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OKAY, THIS ONE WAS a no-brainer: Little Charlie and the Nightcats at The Palms last Friday. I already knew I'd have a good time listening to this thumpin', jumpin' blues band because a group doesn't pull a big crowd at the The Palms time and time again unless there's a reason. And believe me, there's a reason. These guys are great!
This wasn't slow, soulful blues about life and surviving it. The Nightcats play bright and bouncy but with a true-blues beat. Stir together equal parts Stevie Ray Vaughn and the Stray Cats, and it would be Nightcats-esque.
Lead singer Rick Estrin, in black suit and shades, is a true showman. He is to the Nightcats what David Lee Roth was to Van Halen - strutting out front and playing the crowd; meanwhile the band grinds out tunes that'll make your toes tap. As for Little Charlie himself (Charlie Baty), the guy really knows his way around a guitar - down and around and up and back again. He looks like he could work at Home Depot by day, but put a guitar in his hands and he becomes one cool 'cat.
This was yet another "don't miss" show at The Palms. If you want a guaranteed good time, catch Little Charlie and the Nightcats when they return. And for Pete's sake, people - get out of your chairs and dance!
NOT TO BE OUTDONE in the "don't miss" department is another fine Mondavi Center performance. "The Co$t of Living," presented at the Mondavi on Sunday was frenetically fabulous. Starring David Beazely in a one-man powerhouse performance, the story revolves around a sex-crazed high school student's classroom video project on the cost of living. He discovers that everything in life has a cost, even one's first sexual experience - which he threads through the performance with equal parts angst and humor.
If you've ever had a "first time," you'll laugh along as you remember the fumbling and bumbling that probably went with it. If you haven't yet had a first time, you'll relate to the anxiety. The best message of all - there doesn't have to be a "first time" until you're ready. (And yes, I brought my teenaged daughter along for the performance.) The character discovers that he doesn't have to do or be anything he isn't comfortable with. Not yet, anyway.
The performance digs into what it means to have a relationship, and what that means when sex comes into the picture. And sex can have a cost - besides the inherent worries over just performing the "first time," there's all sorts of risks to go with it, like pregnancy and AIDS.
Following the show, an AIDS patient came on stage to answer questions about the disease. The tone immediately changed from humorously thought-provoking to deadly serious. One person asked the man for advice on how to discuss sex and AIDS with teens. His response: just keep talking to them. Even if it's uncomfortable. Do it anyway. It might save their lives.
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