A quick plug for The Clarks (loud music upon entering site) who I just saw (sans drummer Dave Minarik) at World Cafe Live with some good friends. Guitarist Rob James, bassist Greg Joseph, and singer Scott Blasey played acoustic covers ranging from The Violent Fems to Jim Croce to Bruce—and a shockingly good version of Prince’s “Kiss” complete with falsetto)—as well as some of their own stuff. New and old, from what I am told.
It’s been a long time since I’ve been to a live show and it was great to see a band having a ball up there on the stage. Food and drinks were good, too. Not much of a beer connoisseur, I tried the two most bizarre sounding beers on the menu, both of which turned out to be local brews: Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA and Troegs Nut Brown Ale. I recommend both, the brown ale a little more.
2 responses to “the clarks at world cafe live”
Glad you enjoyed them – you know they’re Pittsburgh boys, right? I’ve been listening to the Clarks since high school, and I’ve always been surprised that they never really made it. They were on Lettermen a couple of years back – but still, no big hits or anything.
I’m assuming they played the standards: Cigarette, Penny on the Floor, Born Too Late…
Hey Jim. Yeah, they said that they were from Pitt, and you’re right, they really are that good. Do you think that they’ve wanted to stay smallish? I understand they play to really huge crowd back home in Pitt.
They played some of their classic stuff (or, what Suzanne told me was classic stuff). I do remember Cigarette. Mostly it was covers—sometimes a medley of covers interwoven together—and some solo work that they are all doing. Overall, a great time though. They were clearly happy to be back in Philly (and to get a few good nights sleep without the kids waking them up) and their Philly groupies were happy to have them there.
Is there a particular CD or two that you recommend?