Sir Richard Bishop and his Freak of Araby Ensemble with Oaxacan and Micah Blue Smaldone - The Middle East (Cambridge, MA) - Wednesday, June 17, 2009

With the close of the SUN CITY GIRLS chapter, RICK BISHOP has been busy creating solo siroccos of string buzz and fret blurt unparalleled by most humans, even ones with extra arms, hands and fingers grafted to their bodies. Well, working in isolation just ended with the newly-released The Freak of Araby (out on Drag City) and when news trickled out from Abduction headquarters that not only would Rick be putting the heavily Lebanese-flavored songs out onto the road, but he’d have a full band attack to go along with it; that the local stop was booked at The Middle East was kismet of the highest order. Not having seen him hoist an electric guitar over his shoulders since the ’93 tour with THINKING FELLERS UNION LOCAL 282 I was abuzz with anticipation and didn’t sleep for weeks.

The show started out with MICAH BLUE SMALDONE, a familiar face within acoustic circles, and while he didn’t pull out the excellent CONGOS cover of “Fisherman” I saw him play in March while supporting MEG BAIRD and JAMES BLACKSHAW, he had some real nice sounds emanating from the 12 string Guild, with flashes of lo-fi JASON MOLINA and ragas of SIX ORGANS OF ADMITTANCE among the mix.

Bay-area trio OAXACAN took to the stage and lowered the stage lights to a dull reddish throb on the right and an icy blue wash to the left, with blackness rippling from the middle to the edges. The mode was jazz clatter on the drums, guitar wigout-drone-wigout, and howled vocals into a cupped hand, electronics engaged and tampered with. Some lesser demons were expelled and the smell of incense was noticeable in its absence.

Rick took the big red hollow-body Gibson and promptly filled the room with the sort of casually breathtaking art he’s been producing for most of his life, the span and breadth of playing as wide an array of styles as anyone I can think of. Equal parts surf, Bedouin brushback, Shiva vengeance, and sticky hash residue, Bishop’s playing alternated with low-end runs and upper register whirls that a Dervish would be proud of. I would love to see a collaboration with MARC RIBOT at some point.

The set stuck mainly to the new material (a mix of traditional Lebanese songs with some originals) but an unexpected surprise was the playing of “Kal El Lazi Kad Ham” from Grotto Of Miracles, the second SCG LP. Peaks like these are why I go to concerts, to experience the sorts of moments where nothing else matters; this was truly one of those times.