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Martin Rivas, The Bitter End


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A rainy Wednesday night in Manhattan. I downed a quick sandwich for dinner and ran out to the 1 train to Christopher Street to catch Martin Rivas at The Bitter End on Bleecker Street. I had heard good things about this guy. Rumor is he's a decent guy and knows his way around Wilco message boards too. :shifty

 

Anyway, having never seen Mr. Rivas live, I didn't really know what to expect. Let me just say that from the first notes of the set to the glorious and rocking finale of North, he had the crowd tapping their feet and singing along. I heard bits of influence from lots of different folks -- everything from Jeff Tweedy to Glenn Tilbrook to Otis Redding.

 

The guy sported what looked like a couple of Breedlove guitars that sounded great and was supported by a top notch band. A drummer that was totally locked in, a bass player that was cool and groovin, and a lead guitarist that was white hot. The band looked like it was having the time of its life and the joy was infectious.

 

The set was filled with original tunes that I had never heard before, but felt like I knew all along. It was one of those nights. Yes, you know what I mean. Top notch songwriting, top notch peformers. Fun for all.

 

To top it all off, I got to meet Mr. Rivas at the end of the night. Got up the courage to go say hi. Bought a couple of his CDs and signed up for his mailing list. The guy is one cool cat. Check him out when he comes to your area. :thumbup

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To top it all off, I got to meet Mr. Rivas at the end of the night. Got up the courage to go say hi. Bought a couple of his CDs and signed up for his mailing list. The guy is one cool cat.

 

Cool! Great that you made it to see Mart, and that you decided to go talk to him too. He's about the nicest guy you could meet and his all-original shows are fantastic. Did you stay for the "headlining" set by ex-Spin Doctors frontman Chris Barron, by any chance? :pirate

 

Matt, next you've got to make it to one of the Campfire shows at Slane (Tuesdays), Prohibition (Wednesdays) or the Red Lion (Sundays)!

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Hey Matt, thanks so much for making it down to the Bitter End, it was a wonderful night of music, and John Popper showed up to do his thing with Chris Barron, whose bass player, Brett Bass, is one of the nicest guys I know. This was the end of a weekly Wednesday night residency for Chris, and the start of one for the Josh Dion Band, who asked us along to open for them. It was great fun and the place wound up being quite mobbed. I had to leave to get a crepe!

 

So kind of you to make it down, Matt, it was really great to finally meet you. :yes

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Oh, I am such a pain in the ass...

 

Mart, I think they won't unzip because there are spaces in the file names. I think that's what winzip is telling me about the new version, anyway (for what it's worth, the old version wouldn't unzip with winrar :hmm ).

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FYI, it seemed to work fine using a Mac.

 

And Mart, Evonne's gonna be in town June 20-21, I think. I think you guys have a private gig June 21, but correct me if I'm wrong...

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