Dave Alvin and the Guilty Men Sportsmen’s Tavern, Buffalo, NY February 5, 2007 By Kevin J. Hosey
Dave Alvin searching for the perfect note		Considering that the temperature did not climb out of the single digits all day or night (or the day before and maybe after) and the snow piled up, Monday, February 5, 2007, was pretty darn close to a perfect night, courtesy of Dave Alvin and the Guilty Men and the Sportsmen’s Tavern. Alvin and band played about 75 minutes of scorching roots rock, with lots of blues, rockabilly and fun tossed in, and the basic private party was attended by about 80 people (75 tickets were offered and sold) who virtually all knew each other and certainly had been at previous shows together. Val and I got there a bit early, about 6:15 p.m. for an 8 p.m. show (no opener), so we caught the initial unloading, setup and sound check as we ordered and ate dinner. The band played two instrumental songs for their sound check, with Alvin and guitarist Chris Miller trading blues, jazz and rockabilly lines in what looked and sounded like almost effortless, wonderful, manners. As you might imagine, those present roared. When Alvin kicked off his set, the audience was closely ringing the stage and occupied every single seat, stool and other place to sit or lean. The band launched into `Out of California,’ a live favorite. Alvin played two hot solos after Miller scorched one, then keyboardist Joe Terry added some nice work before Alvin came back on a long, punchy one. After the song, Alvin told the crowd that he bought snow boots in Buffalo earlier that day: “This is the first time I haven’t worn cowboy boots on stage,” he said to applause. He followed with a cover of Jackson Browne’s “Redneck Friend” off Alvin’s new Yep Roc Records CD, “West of the West,” a bluesy take on the song in which Alvin virtually melted the snow with a short solo, then came up with a hotter, longer one.
Alvin introduced the next song as “an epic. That means it’s a long song, a change of underwear and a box lunch song,” to laughter, and proceeded to play possibly the best song of the night, a gorgeous, hard-edged version of “Abilene,” about a woman escaping where she was to she doesn’t know where for a better life, from “Blackjack David.” The very extended song featured another long, cool keyboard solo from Terry and another long, fine guitar solo from Alvin. With the length of these and the other songs a good deal longer than their CD/album versions, Val said to me after this tune, “they sound like a great roots rock jam band tonight, and I mean that in a good way.” The next tune, a rockabilly number, featured Miller outdoing Alvin on a stinging solo, prompting Alvin to remark with a smile, “I think he saw that photo of Bill Kirchen on the wall and had to lay it down.” By the way, Bill Kirchen will return to the Sportsmen’s Tavern for a show this spring.		Joe Terry, Guilty Man on the keyboard
Things got bluesier at this point, starting with a ripping version of “Out of Control” from Alvin’s 2004 “Ashgrove” CD. Alvin played snarling, angry leads backed by a combination of Latin beat and shuffle rhythm; just as I wrote in my notebook that “Alvin is playing the shit out of things tonight,” he worked in parts of “My Favorite Things” and some 1950s instrumentals into his solo. Alvin told the audience “here’s some blues to … well, make you feel good,” and played a couple of tunes, the first going from spare to tough with a great added touch of Miller’s strong lap steel solo, the second more up tempo electric Chicago blues as Alvin told a story of how he used to sneak into California blues bars as a kid to hear bands. Before the next song, which Alvin dedicated to “The Sopranos” HBO series, he told a humorous story of sitting home one night somewhat recently watching the show and kind of recognizing a song playing in the background. He waited for the credits and, sure enough, “they just paid my mortgage for a few months,” and then played the song, an urgent “Fourth of July” which had the crowd singing/shouting the chorus. As I listened to that song at the show and as I write this now, I am still amazed at how many classic songs (and I call very few songs classic) Alvin has written and performed solo and with the Blasters.
Chris Miller plays along with Dave		Speaking of the Blasters, Alvin remarked at this point that he “just realized” that he hadn’t played any Blasters’ songs,” and ended the night by launching into the (yes) classic “Marie Marie,” with his voice growling and he and Miller’s guitars blazing, joking at one point, “Phil (his brother) sang them, I wrote them. It wasn’t quite fair,” and he seemed in another world as he soloed like his life depended on it. He introduced the band (along with the above mentioned, Gregory Boaz on bass and Steve Mugallian on drums), then contributed another solo, this one ranging from barely strummed to cranking, and jumped into the set and night ender, the Blasters’ “So Long Baby Goodbye,” on which the entire band kicked into another gear, and Terry played yet another cool keyboard solo. I first caught Dave Alvin with the Blasters in either 1981 or 1982 at Harvey and Corky’s Stage One, and for some dumb reason, I never got to see him live solo until this show; Val has caught him solo. Either way, this will definitely not be the last time we catch one of his shows.