Kevin Morby’s first club performance as a solo artist in San Francisco Tuesday evening had all the earmarks of the way he carried out his important roles in both The Babies and Woods. With hundreds of dates played as a member of those two bands in just the last few years, Morby now glides onto a stage, sets it up and then wows you. He has done it night after night with lots of miles in between. The fan on the floor doesn’t see the routine before the show. The practice, the sound check, the van rides and the internal deliberations as the tour hits inevitable potholes. What’s great about this current endeavor is that Morby now owns it for the stretch he‘s up there. He runs it. He writes it. He sings it. He strums it. And he does it with the bar set high on fullness of sound from surrounding personnel who seem to share Morby’s humble but serious stage presence.

The show at Rickshaw Stop on Fell Street near SF City Hall was the first of 30 scheduled gigs Morby will do as the opener for the great Welsh rock and roller Cate Le Bon. What’s interesting about Morby’s pairing with Le Bon is that the two share multi-instrumentalists Huw Evans and Will Canzoneri. In addition, Le Bon (real name is Cate Timothy) makes an appearance during Morby’s set to sing her part on the song Slow Train. The collaborative connection between the two acts (each have their own unique drummer) is deep and likely an enjoyable and more economical way to pull off a long tour.

There was no apparent nervousness from Morby as he went on about 915 PM with Evans and drummer Justin Sullivan. The crowd was late-arriving, kinda small but enthusiastic. Morby played eight songs over a period of 37 minutes. Three of the eight do not appear on Morby’s new record Harlem River and could pass for Babies tunes given their pacing and energy. The number Morby opened with was super catchy and I wanna hear it again. The only Harlem River songs omitted from the set were Reign, Dead Don’t Come Back and If You Leave.

Here’s the set list:

Two non-album tunes. Both great.
3. Sucker in the Void
4. Harlem River (Canzoneri comes on.  Great bass riff from Evans. Running time of only six and a half minutes vs. nine plus on the record
5. Wild Side
6. Slow Train (Le Bon on)
7. Miles, Miles, Miles (Great Morby jam) 
8. Non-album song.  Call My Name or My Life?

The crowd swelled a bit for Le Bon’s set. She played Sisters (my favorite tune off Mug Museum) early on. The trippy guitar sound makes the song. Le Bon called this show her “first time” playing San Francisco because her only previous appearance in SF “sucked.” Said Le Bon: “We’re gonna wipe the slate clean and say this is our first time.”

Admission to the show was just $10. The venue was good. It may have been a little oversized but the sound was solid. I first arrived at the show at about 815 PM. It was completely empty so I exited and wandered west on Market to look for a tavern where I could pass about 45 minutes. I ended up at Martuni’s and ordered a “Martuni.” This was a big mistake. The drink was excellent but the amount of booze in it detonated a near-immediate downward pull into a vortex of intoxication. It set the stage for big mistake #2 which was a decision to order a special jumbo brown liquor combo cocktail at Rickshaw just before Morby went on. The combined net effect of the two drinks well exceeded the potency of what I’m currently able to process. Badly debilitated from the alcohol by night’s end, I failed to convey my appreciation of the performance in a coherent manner when I spoke to Morby after the show.

If there’s any silver lining to the over-consumption, it would have to be the absence of any apprehension about the midnight walk through the Tenderloin back to the hotel.

I stayed at the Adante on Geary which is where my Dad and I stayed for a baseball trip earlier this year. The elevator wasn’t working but the price was right and the room was clean. I love the location. It sits just below a steep hill so you never really get over-taxed physically to reach it.

I had fish tacos at Pancho Villa Tacqueria on 16th Street before the show. Excellente.

A vendor sold mistletoe on Powell near the cable car turnaround and the city had plenty of Christmas vibe. You’re starting to see evidence of the massive subway construction project in the city‘s center. Known as the “Central Subway” project, San Francisco is digging huge underground tunnels that will enable train service linking the Caltrain Station near the ballpark all the way up to Chinatown and perhaps beyond. Still about five years from completion, it’s refreshing to see such an ambitious public transit improvement underway in one of this country’s great cities.

The coast-to-coast airplane rides just 24 hours apart were a study in contrast. On the way out, I sat in an aisle seat in the second-to-last row of the airplane. When people exited the rear lavatory across the aisle, many seemed to pinball off me given the lack of balance one can feel in that setting. Something about that particular seat seems to be a magnet for accidental contact. Add to that several crying babies and the six-hour Westbound trip was definitely not as good as the five-hour return. Coming back to New York, I sat on a window in the back with the middle seat empty and got really comfortable. The cabin was quiet and gradually darkened with a couple hours to go in the trip.

The Morby / Le Bon tour doesn’t make it to NYC until January 16, 2014.

If Kevin Morby still lived in New York City, he probably would have done a show here to celebrate Tuesday’s release of his debut solo record Harlem River. As it is, Morby makes Los Angeles home now so NYC will have to wait a couple months to see him perform the songs live.

