Letter to Leo

 

 A letter to Leo

 

      Anyone who has looked at a blank page or screen after losing the product of inspired work knows the misery of trying again to reconstruct the blood, sweat and tears once held in the vanished pages. It is said T.H. Lawrence left a 250,000-word manuscript in a train station and never got over it. To truly recover, an artist must perform one of the most difficult tasks of creation. Such is the case of “Letter to Leo” being released by singer Perla Batalla who has chosen an eclectic and thoroughly beautiful handful of Leonard Cohen compositions as her heart-felt thanking of a dear friend and artistic inspiration. This is no rehash of the great songs of Cohen, who gets wiser and better the older any listener gets. La Batalla could have re-recorded the song list from “Songs of Leonard Cohen” and made it sound great, but she chose to dig way deeper. Perla Batalla stood on stage next to Cohen, rode airplanes and taxi cabs with him. She knew his heart and she never stopped loving his music and the man. After his frustrating, death Perla’s grief felt unfinished even after performing numerous tributes and making an  excellent album of her favorite Leonard Cohen songs, Her version of “Bird on the Wire” is so good even Cohen would admit she improved the classic song. Still, she had more to say and began work on a second record that was being  completed in Spain when the scourge of Covid enveloped the planet. There was no worse time for musicians than those dead years of 2020 to 2022 because the love of  music is wonderful, but audiences give the artists strength to get better.

    When singers and music lovers came out from under Perla returned to Europe to get back to producing the album and found the entire thing gone into the ether. No hard drives, no album, waves of inspiration and love put into lyrics vanished. The blood runs cold just to think about the moment of sick epiphany. If this were simply a project to make money any artist would have cried a lot and  limped home, but Perla still had something to say to Leonard Cohen and she refused to quit. Money was found because the lady had made friends and stayed loyal to family for decades and the project began again. The work is dedicated to the great record producer Hal Wilner, which is appropriate since the production here is simply transcendent. Of course, the musicians are superb and are drawn from all genres and Perla Batalla’s voice has never been better. Yet,  they are put on a magical platform. Technically the sound is clean, and the lead vocals are never crowded or cluttered. What elevates this work is the amazing variety of sound which goes from down to earth folksy to orchestral majesty.

The opening  “Awakened” is sweetened by strings and  is lush and lovely. “A Thousand Kisses Deep” is flamenco flavored that works within the self-deprecating lyrics “you win a while and then it’s done your little winning streak / and summoned now to deal with your invincible defeat” “Democracy” is poignant for today’s puzzling threats to the same. The mixture of gospel and a rap hybrid works perfectly. The backup of Patrick Page will give you goosebumps on goosebumps. “Sisters of Mercy” just shimmers with the clean piano of Luis Cartes Ivern and the mother-daughter combination vocal keeping the classic quality of this great song. “Everybody Knows” is just a song they should play in classrooms instead of removing books. Here it is elegiac and true to Cohen’s original intention. “Aint No Cure for Love” is the surprise of the album, percolating and upbeat it could be Lesley Gore singing but it is a sunny Perla Batalla. This song is typical of the true studio crafting of this once in a lifetime collection with texture and depth. “The Partisan” is brilliantly set up with an oud solo by Dimitris Mahlis  preparing the listener for dark and foreboding tale of resistance to evil. The oud interweaves with Batalla’s urgent vocal that turns to the original French in the last stanzas. This song from Cohen’s second album reverberates all the way forward from 1969.

“You Want It Darker” is from the later part of the Cohen legacy that becomes more interesting the older I get. The sound here is darker too with slide guitars and a thick bass. If this truly was Maestro Cohen’s last song, he had lost nothing to old age. “The L in Your Name” is just a pure love song from Perla to Leo. I cannot imagine following this song and when the concerts begin, I would assume it would close shows. There will be tears from Sheila. “Take This Waltz” is yet another turn toward a different sound within the album. Mixing Steve Bernstein’s trumpet with Spanish guitar and flamenco clapping La Batalla’s formidable pipes and angelic backups make this a poem set to music. Last “A Singer Must Die” is an art song in the milieu of Kurt Weill. It seems to me it is about taking that chance and telling the truth of a story which Leonard Cohen did in hundreds of wonderful songs. Perla Batalla reminds us all that this truth has no end.

