The Vivs (25-Sep-2009, Church, Boston)
Based on the recommendation of a friend, I caught the Vivs at the Church of Boston. Man, that club is just too clean, nothing like its former self, which shall not be named for fear of arousing the ghosts of gigs past.
Dave Minehan opened; sorry, but I’ve had enough of that over these many years.
The Vivs were pretty darn great. The personnel is ex-Edith, ex-Tribe, ex-Scatterfield, all worthy but under-recorded bands from Boston in the late 80s/early 90s, with Tribe being the one that could have / should have broken out. The big personality of the Vivs is Karen Harris, formerly of Edith. Her voice has an uncanny touch of Amy Rigby (caught by the Globe’s reviewer: http://www.boston.com/ae/music/cd_reviews/articles/2009/09/21/the_vivs_mouth_to_mouth/), and her visual appearance has some swagger that evoked, oh . . ., maybe a young Melissa Etheridge, without the rawk cliches? Harris is small and in great shape, and she has to control the stage with personality, which she can do. Really, I was kind of floored, and developed an instant crush. I hope I never see her in the grocery market or the laundrymat, you know what I’m saying (this is what I’m saying)?
The other thing about this band is that Harris has the lyrics, and I would advise you to acquire the album and study them (http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/thevivs), ‘cos they’re printed in a CD insert — kind of old school, y’know? Based on the crowd reaction, the big songs would seem to be the openers on the CD, “Waking Up” and “Eiffel Tower,” but take it from me, the best songs are “Falling off the Wagon” and “Take it on the Chin.”
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Someone just sent this to me. Ha ha ha!! See ya at the grocery store! And thanks for the kind words…xoxo kh
And ps what kind of casserole is made with tomatoes? Just shows that Lucinda Williams don’t really cook…