIPLET WERE ALREADY WORKING THEIR WAY THROUGH SEVERAL SLICES OF POPULAR MUSIC. HOVERING IN THE CORNER AS IT WAS THE ONLY SPOT LEFT OPEN AT THE BAR OUR EARS WERE BITTEN BY THE HITS FROM THE STAGE.
THE BAND SEEMED UNSTEADY, UNSURE AND UNGUIDED AS THEY WOULD SCROLL THROUGH A LIST OF SONGS ON THE MUSIC STAND TRYING TO DECIDE WHICH SONGS TO PLAY. WE BECAME UNUSUALLY DISTANCED FROM THE SET AND FOUND OURSELVES READING THE NEWSPAPER LEFT AT THE BAR. STILL, WE WOULD GET DRAWN BACK TO THE STAGE AS THE SOUNDS WERE IRRESISTIBLE.
GINA LET IT BE KNOWN SHE DOES NOT LIKE TO TAKE BREAKS. THEY DID HOWEVER, CHOSE TO BREAK UP THE SET WITH A SHORT INTERMISSION AND AS THEY DID WE MOVED TO AN EMPTY TABLE IN THE FRONT. MY NEED FOR A GREAT CONSTRUCTED MONTAGE OF SONGS GAVE WAY TO THE RELAXED ATMOSPHERE THAT BILL & TARA & GINA WERE ACHIEVING. IT HAD BEEN SO LONG SINCE WE HAD HEARD A BAND GIVE TO THE AUDIENCE AND AT TIMES, LET THE PATRONS PARTICIPATE IN THE SONG LIST THAT ONCE WE LET GO OUR BEINGS WERE RELEASED. MEMBERS OF THE AUDIENCE WOULD SHOUT BANDS OR SONGS THAT WOULD LEAD THE GROUP INTO ANOTHER DIRECTION.
THE VOCALS WERE INCREDIBLE AS EACH HAD A DEFINITIVE SOUND. WE WERE INDUBITABLY IN FOR A TREAT DURING THE SECOND SET. TARA'S VOICE WAS EXTRAORDINARILY MEANT FOR A CERTAIN PITCH THAT WOULD DELEGATE THE SONGS SHE WOULD SING. IT BECAME APPARENT TARA'S CHOICE IN BATTERIES COULD NOT COMPARE TO THE SOUNDS SHE WAS ABLE TO EMMIT THROUGHOUT THE BAR. SO THE MORAL OF THE STORY IS "IF YOUR BATTERY DIES IN THE MIDDLE OF A SONG STOP, CUSS, CHANGE BATTERY AND START OVER THEN KNOCK IT OUT OF THE BALLPARK." THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT SHE DID. HER VOICE CAN OFTEN BE MISTAKEN FOR "JEWEL" WHICH ALLOWED HER TO HOLD NOTES AT A VIBRATING FREQUENCY. SHE IS TINY IN STATURE BUT HER INTONATION IS EXTRAORDINARY. HER DARK VOCAL SOUND THAT TARA USED DURING HER VERSION OF "BILLIE JEAN" SENT CHILLS THROUGH EVERY PATRON. WE ONLY COULD HAVE WISHED SHE WOULD HAVE IMMERSED HERSELF IN "HOTEL CALIFORNIA" WITH THE SAME STRENGTH.
BILL WOULD OFTEN BREAK INTO A DITTY THAT WOULD HOLD THE PATRONS ATTENTION UNTIL THE NEXT SONG WAS DECIDED ON. IT REMINDED ME OF AN ELVIS ALBUM CALLED "ELVIS COUNTRY (I'M 10,000 YEARS OLD)" INSTEAD OF DEAD SILENCE BETWEEN EACH TUNE ANOTHER CLIP OF A SONG WOULD LEAD YOU INTO THE NEXT TRACK. THIS WOULD GIVE THE AUDIENCE A RELAXED ENVIRONMENT WHERE THE MUSIC WAS NOT BLASTING SO YOU HAD TO PAY RENT IN SOMEONES EAR JUST TO BE HEARD. WITH THE RIFFS AND CLIPS BILL WAS POPPING UP WITH I WAS LED BACK TO OLDER SONGS AND FOR WHATEVER REASON WANTED TO HEAR BOB DYLAN. "ALL I REALLY WANT TO DO" OR "DON'T THINK TWICE ITS ALRIGHT" WOULD HAVE BEEN THE ONLY THING TO MAKE THIS NIGHT COMPLETE. I LOVED WHEN BILL WOULD JUST START PLAYING THE BEGINNING OF A SONG AND GINA AND TARA (WHEN SHE KNEW THE TUNE) WOULD JUMP IN.
GINA'S VOICE AT TIMES TOOK A TURN INTO THE BLUES AND AS I LOOKED DOWN I FOUND GOOSE BUMPS CROPPING UP ON MY ARMS. WHEN SHE DROVE THROUGH THE BEATLES SONG "OH DARLING" HER VOCALS LEFT ALL SHE HAD DANGLING IN FRONT OF THE AUDIENCE. SHE DID AN ORIGINAL TUNE POSSIBLY CALLED "NOT MY PROBLEM" WHICH WAS DRIVEN BY THE LYRICS. THE IMAGINATION DRIFTS TO ALBUMS SUCH AS FLEETWOOD MAC'S "RUMORS" WHERE THE WRITING LYRICALLY AND STRUCTURALLY ARISE FROM THE DEPTHS OF INNER EMOTIONS. THE BAND WAS IN PERSONAL TURMOIL YET, THEIR BIGGEST HITS ARE ACHIEVED AND "NOT MY PROBLEM" SEEMS TO BE OF THE SAME HIGH CALIBER. THIS A AN AMAZING TRACK THAT WHEN RELEASED IS A MUST FOR EVERY COLLECTION.
"FIREFLY" IS ANOTHER ORIGINAL THAT IS SCARY GOOD WHICH HAS THE EMOTIONAL VOCAL APPEAL THAT AS WE LOOKED AROUND EVERYONE HAD EYES AND EARS DIRECTED TO THE BAND.
RUSTY
3/19/11