Now Playing On The Lido Deck...

Feist/ John Vanderslice/ Youth Group
Bimbo's, S.F., CA. 3/28/06

(no photos because Bimbo's doesn't allow cameras)

Lesley Feist has a beautiful voice, star-quality stage presence, plus so much humor and grace that she can turn severe technical difficulties into a performance asset. In other words, mondo charisma.

The person writing this grew up falling asleep listening to "You're So Vain" and "Caronina in My Mind" in the back of the family car many Sunday evenings during the drive home to Queens from visiting cousins in Connecticut At various points during Feist's set, I would not have been surprised to hear such Carly Simon or James Taylor songs covered.

More important disclosure: the person writing this tends to dislike music created after punk rock that in no way references punk rock.

Leslie Feist's set tonight in no way referenced punk rock. Strike one.

The reason I stayed at Bimbo's after Youth Group (who weren't as good as their record, more like a poor man's James, but even a poor man's James is quality) was not that I wanted to see Feist, nor even the excellent John Vanderslice, but because an old friend was back in town and I wanted to hang out with her.

Feist's first two songs were very strong, which let my friend off the hook for having kept me at the unnecessarily strict "stay in the designated areas and don't you dare snap a digital photo, that's not included in the $18 ticket price" Bimbo's venue instead of letting me head off into the foggy night towards other, more laid-back Noise Pop venues.

Then came the third song, "Gatekeeper," which I played on my show last June. For three weeks. Listeners who complained then: you were absolutely right and I apologize. Live, "Gatekeeper" made me think I was on the Lido Deck of The Love Boat back in the day when women apparently found Bernie "Doc" Koppel hott. The flügelhorn was the least "adult contemporary" thing about it, and you can't get much more adult contemporary than the flügelhorn. Strike two.