So last night there was one last show from the series of insanity. I went to the Blender Theater at Gramercy- a Live Nation venue (isn't that a mouthful???) to see Joe Satriani's 20th anniversary presentation of Surfing with the Alien.
First, Turcotte and I had an amazing dinner at Curry Leaf in that Indian section of Lexington. I HIGHLY recommend this restaurant. They are owned by my favorite spice merchants Kalustyans. Everything was so spiced out it, it was almost like curry pornography (tm). Even the samosas were oozing with delicious flavor.
So we get to the venue, and I have to say it is AWESOME. It is rather small. I would say the floor holds about 400 with another 100 or so in the small mezzanine. It is bigger than the Knit, but smaller than Bowery. And the sound was pretty amazing. I don't know if the credit goes to Satch's team or the venue, but everything was amazingly pristine.
The show? WOW! I was completely blown away! I wasn't expecting it to be as good as it was. The first hour was Satch playing through the entire Surfing record with a band, stopping in between every song to tell little anecdotes. This was actually a lot more interesting than my expectation. I was nervous it was going to devolve into a guitar clinic, but he is very personable and kept a good balance between guitar nerdery, and some genuinely interesting stories about the making of the record.
He is such a tasteful player. He kind of kicked off the whole instrumental guitar thing, but he really isn't a shredder in that classic sense. Although true he may have invented the genre, he does not wank like everyone else in his wake. There is such a musicality to his playing, and he phrases and sings on the instrument like no one I have ever heard. His music is genuinely catchy and hum-able and have verses and choruses. The second half of the show kicked off with "Flying in a Blue Dream" and then the band played for a full extra hour without any more talking. Although I didn't remember the names of anything, I recognized all these songs I hadn't heard in ten years. How many instrumental artists have made music that is instantly recognizable and singable? What a great night.
The band mentioned they were heading over to the bar area to hang out, but we had a birthday party to go to on Bleecker so off we went, and a little trouble began. Much of the time spent at the Red Lion is very hazy, but I do remember the mediocre cover band's drummer was none other than our buddy Johnny Mac. I gotta hand it to that guy, he definitely makes a living playing drums. He is working seven days a week, playing with anyone from Yngwie Malmsteen to a Bleecker street cover band.
