Greg Brown at the Landmark in Port Washington, NY
4/5/08

Nice opening set by Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion (highlight for me was
when their young daughter, Olivia, joined them onstage to sing “How to Make a
Folksong” or something along those lines – their music to old unreleased Woody
Guthrie lyrics from the archive).

Greg came out following a kind introduction by WFUV’s (great station: check them
out at www.wfuv.org) John Platt who mentioned that Greg is among the father
figures of the folk/roots/etc. scene. Greg said that since he couldn’t live up
to any of that we all just might as well go home. It was the start of a
talkative, funny and wonderful evening. Greg later commented about how he was
still sick (he had cancelled his last two shows) and couldn’t hear anything, but
that it probably didn’t matter because he sounds exactly the same whether he’s
sick or feeling well. [If he still wasn’t feeling well I definitely couldn’t
tell – he sounded great and played amazing.] Lots of long, drawn out songs with
quite a bit more guitar play and solos than I’ve normally heard, lots of bluesy
reworkings of older songs too. I didn’t keep a set list so I’ve probably got
the order messed up and might have missed a few as well. Here goes:

Small Dark Movie
Skinny Days (preceded by story about how he used to take the train from NYC to
the far eastern part of Long Island to hang out at the beach, met a French woman
and would take the last train back to the city – he asked us to guess which
verse was inspired by that)
Kokomo (“it’s all true”)
Billy From the Hills (following a request from the audience, Greg told a long
story about his father and his remarkable life: his work building and wiring
radio towers, getting the call to join the ministry, preaching about hope and
peace and love and not fear (like the guys you see on tv) and calling the Bible
a beautiful myth we can learn from - all of which made him not too successful -
leaving the ministry and opening/leading a vocational-type school for students
who didn’t make it in other schools, and eventually landing with the Baha’i
faith, where he finished full circle by rewiring the gorgeous Baha’i Temple in
Wilmette, Illinois. I had heard bits of this before but never live and never so
much all at one time (and never about the vocational school or Baha’i Temple).
I felt very lucky to be there. He then played an intense, emotional version of
Billy)
Never So Far
Oily Boys
Little You
Poet Game (by request)
Greg then asked the audience for requests and said he would try to do as many as
he could, but that it sounded like someone requested Candle in the Wind, which
he wasn’t so sure he could manage.
Canned Goods (no story, but a treat nonetheless)
Laughing River (almost entirely reworked musically)
One Too Many Mornings (Johnny Irion joined him for this pretty Dylan tune and
through the rest of the set)
Ever Since the World Ended (Mose Allison)
The Little Sparrow (I think this is what it’s called – Come All Ye Fair and
Tender Ladies)
Samson

E: 12 Gates to the City (with Johnny and Sarah Lee) – beautiful ending to a
wonderful evening

Best part for those of us in the NY area – Greg’s coming back to NYC in July!
Normally we have to wait a year or so for our next local visit.
_________________________________________________________________
Get in touch in an instant. Get Windows Live Messenger now.
http://www.windowslive.com/messenger/overview.html?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_Refresh_get\
intouch_042008

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]