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Great American Music Hall August 12, 2000 Review by Squid Sleepless Nights was an SF tribute to the genius of Gram Parsons held at the Great American Music Hall. We have an admittedly peripheral knowledge of the Parsons catalog, but it was a chance to check out some bands we'd been meaning to see for a while. The outstanding contributors to this evening were definitely The Court and Spark and our new darlings, The High Deserters. The Court and Spark deliver lo-fi country downers with just enough sweetness to keep you hooked. If you are a country fan you've got no business being without their new album, "Ventura Whites". (On a superficial note, it wins Squid's "Album Design of the Year" award.) On the opposite end of the spectrum are the High Deserters, a 'supergroup' of sorts with members of Mover, Beulah, and a coupla other bands we'll be embarrassed we forgot. They were confronted with the task of performing after having to stand like a human backdrop to an uncomfortably lengthy speech/book plugging session by Ben Fong-Torres. (We know he wrote a Parsons bio...did he need to read two pages of tiny print describing Parson's impact? The music and the people playing it were already making that point. ) They rose to the occasion and pulled the crowd out of a quiet space with their kick-ass renditions of .... well, we don't know the names of the songs, ok?! We said our knowledge was peripheral. It was their playing, especially that of guitarist Dave, that really caught our attention. He's got a fantastic versatility,and we made a mental note that we needed to catch them again where ever they played next. Daz would like to point out that we made a huge mistake by not staying long enough to catch Red Meat, and encourages everyone to see them whenever possible. Unfortunately, the beer caught up with us at that point, and the thought of showing up at work still drunk sent us scurrying home. |