Night Of A Thousand Stars, Hosted By Ben Vaughn, 2-11-25

Ben Vaughn

Ben Vaughn hosted an incredibly fun evening of music yesterday at UnUrban Café in Santa Monica. The show featured sets by Cynthia Carle and Andrew Sandoval, as well as two sets by Ben Vaughn, all in a friendly and relaxed atmosphere. This was only my second time at this venue, and it is quickly becoming a favorite place to catch live music.

Ben Vaughn Duo

The evening began just after 7 p.m. with a short set by Ben Vaughn Duo (that is Ben Vaughn on acoustic guitar and Teresa Cowles on bass guitar). They opened the set with “Looking For A Friend,” which had a sweet, gentle vibe. Both Ben and Teresa imitated horns during one section of the song. “The Pico Boulevard horns,” Ben said afterward. They then played “Apropos Of Nothing.” “I feel good and I don’t care why.” Ah yes, why question a good feeling in these times of rampant anger, despair and anxiety? I felt good, and I knew precisely why. Music like this has that effect every time. That’s, in fact, why I was there. Ben introduced the next song, “When Losers Rules The World,” by saying he wrote it thirty years ago. Someone in the audience yelled out, “You ain’t that old.” And that was that. A three-song set to get things rolling.

Cynthia Carle

A few minutes later, Cynthia Carle was ready to go. This was my first time seeing her perform. She opened with a song about a reenactment group, where a live round ends up in one of the guns. But don’t worry, no one died. “Both of them will live to fake fight another day,” she sang. There was a good deal of humor to the song, but it was the next one that had me laughing out loud. Titled “Angels,” it’s a song about how some people believe in guardian angels, but if they’re real, “must mean that I got shitty angels.” You’d think all the terrible things that happen would keep anyone from believing in guardian angels. But, yeah, if they exist, it must mean that some of them just really suck at their jobs. The ones people like us have assigned to them wet themselves in an emergency. This song also contains a little nod to Them’s “Gloria.” Cynthia indicated that song was the first part of the religious segment of the show, and followed it with the second part, “God Is Living In The Basement,” a song she named after its first line. She did the same with “There’s A Duck Down The Drain,” though the line that had me laughing was, “Who’s got a camera? Oh, that’s right, everybody.” Another highlight of the set was “I Can’t Be Hunter Thompson’s Monkey.” She explained a bit about who Hunter S. Thompson was in the song’s introduction, though I would bet everyone in the audience had a pretty good idea already. They might not have known that he had a pet monkey, however, an animal that did its best to keep up with Thompson’s pace and drug intake, and eventually, according to some reports, committed suicide. The song is told from the perspective of that monkey, and it’s fucking hilarious. The rest of her set also had me (and everyone else) laughing aloud – “Different” (“I’d love you more if you were different”) and “Pioneer.” Her set ended at 7:57 p.m.

Andrew Sandoval

Perhaps the rare solo acoustic set by Andrew Sandoval will no longer be so rare, for last night, just two weeks after his previous show, he returned to UnUrban Café for another great solo set. After the first song of his set, “I Can’t Be Lonely,” he mentioned that other show: “They say it’s a night of a thousand stars, but I was here a couple of weeks ago, so they must have run out and had to repeat some.” Well, whatever the reason, I’m glad he’s doing shows because his music is wonderful.  He followed that with “Singing Only Songs,” from The Low Humbles album A New Design For You, and then “Someone New.” “Someone New” was included on From Me To You, as was the next song of the set, “A Change Of Scene.” This was one of the songs that especially stood out last night. And maybe that’s because of these lines: “But you may not find the answers/To the questions that are troubling your mind.” There is a lot troubling our minds these days, and perhaps we have to be okay without the answers, without the solutions. Or maybe the solution is go somewhere new. “I’m hoping that a change of scene will do me well,” Andrew Sandoval sings here. Is that what we all need? Where shall we all meet up? Finland? Denmark? In introducing “High Tower,” he mentioned that the song was on his second album. “I don’t know if you have them all,” he said. “I have them all.” I don’t, but certainly want them all in my collection. He told the crowd that he wrote “Something Warm” as a prayer for the wintertime. “I need something warm/Something I can hold onto.” That song also was on From Me To You. He followed that with “Above The Clouds,” which comes from A New Design For You. This song is so pretty. There is something magical about it, sounding like a beautiful pop fairy tale. “All of my problems have floated away.” He wrapped up the set with “Friend Of Mine.”

