Archives for November 15, 2005

First off let me start this out by saying that this is not my typical form of review, and that I found it particularly difficult in that I usually write technology editorials. I haven’t critiqued a performance since drama class senior year in high school. The other difficulty I experienced arose from my desire to maintain objectivity, you’ll understand more about that as you read this.

I arrived early at the show, way too early in fact as I came straight from work, which meant that I had well over an hour to kill. Luckily for me in that area there are plenty of things to occupy ones time with, and as anyone who knows me knows if I have a little extra time on my hands look for me in the nearest public house. I was fortunate enough that right next to The Bitter End is one of my truly favorite pubs, ‘Olde Perculiar’. The down side to this philosophy is that as one drinks away the minutes pass slowly feeling more like hours, and of course all kinds of thoughts roll around in one’s head.

Thoughts like;

‘Is the show worth all this trouble?’

‘Am I too old for this kind of shit?’

‘Does this beer make me look fat?’

‘Wonder if I’ll actually get to meet Mo & the band?’

‘What will they be like?’

‘Can I afford to drink more before the show?’

Beer and time are not good companions when one is basically alone with their own devices. I mean at one point I considered just going home as I do have a two hour commute and I really had no idea how long the show would be at this point. Additionally I was worried that I’d drunk my admission fee, so I was being extremely frugal with the beer, which is something I’m quite loath to do under normal circumstances. Finally I was on borrowed time, as I had fabricated an excuse not to catch my normal train so that I could attend the show, which sadly as you’ll learn later I did not need to do.

Ok so at this point I left the pub and step out into the unseasonably warm air; I mean for early November it’s not normally in the 60’s & 70s in NYC. I waited next do for a few minutes and at first didn’t even notice but to my surprise was Mo herself and as I learned later her manager, unfortunately I wasn’t 100ure that it was her and let the butterflies in my stomach take the best of me; so I did not approach, and besides I never like thinking of myself as one of those gushy obsessed fan types. Therefore, I figured it’d be best to let them have their space, and besides she always looks so serious in her pictures I was concerned that she might be one of those ‘Uptight sticky bum types’ you know the self absorbed artsy artist types. After living in NY for 20ish years I’ve met enough of them. Rick Ocasick comes to mind (what an absolute dink). In addition there is a fair amount of pain in her music, and someone that soulfull about their life issues tend to seem unapproachable for some reason. Therefore I felt it would be best to play it cool and not introduce myself until I had a better idea how things might go, and truthfully as it turned out those weren’t butterflies in my stomach. I really needed to grab a slice or something, cause the beer was beginning to work it’s magick and that is never good for a first impression.

Upon returning to the venue, I waited outside with some others who were here to see different artists that were supposed to perform later that evening.  If you couldn’t tell time seemed to moving extremely slowly and the doors couldn’t open soon enough really. When they did the friendly gentleman in the ticket booth asked me who I was their to see and after I answered MoZella of course, then he told me that Mo was right inside and suggesting that since it was early (still) I should go talk to her. Again as anyone who knows me I tend to view things in a universal theatre, and took this unprovoked invitation as an omen.

Still I was nervous though, she looked so serious standing there and her manager had an unsettlingly angry look about him. In any event I sucked it up and introduced my self and the reaction was nothing more than astonishing. Mo greeted me as if I were a long lost friend, I mean I truly sensed none of that west coast pretentiousness that I’ve felt from most of the LAer’s I’ve met over the years. As we chatted about various things, I truly sensed one of the most genuine people I’ve ever had the pleasure to meet. She introduced me to her manager Doug, I think his name was, he sped off shortly there after to attend to those sorts of things that managers do. Then she grabbed her boyfriend Mike and introduced us, and although we only talked for a few moments I sensed he was as much like her a truly genuine individual.

