imelda de la cruz @ uncommon ground 11/2

I am always happy to go to Uncommon Ground. Especially in cool weather, when it's cozy and you can fully enjoy the soft lighting, music, and rich (and often local and/or organic) food and drink.

I had promised myself that I would keep to myself all weekend, and I have, except for that moment on Friday when I succumbed to the peer pressure of the Wesleyanites. Friend of a friend of a friend, Imelda de la Cruz was playing there, and since a) I was hungry, b) I always like being with Mary and/or Guy (and/or their friends) and c) that three-cheese pizza is amazing I decided to go.

I'm abstaining from alcohol for a couple weeks (just for fun?) and so I couldn't enjoy a glass of wine, but it was still a nice dinner, and I was able to walk away with more money in my pocket than I would have otherwise.

The first act of the evening was as wispy little thing from Minneapolis named Jenny Dalton. Heavily influenced by Tori Amos, her original songs didn't do much for me, but were a nice background for dinner - and I did enjoy her one cover tune, which was Neko Case's "Hold On, Hold On."

The room filled up quite a bit for Imelda (and here's a link to her Web site before I forget) and so the energy alone was enough to put me in a mood more receptive to new music.

During my book club meeting on Thursday, the conversation dissolved at one point into a discussion of the Thundercats. And so, Imelda's little opener invoking Snarf, Voltron, the Gummy Bears and many other staples of weekday afternoon cartoons from the 80's was a little uncanny.

I'm not sure if I'll follow up and become a true Imelda fan, but there were moments when I truly enjoyed her, and I would definitely go see her again, expecially at Uncommon Ground. I liked her Tuck and Patti style guitar with the soft jazzy vocals on things like "Too Late," and I liked the rumbling piano and Imelda's strong low register on "Champion" but I didn't care as much for the diva moments at the end of that song.

I like her goofy, awkwardly hammy stage presence, and strangely, one of the pieces I enjoyed most was one that she apparently wrote when she was quite young - I think she mentioned playing it at her first gig in a friend's basement in Staten Island in 1995. I can't remember what it was called, but I think was struck me about it was they lyrics and wondering if she could write something like that we she was that young, then she's probably capable of even better things now - and according to the article in Friday's Trib, she has only been back in the saddle for a couple years, so we'll see.

Thanks Alexis for the tip, and thanks to the Kern-Suesuntisooks for dragging me out.