Her band last night also had more personality, made more of an impression, compared to the Imperial band, with a compelling, quietly beautiful opening set by guitarist Brad Barr of the Barr Brothers and a drummer -- I didn't get his name and can't find it now -- who seemed to be in a transcendent state when playing. He might not have been high on psychedelics -- nothing else in his behaviour suggested it -- but the music itself seemed to put him in an altered state of consciousness... he did some very subtle work...
...and surprisingly, psychedelics actually arose as a topic at one point, when Martha commented on psychedelic aspects of that first album, which she then free associated with popping sativa gummies. The biggest laughs of the night surfaced when, having mentioned sativa, she then reached in the wrong mental filing cabinet to namecheck arnica, instead of indica. She laughed at her mistake and quipped that these days it is more arnica than indica... and HMT Cream; she mimed rubbing some on her wrist.
She also still does the thing with her left leg, kicking it out to the side while she performs, like she's loosening up something in her lower back. In fact, she's a very physical performer, with the music getting into her body, making her move, her pelvis rocking in a way that you wouldn't necessarily expect from female musicians with at least a foot in folk music... she was quite fascinating to watch. And I loved her jacket; I think she had been dressier at the Imperial, vaguely recall some sort of little black dress, but I preferred the more comfortable attire of last night.
We heard all the first album, though not in order -- the closers were "Factory" and "BMFA." There was also a segue into some Rufus Wainwright and a handful of songs from other points in her career. I'll leave some surprises for people. But heads up to people seeing her in Sidney tonight: there are still copies of the first-ever, 20th anniversary vinyl release of her first album available -- a clear vinyl pressing that I assume will be for the tour only -- and lots of shirt and sweater variations, as well as copies of her memoir, Stories I Might Regret Telling You, but none of the cassettes of Ground Floor have made it this far, and there are no CDs of that (I think also I read about deluxe CD editions of the debut LP being prepared, with bonus tracks and such, but they aren't ready yet).
The only other item on her merch table was a t-shirt designed by Brad Barr's wife, for her husband to sell -- an artful and interesting shirt, which my own wife would have bought one of, except all the remaining shirts were small! I do believe he said that there's a new Barr Brothers album due this fall...
The good news, however, is that Martha was more than happy to hang out and sign records and memoirs and even the odd shirt. Only about 30 or so of the 200 attendees stuck around for that, which surprised me a bit, but she was very personable. I hope she makes it to Alexander's in Sidney for a white chocolate raspberry scone today (Erika's recommendation); she seemed to appreciate that I'd brought my Wainwright Sisters album for her to sign, as well, and I commented on how marvelous it is. Then I asked her if she'd heard about the Vancouver record dealer who found the rare Beatles Decca demos ("it made the New York Times") and got her to sign something for Rob, as well, since he has a birthday soon. She hadn't. I hope she'll look up the story; it might amuse her that she's now tangentially connected to it.
Great night; I hope people in Sidney enjoy it (there still seem to be tickets available!).
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