BIRD & BECKETT CULTURAL LEGACY PROJECT
Henry Salvia, piano and vocals.
Kathleen Salvia, vocals.
Alex Baum, bass.
Kenny Owen, drums.
John Pearson, percussion.
$25 cover charge; byob.
reservations, 415-586-3733.
Welcome to Henry’s Hideaway… it might be a dive on the Embarcadero, a concrete bunker or shaky wooden shack of a bar… maybe it’s the sixties, maybe the fifties… maybe it’s the forties… long before the freeway came down and the roller skaters came out. The dim light makes it impossible to discern the poisonous glow of doctored drinks, but no matter, love’s afoot, lust set loose, just enough… worry later, your cares are dead on arrival. Push open the squeaking door and join the party. It’s a tableau of friendly chaos, a population of denizens each with a story to tell, and everybody’s listening… Julie London, Ricky Ricardo, Joe Sample, Peggy Lee, a cat they call Laufey… they’re all there, as are you…
The Flying Salvias… they’re what happens after banging it out for decades with like-minded bandmates and performers famous and obscure…everyone knows their names, though none can quite remember in the moment…standing on arena stages, pool tables, church altars, bar stages (so many bars!). Driveways and flatbed trucks, country, blues, rock, folk, gospel, jump, swing, jazz…smooth and crunchy…heavy metal, the aural smorgasbord.
They’re what happens when it all combines with every other experience you’ve had in your life to take over your songwriting and performance. It’s forgetting to die young. It’s a hot unfocused mess, genius blurring and blending, rhythmic thought and melodic rhyme. It’s something in between. It’s a great look for sure.
Listen to what can happen when you refuse to give up and go away. It’s steam heat clanking in the Tin Angel. It’s a pajama game. It’s all you really want. It’s a little fun, that’s all it is…
