Monday, June 25, 2012

The Brian Kinler Band at M Bar, 6-23-12

The Brian Kinler Band put on another excellent show at M Bar in Hollywood on Saturday, June 23rd.  Jon Weiner, the band's original drummer, returned for this show, which was wonderful.  Matt Whitney and Andrea Gaspar were on bass and violin respectively, so the original core of the band was intact (including, of course, Brian Kinler on piano).  And joining them for several songs was Francesca Capasso on vocals.

This was Francesca's first time singing with the band, and she was seriously fantastic. She has a great voice, and complete control over it.  The first two songs she sang were her own - "Hard Driving Man" and "Naked."  She then sang two songs featured in films - "To Hell With Love," which was featured prominently in Robert Altman's Short Cuts, and "Living Inside My Heart," which was in About Last Night... (the 1986 film version of David Mamet's Sexual Perversity In Chicago).  All four were great, but my two favorites were "Hard Driving Man" and "To Hell With Love."

Brian Kinler introduced a new song, titled "Morphine," about his recent trip to the hospital, and dedicated to his nurse, who was in the audience. Featuring an excellent lead section by Andrea on violin, this song became an instant favorite of mine.  He also played the relatively new "Mama's Gumbo Pot," first telling the story of his mom renewing her driver's license (Look out, New Orleans).

Later in the set, they played what Brian introduced as his two favorite songs to perform - "The Fall" and "The Leap" (the first about an ex, and the second about his partner).  At the end of the set, Francesca Capasso returned to sing "You're No Good" and Aretha Franklin's "Think."

Interestingly, the set featured only two songs from the band's 2010 release, Stories From The Quarter : "Wookiee Boogie" and "Rosedown."

Set List
  1. Open All Night
  2. Wookiee Boogie
  3. Mama's Gumbo Pot
  4. Morphine
  5. Rosedown >
  6. The Devil Went Down To Georgia
  7. Hard Driving Man
  8. Naked
  9. To Hell With Love
  10. Living Inside My Heart
  11. The Fall
  12. The Leap
  13. Slobbertongue
  14. You're No Good
  15. Think

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