Perla at TOCA

 

Perla Batalla Back to Beautiful Music Here and Now

 

     Music lovers are re-emerging from hibernation and venturing into the concert world once again. It feels so good to be back! There is a giddy joy when entering a place of music, feeling the awe of live sounds and the sight of other humans on stage and off. For me that meant a short trip to the under-rated Torrance Performing Arts Center and an amazing but cozy cabaret show by the brilliant singer Perla Batalla. The intimate George Nakano theater at TOCA is the perfect place for music with lyrics that matter and fine musicianship that the show possessed in plentiful supply.

   The concert was a fine sampler of the singer’s best stuff, drawing from albums and materials spanning several decades. There was “Cinema of Tears” and “Iberia” from the greatly lauded “Mestiza” record enhanced by the accompaniment of daughter Eva Batalla Mann who seems to have grown into a voice to match the mountains of her Mom’s Everest.  Perla has travelled the world singing and telling stories while glorifying the art of the great Leonard Cohen who she once sang with in his best years. She did him justice over and over at this show. Her reading of “Bird on the Wire” is perfection but the sweet surprises were a somewhat rocking “Aint No Cure for Love,” “the Partisan,” “Suzanne” and a duet of “Anthem” that showed the greatness of the poet. Batalla took no chances with a superb small ensemble including a terrific guitar/oud player Dimitris Mahlis, upright-bass man Mike Velasquez, renaissance gent/ percussionist Claud Mann and Karen Hammack on piano who could be a concert all on her own.

    You want divine singing, we heard that with a sublime “the Nearness of You,” Eva leading a percolating “I Can See Clearly Now” and a Mother’s Day hug to Perla’s dear Mom in “Gracias a La Vida” up tempo and out of sight as they used to say when I was young. Not that she needed it, but Perla had an Ace up her sleeve when she introduced a young man calling himself Bud Foster.  Foster may look rather angelic, but his music is from an old and grand tradition. As an aficionado of folk songs, I loved the sound from the first guitar chords of “Jack the Gambler” which continued into what I assumed to be “Bud Foster.” While this folk singer is very young, he has confidence when he opens his mouth to sing that belies his innocent countenance. His style is multiple parts Dick Gaughan, Martin Simpson, Ramblin’ Jack Elliot and maybe even a little Woody Guthrie. The voice is clear and strong while his guitar accompaniment is free from any vagaries. He continued with a Marty Robbins-worthy “Dark Eyed Senorita” and was joined by the generous Perla Batalla and Eva on a version of “Lo and Behold” that I would have paid cash for in the lobby had it been on sale.

      There was more and it was wonderful. Her fans will not allow the singer to deny them” Cucurrucucu Paloma” which she did while lowering the blood pressure of the entire room. You haven’t lived until you have heard this song live. The finale of the full compliment on stage “Hallelujah” with the help of a few enthusiastic audience members was a fitting farewell. Live music! So Good!

Back to the Folks Festival 2016

Finding Folks 2016

“To get the full value of joy you must have someone to divide it with.” -Mark Twain


