Keltic Kudzu Reviews

Review of Performance at Red Light Cafe

By www.Gophertunes.com - Atlanta's Live Music

MIDTOWN – One of my favorite aspects of music is its portability. Music can be performed almost anywhere. People make music on street corners, in living rooms, on bass boats, and in their offices after hours. Someday when I'm in a nursing home, I'll be trying to enlist other septaugenarians into singing harmonies on "Willing." There are dozens of types of venues for live music. But my favorite venue is a club that's set up to afford every customer a great view of the band, no matter where they're sitting, and no matter how far from the stage. Red Light Cafe is that kind of club. Situated in Amsterdam Walk (on Amsterdam Avenue, handily) near Piedmont Park, there's plenty of parking. Red Light Cafe appears to have been designed for fans and musicians. There isn't a bad seat in the joint, and the acoustics are pretty good throughout the club. And I checked, just to be sure. Yvette Tilton joins Keltic Kudzu's Gaines Spivey and Maggie Anderson at Red Light Cafe. Plus, the stage has a decent amount of space to it. There's not enough room for guitarists to do the Chuck Berry duckwalk, but at least musicians aren't squished into one another. At some clubs, the stage seems to be the last feature added.

The food I had was good – a meatloaf sandwich almost like Mom used to make. There's a decent choice of beer and wine, but no hard stuff. When I was at Red Light Cafe Friday night, the staff (possibly understaffed) had a little trouble getting the food out. On the other hand, the place was nearly full, and we were all served eventually by polite, apologetic staff. Hey, everyone has a bad day every now and then.

Best of all, Red Light Cafe was happening. I don't know if it was a fluke or not, but on Friday night, the club was overrun – invaded, even – by attractive women not much older than 21. Just so you know.
The first band, Keltic Kudzu, played some fine Celtic music, Celtic-derived music, and a whole lot of stuff that defies description. Go to the Web site and listen to the "welcome to our site" song [ED NOTE: new web site, the song is no longer available - go to CD Baby and listen to 'On We Go']. It's enchanting, haunting, and carefree, sometimes simultaneously. Kenny Marchman, guitarist and new member of Intrepid Souls, sports a cool Fender Tele and a vintage Georgia cap.

The band's founder, Maggie Anderson, possesses a crystal-clear voice, and she can really belt out a tune. Keltic Kudzu has no drummer, so Maggie plays the bodhran, a drum that's held sideways and beaten on with – that's right – a beater. Maggie, who also plays keys, was joined on vocals by Yvette Tilton, the leader of Intrepid Souls and a former Kudzu herself. Gaines Spivey is a guitarist's guitarist. He strayed into gypsy and flamenco styles, and he made himself quite at home there. I thought he was channeling Django Rheinhardt for a while. Celtic is a forgiving genre when it comes to incorporating outside influences, but Gaines could probably throw in the solo from "Purple Haze" and make it sound fresh from Galway. Intrepid Souls came out and promptly threw away the genre rulebook. Their music was smooth and seamless, but also hard-hitting and imaginative. They jammed, but they had a point. They didn't play a single cover song. The best I can do is to say that they were equal parts folk, alternative and mid-seventies Atlanta Rhythm Section on that band's best night. Yvette won the crowd with her vocals and keyboard mastery, but the band still felt like an ensemble. Guitarist and new member Kenny Marchman was dead-on, and he wore one of the oldest UGA hats outside of Athens. Drummer Kevin Mowen locked in with former Funky Bluester bass player Foster Barnes. Foster held down the pocket and sang great harmonies. Later, Gaines joined Intrepid Souls onstage for some serious guitar picking; he plays on some of Yvette's solo recordings. Scott Celani and his band took the stage and did a set of good melodic acoustic pop. Scott's not one of those brooding acoustic guitarists who sing about how their feeling got hurt in this way or that. Every original song was upbeat, well-written and hook-oriented, to the point that I wonder why it's not all over Top 40 radio now. Scott Celani works up a sweat during his show at Red Light Cafe. The former Atlantan is originally from Buffalo, New York. They played originals primarily, but they did a cool version of Men At Work's "Land Down Under" and Buffalo Springfield's "For What It's Worth."

A New Yorker, Scott lived here for a while, and some of his friends came by to show support. Later on, he was joined on stage by who else? Yvette. Everyone wanted Yvette to sing with their band. Abington Court is a local band of teenagers (is that why all the young girls showed up?) who have already released a four-song demo. It's mainly happy indie pop, but they can get into some hard rockin' when they choose to. They played originals such as "Make Me Cry" and "Angel Of Darkness," and despite some technical problems, it was obvious that they've spent some time getting their sound right. They also did some cool covers of "You Can't Always Get What You Want" and "War Pigs." Keep an ear out for Abington Court. They may have a regional hit before they can legally drink.

Red Light Cafe features a variety of bands. Thursday night is bluegrass night, so come on out. There's not a bad seat in the house.