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Evangenitals playing "Thirty Days" |
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There is an international porch fest called Play Music On
The Porch Day, and it was held yesterday. In fact, yesterday was the tenth year
of this event. Boston had been holding its own porch festivals for a long time,
and many years ago I thought it would be great for L.A. to do something
similar, but folks told me that no one in Los Angeles would want strangers
coming to their homes. Well, turns out those people were wrong, for several
homes across Los Angeles took part. The problem is that, as everyone knows, Los
Angeles is spread out, so there isn’t the strong sense of community one has at the
Boston porch fests. Boston holds them neighborhood by neighborhood, so people
can walk from one show to the next and catch several different bands in a day. Los
Angeles hasn’t gotten there yet. Your best bet yesterday for getting that porch fest feel was probably Highland
Park, where there were four or five places near each other, at least according
to the website’s map. But just a bit south of there in Montecito Heights, The
Evangenitals took part, and that’s where my girlfriend and I spent the
afternoon. A stage was set up in the yard, where there was shade and a pleasant
atmosphere.
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"It's A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock 'N' Roll"
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While Evangenitals lead vocalist and guitarist Juli
Crockett waited for other members of the band to arrive, a nice jam began with
some of the other musicians who showed up. It was very loose, and led to
renditions of Bob Dylan’s “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door” and “I Shall Be Released,”
with bass player Dan Paquin quickly teaching the others the latter. That song
led directly into a portion of 4 Non Blondes’ “What’s Up.” The musicians
sometimes switched instruments, which would be a part of The Evangenitals’ set
too, fitting with the fun, relaxed vibe of the day. John Allan brought out the
bagpipes, and soon brought me back to my early childhood, he and the others
delivering a wild rendition of AC/DC’s “It’s A Long Way To The Top (If You
Wanna Rock ‘N’ Roll),” which was on
High
Voltage, the first AC/DC album I ever got (I was six years old). Then Alice
Lin did a solo set on keyboard and vocals. At the beginning she told everyone
that she usually plays in her kitchen and so was going to imagine us as kitchen
appliances. There was a lot of humor to her set, particularly in her banter, but
my favorite song was one that was much more serious, and it came just before
the end of her set. With that one (I don’t know the song’s title), she had
everyone completely captivated.
It was just after 5 p.m. when The Evangenitals took the
stage. The band has had many members over the course of its existence, and what
was particularly wonderful yesterday was that members from various times in the
band’s history shared the stage. They started the set with “Hello,” with Juli Crockett
on vocals and guitar, Michael Feldman on keyboard, Andrea Baker on fiddle, Cody
Farwell on steel guitar, Ari DeSano on banjolele, and Brett Lyda on drums. Then
Brett switched to bass, and Dan Paquin sat in on drums for “Home,” an appropriate
song for the occasion. It featured some particularly good work on steel guitar.
Dan then switched to bass, and Mike Starr joined the group on drums for “I’m
Sad.” As they were getting ready to play that one, in effect re-learning it, Juli
quipped that the pandemic wrecked their lives and the band was in shambles. After
that song, someone asked Juli to announce that a phone was missing, which she
did. And even as she did, the phone was found, leading Juli to joke, “Thank you for your swift action in this
matter.”
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"The Work Song" |
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Theo, Juli and Michael’s son, got behind the drum kit for
“The Work Song,” always a highlight of any Evangenitals set. And it is Labor
Day weekend, after all. They followed that with “Never Too Late,” with Dan back
on drums, leaving the band without a bass player. But no problem, Michael said
he’d play the bass line on keyboard. During this song, we were treated to
excellent leads on both fiddle and steel guitar. Michael then did a little bass
solo on keys, receiving laughter from both the band and audience. The band
brought the tone down with the beautiful and wonderfully depressing “We Just
Get Along.” At the end of that song, Princess Frank arrived and was immediately
invited to sit in on drums, which he did. Dan was back on bass. They then did a
fun version of Chuck Berry’s “Thirty Days,” with the audience echoing the title
line. Princess Frank fanned himself with a cymbal between songs. I think he had
biked up the hill. “Hey Ya” was requested, and the band gave it a go. There was
a false start, as the key was adjusted, and then everything seemed right.
Following that there was a discussion about whether to end the set with “Fuck ‘Em
All” or “Gasoline.” My hope was they’d do both. They chose “Gasoline,” always a
great choice to conclude a set. And they played around with some of the various
clean endings they’d done over the years, before ending it properly. The set
ended at 6:25 p.m.
Here are some photos from the afternoon:
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first jam of the day |
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John Allan |
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Alice Lin |
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Juli Crockett |
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"Home" | |
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"The Work Song" |
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"Thirty Days" |
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