Breakdown | Michael Brook

House of Blues / Knitting Factory
Boston / New York City
8-9 August 1999
by Hoby

Part Two of Six

Hey Now,

Here is what happened when PK, Kim, and I went to see Michael Brook and Djivan Gasparyan at Boston's House of Blues.

This chapter will describe the sound check for that show.

[Please be warned. This is a telling of my opinions and perceptions. I do not claim that mine is an objective view. This will not be the cool, clear, detached review one might read in a newspaper or magazine. This will be the recounting of the experience of someone who has waited since 1985 for this event.]

Soundcheck setlist
Rockabilly fun
"Take My Heart", (multiple takes)
"Together Forever", (2x)
"Freedom"
"Breakdown"
"Slow Town" from Albino Alligator
"Deleeyama" - trad. (that's a phonetic spelling - if any one can provide the correct spelling I'd appreciate it.)

If I remember correctly, we arrived at the club at a little after 5 PM for the 7:30 show. This was done to facilitate my wish to be as close as possible to MB so as to carefully watch his use of pedals, etc.

It's been mentioned here before that the HOB is not exactly the best venue for this sort of show. It certainly didn't make a very good first impression. Long, narrow, beer-soaked, and ciggy-smoke-saturated are the adjectives that came to mind. But this night was to prove that good music can transcend any situation.

We picked up our tickets at the box office in the basement and were informed that the show was two floors up and that it would be a couple of hours before we could go up there. We thanked the gentleman, immediately headed up to the third floor, and walked in on the start of the soundcheck. Assuming our best "yes we belong here" poses, we were able to watch the band prepare for the show.

What did they play? The first thing was a small bit of a straight 4/4 almost rockabilly tidbit with smiles and laughs all around. There followed several stabs at "Take My Heart", two takes of "Together Forever", "Freedom", "Breakdown", "Slow Town" from Albino Alligator, and (after MB and Jason Lewis {drums} left the stage) "Deleeyama" (sp?)

Almost more interesting than the music was watching the musicians work. Djivan was consisitently missing a vocal cue on Take My Heart. He also could not seem to get comfortable with the condenser mics being used on his duduk. And having to switch from those to his vocal mic seemed to be causing him some frustration. Monitor mixes were a constant source of concern for all.

The musicians needed to work all these things out through an interpreter. Messages would be relayed to Dickran (functioning as both road manager and interpreter) up at the board who would then translate for Djivan. Then the reply would go the other way through the same channel.

(I must admit that I was wondering just what was in store. I remembered previous reviews that described performance glitches. What we were seeing seemed to point to a similar experience. I needn't have worried.)

But through all of this, the musicians seemed to keep their good humor.

The most exciting part? Watching MB walk out into the house to check the sound while playing his guitar and ripping off a monstrous solo from down on the floor. (PK looked over to see me swooning and gently reminded me that I needed to look like I belonged there.)

My favorite quote? MB to Dickran concerning the monitors: "Tell him (Djivan) not to worry about the stage. The stage is never going to sound right". My guess is that DG doesn't have to deal with such technologically involved stage set-ups when he plays in a more traditional setting.

After Djivan and Richard Evans (bass, guitar, sampler, flute, hats) left, we headed up to the stage so I could study MB's rig.

But that's a story for another chapter...