NORAH JONES at ST. ANN’S Warehouse – PBS Soundstage
January 28th, 2010 by Planet Chocko
Planet Chocko invaded the Norah Jones taping of the PBS show, Soundstage recorded live at St. Ann’s warehouse in Brooklyn on January 27, 2010. Unfortunately, I only have 1 measly photo (a blurry one at that) taken from my crappy cell phone camera to show for it because I was so excited to attend the event that I forgot my bazooka camera at home. It’s a tremendously rare occurance when Mr. C leaves his media induced equipment in the shadows, but I can truly say that I really enjoyed Norah’s performance without any distractions fornicated from behind one eye of the viewfinder! First off, Norah looked amazingly stunning dressed in her silky turquoise ensemble while sporting her classy hairdo reminiscent of the soul divas of the 60’s like Connie Francis, Aretha Franklin, & Bette Lavette. Norah’s voice to me is one of the most divine & pure haunts offered to an ear! NJ’s voice sets a tone in her storytelling soliloquy that wrenches up a punch to the gut with some soul. Now, onto the performance of the night! Norah was backed by her 5 piece band including a noticeable kick ass sidekick named Sasha. Sasha played the Robin role from Batman & Robin by providing Norah with excellent backup vocals, percussions, acoustic guitar, & banjo playing. You can even say, Sasha’s physical presence dominated the stage quite a bit with her shiny red dress & attractive stature, her playing of various instruments, & the noticeable tribal tattoo on her arm. However, when the ‘game puck went onto the green side’ & Norah’s gentle, but powerful voice resonated on the microphone with her lively piano & guitar playing , the attention was quickly turned back to the Jedi! The set started out with Chasing pirates, a tune from her new album, ‘The Fall’. NJ mostly played songs from The Fall including Waiting, Even Though, It’s gonna be, You’ve ruined me, Back to Manhattan, Youngblood, & a very funny performance of “Man of the hour” which generated some audience chuckles with lyrics like:
“It’s him or me
That’s what he said
But I can’t choose
Between a vegan and a pot head
So I chose you, because you’re sweet and you give me lots of lovin’ and you eat meat
And that’s how you became
My only man of the hour “…..
Norah also played cover songs from Wilco “Jesus Etc.”, a Kink’s song “Strangers”, & Tom Wait’s “The Long Way Home”. NJ sang 2 of her most popular songs known to earthlings, “Come Away with Me” & ended the night with an encore performance of the beautiful tune “Don’t know why” in a slower, jazzier-blues tempo with the help of some harmonies with bad to the bone, Sasha. I’ve been a fan of Norah since her 1st & most well known album “Come Away with Me” & her voice on all her records are sultry, dynamic, & full of soul, but now that I’ve seen her live, I truly have a greater appreciation for her! Norah really is the real deal! She is definitely not just another studio created apparition. I wish I could of had the privilege to see Norah Jones perform at the old ‘Living Room’ in downtown Manhattan on Stanton & Allen Streets when she first blew up on the NYC scene! That must have been some kind of combustible performance in such tightly packed quarters! What was really refreshing to me was that Norah Jones seemed kind of shy & nervous onstage at St. Ann’s warehouse. She confessed that she was a bit set aback playing in front of family & friends who dominated the first 4 or 5 rows in the audience who she can see very clearly. It’s very touching to see that NJ is still so grounded & down to earth as opposed to being jaded as some successful musicians are. Off topic, but NJ mentions that she is a big fan of the show “Babycakes”. She engaged the audience quite a bit when the camera men were changing video tapes. She even recited some dialogue from the show.
Thanks, Norah for the excellent performance even with the jetlag from the Japan trip & we hope the rest of the Planet Chocko martians can remember to check out Norah’s performance on Soundstage on PBS when it aires sometime in the near future!
Oh, also of note, I listened to Norah’s new EP on vinyl which has remixes of ‘Chasing Pirates’ & ‘That’s What I said’ & it’s CAPITAL D-O-P-E! The EP remix of “Chasing Pirates” was produced by Santigold & Snotty while “That’s what I said” were remixed by Adrock & Mike D of the Beastie Boys!! This EP is a 12 inch worth cuttin’ up one time for your mind! Check out Norah’s new album “The Fall” in whatever format or Planet you desire! You won’t be sorry!
–Mr. C
St. Ann’s Warehouse
www.stannswarehouse.org
38 Water Street
Brooklyn, NY 11217
Tags: adrock, beastie boys, brooklyn, chasing pirates, come away with me, jazz, john snotty, long way home, man of the hour, mike d, norah jones, pbs, planet chocko, pop, pop jazz soul, santigold, snotty, soul, soundstage, st anns warehouse
Posted in mr. c, music | Comments (1)
January 29th, 2010 at 8:11 am
Norah Jones “really is the real deal.” You got that right! Norah Jones is one of the best live performers that I’ve heard.