Ladies & gentlemen, Duffy's Tavern once again presented
us a full night of country tinged fun. Steve Owen returned to Nebraska to tickle our ribs
with tails of drinking, driving & death. I caught him last year at Duffy's (oddly
enough with 13 County that night too) & I refer you to that review (find it here), and hope that someday his albums will
be found at every truck stop in America. 13 County, our own alt country favs, once again
put on a soul stirring, foot stomping good time. These boys are finishing up an album
(which'll be available in our local record shops) & have a CD release show planned for
June 13th appropriately. Duffy's favorite Marlee MacLoed rounded out the night & I'll
let Melissa fill ya in. ----
Michael French
The role of the interviewer
is fairly clean cut, to objectively bring forth facts that will be of interest to the
reader. But the reviewer, that is a role swathed in mystery. After all, to
review means taking one's conceptions about an event/fact/person and then finding a way to
assign a value to it. This opens up a series of questions: "What are the
available values, how are values arbitrated, is there a process, is the process fair,
should the process be fair?" Etc and so forth, questions like these open up worlds of
possibilities.
I've read a lot of reviews over my lifetime, some of which were
beautifully hidden in the veneer of various
music magazines. I've also read reviews that left a worst taste in my mouth than
crap frozen on a stick
(not that I would know or recommend this practice to anyone). And the difference for
me is not only
writing a well-crafted review, but also recognizing that as a reviewer one is making a
subjective value upon whatever one is reviewing. It is still just one person's
opinion, no matter how much they try to claim expertise, factual content, and other
weapons of superiority to justify that judgement.
But wait, you thought you were reading a review? Well, dear
reader, you are. Pay attention.
These are all points that I feel Marlee MacLeod would understand.
Marlee was a rock critic before she
metamorphed into the hybridized guitar-slinging troubadour that she now is. But the
first thing you're gonna love about Marlee MacLeod when you see her is that she sings in a
voice guaranteed to remind you of all those great female country singers that broke your
heart. It's a voice that makes you wonder if just maybe glass really is
shattering somewhere out of sight. At this point I could try to compared MacLeod to
some other chic that you've probably heard before. However, there are many
entertaining comparisons on the Internet. Like "Liz Phair's older sister who
worked as Courtney Love's babysitter". Basically comments in my opinion, that do
nothing more
than show how creative the reviewer was in making a comparison. Rather I hope you
read this article and
learn more about MacLeod by visiting her website (http://www.marleemacleod.com)
so that you can create
your own comparison.
MacLeod played at Duffy's with Billy Hawn (drums), and Chris
Whittaker (bass). MacLeod and Hawn have played together for approximately one year,
while Whittaker is a more recent addition to the band. MacLeod has
performed for twelve years, made four albums, and developed her own style that borders on
country, and
alternative music. The song that piqued my interest was "Mata Hari Dress",
and the part I remembered hearing was "Very lucky man, tell me while you can/on your
back or on you knees".
MacLeod comes across tough onstage. She stares you in the
eye. She commands you to listen to her. And she's not going to stop until
you're listening. If I wasn't an impassioned Lincoln 'zine reviewer her demeanor
might have scared me off, but oh the convictions I have!
So I stumbled up to Duffy's stage after the set was over and made
my acquaintance with one Marlee MacLeod.
Marlee and I didn't talk very long; I got the band's names properly jotted down on my
official scrap of junk paper. She told me about her website, and I told her that
when this review was posted that I would email her the URL. Which leads me to
believe that MacLeod is much like the way she seems onstage, to the point. She doesn't, as
my Missouri neighbors say, pussyfoot around the subject. Maybe this is because
MacLeod grew up in Fort Payne, AL. Maybe not, but for more information on what other
people think about Marlee MacLeod I recommend that you enter her name into a search engine
on the internet and learn for yourself what to make of Marlee MacLeod.
-- Melissa Stemme
May 2001
|
