
From Lili to Lemmy
Caught singer, songwriter and virtuoso violinist Lili Haydn at the Hotel Cafe in Hollywood last Thursday night. She played a selection of tracks from her third solo release, Place Between Places, which was one of the most criminally ignored albums of 2008. (Though one of the tracks from it, "Saddest Sunset", did catch the attention of Califoniacation's producers, who used the song in a key scene.)
Haydn first picked up the violin at the age of 8, and was soloing with the LA-Phil by the time she was 15. Transitioning between genres as easily as she changes key, Hayden also plays with LA's daKAH Hip Hop Orchestra and Parliament-Funkadelic. George Clinton calls her "the Jimi Hendrix of the violin" and rightfully so she shreds on the violin as if channeling the dead guitar god.
Last time I saw her live was several years ago, when she shared the stage with daKAH for a performance of Parliament's "Come In Out of the Rain", an anti-war song that is as relevant to Afghanistan and Iraq as it was to Vietnam. At the Hotel Cafe, Haydn acknowledged the brave and the fallen with a song she'd just written that was inspired by HBO's new documentary film about Martin Luther King's final moments, The Witness: From The Balcony of Room 306 (she'd been invited to play at its premiere). Haydn is passionate about keeping King's dream alive, and is a big supporter of human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Action Center.
Haydn closed her set with the happy-go-lucky "Strawberry Street", a personal fav of mine.
This week I go from the yin to the yang, with a hard rockin' Thursday night date with The Chelsea Girls. The all-star, all-female cover band is comprised of vocalist Tuesdae, bassist Corey Parks (Nashville Pussy), guitarist Allison Robertson (The Donnas) and drummer Samantha Maloney (Peaches, Hole and The Crystal Method). Lemmy (Motorhead) joined the girls at their last show for "Ace of Spades", so it'll be interesting to see who shows up this week.