Build Me Up Buttercup

You never know what Jackson Ward will offer up on any given evening.

I love evenings where I stay in the neighborhood, walking to my destinations. Tonight's plan was to make it to Gallery 5 for the Julia Nunes show at 8:30. By 8:15, there was a line outside to buy tickets; I couldn't have been more surprised.

But when I made it inside, the ticket-seller was telling the girls in front of me that the show wouldn't actually start for an hour. "Okay, we'll be back. We're going to drink," they told him.

And why not, I thought. I got my wristband and headed down the block to Comfort for a drink before the show.

It was the bartender's first night and he was flummoxed as to what good tequilas they carried when I asked.  With a little investigative bartending, he was able to help me. And, boy, was he proud about it.

 Within moments a guy sat down next to me and initiated  compliments and conversation. He turned out to be the engineer in charge of the VCU parking deck project over on Grace Street, the one I pass every day on my walk. Small world.

I commented about how quickly the deck was coming together and how it appeared that it was jigsaw puzzle-like, with interlocking pieces.

Pre-cast, he called it, and told me that the pieces range from 48,000 pounds to 73,000 pounds. And, amazingly, the deck will have cars parking in it by July.

He insisted on buying me a drink, but since he turned out to be an interesting conversationalist, I considered it worth it.

Naturally I asked him where he had been eating since he'd come to Richmond for the project and it was only the places in J-Ward; he was loving the neighborhood. In fact, he was already a regular at Comfort.

During the relatively brief period before I returned to Gallery 5 for the show, we discussed tobacco-based economy, corporal punishment, travel and food worship.

I enjoyed hearing a visitor's perspective of our city and got an invitation for a hard-hat tour and for dinner with him soon before walking the one block to hear music. Totally random.

Opener Ian Axel was an obvious Ben Folds devotee and his sweet and melodic voice made me sorry I had missed his first song.

With a back-up vocalist, he sang, strummed and played piano. At one point, headliner Julia Nunes joined them on stage for a rollicking number with the most beautiful harmonies.

After his set, he asked people to come visit him at his merch table. "If you don't buy an Ian Axel fortune cookie, we'll give you a hug." It was the perfect metaphor for his earnest sound.

During the break, I ran into J-Ward neighbors who live literally across the street from G5 ("We go out on our patio and listen to the music before deciding if we're going to a show").

Like me, they thought this show far too interesting to miss on a Tuesday night. Unlike me, they had seen Ben Folds recently at the National (even sending a paper airplane song request onstage...along with hundreds of other people), so they were thrilled with both Ian and Julia's devotion to and influence by the piano man.

With her ballsy, borderline vaudeville persona in the vein of Nellie McKay, Julia was a compelling stage presence.

Introducing  a song, she said, "This is the first love song I ever had the balls to write," before launching into a song clearly written from experience.

She did one of her big youtube hits, a cover of "Build Me Up, Buttercup" with the audience exuberantly doing the background vocals.

She introduced her bass player, saying he would be playing guitar. Actually, he made bass and percussion noises. Later he snapped an accompaniment, no easy task.

Her ability to meld original and covers songs was best demonstrated with a song she introduced by saying, "This song is half me and half not original. You will realize when that happens."

And indeed we did, as she segued from the line, "When I am over you, it will be f*cking great," and then seamlessly went into "Twist and Shout."

Later she managed to insert a few lines from Adele's red-hot "Rolling in the Deep" into one of her songs.

During the course of the show, she played a lot of ukulele (hey, it got her 35 million hits on youtube) and her mustachioed guitar.

She brought up Ian and Chad onstage to "be the mouths she needed to pull off" certain songs. With her terrific voice and room-filling stage presence, the crowd ate her up.

When she finished her last song, she promised to meet and greet at the merch table and the crush of people to get over there was unlike any I've seen at a G5 show.

People wanted to talk (touch?) Julia and were willing to wait in line for the privilege.

For me, it was enough to have seen the show, so I headed out into the streets of Jackson Ward. Well, actually I walked home through the cobblestoned alleys.

Tonight J-Ward was offering up the intoxicating smells of honeysuckle and mock orange blooming in the alleys. Amongst other pleasures already enumerated...