Skinheads and Bacharach

I'm quite sure I'd never heard Burt Bacharach's "The Look of Love" performed live before.

But then I'd never been to the Canal Sessions at Current (at the Hat Factory), where acoustic resigns supreme on Tuesday nights.

The last time I'd been in that space, it was to hear local band At the Stars, so it had been a while.

It wasn't crowded, so we grabbed a table with a view, ordered malbec and black bean nachos and settled in for some acoustic goodness.

Tabb Justice did some covers by Elvis Costello and the Clash, as well as some (very funny) original stuff, including a song about the girls who work the Chamberlayne Avenue corridor.

Let's just say glands were mentioned.

He was the one who'd pulled out the Bacharach chestnut and done a decent job with what could be called a cheesy song.

Donna Contessa and her twelve-string acoustic guitar began with Joni Mitchell (including the sublime "A Case of You") and went on to Joan Baez and Shawn Colvin.

Paul Pearce played his guitar with conviction and a beer nearby.

He got props for doing "Take the Skinheads Bowling" and a few hollers of support when he chose to cover Husker Du.

We heard another brief set from Tabb when he returned to do an original song about a guy called Brother Love whom he used to live over twenty years ago.

Apparently Brother Love saw the world through rose-colored glasses and Tabb did not at the time, resulting in a song to that effect.

Perhaps most interestingly, Brother Love happened to be in the audience tonight.

I didn't see any rose-colored glasses, though.

The show closed with a duo of Sean and Andre who covered everything from Cage the Elephant to Oasis.

With any luck, Brother Love went home and listened to "A Case of You" to restore his rosiness.

If he was smart. And he looked like he was.