Music Heals International and Sweetwater Music Hall presents A Magical Evening of Musical Friends featuring Lukas Nelson, with Steve Adams, Paul Beaubrun, Lebo, Ezra Lipp, Alex Morrison, Ben Morrison, and others TBA
Sweetwater Music Hall
19 Corte Madera Ave, Mill Valley, CA 94941 USA
8:00 PM, Monday, November 19, 2018

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2018 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2018 event list! ☸ On to the next event!

[8:01 PM lights down, announcements from Larry “The Hat” Lautzer; moment of silence for CA fire victims; comments and thanks from MHI founder Sara Wasserman; movie about MHI; Larry introduces Ben & Alex to start things off]

1. [8:10 PM] Tops of the Trees (BM)
2. [8:14 PM] Angeline (AM)
   [Add Steve, Lebo (on steel guitar) and Ezra]
3. [8:18 PM] 25 Miles $ (BM)
   [Lebo swaps from steel guitar to acoustic]
4. [8:23 PM] Try (L) » [8:27 PM] For What It's Worth » [8:30 PM] Try
5. [8:33 PM] Sitting on Top of the World (SRA/BM/SRA/AM/SRA)
   [8:38 PM all off; pause; Sara back to tell us to hang tight for Paul B]
   [8:39 PM Paul B out, alone, with an acoustic guitar]
6. [8:40 PM] Why Don't You love Me/traditional Haitian chant …
   [Add Steve, Lebo, Ezra]
7. [8:46 PM] Ain't No Sunshine (PB)
8. [8:53 PM] ?“muwexima” (sung in French or Creole, maybe Manman) / “wash my soul” (PB)
   [set ends 9:08 PM; break activity: raffle prize goes to Ayo! multiple guitar auctions]

[9:33 PM lights down, Sara brings out Lukas: guitar and Anthony: cajon & tambourine]

1. [9:34 PM] Entirely Different Stars
2. [9:41 PM] Die Alone
3. [9:44 PM] Four Letter Word
4. [9:51 PM] Fool Me Once
   [Anthony moves to the trap set]
5. [9:55 PM] Forget About Georgia
6. [10:04 PM] Just Outside of Austin
   [AL back out front]
7. [10:08 PM] Life on Mars
   [Aborts: Lukas can't transpose the chord changes from piano to guitar yet; Lukas swaps to acoustic guitar; AL sits out the next one]
8. [10:11 PM] Turn Off the News
   [AL back, playing tambourine]
9. [10:15 PM] Tell Me Why
   [?Lukas swaps back to electric guitar?]
10. [10:19 PM] Find Yourself
    [set ends 10:26 PM]
    [everybody out after a minute or so, plus Bonita Capps, Norman Greenbaum & Lorin Rowan]
    
    First Encore
11. [10:28 PM] Spirit in the Sky (NG)
    [drop BC, NG, AM, BM; Lebo swaps to steel guitar]
12. [10:36 PM] Call Me the Breeze $ (LN)
    [drop LR out; Lebo back to acoustic; PB hand claps]
13. [10:48 PM] ? Dawganova (unidentified Grisman tune)
    [Drop PB; Add AM banjo, BM acoustic guitar, LR: harmony vox]
14. [10:58 PM] Bad Moon Rising (BM)
    [Drop AM, BM; Add PB; Lebo swaps to steel guitar; EL/AL swap places]
15. [11:03 PM] Stir It Up (LN)
    [EL/AL swap again; Lebo back to acoustic guitar]
16. [11:12 PM] ? “Kadisah ofenway” (maybe Ayibobo) (PB)
17. [11:23 PM] Down by the River (LN)
    [show ends 11:42 PM; all off; More thanks and yack from Larry and Sara]
    [Larry encourages us to holler for more]
    [band back out 11:44 PM… getting things together; same as last configuration with harmony vox from BC, NG, LR; BM: shaker-banana]
    
    Second Encore
18. [11:46 PM] Fragile (LN)
    [11:59 PM; Final words from Larry and Sara]

• Steven Rue Adams: bass, percussion, lead and harmony vox;
• Paul Beaubrun: guitar, lead and harmony vox;
• Dan "Lebo" Lebowitz: acoustic guitar, $ console steel guitar, lead and harmony vox;
• Ezra Lipp: drums, harmony vox;
• Lukas Nelson: guitar, acoustic guitar, lead and harmony vox;
• Alex Morrison: banjo, lead and harmony vox;
• Ben Morrison: acoustic guitar, shaker-banana, lead and harmony vox;

• Bonita Capps: harmony vox;
• Norman Greenbaum: lead and harmony vox;
• Anthony LoGerfo: drums, cajon, tambourine;
• Lorin Rowan: harmony vox.

Ting came home early tonight so that we could hustle over to Mill Valley for the benefit. Traffic was a bit of a bear, but that's to be expected for the evening commute right? Being kind of tired, I was in a proper mood to let things go without too much irritation – awake just enough to maintain the internal cuss-a-log against all the brain dead booger heads clogging things up with their bone ass maneuvers.

Anyways, we arrived safely in Mill Valley, and a shopper leaving the market gifted us a parking spot behind City Hall. Yay! An unexpected reward!

We join the line to get wrist-banded, wait about 10 minutes for entry, then scramble to arrange ourselves among all the other type-A fans intent on a spot up front by the rail. Worked out fine in the end, but the intensity of various other folks kind of put me further out of sorts: just one more annoyance to get past in my way to enjoying the show.

First set was pretty fun: basically a mini-set from the Morrison brothers and another from Paul Beaubrun. Ain't No Sunshine was the big surprise – always good to hear a Bill Withers tune!

Normally setbreak at Sweetwater is pretty chill – most of the crowd will head outside for sweet fresh air, but between the fire smoke and the event auction, that didn't really happen tonight, and there wasn't much relief in the crush up front. First guitar to be auctioned was an acoustic signed by Willie Nelson … That one sold for an astonishing $7k; that was followed by two more guitars, signed by tonight's performers, and sold for about $3k each.

Set Two saw tonight's first unannouced guest: Anthony LoGerfo providing percussion support to Lukas… interesting to hear the tunes in this stripped down fashion – sort of like a White Stripes version of Promise of the Real!

I was really surprised to hear Lukas begin playing Life on Mars – maybe it was a spontaneous decision? – in any case, he aborted about half-way through, apologizing for not having been prepared to play the tune on guitar instead of piano.

The next surprise guests arrived with the start of the encore: Norman Greenbaum to sing his 1969 anthem, Spirit in the Sky, with harmony vocals from Bonita Capps & Lorin Rowan.

Surprises continued when the band followed Call Me the Breeze with an epic jam on a Spanish-flavored Grisman tune. I'd be curious to know how much they practiced this one, as they played it with flair and elan. Now that I look back, I notice another surprise: the encore was almost entirely cover songs, with the sole exception being the unidentified Paul Beaubrun tune.

Fragile was an inspired choice to end the night, and like the preceding tunes, it was exceptionally well played. Lukas' vocals were particularly strong, and the message of the lyrics seemed to me to fit well with the benefit theme of the night: music heals!

Big thanks to Ting for the photo gallery!

Whoa! This section is incomplete for now, sorry!

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2018 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2018 event list! ☸ On to the next event!