[dar-list] Dar at the Calvin 4/12/08

[njohnson at ent.umass.edu]

Dar headlined a great show at the Calvin last night.

First, the Nields did a short set playing mainly songs on Sister Holler. Dar
joined them on The Endless Day.

After a brief intermission, Shawn Mullins came out. He was a very pleasant
surprise. All I knew about him before was that one hit he had about a decade
ago called Lullabye. He played that one but also many excellent story telling
songs. He reminds me of a cross between a grittier Richard Shindell and Steve
Earle. Mullins closed with House of the Rising Sun.

Another intermission, and then Dar. She started with Calling the Moon. In a
moment of reverie, she got her verses mixed up, but recovered well.

She also played (in order of her albums, not the order she played them).

When I was a Boy (her beautiful encore)
Babysitter
As Cool as I am (with Nerissa and Katryna)
February (the longest month of the year)
If I wrote you
After all (dedicated to her wonderful, unnamed therapist)
We learned the sea (! her closing number).
The Mercy of the Fallen (with K&N)
Comfortably Numb (with Shawn Mullins)

Three new songs: Buzzer (about the Milgram experiments on obedience), The Book
of Love (now we know who wrote it), and The Business (or something like that).
Of the new songs, I liked Buzzer the most. Dar said that it's the one they are
pitching to radio stations.

On many of these songs, Dar was accompanied by a young organist named Laura
something. I didn't get her last name. This was the first time that they worked
together. Dar was having repeated bouts with her tuner, which prompted lines
like "I think my tuner is giving me the finger".

Norman