A Campy Show

After class last night, I met DK down at The Living Room on Ludlow Street to hear a dude named Jim Campilongo play with his "Electric Trio." Campilongo's set was terrific, and I totally forgot that the Living Room is such a cool place to see a show. Campilongo is probably most famous for being the lead guitarist of the Little Willies, the alt-country collective fronted by Norah Jones. He also rocked in San Francisco back in the seventies, and his Monday night residency at the Living Room has been going on for two years and counting.

The trio played two sets with an intermission -- the second set rocked a little bit harder than the first. The mood was definitely chill, and in the middle of the second set, DK leaned over to me and said, "This is what I imagined I would be doing in New York." I knew exactly wha he meant. Having a beer in the back of a dingy club while a dude dressed like Elliot Ness wails on the guitar is an experience exclusive to Downtown New York. I guess Chicago and San Francisco could argue with me on that one, but New York truly succeeds at making grime beautiful.

Anyway, the crowd unfortunately dispersed after the intermission and missed out on a blazing second act. But I guess that will happen when you take a 20 minute intermission. Campilongo played a few cuts of his new CD Heaven Is Creepy, and entertained the audience with some amusing stage banter after the break. He let the audience know that he plays The Living Room every Monday night, "Except for in a couple of weeks, because I'm going to be in Finland. We're gonna play some shows out there...I have these friends that I stay with...I'm already eating a lot of chocolate. Man, you got to eat chocolate before you go to Finland. I'm on a chocolate diet...the chocolate in Finland is so delicious, man." When he talks, it's like he is still in San Francisco in 1974. It made me feel at home. And really cool.