Mike Doughty @ The Crepe Place 5/8

[thatguy]

If you haven't been there, The Crepe Place is a hole in the wall restaurant/bar. The bar up front has limited seating. The back area is about the same size, but really set up for dining. They've been revamping it into a night spot which is good because mid-town Santa Cruz doesn't have much. They've had Frank Black from the Pixies play there and Mike Doughty has played a few gigs before too. I've seen a couple other "big names", but it's mostly local "talent" if you can call it that. They also started doing events like a movie night and an absinthe night.

I saw the Mike Doughty tix get pre-announced awhile ago, so I got one right when they went on sale. I was wondering how they would set up for a show. The front area is small and 40 people would be a crowd. When I got there it was packed. I got a prime spot behind a pillar. The show finally started about 30-min late. Peeking around the pillar, I couldn't see much as it was standing room only and everyone was tall. The band consisted of Doughty with an acoustic guitar and another guy with a cello. They played a bunch of his solo material. Breaking periodically to change tuning on the guitar. His tuner battery was dying and some of his tunings were wonky. While trying to correct all that, they would answer questions the audience had submitted in a big jar at the stage. Pretty funny stuff. One question: "If I eat you will I gain your powers?" to which Mike said "Yes and please don't eat me." A later question was "How come you are so awesome?". His answer was that there was this other awesome guy and he ate him...He broke a string while tuning and we got to go through a bunch more questions while he fixed that. Then they started playing again...Some Soul Coughing tunes like "Circles" and "Jeanine".

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More solo material. At one point during more question and answer, he had the audience try to restructure itself according to height, but that didn't work out so well although I got out from behind the pillar and could see a little better. He also had the audience turn around collectively and "shush" the people at the bar who were talking loudly. We had to do this a couple of times...

All in all an excellent show. Extremely intimate. I really enjoyed the music. The venue would be ok if I got there earlier and was a little closer. It was awesome to not have to drive 90 minutes each way to see him in the city.

good bands coming to Santa Cruz = awesome!

--tg

[thatguy]

Is Soul Coughing reuniting?!? We might find out today!

https://www.remindmagazine.com/article/1...l-coughing-reuniting/

Is ’90s Alt-Rock/Jazz Band Soul Coughing Reuniting?

Ryan Berenz
Yesterday, 3:25 pm

Opening the internets, I experienced both shock and excitement upon seeing this:
If you were into alternative rock music in the 1990s, you may remember Soul Coughing for tracks like “Super Bon Bon,” “Soundtrack to Mary,” and their biggest hit, “Circles.” Here’s a little refresher:


Founded in New York City in 1993, Soul Coughing was fronted by Mike Doughty(he went by M. Doughty back then), with bassist Sebastian Steinberg, sampler/keyboardist Mark degli Antoni and drummer Yuval Gabay.

It was an eclectic mix of talents and personalities, which created a unique sound difficult to pin a label on. They incorporated elements of hip-hip, funk, dance, rock and spoken-word, and they sampled things like music from old cartoons, orchestral loops, answering-machine messages and a joke from a Chris Rock comedy album.

Soul Coughing released its first studio album, Ruby Vroom, in 1994. Irresistible Bliss followed in ’96, and their final record, El Oso, came out two years later.

In Doughty’s excellent 2012 memoir, The Book of Drugs, he details the band’s formation, success, and eventual breakup in 2000 due to creative and personal conflicts. Doughty also struggled with alcohol and drugs, which further complicated matters. He’s now been sober for more than 20 years.

Doughty’s had a prolific solo career since the early 2000s. He’s journeyed from folksy acoustic albums on CD-Rs that he sold at his live shows to his most recent project, Ghost of Vroom, somewhat of a throwback to the sound and style of Soul Coughing.

There was a period around the time of The Book of Drugs’ release that Doughty disowned Soul Coughing, citing the rough times he had with the band: He called it a combination of bad memories and bad art. He stopped playing SC songs at his solo live shows. (At a show I attended in Chicago in the fall of 2011, he announced — perhaps jokingly — that he and his band would only play a Soul Coughing song if they were presented with a certified check for $1 million on the stage.)

Fortunately, that period didn’t last long. In 2013, Doughty released an album of reimagined Soul Coughing tracks (and did another in 2014). Soul Coughing songs are again heard in abundance at his live shows.

When asked if a Soul Coughing reunion would ever take place, Doughty said it wasn’t impossible, just that there wasn’t any money in it.

In 2022, Doughty and Steinberg performed together onstage in Los Angeles:


And earlier this year, Doughty paid a visit to Steinberg:

So perhaps the signs were there that a Soul Coughing reunion might take place. But what will this reunion consist of?

axs.com may have spilled the beans:

“We said it would never happen. Soul Coughing, one of the most unique and influential bands of the last four decades, is returning to the stage fully-formed for the first time in 25 years. All four original members, Mike Doughty, Sebastian Steinberg, Mark degli Antoni and Yuval Gabay will be performing from coast to coast this September and October. Each exclusive performance will feature songs from their legendary catalog– El Oso, Irresistible Bliss and their genre-defining debut album Ruby Vroom which celebrates its 30th anniversary this fall.”

That sounds awesome. In the meantime, reacquaint yourself with some Soul Coughing classics:

—tg

[thatguy]

Announced!

Two dates at the filmore:

9/14 & 9/15

With the original members...

--tg

[Drunk Monk]

Are you planning to go? I'm not really into this band (don't really know them) but I can always work Fillmore shows, especially if there's a carpool from Mo Bay...

[thatguy]

Are you planning to go? I'm not really into this band (don't really know them) but I can always work Fillmore shows, especially if there's a carpool from Mo Bay...

If I can get tickets (not on sale yet), for sure. Not sure which day I'd attend

--tg

[Drunk Monk]

Well, let's cycle back around if you get tix. I owe the Fillmore crew some face time.