Castanets played a psychedelic set reminiscent of the drones of Velvet Underground. The band seemed a little bit insecure on stage and very poor stage presence, but teh music was good, and a good primer for Gary.
I couldn’t believe that I was actually seeing Gary Higgins play live. His album Red Hash was heavily played on my system in 2005, despite being released back in 1973. It got a second life when someone from Drag City got it from Ben Chasny of Six Organs of Admittance. After many months calling all the Higgins in phonebooks, they found him in Connecticut. The album was recorded right before Gary was sent away to the “big house” for drug charges and didn’t get adequate distribution.
I counted a dozen guitars on stage when Gary took the stage wearing a gleaming white NY Yankees baseball cap. With him were 4 other musicians including a very funny cellist that blurted out “You can do it!” every so often. I’m glad that he is finally getting to play his wonderful songs, that don’t sound dated, to eager audiences. Although my only complaint was that the set list was too long, I was won over by his psychedelic folk songs. Maybe he’ll release a “new” album.