It wasn’t your standard rock and roll show but what unfolded Saturday night on the Lower East Side of Manhattan is the kind of off-the-path performance consistent with Kevin Morby’s tilt toward collaboration with varied and talented musicians.
Morby joined Eric D. Johnson and Sam Cohen for an evening of sharing one another’s music. Each took turns playing their own songs – and then took stabs at covering one another’s. In each instance, the tunes came with full backing from everyone on the stage.
Cohen, Morby and Johnson were seated for the duration of the show on the small stage at The Box on Chrystie Street. They got help from Josh Kaufman (primarily on bass) and Brian Kantor on drums.
All five are tremendous musical talents individually and they meshed it together pretty well given the one-off nature of the event.
Morby seems drawn to exploration and discovery of esteemed music-makers and has put himself in all sorts of company that produces interesting outcomes.
It’s not always easy to shuffle the deck – and seek out fresh encounters after creating two widely-acclaimed solo LP’s but here he is about to put out his third record on a new label with a new producer backed by new collaborators.
Among the songs off Morby’s new record (made in Woodstock, NY) out in two months is “I Have Been to the Mountain.” Cohen had the vocal honors on this one Saturday night and it sounded great. As it should, I guess, since he was so involved in making it.
Morby did Harlem River, All of My Life and Parade. It was the best live rendition of River I’ve heard since Huw Evans and Will Canzoneri were doing it with him. All of My Life included Johnson’s pleasantly off-pitch harmonies on the chorus late in the number. It was a great twist to the song.
I didn’t know much about Johnson and Cohen going into the show – nor did I know what to expect as it relates to the makeup of the audience. Martin Courtney was playing a show simultaneously in Brooklyn with two of Morby’s former bandmates so I kinda thought it would be a big Fruit Bats crowd at The Box. Perhaps it was – but by the time this show was over – the people in attendance seemed to shower the most appreciation on Morby’s songs. My Life in particular.
Morby sang the Fruit Bats tune “She Should Dance” and closed the show with a great version of Dylan’s “Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here With You.” There were also spot-on vocals from Johnson and Cohen on a fantastic cover of Bowie’s Ashes to Ashes.
The show ran 100 minutes total.
The Box primarily functions as a late-night burlesque/erotica venue but other than the ball-busting tandem working the door, I didn’t see anything askew about the place once I got settled in for the show. Twelve-ounce bottles of beer were $8. The ticket bought in advance cost $20 plus service charges – although the door staff didn’t ask to see it.
The night before, I attended the Columbia/Penn men’s basketball game at a packed Levien Gymnasium. Columbia is really good this year, hovering near the top of the Ivy League standings at the halfway point of the conference schedule.
Winning the Ivy’s regular season title produces an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Columbia hasn’t made the Dance since 1968 and hasn‘t even really sniffed a chance at it since ‘93.
At the moment, Columbia is two games back of Yale for the conference lead. Yale appears to have the tougher schedule the rest of the way, given who they must face on the road. Interestingly, Yale and Columbia meet in New York City on March 5, the final day of the regular season for both teams. Only one team comes out of the Ivy, but Columbia has a shot if they can get somebody else to beat Yale just once – and then knock them off to close the regular season. That would lead to a one-game playoff – as is often the case in the Ivy. Columbia played the beefiest non-conference schedule of any Ivy school and would be in really good shape if it weren’t for the crushing blown lead to Princeton on Saturday night.
But back to Friday. Columbia beat Penn in an ugly, turnover-filled contest. 63-53 was the final. Columbia’s star shooter Maodo Lo had 21 points. The guy who really opened my eyes was Alex Rosenberg who fractured his foot before the start of the ’14-’15 season – and was forced to withdraw from the university for almost a full academic year to save his final season of eligibility. Rosenberg is a strong, fast and versatile ball-handler with great basketball instincts. I remember him being a major force as a freshman – but now – he possesses a near-NBA-like body.
Attendance was announced at 2505 which would make it a sellout given the gym’s listed capacity of 2500. There were a few scattered empty seats but not many. There is no real usher system to impart order on who sits where so if you arrive late (as many people did for the 7 PM tip), you’re forced to either find a random empty spot or make the somewhat awkward move of claiming your assigned seat from occupants who assumed you weren’t showing up.
I went to the game without a ticket purchased in advance. As I waited in line at the box office on 120th Street, a guy wearing a crumpled Columbia hat announced he had a freebie. “Does anybody want a free ticket?” Everybody in line was in a party of at least two, so nobody immediately took him up on the offer.
I said: “I’ll take it, thanks.”
The guy told me his wife couldn’t attend, here you go.
I didn’t sit next to the man I later learned was a psychiatry professor. I carried in strongly aromatic Mexican food from Taqueria y Fonda La Mexicana on Amsterdam and didn’t want to mange out right there in front of him.
I’d love to see Columbia make the Big Dance. They’re assembled such they wouldn’t necessarily be one and done. Plus, it’s been so long since their last dance. Backers of Columbia’s football and men’s hoops teams have had little to celebrate for a couple generations and the Ivy’s auto bid would really be exciting for a fan base that‘s watched lots and lots of losing.