      I haven’t done much studying of religion since I converted from Holy Communion to donuts and coffee on Sunday mornings around 1967. However,  I do remember the story in Genesis of the "Tower of Babel" that God used to cut humans down to size when they tried to rise above their raisin' by building a skyscraper intended to reach heaven. The Supreme Being put the kibosh on the construction by sending the petty humans in different directions speaking a myriad of tongues. Instead of one people, speaking one language there were thousands of confounding forms of communication which put on end to the skyward thrust of those Old Testament monolith of hubris. While Lyons, Colorado does not have a tower of Babel it does have a sort of silo/ivy-covered tower that symbolizes the opposite of that scattering of the languages in the Holy Land. In Lyons, in mid-August the Millennials speak to the Gen-Xers who translate for the Boomers in the tongue of music which is understood by all in an astounding gathering of the tribes on the sometimes rain-freshened pastures of the Rocky Mountain Folks Festival. As has been said by many and many times it is the vibe of the festival so full of love, peace and understanding that is unique. This is my understanding for sure,  at least in my audience participation since the summer of Love which wasn’t completely full of love anyway. Most musical gatherings are rife with strife but problems in Lyons might be running out of Moscow Mule mix by 7 pm. My great-niece lost her wallet full of cards and cash, only to find it undisturbed at the Lost and Found the following morning. Try that in LA!
     Folks old, new and in-between sit together, sip together, eat together and even sing or dance together as dozens of musical acts spread their own flavor of this universal language from the old stage that actually rose up out of a seemingly Biblical flood just a couple of years back. While the reason for being of this event is a celebration of the best and most underappreciated music in America the festival is more than just musical. The joys of the three days present a large umbrella of sensations from bouncing down the St. Vrain river in an inner tube, to dozing under an easy-up on the meadow near the surviving Oak tree. Kids run free and friends can’t help but converse while some life changing lyrics roll through the sunshine or surprise rain-showers. The comradery of festivarians extends to compliments on your t-shirt or tattoo while waiting in line for pot stickers or Boulder Ice Cream after picking your way across the gravel through this sort of gold camp of experience.  Despite the macrobiotic eaters and gluten free freaks there is a smokers tent, still populated by those who experience nicotine and other more mind enhancing substances not far from Craft Beer and Gin drinks that seem perfectlty logical at 5 O'clock. After all,  we are on vacation so have a corn dog or one of those hot fudge sundaes because festival calories don't really count.  Conversations come easy at the communal tables by the Wildflower Pavilion where we discussed Grateful Dead shows in the early 1970’s and the year it poured rain but Patty Griffin blew us away even as we hunkered under blue tarps. This year, after having to skip 2015 I approached Lyons with a greater appreciation and pondered the easy synchronicity of the physical setup of this huge undertaking. The technical crews here are real professionals.  The sound is always top-notch, the acts are always on time, the lighting is evocative and if there was a need for security I am sure that would be done with aplomb. Blending staff and volunteers is way harder than it looks and the Folks Festival maintains order without ever seeming to utter a discouraging word. They have everything under a relaxed control except Mother Nature.
     Friday was a bit of a challenge but the tarps were down and wise Festivarians were ready, up until the wind blew the rain sideways and thunder shook the red rocks. There were murmurs but no one left including the stalwart old pro Cheryl Wheeler who laughed at lightening and provided some electrical moments with lyrics tested over decades. It felt like she was speaking to me when she sang “I suppose stranger things have come to pass/ many’s the forest I can’t see/ I was so down and lost and fading fast/ how did you find your way to me?

                                          Cheryl Wheeler

                                          David Wax Museum

                                          Passenger

                                         Lucinda Williams and Stuart Mathis
  The music stayed strong with the visually and musically lively set by David Wax Museum followed by the excellent singing of evocative lyrics by Passenger who had the unenviable task of preceding the legendary Lucinda Williams. When he sang “Anywhere” the high provided made you believe every word.  While Lucinda is indeed legendary she did have to prove it and she did hedge her bets with one of the world’s strongest lead guitarists in Stuart Mathis at the front of a truly great band. She rocked hard and carved in oak one more show demonstrating her greatness with even some clever political statements that got the faithful roaring their approval.
     

                                         Kathy Mattea

                                          Darrell Scott

                                          Mavis Staples

                                          Conor Oberst
It’s impossible to describe every moving moment of memorable song since each set has their share but I have my favorites. While Parker Milsap has a voice like dripping honey tinged with some Kentucky sour mash and Kathy Mattea carries on a glorious tradition of fine women songwriters my Saturday was defined by Darrell Scott and the gilt-edged greatness of Mavis Staples. Scott is the best kept secret in America if  what you don't hear on the radio is any way to judge talent. He is a gifted guitarist, a brilliant songwriter and his voice is without peer in today’s folk idiom.  If country stations played Darrell Scott it would improve the brand by 500%... but they don’t. When he played “Uncle Lloyd” it was challenging to mop tears off my face with a straw hat. La Staples got the entire meadow on their feet including my septuagenarian siblings and made her set a celebration of the power of song sacred and profane. This is a woman who lived with segregation and terrible repression but turns all of the ugliness she has borne to shame with her grand spirit and rare talent.
   

