Virgil Shaw – October 15, 2003
Hemlock Tavern, San Francisco

It was a night of celebration with close friends at the Hemlock – sure, there was nothing to celebrate and no one knew each other, but that's usually how any Virgil Shaw show in this cozy downtown club tends to feel. Backed by "The Danny Heifetz Orchestra," Virgil milked every minute of the night's performance, clearly happy to be onstage with Danny once more just a few days before the Mr. Bungle drummer would return to his home in Australia.

With everyone being both in such good spirits and in such close quarters, the show was practically a barbecue, only without the barbecue. Kick drumheads were broken, band members were hit in the head by snare drums being passed back and forth and bass players were lovingly poked in the ribs for missing transitions – in fact, Virgil himself was probably the one with the worst seat in the house, since he couldn't see the horseplay behind conducted behind him. Understandable though, since Virgil was kind of busy playing songs like "Wilderness Of This World," "Volvo," "Clock on the Wall," "Wet Splashes," "The Drawing" and "Imaginary Guitars." While Virgil poured his heart out, Heifetz and company melded and complimented perfectly. A trumpet here, a flugelhorn there, the ringing of a pair of bells every once in a while for color, all without running the seemingly inevitable risk of overshadowing Virgil's acoustic guitar or overwhelming such a small room with horns and percussion. You want to see him play now, don't you? Don't worry, he'll be back. We'll see you there. Bring your own meat. - Erik Fong