Continuing to discuss various trivial things, you know making the small talk that one tends to during any new encounter, but this was different. Now you should know thanks to my job I’m attend numerous charity functions and get to meet a lot of people, politicians and artists et cettera. The little conversations are almost always labored, rarely organic like the discussions you would have with a friend whom you haven’t seen in a long time. We honestly discussed several different subjects, from her family members who happen to live here in NY, then mine cause obviously they are here in NY as well. We continued on to how excited she was to play at this particular location where many of her idols have performed. Suddenly a local friend (sadly I can not recall her friends’ name) of hers entered the bar area from outside, I honestly try not to forget these sorts of things but what you really need to understand is that I was in awe of this young woman. No sooner had hugged her hello than she introduced me to her friend she involved me in the brief catch up chat. Her selfless honesty abounded I mean the more we talked the more I felt like she was a long lost friend whom I had reconnected with after several years apart. I was concerned though that I was monopolizing her time so eventually I struggled to come up with an exit. It wasn’t like I was feeling uncomfortable or anything, in actuality is was more that I felt too comfortable. Besides she certainly had other friends to greet, and of course she did have this little performance thing to prepare for.

I luckily sat right up front center stage, and happily await the show to begin I honestly required a moment or two to digest what had occurred. To my surprise when Mo took the stage before taking her guitar she resumed some of our previous conversation. Although it was difficult to hear she made a joke out of spilling some water on her shirt, in a self deprecatingly humorous way that I am known to use often myself.

Mo introduced herself to the audience mad mention of the unseasonably warm weather and began to play. It is one thing to perform with a group, and in my experience the larger the audience the easier it is to disconnect yourself and do what you need to do. This brave young woman bared her soul for us alone up on that very intimate stage, just her and her guitar. She worked the crowd and involved everyone as much as possible, and certainly gave the impression and feeling like it was a private performance.

I was surprised as the only song I did not recognize was Messiah, but enjoyed it just the same. I observed some of the other people that I met outside before the doors opened, who had never heard of MoZella, and were there to see one of the later acts. Mo did such a good job that I am certain there were some new believers  converted that night. All I can say is that if you have the chance to go to one of the smaller shows do yourself a solid and go. Because if you don’t, when she is big you will kick your own ass.

After the set I made for the door as I still had the two hour commute home awaiting me. On my way toward the door I ran into her boyfriend Mike again and we talk for a good 15 minutes about the performance. I had hoped she would have made it back that way so I could make a proper fair well but her family did come out, as well as many friends. Therefore, I asked Mike to say good bye for me. I would like to take a short moment and say that talking with Mike was a similar experience to talking with MoZella. He’s a very nice guy, and a very unassumingly down to earth kind of fellow.

At the show they of course had her EP available, and listen to me do yourself another solid and pick it up.  Yeah I know several of the tracks are available on myspace for download however those are low quality, and this EP includes Messiah. Now as I mentioned before I enjoyed it the first time I heard it at the show that night, but the studio version honestly blew me away. Up until that moment Amnesia was my favorite track, and the version on this EP is light years better (no pun intended) than the download version.

Obviously the evening up until that point was an absolute blast, Mo rocked! My first regret was that I didn’t bring a camera, my second was that I didn’t get her to autograph the EP, and my third that I didn’t leave my business card & swap cell ..’s, and the last regret is that I didn’t stay after the show. When I arrive at PENN Sta, I learned that ALL train service was out as a result of an earlier track fire. I couldn’t get home anyway.

Now about this editorial, now you understand ALL of the events from that evening, and I’m certain you can appreciate the difficulty I had maintaining my objectivity. Let me say this in finally, I have absolutely nothing bad to say about the performance other than I wish it lasted longer. MoZella was awesome. What more astounding is she is truly a nice and wonderful person, I certainly hope to catch up with her the next time she is in town. Who knows maybe I’ll have relearned to play enough on my guitar that we can jam, sadly it’s been ten yrs since I really last played…;-(

I can not promise that your experience will be anything like mine but she is one artist that is worth your adoration; remember if you have a chance, GO SEE Mo! Better yet if nothing, make the chance like I did because you will not be disappointed. I’ll say it again…

GO SEE MO!