                                         Dahka Brakha

                                          Lone Bellow

                                          Dougie Maclean
Sunday, the last day when the petrol is normally a little shallow in the tank for we Boomers was intentionally invigorating with the cool and clean Darlingside elevating the lyrical barre, followed by the unique singing of the Ukraine’s “Dakha Brakha” whose harmonies were other worldly and their head gear amazing in the heat of Colorado. The all-important late afternoon set by Lone Bellow proved to be the most solidly satisfying of the festival that pumped up the crowd for the all-too-filled with audience participation numbers by the beloved Dougie Maclean. While the faithful did get to hear a song so popular it is considered an anthem in not one but two countries (Caledonia) they heard themselves singing verses more than they heard Dougie.  He was charming and showed a beautiful voice and guitar skills but he should have done more solos. The festival ended as did each night directed at the Gen-X middle ground with the Decembrists; just as Conor Oberst had held the spot on Saturday and the wildly talented Andrew Bird on Friday. While I am sure they were all mouth-gapingly awesome and it certainly was reported that they were I was at the mercy of family who paced themselves for the long haul which ended around 9 p.m. Nothing makes the younger generations happier than telling you just what you missed.
     Last year at this time I was lost in a sea of medications and uncertainty so to fold up my low-backed chair, sling my camera bag over my shoulder and point my tiny flashlight at the sod of Lyons after three sweet days was a kind of victory I could not believe was possible those many months ago.  What better tonic for anybody than to join the multitudes in this annual celebration of what makes life beautiful and worth observing every year, despite the ravages of Father Time.  When we Boomers have finished decimating the planet and spreading our fertilized legacy the Millennials will look back on these days and describe how great the Decembrists, Conor Oberst and Andrew Bird were back in the teens.

Los Lobos and Ballet Folklorico Mexicano January 23, 2016

Los Lobos and Ballet Folklorico Mexicano: the Wolf Has Survived and Then Some at Cerritos

                             By Glen Creason

      Time does fly when you are having musical fun and it has been twenty-six years since I first saw Los Lobos perform their unique mixture of Mexican traditionals, R & B, old style rock and Latin-tinged blues. On an ideal winter’s night in Cerritos the old boys showed once again that they are great talents with plenty left in the tank during a two hour feast of music and dance. While they are a bit more low-key and possess the wisdom of many shows they still play with a spark that demonstrates their love for the old music.  As if the band is not good enough they came with the magnificent Ballet Folklorico Mexico who provided visual dazzle to the lively acoustic portion of the concert. The show was a steady flow of folk dances from different states of Mexico interspersed with mostly Spanish language sones that sounded just as sweet as when they were first put on vinyl back in the day before file-sharing and phone staring. It helped the entire experience that the audience was so wonderfully behind the band, sometimes singing lyrics and reacting to the old favorites that hit the spot developed in the 20^th century when we were just a bit younger. These included “Cascabel,” “Sabor a Mi,” “Cancion de Mariachi,” and a taste of “La Bamba” that caused veteranos y veteranas to stir in their sections. The dancers never failed to increase the temperature in the big hall performing joyful steps from Guerrero, Tamaulipas, Veracruz, Chiapas, Chihuahua and Sonora while donning native costumes of the regions.

     The second half of the program was even more rewarding musically with some great old memories from the best of Los Lobos like “Anselma,” “Volver,” “Las Pistola y El Corazon,” “Saint Behind the Glass,” and a strong finishing shot of a high octane “La Bamba” followed by the evergreen “Guantanamara” that stayed in the hearts and minds of the packed house. The young dancers kept up the visual energy with an opening in  Aztec regalia for “Aquila Blanca,” “Mictecacihuatle,” and “Tonantzin” celebrating life in flowers and love plus “a good death” exemplified by a couple of muertos who danced together. Yet, on this night the happy crowd was filled with life and love and maybe a few spirits from the old country.

     

Johnny Mathis Christmas December 18, 2015

Christmas the Johnny Mathis Way at Cerritos

             By Glen Creason

     There are a select few that are born to sing Christmas songs that make the heart glow with holiday happiness and Cerritos was lucky enough to experience one of those over the yuletide weekend. Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole, Andy Williams, Ella Fitzgerald and Johnny Mathis fill the season’s juke boxes and the last in the list was first at the Performing Arts Center on Friday before a packed house of happy folks filled with good cheer and musical memories. While there are many a middle-aged American celebrating this year that are alive thanks to the romantic moods created by a Johnny Mathis album, the man himself seems to have hardly have aged, especially his sweet and gentle voice. He was relatively casual, wearing an elegant black tuxedo without neck wear in the first half, and then turning to off-white without tie in the second half of the show. To make the evening even grander he had a full orchestra surrounding him and his own quartet that really brought the old chestnuts to a brilliant shine, complete with backup singers and two tall fir trees on stage.