Ben Vaughn Trio

Less than ten minutes later, the Ben Vaughn Trio was on stage. Yes, that’s right, the Duo had grown to a Trio during Andrew Sandoval’s set, with Debbie Shair now on accordion and backing vocals. Teresa Cowles and Debbie Shair both play in the group EZ Tiger (and the last time I saw that band, Andrew Sandoval’s band was on the same bill), and you might also know Debbie for her work in the band Heart. Also, she plays on Andrew Sandoval’s What’s It All About album. They opened the set with “Jerry Lewis In France.” Afterward, Ben Vaughn mentioned what he refers to as the Rick Springfield Line Of Death, meaning that another musician can never get closer to the audience than the lead singer is. Apparently, a friend of his was playing bass in Rick Springfield’s band and one night found himself close to the edge of the stage, and then found himself fired from the band.  Crazy. Ben Vaughn followed “Jerry Lewis In France” with “Miss Me When I’m Gone,” a delightful number from Texas Road Trip. It had a cha-cha-cha ending. Then we were treated to “Too Sensitive For This World,” a song that speaks to me more and more as the world gets more and more twisted. “I don’t think I can last/Until these bad times pass.” And folks joined him in singing the title line in that last section. “Pièce De Résistance” followed. This is another delightful number, basically a collection of French words and phrases that we use in this country. That was then followed by “Song For You” and “Two Miles Road,” the latter featuring a great bass line.

Ben Vaughn Trio

Ben Vaughn stepped back to let Teresa and Debbie cross the Rick Springfield Line Of Death and sing lead on “Love Leave Me Alone.” It was a wonderful rendition, so I don’t think their line crossing will lead to any terminations. Teresa then did some great whistling on “Walkin’ My Way (Back To Your Heart).” Ben got a pick out of his wallet for “On The Rebound,” an especially funny number that had the audience laughing out loud. That was followed by a new song, which I believe is called “Where Did You Go, Greta Garbo,” or perhaps simply “Greta Garbo.” Before he started the song, he explained the nicknames for Teresa Cowles and Debbie Shair, Steps and Pops respectively. Steps, because Teresa is always counting her steps; Pops, because Debbie tells Dad jokes. It was a cool song, and had a cha-cha-cha ending. However, that wasn’t actually the end of the song, and wouldn’t be the only song of the set with a false ending. When he ended it for real, it still had that cha-cha-cha, but softer this time. “Shingaling With Me” is an adorable song that makes you feel that everything is all right. Ben then wrapped up the set with “I’m Just Sayin’,” which had multiple endings, all of them cha-cha-cha endings, at no extra cost. The show ended at 9:24 p.m. This is exactly the kind of evening I live for.

Set Lists

Ben Vaughn Duo

1. Looking For A Friend
2. Apropos Of Nothing
3. When Losers Rule The World

Cynthia Carle

1. Tombstone Vigilantes (not certain of the title)
2. Angels
3. God Is Living In The Basement
4. There’s A Duck Down The Drain
5. I Can’t Be Hunter Thompson’s Monkey
6. Different
7. Pioneer

Andrew Sandoval

1. I Can’t Be Lonely
2. Singing Only Songs
3. Someone New
4. A Change Of Scene
5. High Tower
6. Something Warm
7. Above The Clouds
8. Friend Of Mine

Ben Vaughn Trio

1. Jerry Lewis In France
2. Miss Me When I’m Gone
3. Too Sensitive For This World
4. Pièce De Résistance
5. Song For You
6. Two Miles Road
7. Love Leave Me Alone
8. Walkin’ My Way (Back To Your heart)
9. On The Rebound
10. Where Did You Go, Greta Garbo
11. Shingaling With Me
12. I’m Just Sayin’

UnUrban Café is located at 3301 Pico Blvd., in Santa Monica, California.