I wouldn't recommend sex, drugs or insanity for everyone, but they've always worked for me. ~Hunter S. Thompson
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| Nici Peper at James Sheeley House |
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| Written by John Abbott | |||||||
| Wednesday, 23 November 2011 18:20 | |||||||
 The usual Saturday night to be out on the town was not available this week, so we were looking for a Friday night show. It never ceases to amaze me that in the Chippewa Valley, you don't usually have to look very far for live music. Unless it is a Monday night, quite likely you are going to find a live show within 15 miles of your doorstep. This night, it was The James Sheeley House and a Twin Cities artist, Nici Peper on stage. A great artist with a lively crowd along with the great beer selection of the Sheeley House all made for a great night in Chippewa Falls. It was the first time I have seen Nici Peper and I don't know if she regularly comes to town or not. I really hope she continues to return. Nici has a sweet, confident voice. Whimsical in most of her songs. Bawdy in others, she was reminiscent of Ani DeFranco in several songs. --Even more so in her style of dress. She has that effortless cool look of a hipster down pat. The only thing I found somewhat disappointing was The Sheeley House was too loud for many of her songs. I would love to hear her in a quieter venue. An evening coffeeshop somewhere maybe would be perfect. As it was, there were a lot of loud voices that you can hear even in my videos. It was a pretty good sized crowd. Most of her audience was female. There was a short, male, flat-top-wearing, drunken heckler. The night seemed complete. Most of Nici's songs I knew (edit: or thought I did. See below) as covers, so they are her twist on popular songs. She did one or two originals. I thought they showed promise but I didn't think they were quite "there" yet. For now I think her show has to continue to rely mostly on covers while she continues to polish those originals.
My highpoint of Nici's songs was a warm soulful medley that turned into Circle be Unbroken. There were some people spontaneously singing along. I might have even been one of those people. It was a great moment and proof positive of an artist connecting to her audience. Another great moment was when she sang (unless my memory fails me) a cover of the Gillian Welch song, I'll Fly Away. Well done, well timed. The audience loved it. Providing set break entertainment was Joel Kachel. Joel seems a gregarious young lad. Someone behind me later asked him how old he was. I don't remember what he said. I do remember the surprise I felt because I thought he was younger. He was very genuine on stage with a constant eager to please expression on his face. I think also he has significant talent. Some of it, both guitar and between song patter, needs a little further work, but I felt like he did a great job. 
Singer/songwriter Joel Kachel on stage at James Sheeley House, November 2011
So I don't know if this is Joel's regular show, or if he was just having some big city kid thinking he was having fun playin' on stage with the country folk watching. He is booked to play at The Fine Line Music Cafe fairly shortly. The last time I checked, the Fine Line was a fairly major venue in the twin cities. I am not sure how well guitar practice is going to go over. Joel's originals were well done. I really wish I would have caught his original song Crow on video. It was the first original song he played that I was there for, and it started kind of rough. I decided to not waste the bytes. Wrong! It was an outstanding original song with some really amusing lyrics, and a really nice acoustic solo in the middle. It will be available from the artist on an E.P. coming out soon. Shortly after we arrived there was something going on with a couple of middle aged, rotund, mostly balding men behind us. They were having a semi contrived, semi humorous disagreement. It was happening back there, but not really to any level where you would notice it above the general noise level. It was brought to attention by Nici, who said she would sing them a song to get them back together. I forget what it was, a Frank Sinatra song maybe? I can't remember for sure. But, they took it well, played along, and hugged each other at the end. It was quite a funny moment. Nici saying she wished she could put it in a scrapbook. Well, Nici, here you are.
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| Last Updated on Wednesday, 23 November 2011 20:50 |
