My best concert experience ever was Andre Williams at the Hemlock, April 2006.
It began with Mission hero Johnny Davis saving our asses: My girlfriend at the time had left her ID in her other fucking yoga pants and was being turned away — Andre within minutes of taking the stage — when suddenly Johnny swooped in and vouched for us. Then we all drank a bunch of Jim Beam and Pliny the Elder and ducked into the crowd. (Thanks again, Johnny!)
Andre owned the world that night. A septuagenarian with the energy of a teenage punk rocker, he hops around on the stage, shouts, bellows, emotes. There’s this song he does called The Dealer, the Peeler and the Stealer, and it floored everybody. Driving rhythm, shout-along chorus. We were in a little black box jumping up and down as Andre jumped up and down, our brains replaced with solid soul swagger.
Andre plays Slim’s tonight as part of Noise Pop. It’s less intimate a room, but I don’t imagine he won’t make it work just as well. And they definitely have Jim Beam and Big Daddy.
Photo by Dena Flows.
Bonus: The Noise Pop Film Festival screens a feature-length documentary about Andre next Friday at ATA.
This sounds cool. Have you seen old school Bay Area soul man Darondo? He still puts on a good show.
By the way, doesn’t Noise Pop start next Tuesday?