Powerful Cat....

Johnnyk (the younger) and friend Tall Dan ventured over to the Avalon Ballroom in Boston to see Cat Power (Charlyn "Chan" Marshall) with Dirty Delta Blues Sunday night and reports a wonderful performance by The Fidgety One. JFK says that she started the performance with The Greatest, from her addictive, same-titled album, but then ventured off to other, eclectic material, some of which possibly came from her previous recordings which include Dear Sir,1995/ Myra Lee,1996/ What Would the Community Think,1996/ moon Pix, 1998/ The Covers Record,2000/ You Are Free,2003). JFK is not so familiar with Cat's catalog that he can identify the evening's playlist, however. During band solos, Ms. Power, according to Tall Dan, sneaked offstage to pet her dogs. (ed. note: I procrastinated sufficiently to miss tonight's show at the Pearl Street in Northampton)

REVIEW- Boston Herald
Feral Cat Power shows off her soulful side by Christopher John Treacy/ Music Review

Known for strumming deceptively simple compositions as a one-gal show, Cat Power (Chan Marshall) wowed listeners last year with "The Greatest," an unexpected, striking set of Memphis soul originals. After an interim trek with the 11-piece Memphis Rhythm Band, she’s now working with a new quartet, Dirty Delta Blues, and the smaller setting allows room for her limited but expressive pipes to flourish. In tight jeans, pink T and fingerless gloves, Power bounded onto Avalon’s stage Sunday night with a massive iced coffee and a giddy look of wonderment, launching into the disc’s woozily seductive title track. Gleefully swishing from side to side, she wove tracks from "The Greatest" between an oddball shuffle of unlikely covers, revealing her musical personality best with idiosyncratic interpretations of the latter.

Fueled by organist Gregg Foreman, Power zapped Sinatra’s familiar "New York, New York" of any Broadway glory, morphing it into something sly, shady and sinister: It slapped a whole new slant on the line about wanting to "wake up in the city that never sleeps." Her bluesy whisper gave Billie Holiday’s "Don’t Explain" necessary gravity, while her Dirty Delta ensemble pumped barroom humidity into Kitty Wells’ "Making Believe" and Otis Redding’s "I’ve Been Loving You Too Long."

Flat Duo Jets vet Dexter Romweber opened with a set of his signature punkabilly, bolstered by his sister’s fantastic drumming.