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Companies & Artists
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ROGUE REPORT 2005 ISSUE 5 |
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[Want to share your own Rogue story? Email Jaguar Bennett at mailto:jagbennett@sbcglobal.net]
THURSDAY, MARCH 10 -- Tonight’s performances, like so much of the Rogue Festival, are an experiment. For three years, the Rogue has been strictly a weekend thing, and no one knows if Fresno wants to Rogue on a school night.
After tonight, I call the Thursday night Rogue a success.
[Surprise, surprise -- I’m starting to feel like the Rogue’s official huckster here on the Rogue Report. (Actually, I am the Rogue’s official huckster, but that’s another matter.) But truly, while not every show in the Rogue is perfect, I have yet to see a Rogue show this year that really sucks.]
Thursday night is quieter ... you don’t have to fight crowds to get into shows ... but that adds an extra layer of intimacy to the night’s proceedings.
This is the perfect setting for seeing some of the Rogue’s smaller shows, especially acoustic music...
8:45 PM: Kien Lim, “More Songs from London,” Ashtree Café Venue. Kien is one of our official glamour boys for the 2005 Rogue. He came all the way from frickin’ London to be here ... he plays and sings beautifully ... and everyone loves seeing and hearing him.
Despite his glamour, Kien has one of the quietest, most personal acts in this year’s Rogue, more appealing to your sensitive side than your need for raucous fun.
The small venue is a perfect fit for Kien’s acoustic guitar and resonant baritone voice, which fills a room comfortably without overwhelming you. (He did sing through a mike, but honestly, I don’t think he needed it.)
“Thoughtful, intelligent singer-songwriter” is a loathsome cliché, but I regretfully have to apply it in Kien’s case. His lyrics come from a very personal side, and he captures all the desperation and hope of love in a line like, “I pray to God, you keep me safe.”
That genuineness makes the most ordinary sentiment feel real, rather than forced. In a song dedicated to his ex-girlfriend, he sings, “I’m sorry I hurt you.” In somebody else’s mouth, that would sound like very easy pop pabulum. With Kien Lim, you know he means it.
10:00 PM: Songs 4 Pints! Hell, yeah! This is my personal pick for the sleeper show of the 2005 Rogue Performance Festival. It’s sure to be overlooked, because it has absolutely no merit, except that it’s a hell of a lot of fun.
Songs 4 Pints has a simple, but brilliant premise. Russell and Deric sing Irish drinking songs ... and they drink. What more do you need?
First of all, alcohol is near and dear to my heart, and any show that features alcohol is guaranteed a good review on the Rogue Report.
But what is a real surprise is that Russell and Deric sing so well. Both have a fine set of pipes, and they can veer from raucous and funny to mellow and sad on the drop of a pint. And who else could actually get an audience to sing along with clumsy cue cards Magic Markered on cardboard?
It’s also genuinely Irish, with traditional songs, traditional instruments, and traditional Guinness stout -- it’s a wonderful evening of Celtic folklorico and silly, sophomoric, drunken fun for all over ages over 21.
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