So far, this was one of the most intimate of the intimate shows that I have seen thus far at Bend Studio. My guess is there were about two dozen people in the venue that is Bend Studio, to see Paul Slavens and Robert Gomez exercise their craft. Blake, Paul, Zach and a good bottle of Italian wine were fortunate enough to get second row seating, even though we arrived a little bit later than I like to arrive.
Paul started off with a set of music that lasted about half an hour. Most of the songs were his voice accompanied by his skilled fingers on the keyboard. Most of Paul’s music was a little on the depressing side, but you couldn’t help but admire his skill on the piano and is comfort with the crowd. He changed the pace near the end of his set and had Robert Gomez play with him on a few more light hearted songs like “If love was a hatchet” . It would seem that this song grew from an audience members suggestion for a random song title at a previous show, and Paul took a liking to the outcome. My personal favorite was when he played the Beatles classic “I Will” after three or four practice starts, the music flowed with the classic mellow love song :
Who knows how long I’ve loved you
You know I love you still
Will I wait a lonely lifetime
If you want me to–I will.
The second half of the show was also different than I was used to for Bend Shows. Robet Gomez brought with him two other musicians (I believe they were Buffy and Tamera?). One brought with her a Cello, and the other with a Violin. Paul also stayed on and played his squeeze box. Four people and some large instruments on Bend’s stage. I was very impressed!! The music from the quartet was mellow, but very full and rich. The extra classical strings really added a lot to the sound, as did the accordion in the hands of a skilled musician.
Zach-
Saw your photo of Paul on Bend’s MySpace site and I was blown away. Beautiful. Glad to see another photographer out enjoying our fantastic little music scene.
cheers-
Kate