Armed with a sensitive beard and a keyboard, Wakey! Wakey! took the minimal stage at the Asian-themed restaurant/bar/music venue, All Asia, as the opening act for the CNC marathon (not the music factory, though they are kind of like a music factory).
I know, the name is offputting and now you don’t even want to press play to hear his music. You should. He’s like Ben Folds.
“But I’m better looking than Ben Folds,” said Mike Grubs during the show. “You can tell Ben Folds that…now he’s going to kick my ass.”
The comparison is warranted. When a young, hipster white guy sits down at a piano and starts to sing, the first thought in everyone’s mind is “Ben Folds” followed very quickly by “Hey, I want to hear ‘Brick‘ again.”
In fact, after Grubs sang a cover of Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” (it’s not weird when you sing it with the passion of a white pianist with a beard), some dude yelled out “Ben Folds!”
(Right the music. I’m losing track here. I have “Brick” playing in the background and am thinking about abortion.)
Wakey! Wakey! - “LGA”
See? Once you get past the name, it’s engaging, sensitive music.
He’s got a couple of albums out, mostly of live material (he calls it the Bootleg Series and as far as I know, there are three volumes. The second one is called “Silent as a Movie”).
The show was intimate. It was 8:30pm on a Friday night, so the crowd was somewhat thin. But Wakey! didn’t care. He treated us like we were an army of music fans, talking about drinking his first Sam Adams Light (”It’s great. And it’s light so I’m going to drink four of these and sing at the bar later”) and how awkward it is to sing “War Sweater” in front of his sister (who may or may not have been hit on by an older guy at the bar).
But something else happened during the show, and I’m not sure if it’s because there’s been a lack of it in the world or it I just haven’t been paying attention: I’m ready for sensitive piano rock once more.
It was refreshing to hear a song with the lyric “I bet you can’t guess what I would to kiss you in the middle of the room” and fully enjoy it. Maybe it was his easy-going style or the fact that I needed a calm moment from enduring another horrible week at the office (why did I think Journalism was a good career again?).
In many ways, the name of the band is appropriate. Not only does it foreshadow the idea that it’s something you won’t expect, but Grubs music helps you wake up from the familiar sound of the guitar/bass combo. Tis time for the piano.
Before he went on, Grubs mentioned that he’ll be doing something with the violinist from The Arcade Fire. I don’t care what it is because whatever this guy releases, I’m ready to hear it.
Aug. 26 TT the Bear’s, Cambridge
Aug. 28 Rockwood Music Hall w/ Pearl and the Beard, New York City, 9 p.m.
Aug. 28 Public Assembly 0 Warhouse Songs Vol. 2 CD Release Party, Brooklyn, 11:30 p.m. (yes, 2 shows in one night)
Aug. 30 The Red & Black Washington DC
Sept. 24 The Black Cat Washington DC
So I was ill-equipped with information and assumed I was going to see a piano-driven show filled with songs about love. Like every experience i have in my life, I found I was totally wrong.
From the onset, Michaelson approached the mic on stage as her own personal therapist, talking about past relationships, her problems with drooling on planes and even testing out the various sounds on her keyboard that turned into an impromptu sing-a-long of Richard Marx’s “Right Here Waiting” (it’s true…you totally had to be there…oh wait, now you can).
When she wasn’t crooning along on stage, she was entertaining the audience with her personality and talking about her secret hobby of searching Youtube for fan videos of her songs.
So not only is the “Grid” a pretty girl with glasses, but she’s hilarious…making her my new music crush (for those who are keeping up, my previous one was with the girl in the Office…the band not the show).
This is the third time I’ve been surprised at a musician’s stage presence, straddling that line between singer and stand-up comedian. In Ingrid’s case (or her hip-hop name which she revealed was “Grid”) this worked in her favor.
Piano-driven songs are nice, but I can’t listen to it for an entire evening without wanting to nap. In Grid’s case, it was great to have these songs coupled with hilarious stories about her life, like this one about the time she fell asleep on a plane.
Drooling Story
I know. It’s hilarious and I want to give her a hug. The last time I experienced what Grid called “frivolous frivolity” at a concert was at Tegan & Sara, who have elevated the act of bantering with the audience to an art form.
Ingrid admitted that it was a strange night for her and that she was talking about things she normally doesn’t (like her ex-boyfriend). It’ s funny what a little comedy and audience interaction can do for a singer. And in Grid’s case, makes her stick out in a world that seems to be constantly churning out female singer-songwriters who write emotional ballads for Grey’s Anatomy.
Before, she was just another female singer/songwriter that seemed to be jumping on the I-wear-glasses bandwagon, but now whenever I hear her songs, all I remember is the comedy and laughing about her silliness. Maybe the future of albums should be adding little personality bits from the artist. Kind of like the skits on hip-hop albums, only funnier. Eh maybe not.
The girlfriend enjoyed her, even though it was past her bedtime (she’s a teacher) and, like me, only knew one song. Now we listen to album all the time and wonder if she’s still drooling on herself on airplanes (seriously, listen to that track. It’s a hilarious).
For now, I’ll leave you with the funniest moment of the night. It happened right after she sang “The Chain,” a song only available on her Myspace page.
(and hey, someone took video of it. I was told to put my camera away, mostly because the ushers at Berklee let people in the front section do whatever they want).
There’s a lyric in there that has her go “Glide away on soapy heels” and apparently people on Youtube have been covering it, but saying “Glide away and so be healed” (I think this is the video she was talking about).
Ingrid thought it was hilarious and, with one of her band members, did a song with the new lyrics in an epic, religious sort of way. After that, she went into a remix version of her hit “The Way I Am.” Again, both worth your time.
“The Chain” discussion and intro to “The Way I Am”
We packed up our piping hot, fresh out of the oven, cheeseburger puffs to eat in the car so we wouldn’t miss Regina Spektor at the Orpheum Theatre in downtown Phoenix. When we arrived we had a few burgers left we gave to a friendly homeless fellow adjacent to our parking spot.
I haven’t been to the Orpheum before. It is quite a place, not the standard beer splattered dark club I am used to.
Regina Spektor is a singer/songwriter/pianist born in Moscow and now resides in NYC. She came on stage and sang the first song A Capella, then went and tucked the piano bench under her dress and began to play.
She has an incredibly wide vocal range which produces many eclectic sounds such as clicks, growls and moans that I didn’t pick up on from listening to her album. She also mixed in some Russian sounding lyrics into a couple the songs she performed, unless I had too much to drink and was just imagining it. She even used a drumstick to tap on an adjacent chair at one point.
Regina had a great energy and mannerism. She sounded extremely courteous with a soft “thank you” after each song. I have only heard her most recent album so I didn’t recognize some of the songs she performed but they were all entertaining. Regina certainly doesn’t need the studio to sound good. She blew us away with her amazing live performance. This was an incredible show, always good to see something a little different.
Jump over to nyctaper for a quality recording of Regina’s entire October 16 stop at the Hammerstein Ballroom in NYC.
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