Ryan Rittenhouse, founder of Santa Cruz Surf Apparel Co., held a press conference today, Jan. 5, to dispel the Santa Cruz Surfing Club Preservation Society’s current allegations against him...
The facilities run by the city of Watsonville will be closed completely until Jan. 5, 2009, as the city attempts to save money in a slumping economy. The move...
University police had a busy morning on Wednesday, Dec. 17, as they took stock of the previous night’s vandalisms on the campus. The crimes were scattered across the large...
I love it when an opening act steals the show. Clare & the Reasons owned the stage at last night's Rio Theatre show, despite My Brightest Diamond topping the bill. The four-piece (viola, cello, singer, and everything else) plays lush pop that calls to mind the Ditty Bops, but has the sunny songwriting sensibility of an early '80s sitcom theme and the slaphappy lyrics of a 4th-grade short story. After being beckoned into the vacant dance floor by Clare Muldaur-Manchon, the band's charismatic and cute frontwoman, most of the audience sat on the ground in front of the stage, lending the set the feel of a slumber party with the orchestra geeks, particularly when the band strapped on blinking bike lights and played a French reprise of their hit "Pluto" in the pitch dark.
Clare Muldaur-Manchon
The highlights of the set were two off-album masterpieces -- the hilarious "Can Your Car Do That? I Don't Think So" and an unexpectant but jubilant string quartet rendition of "Everybody Wants to Rule the World," a Tears for Fears chestnut that never gets old. The crowd was clamoring for an encore, but the etiquette of supporting bands wouldn't allow it. Besides, everyone but Clare had to change costume -- "The Reasons" were also serving as Shara Worden's backup in My Brightest Diamond.
It took everyone a moment to catch up with Worden's theatrical style after being so disarmed by Clare's sincerity. Worden is definitely a performer who marches to the beat of her own drum machine, and her seemingly aimless legato vocal lines aren't for everyone; she's the answer to the question, "What if Annie Lennox finally went off the deep end?" Still, by the time she was whipping around a giant musical piece of red licorice and calling Clare's husband, Olivier Manchon (the aforementioned "everything else") to jump center stange and perform a magic trick, we were all won over.
My Brightest Diamond is a tough sell, because so little of the music sticks, but there are moments that cannot be shaken, like the Led Zeppelin-esque bass line in her semi-hit "Inside a Boy" which, despite Tears for Fears spinning in the back of my brain, proved to be the melody I hummed when the night was over.
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Town Hall with Sam Farr
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Town Hall with Sam Farr | Print | E-mail
Written by Sam Farr
Monday, 05 January 2009
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