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I'LL ADMIT, when they started singing about livestock at their March 14 appearance at The Palms in Winters, I was worried that maybe I didn't belong at a Golden Bough performance. That's a little too close to folk music for comfort. But I didn't worry long. You'd have to be one cranky character not to enjoy those sweet, cheery melodies and harmonies, even when the lyrics are about cows. It's just very lovely stuff. If sunshine could be captured in musical notes, Golden Bough could do it.
The trio played a variety of instruments, including harp, accordion, violin and guitar, and covered songs from Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Cornwall. They were occasionally joined on stage by the Reel Step Sisters, dancing classic Irish reels and jigs with tapping toes and beaming smiles.
Golden Bough is renowned in the world of Celtic music and are Palms favorites, with several CDs featuring their lilting, tinkling numbers, which sometimes sound as if they could be emanating from a music box. If you're feeling down and gray, Golden Bough will brighten your spirits. If you missed them this time around, don't worry. They'll surely return to The Palms by popular demand.
SPEAKING OF RETURN PERFORMANCES, the Renegade Shoe Policy kept the Irish Pub hopping last Friday, with their snappy ska versions of various Sublime tunes and classic rock numbers. Although they were minus their trombone player, the remaining band members picked right up and played on. Winters' own future MTV stars just keep getting better and better. When the world discovers them, we can say we knew them when.
PALMS OWNER DAVE FLEMING introduced Tempest at the March 22 show as "the world's greatest Celtic rock band." He wasn't exaggerating. There's just one word to describe this band: Wow. True, the band plays songs in the classic crisp, bouncy Celtic rhythm, but amped up with electric instruments, the songs practically burst from the stage. If Emeril was writing this column, he'd definitely say that Tempest kicks Celtic up a notch.
Their style at times hints at being Jethro Tull-esque - heavily instrumental, bright and fast-paced, but the sound is uniquely their own. Credit that to the ample talents of Lief Sorbye, Sue Draheim, Adolfo Lazo, Mark Skowronek and Joel Monte Mahan. Why this group isn't wildly famous in the mainstream music scene, I don't know. You can't not like this band. If you can, maybe you just don't like music much. Stay home and play cards.
Tempest is a band that falls in the must-see category. Must see, over and over, and whenever the next performance will be, it's too far away. I had to buy a CD to tide me over until then. Their next CD is in the works and will be released in May, and hopefully they'll return to The Palms while they're still hot off the press. (Burner?)
I've said it once, I'll say it again: If you live in Winters and aren't taking advantage of the wonderful talent that's passing through our town at The Palms, you're really missing out. Just pick a show and go. Beats staying home and playing Solitaire on a Saturday night.
AT THE OTHER END of the entertainment scale is a "must miss" film. Against my better judgement, my darling daughter coerced me into seeing "Old School," starring Will Ferrell. I'm sure I've seen a worse movie in my life, but none come to mind. (And I like Will Ferrell!) The jokes might entertain a pre-pubescent boy, but on the other hand, they'd be inappropriate for anyone that young. Don't go see this movie. Don't rent it. They should have to pay you to watch this two-hour turd.
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