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Archive for the ‘Patty Griffin’ Category

Patty Griffin (Musikfest Cafe, Bethlehem, PA, July 16, 2026)

Posted in Bethlehem, PA, Kathleen Edwards, Musikfest Cafe, Patty Griffin, Steelstacks on July 17, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: July 16, 2026] Patty Griffin

I have Patty Griffin’s first two albums.  I liked her first album (folkie) and really liked her more rocking second album Flaming Red.  I’d always thought she had kind of a weird voice but it was a cool voice. And then after those two albums I’d basically forgotten about her.  My wife really liked one of her songs (Where I Come From).  That one’s from 2019 and seems more likely that it would have been played.

Patty Griffin came out on stage with two musicians-a percussionist who was wonderful to watch–he had so much gear and hit all kinds of things.  I was very happy we were on his side of the stage.  And a guitarist who made some amazing sounds come from his guitar.  She announced their names but I didn’t hear either one.

Patty stood front and center and began singing.  And she didn’t sound anything like I thought she would.  I realized that the albums I liked were 30 years old, but I didn’t expect her to sound so different.  And when she spoke, it was practically a whisper.  Well, I have just learned today that Patty Griffin had a battle with breast cancer in 2016 and lost her voice.  She started singing again in 2019.

So I guess that explains why she sounds different.  And probably why she doesn’t sing any of her older songs–at some other recent shoes she did sing a song from her debut but clearly not at every show.

As she started All the Way Home, the guy in front of us whooped.  Really loudly.  I admit that I don’t like whoopers at the best of times.  But this was a small, quiet crowd.  In no way was any whoop necessary, but certainly once you did one and the crowd didn’t react, it’s time to read the room dude.

I enjoyed these first two songs from her latest album.  Back at the Start had s cool surf-guitar sound that sounded great with her whispery voice.  She played The Wheel from that 2019 album (my wife liked the wrong song, I guess).Then she played a bluesy song called Standing.  I don’t really like the blues as a genre, so I didn’t love this one.  Up next was a song about her mother’s passing.  Indeed, her whole new album is about that.  Born in a cage was a very pretty song.  (more…)

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Kathleen Edwards (Musikfest Cafe, Bethlehem, PA, July 16, 2026) [PATTY GRIFFIN]

Posted in Bethlehem, PA, Kathleen Edwards, Musikfest Cafe, Patty Griffin, Steelstacks on July 16, 2026| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: July 16, 2026] Kathleen Edwards

When I saw Kathleen Edwards in 2021, I traveled to NYC to see her because I thought that this was a one and done kind of thing.  That she had basically retired from music but was going to do this show and I’d finally get to see her.

Who would have guessed that five years later I would have seen her seven times.

I didn’t necessarily need to go to this show, but I knew that a Kathleen Edwards set would be enjoyable and Musikfest Cafe is a delightful place to see a show.   I was also vaguely curious about Patty Griffin.  I have two of her albums from the 1990s but otherwise know little else about her.

We arrived way too early because the last time, parking was a struggle.  There was something going on downstairs–I wonder if it was supposed to be outside.  Because of the fires in Ottawa the air quality was terrible today.

When I bought tickets I had purposefully bought ones where no one was around us and it paid off, we had a nice buffer around us.  So we relaxed and waited for Kathleen,

I had no idea how this show would work.  It seemed like a double headline bill.  But, in fact, Kathleen was the opener.  For this set it was only her and Matt Sucich.  I think I’ve seen this combo before, but I always marvel at how every one of her shows has been different in some way.  Kathleen played acoustic guitar and Matt played various guitars adding solos and riffs and of course backing vocals.

I had asked on two social media channels if she would play “I Make the Dough You Get the Glory,” my favorite song by her, which I have never seen her play.  But she obviously didn’t get the memo.  But this turned out to be a kind of greatest hits set and it was fantastic.  Interestingly, my wife also had a “wanna see” song (Hard to Everyone) and she didn’t play that either.

With it just being the two of them, Kathleen was looser and the songs sounded different (not better or worse, just different). (more…)

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Marjane Satrapi–Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return (2004)

Posted in #ITMFA, #RESIST, Biography, Culture Shock, Death, Decadence, Drinking, Feminism, Graphic Novel, History, Humiliation, Idiots, Marjane Satrapi, Marriage (Happy), Memoirs, Military, Murder, Non-fiction, Patty Griffin, Politicians, Propaganda, Religion, Threats, Tiny Desk Concert, Violence, War on April 23, 2017| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: PATTY GRIFFIN-Tiny Desk Concert #282 (June 24, 2013).

I have Patty Griffin’s first two albums—I like her folkie sensibilities and her voice which I tend to think of as a little unusual.  And yet it’s not unusual here at all.  She sings powerfully and beautifully.

For this Tiny Desk Concert she’s playing some from her then new release:

she takes care to balance the exquisite mourning of “Faithful Son” — and the sweetly somber “That Kind of Lonely,” which Griffin describes as “a song about finally letting go of your delayed adolescence” — by closing her set with the playfully bawdy, kindly celebratory “Get Ready Marie.” Inspired by a favorite photo of her grandparents, the song finds Griffin viewing two complicated lives with the generous, hopeful eye she’s been casting on her subjects for three fruitful decades now.

She opens with “Faithful Son.” I love how the middle of this has a cool section where the two acoustic guitars (played by Griffin and Dave Pulkingham) face each other and strum hard for a bit.  The problem for me with this song is that the baritone guitar (played by Craig Ross) is either out of tune or the Ross hits a few wrong notes.  Since it resonates a bit louder than anything else, it’s really noticeable.  The accordion (played by John Deaderick) isn’t loud enough either.

“That Kind Of Lonely” is, as noted, a song about finally letting go of your delayed adolescence.  It’s a pretty, quiet number.  A good contrast to “Get Ready Marie.”  She says she is always picking on her family for stories.  She says she got this idea from a photograph of her grandparents taken just after they wed in the 1920s.  Her grandmother is looking at the camera like maybe she made the biggest mistake of her life and her grandfather (who looks really handsome) looks like he can’t wait to get his hands on her. They had a wild relationship—plates were lying.  This is a comic bawdy song that sounds like a traditional drinking song with some great lyrics:

No this isn’t the end of our story
No our marriage stuck like a habit
But I had a good hunch, when she kissed me a bunch
She could do other things like a rabbit

It’s in ¾ time and the accordion is louder here and it all sounds terrific.  It’s hard to believe that she’s been playing for 30 years, but she sure sounds like a pro.

[READ: March 26, 2016] Persepolis 2

I found Persepolis to be an amazing book.  A peek inside a regime that was sort of mythically wicked during my childhood. Marjane’s personal story was interesting of course, but I enjoyed seeing just what was happening in this world that seemed so mysterious when I was growing up.

This sequel is a little less exciting because it is more or less about a lonely teenager in Europe.  I think if the first book wasn’t so groundbreaking, this one wouldn’t feel as disappointing.  Her story is interesting and her experiences are story-worthy, but compared to the first book this one is the awkward teenage years.

We see that Marjane’s being sent to Europe didn’t go quite as planned.  She stayed with her mom’s friend.  But the friend fought with her husband all the time and their house was not a happy one. They felt that they couldn’t look after Marjane so they sent her to boarding school in Vienna–Marjane didn’t speak German. (more…)

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