Kaki King at Ashkenaz!

(Berkeley, CA: January 29, 2009)

Walking into Ashkenaz for the first time last night I suddenly felt like I was about to watch a niece or nephew in a Grammar School Play with a stage in miniature and its dusty curtain facing the crowd at the front of a medium-sized room. The assortment of Christmas lights, Tiffany lamps and paper lanterns, were reflected and augmented by the large mirrors running along the wall, used on alternate nights for dance classes. Upon closer inspection, the mass array of colorful posters and knick-knacks adorning nearly every surface revealed picketing signs from the Free Speech Movement along the walls. You could feel the eccentric kindness of the establishment. It welcomed you in, reminded you of the struggles and injustices of the past, but offered a peaceful solution in the present: Kaki King.

Doors opened at 8pm, and Kaki came on just after 9pm with no warm-up. She was humbled by the crowd, made up 50/50 by college students and Berkeley families with kids sitting on laps. Her banter style was very upfront and comfortable, she spoke of wanting to do a few small shows in California, and apologized later on for the ticket prices ($20 a head). Ashkenaz was absolutely packed, all of the chairs were gone about 15 minutes after doors opened, and looking back around 8:45, people were standing 10+ deep in the back of the house. Kaki started off the show with her tuning ritual that begins nearly every piece, as she chooses one of her many alternate tunings that corresponds with the following song. Sharper-flatter-sharper quickly turned to a ravishing piece of guitar work that seemed to start as an improvisation, but was of course off of one of her recent albums. Her two hands, one outfitted with acrylic nails for finger-picking purposes and the other its unadorned counter-part, seemed to collaborate like The White Stripes in miniature. The brother and sister took on the burden of the complexity of the pieces, one in charge of the bass lines and whacks of the guitar body showcased on songs like “Playing with Pink Noise” and “Carmine St.” and the other keeping up the corresponding melodies and percussion.

By the time 10pm rolled around children were falling asleep in laps all around us, while the rest of us remained enthralled by our petite musician’s prowess. She was at times a bit rusty and strings buzzed in places they shouldn’t have. She sheepishly admitted to the fact saying that before going out on a solo guitar tour, “Practice before you get to Berkeley.” Despite the musical breadth and experimentation of her past albums …Until We Felt Red and Dreaming of Revenge, the show consisted entirely of Kaki and her two guitars, with 12 instrumental songs including the two encores, “Lolita for Animals” and “How Many Landslides Birds Have Seen Since the Beginning of the World.” She spoke of wanting to return to a simpler format, saying that this was her “No Lapsteel, no Loops, no Singing, and no other BS Tour.”

In addition to the musical highlights of the show were moments like when she started playing in time with a backing up truck right outside the building, or her frequent and outrageous banter always preceded or followed by apologies to the children in the audience and a wry grin. She encouraged all of the guitar players in the audience to raise their hands at one point during the show (“Oh my god how embarrassing, okay fine…”), and encouraged them to come up after the show with any questions regarding alternate tunings or strings. The overwhelmingly guitar-centered aspect of the show was actually pulled off rather effortlessly, despite the few songs it took for her hands to shake off nerves and remember their own talent. While myself and others had been looking forward to hearing some of the vocal accompaniment that has been such a nice surprise on her last two albums, we were reminded just how talented Kaki is. The 80-minute show was a successful return to the basics that stripped away in order to all the better showcase one of the most noted guitar players of her generation.