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Last night we went out to the subway performers show at Club Passim. It was a great show of eclectic and fun music from folks from around town who really love to play. A lot of people were at the event including Sarah, Robert, Hattie, Stephanie, James, my parents, and Dave's parents. So it was good to catch-up with everyone in person. One thing that always strikes me when I watch a show by performers who are buskers is how talented and humble they are. The cost of hiring musicians isn't very high so I don’t know why people don’t hire them for all sorts of activities where music would make an event 100 times better and they would be happy with the outcome. It just isn't customary to hire a musician for anything short of a wedding (or a bar).

Some memorable points from the show:

Lisa and Dave played some great music. Lisa gave a pretty funny introduction about a new song that she hadn’t completed but was playing on the T and would time the song to play so that the train would come before she reached the incomplete part of the song. They also played Wherever you go and a song where they both have singing parts about fall moving into winter which are both among my favorites.

Tom Bianchi, the host, is very funny and plays the bass guitar as a solo instrument while singing. Some people consider doing solo bass performances to be odd but the person commenting on how helpful this was Lloyd Thayer, a solo Dobro player. The Dobro is a guitar designed to be played on your lap rather than standing up like a normal guitar. So Lloyd was telling some pretty funny jokes about how Tom makes him feel a lot less weird. Lloyd did a quick promotion for his Dobro class that he is teaching at club Passim and knowing that it is a rare instrument he cracked a joke that they were planning on having an advanced class this year and "god knows what we’ll do in that". He also gave a brief comment about how he got a 2 out of 5 for originality in a blues competition down south which was quite ridiculous because very few people, probably only two, write modern songs for the Dobro.

Danielle Miraglia, who I learned is Tom’s fiancée, was the last performer and finished the night with two memorable songs after telling jokes about handling hecklers at the subway from people yelling things like "Brittany Spears" and "Take it off" when she performed on the subway. The songs she played were one about being in a bar and arguing with a Vietnam vet about Vietnam and abortion (each had experience with one) and a song that I think was a cover about how if nobody loves you the solution is …. to love yourself.

There were too many people playing to mention everything and every performer. I enjoyed hearing Theresa Storch, who is a former co-worker with me at Channelwave, and Lisa Bastoni, who crafted Sarah’s birthday present (the Bob Dylan Isis diorama) both of whom are sadly threatening to move to California for warmer weather. I also kept thinking while listening to some great songs from Brian Webb and McCartney that Brian looks a lot like Mark Ruffalo (from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and 13 Going on 30) and Rachel McCartney has as powerful a voice as Cheryl Crow.

At the end of the show all the performers got on stage together and sang a song written by that was part improv about what life is like playing the subway. The evening was a blast and I even enjoyed my vegetarian meal of soba and peanut sauce. I have to congratulate the folks who did the work to put the show on and for all the performers for doing a great job of letting me hear a group of very talented people who I’d normally only hear drowned out by trains, crowds, and snickers.