the hum / By Bob Doran

Transcendental Elephants

Elephant Revival plus Patty Larkin, blues, reggae, metal and a Rhythm Review

(Sept. 2, 2010)  The five folks who make up the Nederland, Colo.-based string band Elephant Revival call their music “transcendental folk.” The self-created genre sets them apart from typical folk and old time string bands, and sets a tone with hints of higher spiritual plains and Thoreau’s transcendentalism.

But what about the elephants?

Elephant Revival PHOTO BY ANNE STAVELY

GALLERY >

Fiddler Bridget Law tells a tale of a pair of pachyderms in Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo who’d lived together for years. When zookeepers separated them, both died. Mandolinist/banjoman Dango Rose founded the band in memory of the fallen elephants and the “spirit of tribal nature and companionship that elephants carry with them,” as Bridget explained. “We’ve been quite a tribe ever since. We strive for some of the beautiful elements that elephants embody: deep compassion, moving together as a group. We’re a little herd. It’s pretty sweet.”

The band indeed sounds sweet — string sounds weaving between close vocal harmonies, with Bonnie Paine in the lead on songs with lyrical depth.

“I love what we do, I love the music we make, I love my friends,” said Bridget. “I’m grateful to be able to do what we do in this time: travel and play music and share the joy in celebration of life. We live in troublesome times, so we might as well find something meaningful. Somehow this music we’re making brings people into their center. It’s not party music. You don’t go to our shows to see how many shots of tequila you can drink and still dance. We bring people to a place with magic in it. It’s nice.”

You could call their music “nice,” but it’s more than that. Transcendent, perhaps. Decide for yourself when Elephant Revival comes to Humboldt Brews Saturday night. Local fem-folk combo The Singing Nettles opens.

The Arcata Playhouse and Humboldt Folklife bring the amazing “folk-urban pop” guitarist/songwriter Patty Larkin to the Playhouse Saturday night. Larkin’s songwriting is in the folk vein, but she’s not your typical strummer — she’s electric and uses loops to craft layers of sound behind her poetic lyrics. She’s been doing it for 25 years now; to mark that quarter-century, she sent out 25 of her love songs to folks she knows and loves: Bruce Cockburn, Shawn Colvin, Suzanne Vega and Greg Brown, among others. She’s been touring behind the resulting 25 album, sometimes playing with those who helped reinterpret her songs, sometimes on her own. This show is just her — but that’s just fine.

This being Blues by the Bay weekend (see our Calendar for details) there’s a mess of blues here and there. Friday early (7 p.m.-9 p.m.), Fieldbrook Market has Black Cat Bone, a blues band that includes my auto mechanic, Morgan. Later at Blue Lake Casino’s Wave, Blue Street Junction says goodbye to vocalist Claire Bent and welcomes new guitarist Joe Antrim. Saturday, the Wave has The Red Mystics from Glendale, a blues band that includes guitarist JP Durand and bassist Liza Carbe from Incendio, plus Lisa’s rhythm partner Nicole Falzone on drums andkeyboardist Drake Shining. (They play earlier in the day at BbtB.) Dr. Squid opens the fest on the Bay Sunday morning at 9:15 — kinda early, especially since they have gigs Friday at Bear River and Saturday (post-AA!) at Steve and Dave’s. Six Rivers has a band I’ve not heard of, Bad Ass Blues, on Saturday night. We’ll assume that’s what they play. Chris Wixson‘s Speak Easy Saints are certainly more than capable on the blues, but they also mix in shades of jazz, hip hop and a whole lotta soul. S.E. Saints play an Arts Alive! party Saturday night at the Red Fox with Afromassive (think Fela), plus barbecue and live art. (SES also plays at Six Rivers Thursday night.) And for those still feeling the blues post-Labor Day, Sandy and Keith and The Lost Dogs host Tuesday’s weekly Blues Jam at Jambalaya. That would be harmonicat Sandy Flippin (also an art framer) and ace ceramicist Keith Schneider. The Lost Dogs are brothers Tim and JonathanClaasen, the rhythm section.

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