At 4:55 p.m. east coast time,
Jim did a short soundcheck, which was basically asking those of us who arrived
five minutes early how the sound was. Yes, we are all sound people these days. “I am here in a quiet and secluded location,”
he said. “It’s actually my office. Nobody
else comes here.” He opened the show with “Red Motorcycle,” the song he
chose to open the last show of his that I actually attended, back in November.
The song was a request. As with previous weeks, fans sent Jim requests via
Facebook. There is something delightfully sweet about the sound of this song,
and it raised my spirits considerably, for which I am grateful. “Oh you ran up and kissed me/Oh you couldn’t
resist me/Oh you said that you missed me.” Folks typed the word “Applause”
after the song, in the comments section to the right of the video on You Tube,
because that’s how it’s done these days. Weird, right? But still kind of nice,
I have to say. Jim tuned a bit, to get things just exactly right for us, then
played “Free (And On Our Own).” This is such a good song. “It’s not like what I thought it’d be.” After that, Jim took things up a few notches
with “Background Vocals.” It was odd hearing this one without the band, but
still wonderful. “I got this gig/I like
to show up late/I like to show the sound person/All my hate.” And the folks
watching added the “La la la” in the
comments section and probably – like me – were singing along in their
respective homes. “That is a weird one to
do without the band,” Jim said afterward. “I miss the band.” He then asked if fellow End Construction member Jon
Svetkey was watching, and of course I looked to the comments section to see if
indeed he was present. Nope. And so Jim soldiered on.
“This is an old one,” Jim said in introducing “Love Everybody.” It had certainly been quite some time since I’d
heard him play that one, and it made me happy, just as it did back in the days when
it was a regular part of the set list. It is hard to love everybody these days,
but we probably should continue to try. Jim followed that with “The World Of
Particulars,” and this was shaping up to being a beautiful and moving set. After
that song, he mentioned how Dar Williams sang backing vocals on the original
version of that song, and how Aimee Mann was there during the recording of the
song. He then asked again if Jon Svetkey was watching, but again there was
silence from Jon’s end. Today is Jon Svetkey’s birthday, and as a gift, Jim had
written a song for him. “I wrote it about
two hours ago,” Jim said, and then played it. It had jokes about Jon being
left-handed, and also a reference to how he runs a concert series.
“All the songs requested this week were very sad,” Jim said. “With a couple of exceptions, sad songs.
Maybe we’re feeling sad. This is now month two. We’re a week into month two of
this craziness.” It feels like month five, at least. And like the tenth
year of suffering under the dipshit administration. How much longer can we all
keep it together? I don’t know. I guess we’ll see. Jim delivered a beautiful
rendition of “Down Here,” and teared up while singing it. “Tomorrow morning we'll be strong/We'll be what we need to be/Until then
stay/Down here/With me.” I had requested one of the exceptions to the sad
songs, “Can’t Stop Fooling Around,” and Jim attempted it. “Here is one I cannot remember,” he said before the attempt. After a
few lines of the song, he stopped to say that it was lifted from a children’s
song. And then, well, that was that. But I imagine it will be continued in a
future isolation show. Instead, this time he played another not-so-sad request,
“Little Miss Communication,” which ended up being quite a lot of fun. He
followed that with “Angry White Guy,” saying “Here’s one I want to play.” This one had a false start, as Jim
struggled to remember the opening stanza. My brother, who was watching on the
other side of the country from me, helped him out in the comments section. Once
it got going, this was a really good rendition. “All things being equal/They’re not.”
“The Ballad Of Barry Allen” is
one of my favorites, and Jim gave us an excellent version today. In this one,
he sings “And you say that time goes
rushing by/It seems so slow to me,” lyrics that more people might
appreciate these days. As musicians are struggling during this time of canceled
tours, Club Passim is helping out with the PEAR Fund, and Jim mentioned to
those watching that twenty-five percent of any tips he received would be
donated to that fund. He also said he’d love for people to read and review his
novel, which led to him humorously playing a bit of The Rolling Stones’ “You
Can’t Always Get What You Want.” He followed that with an energetic version of “Cheat
To Lose,” one of only two songs repeated from last week’s show. “I don’t keep score/I’m not playing your way
anymore/I cheat to lose.” Toward the end of this one, he sings “There’s a party at my house/And you’re all
invited.” Yes! Well, sort of. He followed “Cheat To Lose” with “Stress.”
This is a song that is always appreciated, but especially these days when we
are all feeling stress and anxiety. As he did a couple of weeks ago, he changed
some of the lyrics to fit with these bizarre times, again using the line “Sometimes I just stick my thumb in a peach
and they arrest me,” and also adding “I
mean, I’d love to do these things if it wasn’t for COVID-19” and “And the sand fleas don’t carry COVID-19/And
the sharks don’t carry COVID-19.” And: “Everybody’s
thinking about disease.” Last week Jim closed his set with “Just Like Me,”
and he chose that song to end this week’s show too. And really, it is the
perfect closing number, probably for any time, but especially for now. “So have a little compassion/Have a little bit
of empathy.” The show ended at 6:15 p.m. eastern time.
Set List
- Red Motorcycle
- Free (And On Our Own)
- Background Vocals
- Love Everybody
- The World Of Particulars
- Jon Without An H
- Down Here
- Can’t Stop Fooling Around
- Little Miss Communication
- Angry White Guy
- The Ballad Of Barry Allen
- You Can’t Always Get What You Want
- Cheat To Lose
- Stress
- Just Like Me
If you missed the show, I
believe you can still watch it on Jim Infantino’s You Tube page. Enjoy!
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