Flanfire

Marching forth as I did today, I got wet. But the day was good - for the most part. There is something about returning as it were to being a taxi driver (which I did in the nineteen seventies in Arlington, Virginia) but of course for no pay. Instead, I drive my wife and my goddaughter Candi and my unofficial foster daughter Kelly to work and back every day at various times, and I drive my grandson and sometimes his mother around on errands or simply as part of my role as child care provider. In the midst of all this, I sometimes get to focus on my environmental journalist job, and occasionally get to cook and do household chores. Once in a while, I even trot over to my landlord's to shoot some pool. Life is not all that complicated - but sometimes the larger things just do not get going (much less done).

But tonight was a major relaxation time. After scarfing some cream of asparagus soup and a meatball sandwich at the Brick Oven (and doing more taxiing) I darted out into the night to the Cactus Cafe to hear Michael Fracasso debut his newest CD, Pocketful of Rain (how appropriate for the evening). Beaver Nelson opened with five of his wonderful songs. His fifth CD is due out this summer. Beaver and Michael toured last year with Adam Carroll and Scrappy Jud Newcomb - and Michael told stories out of school about their camaraderie in the van. Scary!

Michael opened with an acoustic song off his new CD - Trying to Get Through - then cranked up his band (Mac McNab on guitars and mandolin, Rob Sanchez on drums, and George Reiff on bass) for the title cut - Pocketful of Rain. Just as he was starting, though, his guitar cords or boxes shorted out, and for a moment Michael wondered if he was destined to have a spoken word performance after all. But the management came through, and all was back to normal - and he did a bluesy song, then a folky song (maybe called A Rainy Day Such as This), and then a song with Beaver off his new CD that was written by Townes Van Zandt - called Loretta.

So then he brings up Patti Griffin, who sings backup on a couple of songs, including his chestnut Dirty Old Town from the Back to Oklahoma CD. And THEN up hops Eliza Gilkyson to join Patti on vocals for the rest of the set. Michael also explained that he and George had cooked dinner for the girls, but all they wanted to do that evening was talk. Michael will be taking his culinary skills to Central Market in May for another in the musicians as chefs series (Papa Mali had a memorable gig there last year). He is also releasing - VERY SOON - a CD called Retrospective which will contain many of his songs from all of his previous CD's (some of which are virtually out of print).

After a break, and one more song with the girls - Shoot'n for Love, the final song from the new CD - Michael reached into the vault for a set that included his version of Summertime, Chain Link Fence, Started Out on the Wrong Foot, and many more. I had to leave - taxi duty again - but everyone there was having a wonderful time. Michael is headed out to California soon, playing San Francisco and three times in the San Luis Obispo area where he has idol status. Sadly for the troops, his backup singers will not be along for the ride.

Mostly when I have seen Michael in the past, he was doing the folk thing. It took a minute to get up to speed with the full band thing, but the skill of his players and the fun he was having made it all worth it. Sarah Sharp, who has a new CD of her own, was sitting next to me. She got busy writing in her diary (featured on her website), and admitted she has been getting very little sleep while eagerly awaiting her trip to Houston tomorrow and her SXSW showcase at Maggie May's on March 19. Another face in the crowd was the songwriter Nathan Hamilton, whose lovely wife was shooting photos of the musicians on stage for their benefit. I noted several other musicians in the audience, as it is clear that many Austin music scene people are big fans of Fracasso, whose 1962 and the 1950's are some of my favorites ever.

After the quick California trip, Michael will be back in Austin for SXSW and other gigs before going back on the road to the Midwest in April. Check his website for details, and if he is anywhere you are, do not miss going to at least one of his gigs. He is one of my very favorite songwriters.