“No! We’re not going to fucking do Stonehenge!”
Last night at The Hotel Café (a supercool small intimate music venue in Hollywood) I saw Michael McKean and Annette O’Toole perform a really cool set of their unique style of folk music.
I think the set was made up of both original songs and traditional folk songs, but I didn’t know any of the songs that I thought might be trad. so it’s quite possible they were originals as well.
Michael and Annette both sang. Michael played guitar, piano on a few songs. Annette played mandolin on a few songs. They were accompanied by Nell Geisslinger who played guitar on some songs, piano on some songs, percussion, and backing vocals.
Because I do not wish to inspire any additional competition as I vow to woo Nell and one day make her my own true love, let’s just say that she is entirely unattractive and not the least bit talented.
Nell is Annette’s daughter, Michael’s stepdaughter. I didn’t know this until a particular exchange during some between-song banter: Annette announced the name of a particular songwriter of a song they were about to play (I don’t remember the songwriter’s name).
She said the songwriter’s name, which was a name that was difficult to pronounce, tried to say it again, then said
Annette: “That’s almost as bad a name as ‘Geisslinger’.”
Nell: “Hey! That’s ‘Guy-Slayer’ to you, Bi-atch!”
Michael: “What kind of a world is this when a young girl can call her mother ‘Bi-atch’?”
Before they went on I was in the back with a friend who was setting up his drum set (my friend is in the band that was to go up after Michael McKean and Annette O’Toole). Michael saw my friend with the drums and stopped to talk and ask about my friend’s band.
My friend, just couldn’t resist, asked Michael “Are you going to do ‘Stonehenge’?”
To which Michael replied (appropriately) “No! We’re not going to fucking do Stonehenge!”
They opened the set with a three-part a cappella version of They Might Be Giants’ “Women and Men”, which sounded wonderful and was quite charming.
From A Mighty Wind they did “Do What The Good Book Tells You To”, “Potato’s in the Paddy Wagon” and “A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow” which was performed absolutely beautifully! So amazing to hear it live and, much as I love the performance by Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara, there was something extra special hearing it performed by the songwriters.
From This is Spinal Tap they did “Cups and Cakes”.
Oh, and you know what? Annette O’Toole looks fucking amazing! When I first saw her I didn’t even imagine for a second that she was who she was. She looked about thirty- I swear to god, no exaggeration, at two or three points throughout the evening her face was within 8 inches of my face and she looked thirty. I’m thirty! It wasn’t until she got up onstage that I realized who she was. Prior to that I just figured she was my age. (For those of you wondering, according to imdb she’s 51)
Oh, by the way, Enright3, Jamie Lee Curtis looked amazing too (about 10 inches away).
All in all it was an amazing show, and probably less than 100 people in the audience (check your local music listings, people!!!) so it was a really intimate performance. A really great opportunity. Check them out if you get a chance.