Most everybody has arrived (the crazy Germans, the Italians, the Aussies, etc) ... and there are others on the way (FictionMistress and RocknRow are on the plane right now, actually.) New York has been invaded by Bon Jovi fans. Its a wonderful thing. :-)
Anyhoo, a bunch of us hit the Living Room on the LES (that's Lower East Side) last night for Lorenza Ponce's album release show and party. And, what a fantastic night it was!
The crazy Germans and I got there on the early side (I REALLY wanted to get out of the office LOL), had a quick drink and met up with some other folks - including D from Phoenix and my friend L - and caught up for a few minutes with Lorenza and Kazee. Its a great venue - as Lorenza says, a very "in the trenches" type of place -- one of those little NYC "come as you are" spots.
The band took the stage at just about 8pm and did a nice vamp of the opening of "Casual Girl" as Lorenza walked thru from the back of the room to the stage. As expected, the place was packed and the energy was amazing.As much as I thoroughly enjoyed myself the last couple of times I saw Lorenza live, it was even better this time around. The band was great and the sound just blew the roof off the joint. They played most of the tracks from "Soul Shifter" and perhaps its because I have now listened to the album at least 30 times (according to that nice little tracker on iTunes LOL) or maybe it was because there was so much love in the room, every song really had a special electricity to it.
For me, one of the tests of a real musician is how they perform on stage. You can produce an album to death, but when its just you and the band, THAT'S where the truth often lies. I can tell you, Lorenza completely captivated the audience, her vocals were amazing and her ability to juggle multiple instruments, lead the group, engage the audience and not miss a beat is mind-boggling.She kept the set moving along as the timeframe is quite short ... but I did enjoy hearing her relay a story last night about an artist she went to see - the inspiration for "What Happened to You?" - who didn't quite live up to her expectations. I think that has happened to many of us at some point. I know I had a rude awakening once when seeing one of my favorite classical musicians. I had listened religiously to his recordings and then ... BAM ... saw him when he was in NYC and ended up really depressed, almost angry, about the letdown. Like I said, live performance is key.
After the show, most of the crowd went upstairs to hang out for a bit. As always, Lorenza was absolutely gracious and signed CDs and took pictures for hours. (p.s. Lorenza, I love the new line of shirts!) I also had a chance to catch up a bit more with Jeff Kazee, another musician I truly respect. (p.s. if you are in/near NYC, you must, MUST come to see Kazeedigs "Exile on Canal Street" on June 23rd ... visit his facebook page for more info. The picture of Jeff amuses me ... its like he's in the middle of telling a scary ghost story ... nice phantom right hand. Haha.)So, after a few "adult beverages" and greetings with the slew of EuroJovis, a number of us went out for a late dinner. A couple hours and lots of laughs later, I ended up falling into bed around 1:45am. Ahhh, THIS is the life. :-)
Next up ... Jon Bon Jovi and 'da boys hit the new Giants Stadium ... Lorenza, 3 BJ shows, MEMPHIS and a road trip with the crazy Germans. I'm in for quite a week. LOL
P.S. Thanks to Rike for the pics from last night. xoxo
