Garnet Rogers at Club Passim

Garnet Rogers, Club Passim, Cambridge MA
Opener: Marla Hanson

(click on photo for a slideshow)

On the day after a major snowstorm, Garnet played two sets to a good sized crowd at Passim. As usual his performance included a good mix of his own tunes plus a few covers, all played with his inimitable touch, on a variety of instruments. Also as usual his introductions included a number of rambling, and often hilarious, anecdotes.

First Set

• Bruce Cockburn's All The Diamonds, preceded by a short instrumental version of We Three Kings (12 string electric mando-guitar)
  
• Can I Get a Witness (1940's Gibson)
  
• His introduction to the next song included a description of his visit to the Framingham Shopper's World in the previous days snowstorm, which culminated in his walking through the parking lot brushing snow off other driver's windshields. "Some of them tried to tip me, I realized that maybe I should start dressing up a little bit", he said, and then segued into a story about seeing Robert Plant playing outside a guitar store in upstate NY.
  
• Oh, How Happy
  
• Beyond This Wall
  
• Soul Kiss (National Guitar)
  
• Junior
• Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah (50's Stratocaster). This was a treat, since it had been a few years since I'd heard him do this song. He followed this with a few Leonard Cohen anecdotes.
• Empty Glass

2nd Set

• A short instrumental version of Noel, followed by Here Tonight
• A Good World After All (lyrics by Henry Lawson)
• His introduction to the next song included a story about finding a signed first edition of Steinbeck's Cannery Row during a midwest tour, and leaving it at the counter. "But that wasn't the stupidest purchase I've ever made", he said and played:
  
• Small Victory
• Dave Alvin's The Man in the Bed (slide on the National)
  
• All That Is
• Bogies Bonnie Belle. It had also been quite awhile since I'd heard him do this one.
• Night Drive, followed by Northwest Passage (Played as usual on the Strat)
• His encore was Cindy Lauper's True Colors (played on the Yamaha Silent Guitar)
  

The opener was Marla Hanson, a young singer songwriter from Brooklyn. She used an unusual instrumental style of playing piccicato on a viola - the sound was something like a fingerpicked single course mandola.