Last Saturday night we drove to Winters (less than an hour) to see a solo show by new wave singer-songwriter legend Graham Parker (learn more). Check out the crappy cell-phone pictures! He has been around a long time and is still recording and putting out strong new albums every couple years. Graham hit the big time about the same time that Elvis Costello did, in the late 70s, and for a while was fairly well known. But he never got the fame that Elvis did even though they both shared that “angry clever songwriter” title.  Now, I’m a big Costello fan, but Graham deserves to be right up there with him. Each has some less than perfect material, ok I’ll admit that, but Graham has stayed true to his vision. And his albums, even from this decade, continue to be full of clever pop-rock with great lyrics. Not very many artists have made honest, interesting, intelligent, and catchy music for over thirty years. But Graham has and he is still doing it.
Anyway, we saw him at the Palms Playhouse, a small (about 200 capacity) venue with no bad seats.  Of course, from our seats in the front row we got a great view. I was actually right next to the stage and my bottled water was setting on it, that’s how close we were.
He opened up his set with Blue Blue Sky from the Deepcut To Nowhere album from the early 2000’s. It’s a great album that almost no one has heard. He did a couple from that album, one from the album after, one or two from his latest (2007) album, and a smattering of other stuff, including a couple from Howling Wind, his late 70s debut. He played something from Steady Nerves, an 80s album, and remarked that his sunglasses tonight were the exact same ones that were on that album cover.
His most famous album is Squeezing Out Sparks, and he did a four-song tribute to the 30th anniversary of that classic album, including Love Gets you Twisted, Saturday Night Is Dead, Discovering Japan, and Local Girls. Unfortunately he didn’t do the best song from that album, Protection. He talked about his book, Carp Fishing On Valium, and the tour that he did to promote it with songs inspired by it. He warned us to be glad we missed it, but no one was. The crowd was very enthusiastic. A few people maybe too enthusiastic, like the bozo behind us who kept pounding a cane on the floor really loud. But aside from that, the show was very good. Graham talked and told anecdotes in between songs. He is clever and witty when talking, just like he is when songwriting.

As you can see from the picture, we bought a couple of his CDs which he was nice enough to autograph for us. He was selling a variety of CDs, some of which are only available through him and his web site. He was outgoing enough to chat after the show with anyone who wanted to, like me for instance. And we also bought a great button with a picture of him and a couple of attractive lawn gnomes. You don’t see that every day.

So if you get a chance, go see Graham Parker. You won’t be sorry.

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Or you can buy some Graham Parker music here