Jill Sobule at Sellersville Theater July 20, 2012
"I've never seen you and I loved you since I was in high school, I didn't know you were still around" was a comment made to singer/songwriter Jill Sobule at a show she did Thursday night in New York. She told this to the Sellersville Theater crowd Friday night adding the fan was "Trying to be so sweet" and adding afterward in a joking manner "Fuck off".
For those unfamiliar with Jill Sobule, she is a gifted, witty and sharp singer/songwriter who unfortunately has never really received the recognition she deserves. Her first album, "Things Here Are Difference" was released in 1990, but it wasn't until her mega-hit "I Kissed a Girl" in 1995 that she caught the ear of mainstream music listeners. Sobule never received that kind of hit again in her career, but she has done incredibly well for herself, still performing and recording, having released 9 albums, a "greatest hits" compilation and 3 EPs. She also has an incredibly loyal and dedicated fan base.
Armed with her signature travel guitar, Jill entertained the "small but mighty crowd" who turned up to see her perform in Sellersville, PA and opened the show with the title track of the 2004 album, "Underdog Victorious" which was followed by a cover of the David Bowie penned "All The Young Dudes". Keeping with a nostalgia theme she performed a song about adolescence, "Strawberry Gloss" before going into "Modern Drugs", a song she wrote for a medical conference she was invited to a few months ago. The song was embraced by the Sellersville crowd and when one fan asked what the reaction was at the conference, Sobule said the song went over well, but added "I wouldn't say it was a hit, but it was up there". Onstage with Jill on this outing was Alex Nolan, a talented guitar player who also lent her voice backing up Jill and engaging in stage banter. They shared their idea of becoming a band like Josie & The Pussycats since the music business keeps getting harder and coordinating their detecting with tour dates.
Sobule has been working on a few musicals lately and shared a song from "Yentl"-based not on the Barbara Streisand movie, but the play. The song was delivered with a blues feel which Jill said she was aiming for when writing it. She also added that she loved to go down and watch the musical, which was performed in Floria, because of the audience it attracted. "It was like 3/4ths old Jews and 1/4 really young lesbians...it was a great crowd."
Another musical she's working on is based on the movie "Times Square" and spawned another new song, "Twenty-Five Cents" which also had the audience participating and ended with Jill saying "Oh my God, we're like Broadway!"
A fan yelled out "San Francisco" and Jill told the story of the music video directed by Margaret Cho and how she later met a woman out in San Francisco who turned out to be a dominatrix and inspired her to write a few songs which led to Jill saying she should do an album entitled "Songs I Was Forced To Write." She also shared with the crowd how she and Alex could be life coaches and go to people's houses and force the people to work while they enjoyed the perks of staying at the people's homes which led to Jill, Alex and the audience bouncing ideas off each other.
Before going into "When My Ship Comes In", Jill talked about her experience of playing at a maximum security prison in Lancaster, California and how "...they were the best audience ever" and she had a great all star band to play with. Following it up, she did a song someone had requested on Facebook, "Houindi's Box" from her '95 self titled album. Going back to "When My Ship Comes In" briefly, she said she got to play it with 6 trombone players on the TV show "Treme" which led her ask the audience what TV shows they watch and how much she loves TV before doing two fan requests, "Jetpack" and "Heroes".
Another audience request, "Mexican Wrester", led Jill back to her prison crowd saying "This is the one they laughed at all the right places and that's when you could hear a pin drop, it was crazy". She encouraged everyone to check out Jail Guitar Doors (http://jailguitardoors.org/) and get informed because it's a good organization.
To end the show Jill performed "Where Is Bobbie Gentry?" from her most recent album, 2009's "The California Years" complete with audience participation and for her encore played jamming version of "Cinnamon Park" before going out into the lobby afterward to sign, chat and taking photos with fans. *Side bar on this performance: This my 11th Jill Sobule concert and one of my favorites. The set list was a nice mix of new songs and fan favorites. It was a very laid back show and just a lot of fun. I had requested "Houdini's Box" earlier in the day on Facebook and was thrilled when she mentioned it and performed it. It's one of my favorites of hers. The addition of Alex Nolan was really nice. She added a fuller sound and her voice blended well with Sobule's. Afterward in the lobby, Jill gave me a hug when I told her this was my 11th show and told me I looked very fetching in her "A Day At The Pass" t-shirt from her and John Doe's tour last year. If she's coming to a venue near you, GO! She always puts on a great show and no two shows are ever the same.
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-Underdog Victorious
-All The Young Dudes
-Strawberry Gloss
-Modern Drugs
-What Have I Done? (from “Yentl”)
-25 Cents (from "Times Square")
-San Francisco
-When My Ship Comes In
-Houdini's Box
-Jetpack
-Heroes
-Mexican Wrestler
-Sonny Liston
-Where Is Bobbie Gentry?
-Encore: Cinnamon Park
Wonderful review Brian.
ReplyDeleteThank you!
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