EricFate
@livemusicaficionado
Live music aficionado.
July 17, 2026 - Pavement @ Mosswood Meltdown For Pavement, I retreated back to the soundboard. I've discovered that bands in my age range tend to to crank their volume to help compensate for their own collective hearing loss. Stellar set, most has already been posted to youtube, I am sure.
July 17, 2026 - Wednesday @ Mosswood Meltdown Haven't caught a Wednesday performance since 2022, glad to see they still turn in an amazing live set. I hope they get a printed copy of the intro that John Waters delivered to introduce their set. That was a work of art and deserves to be framed.
July 17, 2026 - Vivian Girls @ Mosswood Meltdown If I'd known that Katy was going to be the first person I would run into after arriving, I would have brought a La Sera CD with me to get signed. As much as I love Frankie, this has always been my favorite VG lineup. Glad to see them back at it.
July 16, 2026 - Jolie Holland @ House Show I had to miss the last two times Jolie came through my region, so I'm glad this popped up on my calendar a couple days ago. It was part of a benefit for The Red Barn Collective -- a local art and mutual aid outfit.
July 16, 2026 - Mary Sand @ House Show I've run into Mary in the audience at multiple events, but never knew that she was a musician herself. Now I know. I'll be keeping an eye out for more of her work in the future.
July 03, 2026 - Nat Lefkoff @ WAL Market I think the last time I saw Nat was while he was still doing the Davis house show circuit back in 2009. He has since worked that into some extensive touring, a decently sized following, and some LP's that I should probably pick up and listen to. Someday.
July 03, 2026 - Drew Walker @ WAL Market I've seen Drew run sound, I've seen Drew play drums, I've seen Drew perform over tape loops. I've never seen Drew perform a set with just guitar and vocals. It made for a much more grounded set.
Also found in the parts closet, my retirement fund. (Actually will likely move them to the safe since if any of my existing system memory goes bad, I won't otherwise be able to afford to replace it.)
Weekend music mail. Well, technically I picked one of them up at a show, but it was still weekend related.
June 20, 2025 - Rituals of Mine @ Davis Music Fest It is a given that if Terra announces a show, I'll do everything within my power to attend that show. In part because I think the performances are stellar, and in part because Terra has never taken that choice for granted.
June 20, 2025 - Party Nails @ Davis Music Fest Elana is great, glad to see her return with her band (plus one). I continue to be amused by the weird floppy gingerbread man shaped power strip thing that the bassist uses on tour.
June 20, 2025 - MAITA @ Davis Music Fest Glad to see Maria Maita-Keppeler make it back to town. They were supposed to play in Davis last April, but everything fell apart once the spot who volunteered to host the gig closed their doors and ceased to exist. I hope this helped to make up for that.
June 20, 2025 - The Gold Souls @ Davis Music Fest Surprised to see their horn section has once again expanded. I miss the slide trombone player, but I'm not going to complain about another layer of sax in their mix. Not pictured -- Billy, who my camera only seems to render as an incoherent blur.
June 20, 2025 - Nineteenth Operator @ Davis Music Fest I appreciate the ambition on display here. I wouldn't expect a band who lists Mazzy Star as a major influence to have quite so much percussion or trumpet, but that's what they came out of the gates with, and it worked surprisingly well.
June 20, 2025 - Career Woman @ Davis Music Fest This is Melody's more rock focused project, and the one whose work I am more familiar with. I saw lots of shirts, but I didn't see any copies of the recent Lighthouse album. I'll have to remember to order it online.
June 20, 2025 - Beti Masenqo @ Davis Music Fest I wish I had been able to stay longer for this one, but the interview portion ran long. Beti is always astounding. With luck I can track down the broadcast recording and listen to the part that I had to miss.
June 20, 2025 - Fitting @ Davis Music Fest More locals I am always glad to see. I used to run into drummer Greta here when Pastel Dream was still around, but it stopped being a regular music spot long before Fitting came to exist, so this experience was new to the rest of the band.
June 20, 2025 - Not Yet, Old Dog @ Davis Music Fest This was one of the two Melody Caudill related projects scheduled for this stage, and the one I was least familiar with. Wasn't able to catch much of their set, but I enjoyed enough of what I heard to commit to catching them again in the future.
June 20, 2025 - Megan Claire @ Davis Music Fest I'm embarrassed I did not know this artist at all. I'd stopped checking up on Davis Open Mic events years ago and don't know any of the newer folks who found their voices and built their followings out of that scene. Impressive voice and material.
June 20, 2025 - Rosemother @ Davis Music Fest Always glad to see this band. Unfamiliar with their new keyboardist, but they seem to compliment their live sound well.
June 20, 2025 - Home by (5:30) @ Davis Music Fest This was the promising high school band who won the annual contest to open the Saturday events. First time in a while that this went to a pop act instead of a jazz ensemble. And one with a decent slate of originals instead of covers.
June 19, 2025 - Dead Winter Carpenters @ Davis Music Fest Given the overlap with Golden Cadillacs, it made sense to see these folks on as the headliner. I've always found them to be charming and delightful, and have never been disappointed by one of their sets. This was no exception.
June 19, 2025 - Marty O'Reilly @ Davis Music Fest Marty has played my area dozens of times, and I know plenty of folks who think he is amazing, but I'm always a bit baffled when I ask what they like about his music and the best they can come up with is 'He was on The Voice'.
June 19, 2025 - Mestizo Beat @ Davis Music Fest This was billed as an Afro-Latin soul ensemble out of Los Angeles. There was a lot more to their music than that. If anything they seemed to lean more into funk/psychedelic than anything else, which I thought was cool.
June 19, 2025 - Megan Slankard @ Davis Music Fest This was the point where the fest really started to kick off. I've seen Megan many times over the years, but this trio arrangement went hard, and left me genuinely impressed.
June 19, 2025 - The Golden Cadillacs @ Davis Music Fest Haven't seen these folks since I caught them on a Sarah Shook bill a few years back. Not quite the same lineup, but still solid.
June 19, 2025 - Wet Wreckless @ Davis Music Fest A curiously divisive choice to open the festival. Nothing technically wrong with them, but their sound is something that people completely love or completely hate.