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| Andrew Sandoval |
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Last night was my first time visiting the UnUrban Café on
Pico in Santa Monica, just a bit down the street from McCabe’s, and it tickled
me that the place was located at the corner of Urban Ave. (UnUrban on Urban).
The place had a wonderfully relaxed vibe, the kind of spot you just want to
hang out with friends and listen to some music. My girlfriend loved it and said
she’d like us to open a place like this, and my brain went running with the
idea. I think I had the stage designed and the first two months’ worth of bands
booked in my brain within a few moments. The artist we were there to see last
night was Andrew Sandoval, who doesn’t perform nearly as often as he should,
and very rarely does solo acoustic sets. I think he mentioned on his website
that the last one was in 2016. His performance was part of a music series
titled Night Of A Thousand Stars, which was hosted by Kristi Callan, whom you
likely know as the singer of Dime Box Band, as well as from Wednesday Week.
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| Kristi Callan |
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At 7:14 p.m., Kristi Callan began the night with a short
set. She mentioned there was another band that was originally on the bill, but
two members of that group lost their homes in the fires. For those of you who
happen to be reading this outside of Los Angeles, you might not be aware that the
fires have had a terrible impact on the music scene in this city. So many
musicians lost everything. There are several benefit concerts coming up (I’m
going to two next week), but we’re only beginning to understand the damage to
the community. Kristi Callan opened the night with a song about picking up the
pieces and starting again, which felt just exactly right. After that, she
mentioned that she knows some people who are not rebuilding and instead are
just leaving. Her second song offered encouragement to throw ourselves into
something. David Nolte then joined her on bass guitar for a cover of Gordon
Lightfoot’s “Song For A Winter’s Night.” In 2021, Carla Olson produced an album
titled
Ladies Sing Lightfoot, and Kristi Callan sang this song on it. She delivered a really
nice rendition last night, and that’s how the set concluded.
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| Clementine | |
A young artist named Clementine was up next, her first
time playing this music series. She did a short set of covers, and her choices
made me happy. She opened her set with Paul Simon’s “Me And Julio Down By The
Schoolyard.” “
I’m sorry, this is so
obvious,” she said in introducing her next choice, The Beatles’
“Blackbird.” But then her next choice was quite surprising, “The Village Green
Preservation Society,” the title track from The Kinks’ 1968 LP. “
I love The Kinks,” Clementine said
afterward. I do too! I’ve said this before, but when I was growing up and the
question would arise, “Beatles or Stones?” my answer was always “Kinks!” And
then, as if to endear herself to us even more, she said, “
I love Cat Stevens,” and proceeded to play “If You Want To Sing
Out, Sing Out,” one of two songs that Cat Stevens wrote specially for
Harold And Maude, which happens to be my
favorite movie. It sort of helped reaffirm my faith in humanity that younger
folks are digging Cat Stevens and The Kinks. Clementine wrapped up her set with
a good rendition of Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi.”
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| Kristi Callan and David Nolte |
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Kristi Callan then returned for her second set,
accompanied by David Nolte. She opened with “February 2nd,” a song inspired by
the movie
Groundhog Day. In
introducing the song, she mentioned that at the moment she doesn’t feel like
we’re living in a loop because we’ve been experiencing so many unprecedented
things. But the line “
I feel like I’ve
done all this before” still strikes us as the country has decided to yet
again elect the absolute worst person for the job of President. We have done
this before, and it was a total mess the first time. This time it is clearly
going to be exponentially worse. Kristi followed that song with “Radio,” and
then mentioned how the UnUrban Café has been around for thirty years. That’s
really something, particularly as small venues like this tend to come and go
(though certainly the one that my girlfriend and I are going to start will last
forever). Kristi then played “Happy,” the title track to the
2019 Dime Box Band album. “
The grass is always greener on
the other side/And everyone’s got so much to hide.” One of the lines that
stood out for me last night was, “
Life’s
not going like you thought.” The song ends with this thought: “
Nothing lasts.” That is both good and
bad. She followed that with a song she wrote about getting new carpet, and then
one titled “I Won’t Lay Down,” which she dedicated to anyone who won’t quit.