Harlem River is a great record. My first listen came as I rode a BART train to the East Bay after exiting a Woods show in SF back on September 20. Since then, I’ve played it at home dozens of times and a few songs here and there while riding the bus to work. As you know, I’m a big fan of Morby’s two main outlets of musicianship – The Babies and Woods.

It was with great excitement imagining what Morby’s first effort under his own name would sound like. I mean, I knew Morby would deliver something serious because he’s a serious guy. It was already clear he has great songwriting talent based on his share of output from the equivalent of two and a half records (almost three) from The Babies.

The pace on Harlem River’s eight songs is slow. Like the flow of the river. The songs are not gonna prompt the rabid fans Morby cultivated from The Babies to mosh at his solo shows like they did at 285 and Death by Audio during Meet Me in the City or Somebody Else. But this is what Morby is doing now and he’s solidly on the record in saying he’s committed to it to such an extent he’s stepping away from the other endeavors.

I got a little uptight at the tail end of 2013’s Woodsist Fest in Big Sur when an attendee from Australia was yapping about Morby’s future with Woods. She said he was done. What bothered me about the proclamation was the rigidity of it. Woods, it seems to me, makes it a practice of supporting the aspirations of its members even if it leads to a separation or hiatus. Morby missed a Woods tour in early 2011 while giving full attention to The Babies. He returned to Woods in the middle of that same year. Even last year’s hasty exit from the Woods lineup by lovable effects contributor G Lucas Crane is believed to include the prospect of a possible return appearance(s) some day. The point is that Woods fans probably shouldn’t waste energy fretting about the underlying consequences of Morby’s new project. I view it as a no-lose situation. He either returns to Woods or he doesn’t. If he doesn’t, that likely would mean only one thing. People will love Harlem River and solo records yet to come.

We’ll get a better idea of the future when he does the songs live and refines them over the next few months on the road. Personally, my favorite song on Harlem River is the title track. The nine minute plus number includes Morby’s trademark oooh-ing and a repetitive guitar line that really pulls you in. The song is constructed in a way that Morby can really have fun with it in the live setting. It’s his very own I Was Gone from the standpoint it can wander a lotta directions depending on the night and the crowd. He can stretch it and trip people out with it or he can leave it be the gem that it is. The song’s length is such that side 1 of the LP only has room for three songs which I thought was kinda cool.

Harlem River’s final track likely will tickle the ears of fans of The Babies. That’s because The Dead They Don’t Come Back opens and then revisits almost the exact same guitar sequence used on Voice Like Thunder from the self-titled Babies LP. Morby has said this was unintentional and that he didn’t realize there was near-duplication until after Dead Don’t Come Back was recorded. Morby can be heard on this song thumping his acoustic for percussive effect. The song also includes beautiful slide guitar sounds from Dan Iead from the now-defunct Broken West band.

The prolific and versatile musician Will Canzoneri contributes several parts to the record and is expected to join Morby on stage when he launches a 30 city tour as the opener for Cate Le Bon next week in SF. Canzoneri is a member of Le Bon’s current touring band and will do double duty. After hearing Le Bon’s radio appearance on a BBC channel a couple weeks ago, it’s clear her wit and personality will be a nice fit as Morby joins her for the long journey covering all four corners of the country.

Harlem River is release #71 for the Woodsist record label. The LP includes an insert with song lyrics and a dedication to “the city of New York.” Since there was no record release party, I made my own event on Tuesday afternoon by taking the 1 train up to 207th Street. The University Heights Bridge linking Manhattan and the Bronx crosses the Harlem River and includes two wonderful observation portals accessible via the pedestrian walkway on the southern side of 207th. It was rainy and cold as I stood there waiting for the Harlem River to talk to me. I played the record through a speaker on my mobile phone.

After that, I got back on the 1 train and took it up to 238th Street for a visit to Christos Gyro and Souvlaki. I had a bowl of piping-hot avgolemono and a gyro no onion. Both were delicious, especially the soup.

From there it was the Fordham/Manhattan College game at Draddy Gym up on the big hill in Riverdale. This was the 106th meeting between the two Catholic schools from the Bronx and it always seems to be a good game. Despite being a 12-point underdog, Fordham won by 4 in a thriller. The game was sold out. Freshman Fordham guard Jon Severe had 30 points. The reigning Mr. New York Basketball was heavily recruited and surprisingly picked Fordham. When his team had the ball, Severe hung out on the wing and called for the rock. When he got it, he would shoot. Severe plays defense but doesn’t rotate or set screens on offense. He’s a potent scorer but at 6-foot-three, he can be slowed down with physical pressure or a hand in his line of vision. Neither Fordham nor Manhattan will make the Big Dance in March but both teams are well coached and pointed in the right direction. Among the reasons this game sold out was the affordability of admission. I paid $15 for a seat about ten rows off the floor opposite the Fordham bench.

On the long 1 train ride back downtown after the game, a 20’s-something couple seated next to me made out. And then made out some more. And then they asked each other where they grew up.