Live Review: Santo's Party House
March 2, 2009
By: Jens Carstensen

A friend of mine was recently contacted by VH1, who were trying to find bands to play cover versions of songs from the original Woodstock festival for a 40th anniversary special. After some quick, fruitless calls to a few more well known acts, my friend instead smartly zagged and staged a performance featuring local powerhouses Shilpa Ray and Her Happy Hookers and Joanna Erdos and The Midnight Show at Santo's Party House. Each band was slated to weave a few covers into their usual sets.  

Now, I can definitely do without such continued reverence towards Woodstock, an event I consider the birth of self-indulgence, even if CCR did play it. Still, it was easy enough to trudge through 16-degree temperatures to attend in spite of this, primarily because I wanted to finally see Shilpa Ray's new band. Over a year ago, Beat the Devil, the world's premier (and possibly premiere) harmonium-bass-drums trio, split up. She calls the new troupe Her Happy Hookers, and obviously this is one of those ironic rock twists, like Tom Petty calling his band the Heartbreakers.

Good band though, the Happy Hookers. Shilpa assembled her accomplices well, once again. I'm struggling to word exactly the major difference between this act and Beat the Devil, even though you'd often be hard pressed to confuse the two when you listen. For starters, there's a guitar. Any band with Jay Braun (of Negatones / Melody Lanes fame) on guitar is okay in my book. There's a keyboardist, in addition to Shilpa's trusty work on the harmonium, and this mustached, cardigan-wearer coaxes more tasteful sounds and melodies out of what appears to be a $45 Casio than he perhaps has the right to. The drummer was in Beat the Devil originally, though the bass player, Nick Hundley, is a new addition. By not having to worry about melody and sonic texture in addition to bass playing, like Beat the Devil's Mishka Shubaly did, Hundley has an easy job but gets it done well.

Shilpa seems a little more at ease too, with others there to handle the melodies and the mid-range. The songwriting remains terrific. She can still wail to strip paint off the walls, and still wields that power judiciously. She remains a captivating performer. I do miss Beat the Devil's starkness, theatrics and air of intimidation, though a little less than i would have guessed. That trio often gave off the impression they were going to attack you with a rusty syphilis-and-heroin-soaked meat clever if you didn't applaud after a song. They would have been perfect for an Altamont revival. Obviously I loved it, but not a vibe for everyone I guess.

The Happy Hookers, however, are a lot more for everyone. People braved the snow on a Monday night to come dance. And, while remaining distinct, it is more joyful music. Bands as talented, as volatile and as downright unlikely as Beat the Devil rarely stick together long enough, and, between the Happy Hookers and Rumanian Buck (a band featuring Beat the Devil's old rhythm section, who put on a stellar show at the Annex last weekend), everyone concerned has clearly landed on their feet.

Opening the night was Joanna Erdos and The Midnight Show. Joanna, too, is a diminutive female presence with a tremendously powerful voice. Her weapon of choice is the piano and she plays with clear skill and taste. Unlike the Happy Hookers, though, her backing unit (bass, drums) is a little less ragtag and a lot more in need of a few cans of Red Bull, or maybe even a coke habit. I don't begrudge professionalism necessarily but, through no fault of her own, Joanna seems to have a much harder time achieving escape velocity with her band than Shilpa does with Her Happy Hookers. Then again, nine p.m. on a Monday night during a blizzard is a lot to overcome, even for a talent as major as Joanna.

As for the Woodstock portion of the proceedings, Shilpa came through with a solemn harmonium-and-vocal version of "Bad Moon Rising" and a suitably frenetic version of "Fire," then wrapped the set (pre-encore, of course) with a beautiful Grateful Dead cover (and I don't particularly care for the Dead). Joanna was joined by an incredible vibraphone player for a run through of Joni Mitchell's "Woodstock," which I'm sure connected with Mitchell fans in the audience. For me, I concentrated most on the vibe player. Richie Haven's daughter, suitably, opened the show with a lovely a capella song.

So, when is that Altamont revival?