jaymay/zox 06.06.06, apple soho/cbgb's

on 06.06.06, i had the pleasure of seeing two very different shows in two very different venues. it was the perfect mix of audio waves for an evening after a long day at work.

jaymay, apple store, soho
the mac store in soho was showcasing jaymay, #1 on the iTunes folk list at the time, for a small, acoustic performance. i have had an interesting relationship with this particular artist for a while, to say the least. i first heard about her when a friend saw her in concert at the living room in brooklyn in spring 2005. he was pretty excited to tell the world about her, and for a good reason. i promptly forgot about his raving endearments of her shortly thereafter due to being half-homeless in new york at the time, but after one especially miserable holiday celebratory evening, riding home in my other friend greg's car at 4 a.m., jaymay popped up on his mixed cd, and i instantly recognized her. she's the kind of singer-songwriter you instantly recognize, even if you haven't heard about her in six months. i was a big fan from there on.

i promptly showed up at mac hq in soho, and went up to their little sound stage where a picture of jaymay was projected onto the back wall. five rows of chairs were set up, a considerably intimate setting, where her family and friends were intermixed with the rest of the audience. unfortunately, there was no jaymay. during sound check, one of her strings snapped while going through "song for paul," a beautiful, melancholy, and haunting elegy to her friend who died from an overdose last winter. it's also the only song during which her string has broken before (creepy). while we were waiting for her to arrive with a guitar newly stringed, people wandered in, curious as to who it could be playing at the mac store during this hour, and who i assume were pleasantly surprised after her performance. by the time she began, there was standing room only.

when she did appear again, a little harried, nervous, and slightly embarrassed, she quickly finished her sound check and began. although not as serene as in previous concerts, she nonetheless accomplished her playing beautifully. it still was just as fragile, honest, and crystal clear as it always is.

the audience received a small treat when she decided to play "grey or blue," a catchy yet frank approach about pining for someone who, although in her group of friends, will not look her way. explaining that she had come up with the song while babysitting a young child, and had written it on his toy xylophone, she was going to play it for us as it originally was produced, with pencils for mallets. and it worked. it worked really, really well.

so my observations: unfortunately, the mac theater is not the best place to listen to soft indie acoustic guitar. while jaymay's performance in itself was fantastic, its environment was less than ideal. the background noise in the echoing space is slightly overwhelming, and one of my largest complaints was that they kept the store muzak on during the performance. this was a huge distraction during the quieter parts of her concert, and ruined the energy for me a little.

jaymay is great, always. she has never failed to enchant me, and now we know she can also handle various obstacles and still come out shining like the mellow yellow star she is. she is a true artist, talent, and necessary voice on the music scene. hopefully she will continue to rise to extraordinary heights.

look forward to more of these on jaymay as time goes on.

zox, cbgb's, east village
because jaymay's concert ran over a little, and i still had to eat dinner, i was unable to really catch the two opening bands during zox's concert at cbgb's. however, i can say with certainty that this was a completely different concert than the one i had been at previously. cbgb's is about as far as one can get from the mac store in the "small venues" category. the decaled, dug up, dirty, potmarked, punk hideout is the antithesis of the smooth, simple, minimalist lines of the mac store theater. it also has better acoustics. but i digress.

despite the timing, i was still able to run in, grab my brooklyn lager, grab my free cd, bump into spencer swain, the electric violinist from zox (although considering the crowd, everybody was bumping into everybody), and settle. zox is another band that i have managed to catch a few times before, once at the knitting factory, and then at bamboozle in the meadowlands parking lot.

though i was now completely overdressed in my work clothes, and surrounded by many people who were younger than me, i was still able to relax and react as zox caught the place on fire. having had their cd release party earlier that day in providence, r.i., and about to embark on the warped tour, everyone was ecstatic and totally feeling the groove of the reggae-n-rock influenced beats and riffs. "carolyn," "anything but fine," and "a little more time" were some of the highlights.

zox is a great band. they deserve all of the recognition they're getting, and they're friendly to boot. when i saw them at bamboozle, i had a nice little conversation at their booth with eli miller, their lead singer/songwriter. they've got a great energy, and you can see that they really enjoy playing their music. the crowd is there for them as well. even though they may be from tiny rhode island, their following is overwhelming, and i've got to say, i'm eagerly looking to get my hands in on it.

-jen-

up next.... nightmare of you/dillinger escape plan/afi