Flanfire

Another Cloud 8 experience - again at MoMo's. Ann-Marie says last week's show at the Saxon Pub was even better - and maybe so. There, her car was not hooked up to the tow truck (but graciously unhooked in return for a $25 fine) for parking in Katz's Meow spots. Ah, family feuds.

New drummer Chis Stelley joined Ann Marie and (Michael) Jackson - and they make return trips to the Saxon next week and MoMo's in two more weeks. The band did 11 songs, including a poem set to music - "The Web," which includes the great line, "Hysteria binds itself to the stakes of our souls." "Immergence," one of three songs on her demo CD (produced by El Goins), this time featured a screaming, pyrotechnics-laden slide guitar solo from Jackson. The lad went one better with some amazing riffs to accompany, "Quiet Acquiescence," in which Ann Marie proclaims, "The power of justice has just been born." "Cross" beseeches us that, "We need to have a belief that will last." "Sin" speaks directly about missing the mark, while "Sharp Knives" is a dark song about what can happen when kids play with knives.

Ann Marie informed the audience that today, April 11, we can celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 13 flight, when everybody made it home after an accident in outer space; the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1968 by our own Lyndon Baines Johnson; and the liberation of the Buchenwald death camp in 1945 by the Allied Army. A great day in which light has triumphed over darkness - even though Ann Marie acknowledged that "dark and creepy is fun quite frankly." Asked to do a Halloween song, she explained that her final number, "Dig," was kind of a Halloween song, but more about All Saint's Day - about light emerging from our deepest darkness. Indeed, her opening number asks the question, 'How many times do I have to tell you, "we are one."

Those few who saw Cloud 8's debut performance last year at a Barn Dance but have not seen the band since will be blown away by the remarkable improvement in Ann Marie's vocals - which are now powerful when needed and nearly always under full control. No more barely whispering in that soft voice (except where it is appropriate), thanks to a whole huge lot of very hard work and an apparently inspired vocal teacher. Trust me, this band (and this woman's performances) will only get better. Bring ALL your friends next time.