David then took over on guitar for the final song of the set, a cover of “Come
Wander With Me,” a song from an episode of
The
Twilight Zone. “
Come wander with
me/Away from this sad world.” Kristi delivered a beautiful rendition.
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| Andrew Sandoval |
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Andrew Sandoval started his set a few minutes before 9
p.m. with “A Change Of Scene,” and the moment he began playing, I felt better
about the world. Does that mean the world actually got better? Maybe, maybe.
Why not? Though he was performing a solo acoustic set, the song still had a
good pop vibe, and it carried that sort of joy. He followed “A Change Of Scene”
with “Something Warm.” The rhythm to the song was still strong, even without
any other instruments, and I could feel the way it affected everyone in the
room.
“
I need something warm/Something I can hold onto.” It’s a sweet
song, and Andrew Sandoval’s voice is just so right in delivering it. After
playing that song, he mentioned that he wrote it twenty years ago in a room
when things were falling apart. You’d never guess that. He also mentioned that
he collects music, including obscure music, joking that he ended up creating
music just as obscure as that he was collecting. Ah, but it shouldn’t be. How
is it that these songs were not hits?
“I Can’t Be Lonely” is a song that he did at that gig
back in September at Permanent Records Roadhouse, and he also played it last
night, one of only two songs that he performed at both shows. Of course, it had
a different sound last night than at that full-band gig. His songs are so good
that they work equally well in both settings. “
And I can’t be lonely without you.” He followed that with “I Want
To Go.” “
When the time is right/Take me
away/Take me away/I want to go.” I noticed during that song how attentive
the crowd was. Cafés are not always good listening rooms, but, whether it was
this specific place or this specific audience, everyone there was into the
music. “The Distance” followed. That song was included on Andrew’s
From Me To You album, an album that also
included “I Want To Go,” “A Change In Scene” and “Something Warm.” He then told
the audience he had one more sad song to play, and went into “No One Else,”
also on
From Me To You. “
Now that I’m living for myself/I can’t find
the room for no one else.”
Andrew said that he was originally from Los Angeles, and
loves this city. That’s a love I assume was shared by most, if not all, of
those in the room. After all, why would we deal with the heat, the earthquakes,
the fires, the mudslides, the traffic if this city didn’t hold a special place
in our lives? There is something about this city that makes it unlike any
other. He then played “High Tower,” about a specific place in Los Angeles. It’s
a song from his
Happy To Be Here
album. He thanked the crowd for being there, and said he had a song called “Clementine”
that he thought about doing, but then decided it might be a little creepy.
Instead, he followed “High Tower” with a good cover of The Zombies’ “You Make
Me Feel Good,” which was the flip side to the “She’s Not There” single. He then
ended the set with “Friend Of Mine,” another song from
Happy To Be Here. “
The things
I love, I hate to see them disappear.” Indeed. “
I’ll see you all in, I don’t know, a few years,” he told the crowd.
But that wasn’t good enough, and the audience called out for an encore. “
I’d ask for requests, but that would be
presumptuous,” Andrew joked. He then said, “
Since Clementine left, I can sing that song.” And so that’s what he
did. Clementine had left at the beginning of “Friend Of Mine.” It was a perfect
ending to a wonderful evening of music. The show ended at precisely 9:30 p.m. As
at the full-band show in September, Andrew had not brought any of his albums to
sell. I was hoping to pick up at least one or two. Really, I want everything –
the albums, EPs, singles and compilation. They need to be in my collection, and
I think they should be in everyone’s collection.
Andrew Sandoval’s Set List
- A Change Of Scene
- Something Warm
- I Can’t Be Lonely
- I Want To Go
- The Distance
- No One Else
- High Tower
- You Make Me Feel Good
- Friend Of Mine
Encore
- Clementine
UnUrban Café is located at 3301 Pico Blvd. in Santa
Monica, California.
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