There’s a New Elvis in the Building
On Monday night, I had the great pleasure of attending Joan Armatrading’s concert at the 4th & B, on the outskirts of the Gaslamp. If you’ve never been to the 4th & B, it’s a very bare bones venue owned by the House of Blues, more like a warehouse than a concert hall. The chairs are plastic, like you’d find in a public school. There are a couple of bars, a stage, and a side balcony, but little else to recommend it, other than the variety of talented musical artists who regularly show up to entertain.
The warm-up act on Monday night was someone I’d only seen once, very recently, on David Letterman. His name is Elvis Perkins. He played just a few songs for about half an hour, but it was enough time to form an impression of him, and for him to make a few more fans.
Looking at Perkins, I wouldn’t have known what to expect of his music. A thin, youngish man of slight build, he was dressed all in black and looked like a quirky character, just the kind that would draw my attention. Approaching the microphone with a guitar strapped in front and a harmonica braced up to his mouth, Perkins was at home in front of the small crowd, taking control and drawing every eye to him immediately. He talked and laughed affably, like he’d spent his life on the stage.
Elvis played a few songs from his premiere CD, Ash Wednesday. He revealed himself to be a folksinger whose lyrics are interesting and sometimes odd, whose guitar is strummed hard, and harmonica played well. When he started singing, his voice was strong and clear, and his style, most reminiscent of a young Bob Dylan.
Perkins lost me for a moment when he started to yodel in the middle of one song, but won me back with the next. In the end, his ballad, “1, 2, 3, Goodbye,” had us singing along.
If you’d like to get a taste of Elvis Perkins’ music, you can hear a couple of songs on his website, or on his myspace page, where you can also see a performance on video. You can also listen to a couple of his songs taped on the NPR. To see him in person in San Diego, you’ll have to wait a while, but he is scheduled to play at San Diego Street Scene in September.
Elvis also has an interesting back story. I first found on Wikipedia that his father was the actor, Anthony Perkins, whom he lost a few years ago to complications from AIDS. His mother, photographer Berry Berenson died in one of the planes that hit the World Trade Center on 9/11/01. There’s an interview that you can read where he touches on these issues, along with discussing his music. Perkins is a great-grandson of the fashion designer Elsa Schaparelli and a nephew of the actress Marisa Berenson. This all makes me wonder what else we’ll discover about this composer and performer. Hopefully, quite a bit; he’s just getting started, and already he’s more interesting than most.
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Star Sightings » Blog Archive » There’sa New Elvis in the Building
Sep 18, 2007 at 2:30 am
[…] a man and a mouse wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptI first found on Wikipedia that his father was the actor, Anthony Perkins, whom he lost a few years ago to complications from AIDS. His mother, photographer Berry Berenson died in one of the planes that hit the World Trade Center on … […]
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