Now Please Return to Your Seats

The way I see it, sometimes you just have to take the light switch into your own hands.

Of course, it may have been the pre-show wine that gave me the courage to do so.

I met a friend for an overdue happy hour at Six Burner, where the featured red was South African, so there was little chance of me resisting it.

The Left Bank was a full-bodied Western Cape blend with lovely soft tannins and an unlikely name.

Like I care what they call it.

Wisely, before we got down to the business of the past five weeks, we ordered sustenance for the storytelling that was to come.

The salmon rilettes with clementine, olives and toasted bread was a creamy ode to salmon, more of a terrine than a true rilette, but beautifully flavored.

The lamb chili came with a layer of creme fraiche, cheddar and chives, but it was the two hushpuppies floating on top that got our immediate attention.

I'm a big fan of chili and this had a pleasing depth of flavor and variety of beans that would have made it a perfect meal on a cold night.

Despite tonight's temperate air, we all but licked the bowl of every bit of lamb.

My friend told me of her pain-in-the-ass boss and her husband's attentiveness while the best I could do was CDs and head scratching.

We channeled our frustrations into a chocolate terrine with dried cherries, pistachio crumble and a clementine syrup that was one of the best desserts I've ever had at Six Burner.

Chocoholics, take note.

We took so long with dessert and the last of the wine that I barely made it to the Listening Room on time.

As it was, the man-about-town was in my seat (a fact my friend noted and said he thought, "Karen's not going to be happy about that") and my usual LR buddy was M.I.A.

The scientist was kind enough to offer me the seat next to him and ply me with dark chocolate throughout the first act.

I took it to be polite.

Nelly Kate walked onto the stage barefoot and began to do to the first-timers what she'd first done to me last June.

That would be knock my socks off.

Sharing that ever since she'd moved to Richmond she'd aspired to play the Listening Room, she began singing in her clear, little girl voice while looping guitar, hand claps, cooing, whatever she wanted.

"My loop station is a nice way for me to travel alone," she explained. It's true; it allows her to layer her dense sound and hypnotize an audience with her overdubs.

The audience reacted like they'd seen something amazing, which they had.

Afterwards, the break allowed the large crowd to mingle as if it were a party. Since this is the last Listening Room for two months, there was a special energy in the air, it seemed.

Even so, after a while it was time to sit down and hear some music and nothing was happening.

That's when I took things into my own hands and walked over to the light switch and started flicking it.

Intermission is over, kids. Sit down.

And they did, surprisingly quickly, and Bonnie Staley (of the Girtles) and Cliff Boyd (of Sport Bar) started their set with two back-up singers, Julie and Maya.

I'd like to read into the record that all three girls in the band had on dresses. Being the dress lover myself, I was impressed.

Their bass-heavy sound was complemented by girl-group vocals that would have been at home in the sixties.

In fact, the song "Samby" was, Bonnie said, part hers and partly the Beach Boys'. Seems her Dad used to sing "Wendy" to her nephew Sam and she assumed it was his song and riffed on that.

They also did a song of Julie's, about which she said, "I'm not going to explain it because I hate when people do that."

The song explained itself beautifully.

During the next break I ran into a guy I'd met at the Camel when he'd come up and introduced himself, telling me he saw me at shows everywhere.

Tonight, his first Listening Room, he referred to me as a scenester. I set him straight, welcomed him to the LR and then flicked the lights.

Somebody's got to take charge of misconceptions and intermissions.

James Wallace of Richmond via Nashville played last, acknowledging, "A lot of this equipment I don't know how to use yet so we're just going to work around it."

Their sound of guitar, upright bass, keyboard and James' voice made for a pleasantly poppy take on the singer/songwriter genre with just enough of a vintage sound (and maybe a dash of alt- country) to make it clear how talented this guy is.

But of course everyone who plays the Listening  Room is talented. Okay, there was one exception once, but every one else.

That's why I can't believe there are still people who haven't been.

Come, be a scenester. Just pay attention to the flickering light.