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On Saturday night this past weekend (Jan. 29) the Husband and I finally went to go see our neighbor play music. We’ve been neighbors for years and friends for the same number of years, and he’s been playing music locally for less time, maybe a bit over a year? since he quit his full-time job to go back to being a professional musician. We have missed his shows many times over, because we spend a lot of time traveling and Being Very Busy, and when we’re not doing those things we like to Sit on the Couch. I feel badly that we have waited this long to see the neighbor play music, because we intend to be more supportive. We trade dog-sitting and watch each other’s homes and trade food and things; we should see him play music, too.

And now that we’ve finally seen him play music, I feel badly that we’ve waited this long, because he’s very good! I was very impressed. The Adrian Zavala Band played at Khon’s, which is a little (little!) coffee shop/bar in the Little Vietnam area of southwest downtown Houston. It was a neat little place – basic but with some good offerings ($2 Lone Star draft!), and the sense to book Adrian.

Adrian claims to encompass “Duke Ellington meets Bad Brains”, whatever that means. I was pretty well entranced by the music. It’s a three-piece band – Adrian sings and plays guitar, along with a bassist and a drummer (um, sorry, I think I caught their names but they don’t seem to be available to me just now). I should say that I’m not a musician or a music critic; but I appreciate music, and I like to try to understand how it all comes together. Adrian’s music really spoke to me; it had me reliving old memories seemingly unrelated to the songs I was hearing. I don’t know how to explain that, but I find it obvious (to me at least) that sound is second only to smell in its mnemonic abilities – the ability to take us back in time, to tap into specific memories.

Adrian’s a pretty talented guitar player. I was trying to watch his feet to see what he was doing with the pedals; but most of what I normally think of as pedal effects he was doing with just the strings. (I cannot do this justice. See above comment re: me not being a music critic.) They performed only original music; and each song was satisfying long and complex with lots of bridges (is that right?). Guitar and bass both got to play around and show off some skills. It was fun! I would dance next time, if there were room, and if I were to be perhaps not the only person dancing??

I was musing about the comfort we find in familiarity. At one point one song diverged into a little bit of Rush, and I found myself smiling – not because it’s my favorite music (meh) but because I recognized it. But I loved the original music! I would rather hear original music (at least by Adrian; not necessarily by the next guy!) than Rush. So why smile? I think familiarity makes us comfortable; it makes us smile. I may have been imagining things, but I looked around and thought everybody else was smiling at it, too. I was thinking about the Heights mystery I finished recently, Murder on the Boulevard, which I ended up really enjoying. While not the height (ha) of literary achievement, it was a perfectly fun read; but I think it was heightened (now I’m having fun) by the familiarity of the setting. I think we all enjoy reading (or listening to, or…) things that reference our hometown, home neighborhood, etc. Familiarity is relaxing. And yet, it’s important to get out of our comfort zones, too, in the pursuit of happiness and lots of Other Things.

I’m so glad I got out of the house 🙂 AND our comfort zone, to see some live music. We don’t do enough of that. Thanks Adrian for the performance; hopefully there will be lots more, maybe even in a bigger venue that allows for me moving to the music! Although really Khon’s is a charming little place, I think this band could use more.

Filed under: musings | Tagged: music |