Milquetoast @ Hennesy's Upstairs

So I've been honored to be asked by the Queen to help keep the blog moving while she plugs away at the dissertation. Although I'm very good at being opinionated, this is my first time telling the rest of the world what to think, so please bear with me while I get the hang of this blogging thing.

As an introduction, I'll start off with the show that I went to last night. There were a number of bands, but, we went out to see Milquetoast to see what the Queen was on about.

They were very competent. The lead singer started of with a solo guitar that reminded me a little bit of Chris Cornell's solo work (although without the distinctive vocal style.) It was nice, and it was interesting to see how he led in, but it didn't grab the crowd. It wasn't until the cellist came up a few songs later that the show really started to move.

The musical styling moved all over from a Tom Waits influenced waltz, to more classic blues riffs, but the musicianship was quality throughout. In fact, so good was the cellist that she made me truly believe that the cello is the most underrepresented instrument in modern music. After I left, I came somewhat to my senses, and realized I must have had one too many Stellas, but it doesn't diminish the depth and breadth that Robin lends to what might otherwise be a fairly tame set.

That's not to knock the composition. I though that Jimmy's songwriting and composition was very solid with occasional gems (the Tom Waits-like waltz comes to mind.) The music also covered a very broad spectrum without getting spread too thin, which I felt was a nice accomplishment.

Finally, like the musical styling, the stage presence was also a bit erratic; which mostly worked. Jimmy had enough charisma to keep the audience with him through a meandering slightly sappy dedication to his mom, and the rest of the time he was entertaining and funny without resorting to stand-up.

tags: [Music],