aeblog

Judging Aimee

Well, actually, it should be 'Judging Julian', which does have a certain ring to it as well, but forfeits the really lame pop culture reference. So 'Judging Aimee' it is.
Aimee, as in Miss Mann, played at Avalon last night (thanks mle for the ticket!) with her five piece band including the aforementioned Julian, as in Mr. Coryell. Julian also performed a half hour of his own creations as the opening act.
Here comes the judging part: Julian should stay in a supporting role where he absolutely shines and avoid performing his solo stuff. I can understand his apparent desire to go out on his own and be in the spotlight as opposed to more behind the scenes, but I would not recommend following that dream just yet.
In his opening set, Julian played a fairly poor piano patch on a keyboard and sang several of his own songs along with a few covers. His stage presence varied from pretty cool to slightly lame, and the keys were hard to listen to, but his voice was really stunning. He had a range that might rival Prince or Freddie Mercury (whom he admittedly admires) and hit every note with power and precision. But his songs just weren't so good. They rambled and had little memorable melodic or lyrical content (although I do remember that he repeatedly called himself an asshole in one song). Appropriately enough, his covers were the best songs he did.
So I was kind of unimpressed, but then Aimee came onto the stage and there was Julian - looking suddenly a bit like Slash - with a guitar firmly strapped over his shoulder. And over the next hour and a half, he played some of the most inventive and tasteful guitar that I have heard in a while. Every note had this brilliant tone and he played with a confidence that oozed through the remarkably minute motions of his fingers into his guitar and out to us. The thing that was really great and so admirable in my eyes was that he could easily have stolen the show with fits of stunt guitar a la Steve Vai, but instead chose to in a very calculated (but not cold) way sprinkle the songs with helpful notes only.
I left the show really liking Julian as a guitarist and thought he seemed like a cool guy, but I would not purchase his cd.

This whole predicament got me to thinking about my own situation. I mean, is Julian able to take a step back and look at himself and the whole of what he is doing and accurately judge what is good and what is not so good? It was pretty obvious to me and my concert-going colleagues, but accurate self-assessment is so hard.
So what about Judging Halsey? I don't have the luxury (yet) of having any third parties lend their opinions to any live performances, but there is studio stuff that you all hear. I wonder how my list of pluses and minuses compares to those third parties' lists.

WORK ALERT!! I started writing these out, but will have to wait because work is crazy today. But I wanted to at least post what I've got so far. Stay tuned!