447 Tom Leach, BLAKE HAZARD, CHRIS COLBOURN, Middle East "Upstairs", Cambridge, MA USA, Friday 26 May 2000

Record shopping today before a taxi-mare over to Allston to meet EdV and his old friend Jeff Stupakevich for Malaysian lunch. Then after more record shopping this afternoon, we meet Mark Kraus and Maureen for dinner at The Middle East, being joined by Michael Paulo before hitting the venue at 10 for this intriguing show (so intriguing that I'd booked tix for this one earlier this week!). Despite being due on at 10, however, Buffalo Tom guitarist Chris Colbourn didn't arrive onstage until half past!

Nevertheless, once ensconced he played a very fine solo set, opening with "My Responsibility" and "Rachael", 2 of his compositions for da Tom, and I'm surprised at how well they stand up, stripped of the "oomph" of the perennial brilliantly powerful "live" Tom performance. Without the full-on amps, Chris' voice is somewhat idiosyncratic - higher than I thought, with a reedy yet charming lilt - and his slower, unknown material (new stuff for The Tom? Or for a solo record perhaps?) fits it very well, lending it a naked, eerie feel. 2/3 of the way through, Chris is joined by Hilken Mancini from Fuzzy, to duet on a touching and starkly beautiful song. Then, in all too short a time, the set was over.

By this time we'd been joined by an ebullient James Horrigan, back from South Carolina and now a Godfather. We chat during Blake Hazard's set; she's apparently the great grand-daughter of F Scott Fitzgerald, she smiles a lot (a lot!!) and has a very girly vocal delivery, but I confess I was enjoying the company more than her folky introspective set. Horrigan leaves and we check out some of Tom Leach - he and band were too Nashville Country for my liking - before calling it a night and heading back through the restaurant. Here, however, we encounter not only Jim Gilbert of The Sheila Divine again, but also Chris Colbourn himself, who amazingly recognised me from my Q Division trip last August, and said I should have spoken to him at Buffalo Tom's recent LA2 show! Don't worry Chris, I will next time!

608 BLAKE HAZARD, Supp. Garland Of Hours, Hop and Trickle, Middles East Upstairs, Cambridge MA USA, Monday 29 September 2003

After a day in Salem, exploring the rich maritime history and a superb comic shop, rather than the witches this time, we get a slice in Hi-Fi Pizza in Central for tea, then to the gig! Grab a booth in the "Other" Middle East, not the corner restaurant that we've been frequenting for much of this trip. Catch Blake along with partner, Jack Drag mainman John Dragonetti, as they pop out of the venue, and we catch up with this lovely couple of folks before they grab a bite to eat.

We wander in the small upstairs room for first band Hop And Trickle, an odd collection of old beardy weirdoes, who play some drift-away low-fi country stuff which gets an appreciative reception from the small collection of early arrivals. Insubstantial, but I've heard worse...

Get free cola from Mike, The Damn Personals drummer, who's working behind the bar, before Blake arrives onstage at 10, armed with a fat acoustic guitar and a handful of wistful new tunes, including some she's allegedly only written this afternoon! Her pure voice, akin to Tanya Donelly, and relaxed smiling demeanour onstage contribute to a very nice set. John pops in halfway through, and afterwards thanks us for coming along and supporting her. We chat to him and JD bassist Joe Klompus during the opening half of Garland Of Hours' unpleasant keyboard duet set, before the background noise gives Rachel a headache and we head off for the night!