The Laughing Goat is becoming a habit with me. The pomegranate green tea is alright, but the jasmine is better. I also liked last week’s art work better. The stuff that was on the walls this week? I wouldn’t have put it on my walls. Just FYI.
I went to hear Ryan Madson, but I was pleasantly surprised by Beth Preston. She has a unique style of play and a great voice to match it. There were a couple of problems I noticed right off: The volume was too high, sometimes making her words difficult to understand. She also spent too much time switching guitars, especially during the first set. I thought she seemed to be deliberately hiding her obvious natural beauty behind cultivated plainness and goofy, ill-fitting clothes.
By the time her second set was underway, I had to ask myself, What else would she wear? How else should she look? With her dazzling smile and infectious cheeriness, it all just seemed to fit. Glam would have detracted. We would have seen less of Beth, and that would have been a shame.
Ryan was pretty good too, but maybe a bit less polished. Maybe that was just nervousness owing to a table full of family members at front center. Like Beth, Ryan has a unique style, but his uniqueness is more vocal. While Beth’s voice was too loud for the small venue, Ryan’s was sometimes too quiet. I didn’t care much for the fast and slow changes of “Drive with Your Eyes Closed” but other songs were excellent. “Lullaby” featured some pretty fancy fingerwork.
Both artists were worth the trip, and I came away with a great experience. And two CD’s to boot. Ryan gave away autographed (OK…hand-labeled) copies of his latest, unreleased and untitled CD. Beth had CDs for sale, and gave hugs for free. Neat.
Ryan is local, so you can count on him playing somewhere nearby sometime soon. Beth is visiting from California, but she’ll be playing several gigs in the area this week. Ryan and Beth, along with Acoustic Rosh (also good), will be playing at Cafe Soleil on Saturday. You can check out Ryan’s schedule and music at http://www.myspace.com/RyanMadson, and Beth’s at http://www.bethpreston.com/.
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