Tea Leaf Green | 03.01 | SF, CA
By Team JamBase Mar 10, 2008 • 2:38 pm PDT

Tea Leaf Green :: 03.01.08 :: The Fillmore :: San Francisco, CA
![]() By Jay Blakesberg |
Before Tea Leaf Green‘s second night at the Fillmore, bassist extraordinaire Reed Mathis and I discussed the virtues of restraint and how music often thrives most when someone holds back and then carefully articulates each syllable they speak with their instrument or voice. Choosing to serve one’s songs can have as much power as extended solos or endless flight of virtuosic fancy. “These guys can play! But people don’t always catch that,” said Mathis. “Being an adult means making choices.” TLG and opener Blue Turtle Seduction are groups who’ve made their choices and arrived at a place of clear identity in an unclouded mirror, and as any smart Taoist will tell you, that’s when good things really start to happen.

By Dave Vann
While in the past BTS has worn a variety of costumes, this show found them in jeans and tees, workman’s gear that reflected the sense they were diggin’ in hard, carving out their place in the scheme of things. A wide curve into liquid funk – Bootsy Collins on superb collie weed shit – rose unpredictably into violin soundtracked cumulus. Elsewhere they married harmonica and 12-bar muscle to jazz swing in a way that coolly brought to mind John Mayall’s short-lived Jazz Blues Fusion band. Each vocalist sang on this strong offering of new material in a way that made each individual singer stand out more than in the past. BTS is always good for a solid group chant but they’ve hit a place where each voice’s nuances add something distinctive to the mix. They wrapped things up with a real “come on people, smile on your brother” vibe that also had the itch of good disco, a silver thread that laces up your skates and sends you flying. BTS is currently finishing their new studio album and if this set was any indication, we’re in for a treat.

By Jay Blakesberg
Listening to “Panspermic De-evolution” (a title dear dead Frank Zappa would have dug mightily) during the first set was the moment it hit me: Tea Leaf Green has jumped beyond their influences. While passionate, insatiable music nuts all, they’ve found their groove, their mojo, their raison d’être. As familiar as “Panspermic” is to anyone who’s followed these cats for a few years, there’s was a newness about it, as if the muscle memory of the thing has settled in and they’re able to do new tricks with even well worn passages. That vibe touched pretty much every minute of this performance, including a beautifully ragged cover of AC/DC’s ‘Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap” with local bartending legend Jason Finazzo (The Naysayers) on guitar and vocals. While hesitant to toss out blanket praise, when it’s deserved it’s worth offering. Sure, there were places the music didn’t completely join together, a flubbed note here and there, but what band trying to engage with their material in real time doesn’t have that? What TLG managed at the Fillmore was to fill in the nooks and crannies of every selection, giving them density and breath you could feel.

By Jay Blakesberg
03.01.08 :: The Fillmore :: San Francisco, CA
Set 1: Red Ribbons, Precious Stone, Let Us Go1, Papa’s in the Backroom, Panspermic De-evolution2, These Two Chairs, Cops Took My Weed1, Slept Thru Sunday, Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap3,4 (1:03)
Set 2: Baseball Song > The Devil’s Pay, Faced with Love1, Standing Still3, Jezebel, Moonshine1, Wet Spot, I’ve Got A Truck, Morning Sun (1:12)
Encore: Flippin’ the Bird1, Planet of Green Love5 (0:13)
Notes: 1w/ Trevor on harmonica, 2w/ “Riders on the Storm” (The Doors), 3First time played, 4AC/DC cover w/ Jason Finazzo (The Naysayers) on guitar and vocals, 5w/ Ben C. on bass and Reed on guitar
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