Ben Vaughn Hosts An Incredible Night Of Music At Unurban Coffee House, 9-9-25

Ben Vaughn

It was a truly special evening of music last night at the Unurban Coffee House in Santa Monica, part of the Night Of A Thousand Stars series hosted by Ben Vaughn. I've said this before, but the Los Angeles area has probably the best music scene in the entire country. On any night, you can catch stellar musicians in intimate settings. I'm not sure the capacity at Unurban, but it can't be more than fifty or sixty people. And the lineup was the Ben Vaughn Duo, Ruthann Friedman and Paul Marshall. Holy moly! And there was no cover.

There was a strange thing happening with the stage lights, as Ben Vaughn quickly discovered while setting up. The lights reacted to sounds, only turning on when Ben tested the vocal microphone or stomped his foot. Very weird. What lunatic desired that? So part of the soundcheck was used disabling that odd lighting effect and in the process providing a bit of comedy before the show. Then at 7:10 p.m., Ben Vaughn Duo (Ben Vaughn and Teresa Cowles) started the evening off with a short set that featured them doing their vocal horns on the very first song, "Looking For A Friend." And Ben got the audience singing along to "Apropos Of Nothing." They wrapped up this incredibly brief but wonderful set with "When Losers Rule The World." A three-song, twelve-minute set. Crazy. But that was just to get things going; they would do a full set later in the evening.

Paul Marshall

Paul Marshall was up next, and when introducing him, Ben mentioned that he was thrilled to have him perform at the show. And it was soon very clear just why. You all likely know Paul Marshall from his work in I See Hawks In L.A., and maybe also for his work with Fur Dixon & Steve Werner and The Strawberry Alarm Clock. Last night he treated the audience to a rare solo set. Paul said he would "try a few new things and a few old things, and we'll see how it goes." Well, it went great. He opened his set with "Love Works," in which he sang, "When it feels like/There ain't no hope left on Earth/We can keep on going strong/Because, baby, the love works." Now that is something to keep in mind in these days when it seems the people of this country are embracing and celebrating their worst qualities. It's a beautiful song. Paul then picked up the energy with "Sifting Through The Ashes," a song from his excellent Weed And Water album. It's a fun number, and the line "But don't you be surprised when love knocks you on your ashes" got a big and deserved laugh from the crowd.

One of my favorite Hawks songs is "If You Lead I Will Follow," from New Kind Of Lonely, a song which Paul Marshall wrote with Rob Waller. And it was wonderful to get to hear Paul perform his own version of that song last night. It was a particularly moving rendition. That was followed by "If I Had You," the lead song from Weed And Water, which had a positive vibe. But it was probably the next song that most of the crowd would pick as the favorite of the set, "Talking To The Dog," which Paul introduced as a relatively new song. It was hilarious. Seriously, the audience was laughing out loud through basically the entire song. I was laughing too hard to write down any of the lyrics, so you'll just have to seek Paul out yourself and get him to play it for you. I hope he does more solo sets soon. And that wasn't the final song of the set. He followed that with "Truth Is I Lied," a song that he sometimes plays with the Hawks, and one that was included in the film Grace Of My Heart, where it is performed by Jill Sobule. It's still hard to accept that Jill is gone, and in the introduction to the song, Paul mentioned how some of the online tributes posted by fans included her doing this song. Paul delivered an excellent and touching rendition last night. He then ended the set with another song that was included in a movie, "Light Of A New Day," which was in Man Of The Year. An excellent song to wrap up the set. "And I'll leave the past behind."

Ruthann Friedman

Ruthann Friedman then took the stage, backed by Kaitlin Wolfberg on violin and backing vocals, and David Jenkins on bass. It was my first time seeing her perform. She is a singer and songwriter, known for writing "Windy," which was a big hit for The Association. She didn't play that song last night, and there was no need, for it was quickly apparent that she'd written even better material in the meantime. She opened her set with "Spending Time," which she performed solo. That led straight into "That's What I Remember," with Kaitlin and David then joining her. "That's What I Remember" is a totally delightful song, one that made me completely fall for her, and it includes some lines about Hollywood that stood out: "I got screwed up and I got turned down/I wrote a hit song, it was not what I planned/So I ran away and joined a rock and roll band." She followed that with "Chinatown," first saying that she usually does a long introduction to it, but would keep it short for this show: "It's Jewish guilt and opium." It was another excellent song. Then "Get Out Of Here" included the line, or phrase, "Above the clouds," which of course reminded me of "Windy."

