Eric Hutchinson | House Of Blues (Sunset) | 4/29/14

 

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Eric Hutchinson is an American, singer-songwriter whose folksy, tenor voice; witty, lyrical writing; and humorous onstage banter always entertains me. I may be a bit biased though (full disclosure) as one of the first albums I really took the legal, paperwork reigns on was his breakthrough independent album “Sounds Like This” … that, and I consistently beat his fantasy basketball teams back when we all had time for that (sorry, Eric… had to throw that in there lol).

He is touring in support of his recently released album, “Pure Fiction”, but his set was mix of songs from his entire catalog. Though it’s been a few years since I’ve seen him perform live, his sound and performance style will still as energetic and soulful as ever.

He performed some of my favorites (not that anyone cares, but “Oh!” is still my favorite song), and cleverly integrated covers of popular songs (though it’s not identified in the photograph of the set list below, I was especially impressed with his inclusion of The Pharcyde’s “Ya Ma Ma” in “You Don’t Have To Believe Me”). Perhaps the most impressive thing to me was how some of his older “classics” have evolved since they were first written. I mean, I still have old demos he recorded from even before he was signed to Maverick Records, and they’ve all evolved into dynamic versions of the original.

Eric bantered to the audience between songs and, to the delight of the audience, even ventured among them to sing a song. It was great seeing Eric perform live again. If you haven’t already checked out his latest release, or even his older albums, I recommend that you do. His music may put smile on your face like it does mine.

I was not issued a photo pass for this concert, and all the photos below  were taken on Sony Cyber-shot.

 

Social Distortion at the House of Blues (Sunset) 01/26/13

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Social Distortion sold out over 25 shows for a residency of various Southwest House of Blues (“HOB”) venues.  Their shows at the HOB Sunset location sold out almost a quickly as they went on sale.  I remember when those tickets went on sale … and I remember when I called in to find out that those tickets had sole out…  Thankfully, Social Distortion and HOB decided to add additional shows, and I was lucky enough to grab a few tickets!

Based on what I’ve researched, Social Distortion used to do a Southwest residency at a venue once a year, but the last time they did residency was five years ago.  Apparently, they’ve been touring relentlessly the past two years domestically and internationally.

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I’ll be honest with you… I didn’t grow up listening to punk and rockabilly.  I mean, I always knew that Social Distortion were one of the pioneering bands of the Southern California punk rock movement during the late 70s and 80s, but (and I’m somewhat embarrassed to admit it …) it wasn’t until I played “Story of My Life” on Guitar Hero III that I started to really pay attention.  When I read that Pearl Jam did a couple of shows with them back in 2009, I really started to pay attention.  Hell, if they were good enough for Eddie Vedder and Mike McCready, then it must be good for me!

Mike Ness, the lead vocalist and guitarist, and the only original member of the band, performed with the energy of a rock-and-roller half his age (50).  It was a good crowd at the HOB with the pit swirling around with male and female bodies alike.

They played songs I knew and songs I didn’t.  Most the crowd was singing along, but even though I didn’t know all of the words by heart, it really didn’t matter.  Getting lost in the music, dancing with abandon, in a cloud of some smoke from the hidden doobies people in the crowd were lighting, it was what I would have imagined it was like back in the late 70s and 80s had I gone to a show back then.  It was like everyone was immersed in some kind of nostalgic, punk era haze, where nothing mattered except the music. It was a good feeling.

It’s pretty crazy, but even though Social Distortion has been around since 1978, they’ve only released 7 studio albums and 1 live album, and I  only have two digital tracks: “Story of My Life” and “Ring of Fire” (by the way, not many artists can cover Johnny Cash and Social Distortion’s recording (and live performance) of “Ring of Fire” is as faithful to the original attitude as it gets.

I think it’s time for me to start buying the albums…. starting with “Mommy’s Little Monster”.

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