KULAS TORONTO LIFE CAFE 20.6.03

Setlist (Kulas solo acoustic songs only): Starland, Pavement, Having & Losing It All, Sleep, The Only One, Shine, Glasgow Rain, A Clever Mess, Anyone Out There, In My Life (Beatles cover, full trio)

Tonight, Kulas was indeed one of the three - songwriters that is.  The format of this evening's "songwriter series" show was three singers performing their own compositions solo acoustic in a round robin fashion lasting nine rounds. The two and a half hour long set was book ended by pieces with all three performing together, an opening piece whose name I didn't catch and the night closer an elegant cover of the Beatles In My Life (three guesses who did the upper vocal). 

The small cozy room at the back of the Free Times Café where the stage is placed was primarily filled with family and friends of the three performers, including actor Katie Griffin (whose new cd was produced by Kulas). With the front windows & patio doors of the building wide open to let in fresh air, the music was often punctuated with the sound of the famous Toronto red rocket streetcars rumbling by, which in its own way contributed to the comfortable, laid back atmosphere (brought back vague memories for me having grown up a few blocks away from the café to the sound of these people movers). 

Senior statesman Kulas assumed the role of leader of the gang of three, which comprised friends Rhonda Stakich (who opened for Kulas and band about a year ago at a live recording session at Toronto's Clintons) and Robbie Roth (in whose band Kulas appeared twice late last year).  The performance styles ranged from Stakich's bouncy jazz-tinged blues pop (she has a great warm voice with wonderful range) to Roth's Kinks-tinged witty pop rock to Kulas' self described "not so uplifting nice songs".  And during the first few Roth songs, Kulas contributed some lead guitar and the occasional backing vocal.  As the night progressed, the casual good natured interaction of the performers just drew you further and further into the music, and before you knew it, Kulas was asking the house just before midnight if they had time to do another song.

Through the night, Kulas took the opportunity to provide insights into the inspirations for and the histories of the songs performed, which in turn pushed his friends on stage to do likewise.  As it would turn out, Starland was inspired by the British fascination with "make a star" tv shows (hello Saul Davies & Mark Hunter who are currently recording in France with Fame Academy "star" Ainslie Henderson) which led Kulas to examine the cult of stardom and the drive to achieve fame and adulation in this song.  The other two unreleased songs performed tonight, standard Kulas set pieces Pavement and Glasgow Rain, were completed during his last few months with James.  Both were inspired by and describe ending relationships and changes in life that are underway, and the uncomfortable feelings culminating in relief and moving forward this can bring.  In a similar vein, Having and Losing It All outlines a point in life (living in Scotland for Kulas) where everything in life is beautifully idyllic but then rapidly reverses, leaving one wishing that life can go full circle in the end and great amends can be made with everything set right again.  Mosquito's A Clever Mess looks at an adult's life through a child's eyes.  The chorus and chord changes of The Only One "were born" during a studio jam with James (according to the songwriter, what else is there to do in Wales at 3am?) with the verse being pieced together over time (as was the case with Glasgow Rain, which apparently took five years before reaching completion).  Perhaps Kulas' lyrical tour de force is the emotion he conveys in Sleep, where he describes what may have been going through the mind of real life euthaniser Robert Latimer (to whom Kulas is not particularily sympathetic) who put his severely disabled daughter "to sleep" rather than watch her suffering grow.

With all this emotional life water having slipped under the musical bridge, in retrospect, night closer In My Life (by John Lennon) was lyrically the right way for the performers to say good night together.  If you ever have the opportunity to attend a similar event, if the artists are halfways as successful as tonight's trio in their performance, every moment will be well spent.