Reviews

doug

Some musicians won't play for less than twenty people. If your the Stones or Elton John you probably won't play for less than ten thousand. Doug Hoekstra (currently living in Nashville) played for less than ten tonight. It was almost looking like it could be less than five in the first set but thank god for happy hour. He pleasently chatted with those in attendence between songs and talked with the sound man, barmaid and a couple of locals between songs. He appears as a skinny, somewhat frail man with glasses. I couldn't quite place it but he reminded me of John Lennon somehow. I was obviously pleased with myself when he introduced a song in his second set as being written for his four and a half year old son Jude. It was called 'Picture Of The Soul' and was a very heart-felt and magical song about "how my son changed my concept of the soul because it felt like he had always existed." He represented this with the lyrics "he was young and somehow old, there will never be a ce! ntury when he will cease to be changed for me". This is something I really liked about Doug.

His gentle and very open demeanor. His vocal followed suit being a calming baritone with very clear pronounciation. I like to be able to hear a musicians lyrics. Doug tells stories backed by simple chord progressions. Like Dylan, Waits and Lennon you feel like you are entering someone else's world. Doug's lyrics are great at creating pictures in the listeners mind. 'Picture Of The Soul' was followed by an old song requested by a guy in Nottingham when he played there the other night entitled 'Stolen Gun'. Doug played harmonica whilst slowly picking a melody on his acoustic. A very descriptive and dark tale of a woman and the perils she encounters. A great song. 'Diminishing Returns' and 'Birmingham Jail' followed. He then played a song called 'The Family Tree' inspired by an interesting story of a music journalist in Minneapolis who would always get drinks bought for him at gigs by ! a guy who would always be sat at the bar.

It was great at first but over time he started to avoid this guy because he was constantly getting drunk. The guy at the bar was asked why he always bought drinks for everyone. It turns out he was a recovering alcoholic and liked to watch other people get drunk! "He might hang himself on the family tree". This example of human behaviour preceded Doug reading from his new book which is a collection of music related fictions and essays. He read us a bit about a character called Johnny Q and his experiences as he pushes his 'Dusty Roads and Roaring Engines' record. A great title to be followed by a travelling song and the opening line "Hey babe, I'm in one of those moods, going to clean out the closet and throw away whatever dosn't move".

Doug began to utilize the services of a sampler towards the end of the set. It provided bongos on 'Celebrate The Trance' before dying a slow death in the next song, it made little difference to the quality of the songs however. We all sang Happy Birthday to a lovely Fren! ch lady before Doug ended with a bluesy number and the words "every lovers breath is in the golden F". I found Doug to be charming and a true independant artist.A man who not only tells tales with music but also writes. It was a pleasure to hear him play tonight in such intimate surroundings.

Ed Cesar