Ruthann then switched guitars for "The Tides" in order to not waste time tuning, but ended up having to tune anyway. During that time, Kaitlin told a knock-knock joke, but got it wrong, which was even funnier. Ruthann introduced "The Tides" as a political song, and the line "In the land of the free" carries different meanings these days for sure. "I was born in '44/Near the end of a war," she sings in this one. The line that especially grabbed me was, "'Til the tide carries them away." She then mentioned how the current political landscape is depressing, but she was going to do a hopeful song. Interestingly, she then couldn't recall the song. I think that might say more about the political landscape than about her memory. So instead she played a song she had written for her husband, one that was sweet, with her singing "I want to be with you every single day," and also funny, with her singing, "You know I'm always right." She followed that with "Monster Love," which she introduced as a depressing song about her childhood. "Monster love/Better than no love at all." That song featured some particularly good work on bass. She then delivered a cool number that reminded us there's "no need to hurry at all," and then wrapped up the set with "What A Joy," a song she wrote for her daughter when she was far away at school. I am so glad I got the chance to see her perform.

Ben Vaughn Duo returned to the stage for the final set of the night, a set that focused on music from Ben's album The World Of Ben Vaughn. Apparently, when he had the original album release party for that disc, it ended up being a super spreader event, something he mentioned early in the set. The first two songs of the set were the first two tracks from the album: "In My Own Reality" and "Wayne Fontana Was Wrong." "It's a beautiful day today/And tomorrow's gonna be the same way/There ain't nothing bothering me/Now that I'm living in my own reality," Ben sang at the beginning of "In My Own Reality." And, yes, living in our own reality is especially appealing these days. Since the election, I have avoided the news, instead filling my reality with good music. At the end of that song, Teresa had a chance to lead on bass, which was cool. "Wayne Fontana Was Wrong" had a "Louie Louie" ending. Ben followed that with the last track on the album, "Nobody Likes A Showoff," at the end of which he playfully showed off on guitar. Like I said, I'm doing my best to avoid whatever it is that passes for politics these days, but these lines from "No Count" reminded me of a certain conman/convicted felon/rapist that half this country wanted back in the White House: "You're no good, you're no good/You never do what you should even when you could/You're no good/You're a liar and a cheat/Stepping on people's feet/Up and down the street/Hustling everybody you meet."

"Too Sensitive For This World"

"Asking For A Friend" is a rather pretty, gentle and sad number that I love. "Why do we fall in love?/Please remind me once again/Asking, asking for a friend." Then Ben put down his guitar for "Blind Alley," a cool number that featured Teresa's bass work. Folks in the audience snapped their fingers in time with the beat and echoed the line "Looking for love." Ben delivered some nice stuff on harmonica, and this song ended up being a highlight of the set. He then took out his notes for "You're Gonna Wish Love Was Never Invented," a song with these lines: "Take it from me/Someday you'll see/What a mess love can be." Maybe, maybe, but we're all going to fall in love anyway. All seven of those songs are from The World Of Ben Vaughn. He then strayed from that album for "Pièce de Résistance," a totally fun number, before returning for "Feet" and "You." He followed those with a song I believe is titled "When The Paragons Meet The Jesters," and then said he enjoyed the knock-knock joke during Ruthann's set, which itself was funny. "New Jersey Rock 'N' Roll" was the final song of the evening to come from The World Of Ben Vaughn. So he played all but one track at the show. He wrapped up the set, and the night, with "Where Did You Go, Greta Garbo?" and "Too Sensitive For This World." Ruthann Friedman joined the Ben Vaughn Duo on backing vocals for "Too Sensitive For This World," helping to make it a fantastic rendition. It was a great way to conclude the night.

Unurban Coffee House is located at 3301 Pico Blvd. in Santa Monica, California.