     The concert was mostly Christmas song-candies including classic Mathis renditions of “Winter Wonderland, “ “Happy Holidays,” “Caroling, Caroling,” “Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” a rollicking “Sleigh Ride,” and the perfectly appropriate “A Child Is Born” that rang true across the great hall. Of course, with a repertoire of sixty years on stages Maestro Mathis had to please his fans and performed many of the big ones like “It’s Not for Me to Say,” “Chances Are,” “Misty,”  and the gorgeous “the 12^th of Never. He also stretched it a little with the newish “We Need a Little Christmas, “ and “Sending You a Little Christmas” along with a surprising finishing kick of a lively Brazilian medley that included “Mas Que Nada,” “Manha de Carnaval” and “Brazil” that got the audience warmed up before departing into the Winter’s night.

     The show was broken up delightfully by comedian Brad Upton who kept the large crown in stitches with a clean but absolutely hilarious set highlighted by clever jokes about marriage, children and aging which seemed to resonate with the happy Boomers attending.

The Ten Tenors December 6, 2015

Ten Tenors Turn Cerritos Toward a White Sort of Christmas

           By Glen Creason

          It might seem odd that a group of singers from Australia would kick off the holiday festivities at the Performing Arts but there was nothing ordinary about the very big and very good Christmas songfest by the Ten Tenors at the Performing Arts Center Sunday evening.  This is a polished group with harmony and dance moves as tight as the tuxedos the handsome gents wore for the action-packed show before a full house. For the most part the ten Aussie blokes made some old Christmas chestnuts shine up nicely with the strength of ten shades of tenor voice. There were the standards like “Joy to the World,” “Adeste Fidelis,” “Walking in a Winter Wonderland,” “the Christmas Song” and “Sleigh Ride,” that put the place in a merry state of the season. Just to mix it up the Ten men threw in some “Four Seasons” songs from “the Jersey Boys” and native pop like “Down Under,” the Men at Work evergreen alongside a sweet “Waltzing Matilda.” They even finished the first set with a Michael Jackson medley complete with a spirited “Billy Jean.”

     The second half of the show returned to a more sacred side with some secular exceptions. The Christmas tunes sounded excellent as done by the assorted tenors, sometimes in solo but mostly in perfect ten part harmony. While the young men’s appearance pleased the ladies in attendance they could all sing beautifully. While the theme was Christmas there were some lesser known treats such as “Thousand Candles,” “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” and Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” that worked very well times ten.  In the season, there were old favorites like “Little Drummer Boy,” “White Christmas,” and a rousing “O’ Holy Night.” However there were two non-yule show-stoppers in “I Would Do Anything for Love” which never sounded better and Queen’s “Somebody to Love” that got some gray Cerritos heads to nodding in rhythm. The show ended with a trio of encores, highlighted by a wonderfully pure “Amazing Grace” but even then the crowd cheered for more from the lads from down under. 

Mummenschanz November 22, 2015

Mummenschanz Enchants at Cerritos

 By Glen Creason

     I knew it might be tough to describe the matinee “Mummenschanz” concert at the Performing Arts Center when I counted at least one hundred exclamations of “whoa!!” by the silver-haired lady in the row in front of me.  It is understandable since the show is so unique and so mind-boggling that it is hard to describe without repeating ad nauseum adjectives like astonishing, bewildering, brain-addling, dreamlike, crazy unreal, flabbergasting, incomprehensible, otherworldly, redonkulous, surreal, uncanny and lots more. When the performance ends and only four individuals unmask and stand at center stage it is the greatest shock of all since virtually the entire audience is lead to believe there is about one hundred people creating the creatures who undulate, float, scamper, bounce, ooze, cavort and utterly delight an audience that covers the age spectrum from toddlers to senior citizens who say whoa a lot. Would it make any sense if I listed the menagerie created by Mummenschanz? A golden blob, a green split pea with a big red tongue, a hose with a big red ball, toilet paper headed lovers, a puzzle face, ever-changing clay visages, a purple tubing worm and a dozen more of these thingamajigs that elicited whoas and wows and excited shouts from the many kids in the audience. There were floating, iridescent rugs, inflatable silvery bags at war, a flying yellow stick figure, a battle of big heads; eyes become big faces and a big golden blob that threatened to engulf the front row. The troupe has been perfecting this act since 1972 and the creativity and use of movement in the act is pretty much impossible to do justice to with words but very, very entertaining to see in person. All of this is performed against a black backdrop and the creatures created seem completely independent of human manipulation which is pushed to the shadows to increase the illusion. When the show ended there was a standing ovation with kids bouncing up and down and folks in my generation raising up as quickly as we could to salute a job done marvelously.