A passel of Guelph musicians came through town last night. I mostly wanted to see Sarah Mangle since I was intrigued by the news that she played SappyFest but figured on past experience that Guelph would produce its usual high calibre of entertainment.
Party Time opened the show. She is in fact a party of one and is based in Toronto, real name Emma Moss Brender. She plays sad songs on guitar and covered Sarah Siskind's
Lovin's For Fools. Matt Reeves, who was performing as part of the Oil Spills, accompanying Richard Laviolette, also joined her on stage. This brought on an amusing story about the time she played a song about hoping to return to an ex-lover's arms only to find out that the lady in question was in fact Reeves' current flame (or something like that).
Party Time, The Rainbow, September 27
Mangle is also known as Sarah Mangle Buys a Bear in band mode. On this occasion she was accompanied by Gregory Burton on euphonium and keys and headliner Richard Laviolette on drums. The combination of brass, banjo-ukulele and drums made me think of Elephant 6 combo The Music Tapes.
Sarah Mangle Buys a Bear, The Rainbow, September 27
Richard Laviolette finished things off with a folky set, including a cover Bob Wills' Stay All Night (which always makes me think of The Sadies, since I've heard them cover it so often). In addition to Reeves, he had Jenny Mitchell playing bass. You may recall her playing with The Barmitzvah Brothers, or as Jenny omnichord. She and Richard sang a duet of the song they did together for her children's album, dedicated to her son Otis, who was off being babysat by the grandfolks.
Richard Laviolette and The Oil Spills, The Rainbow, September 27
A nicely rounded evening of entertainment, but in the end I just got
Party Time's album since I'm saving up for a sync cord.
