The Lemon Twigs are a band from Long Island, New York, headed by brothers Brian and Michael D'Addario. Their musical style is rather unique and hard to describe, though some have likened it to Wings (of Paul McCartney fame) or John Lennon. Their singles "These Words" and "As Long as We're Together" seem to be the most popular and reminiscent of this musical analogy.
When we first heard of The Lemon Twigs, we had already bought tickets to their show at the Columbia City Theater at the recommendation of a friend. We listened to a few of their tracks and decided it was worth going to see. The theater, though small and devoid of seats, was just the right size for the production they had going.
All in all, it was a small, yet enjoyable, concert. I can't say much about the opening act, due to the fact we weren't present for most of it, but The Lemon Twigs themselves did a great job engaging the crowd and seemed to be very tight and coordinated in terms of playing their songs. You can listen to their songs on YouTube or check out their website at https://thelemontwigs.com/, which has links to most of their social media.CJ had quite a bit to say about the show.
In a musical climate where rock music has become scarce and desperate for relevancy, various groups have sprung up (most notably Michigan rockers Greta Van Fleet) in an attempt to re-new interest in the increasingly venerable genre. Among them is The Lemon Twigs, a band from Long Island, New York, fronted by two brothers: Michael D'Addario, and Brian D'Addario. The Lemon Twigs formed in 2014, and have since released two studio albums Fans of The Lemon Twigs include famous singer-songwriter Elton John (as noted in this 2016 New York Times interview.)
My mother learned of the band's existence through a Facebook friend she met on a Queen fangroup. Said friend was near-obsessed with the band, and otherwise had a good taste in music, so her adoration for The Lemon Twigs boded well for them. We discovered that The Lemon Twigs were coming to the Neptune (a Seattle Theatre Group theater with a capacity of ~1,000 people) in January, and we eventually bought tickets. To our surprise, the event was later moved to the Columbia City Theater (a small venue with a capacity of ~350 people, most notable for hosting legendary Seattle musician Jimi Hendrix early in his career) due to a lack of ticket sales. Apparently, The Lemon Twigs didn't even fill the Columbia City Theater.
Before The Lemon Twigs began performing, opener Jackie Cohen played for approximately an hour. However, we didn't come in until a half hour into her show, so I can't really make a fair judgment of the quality (or possible lack thereof) of the first half of her show. However, I can say that while Cohen seemed to, at the very least, have some interesting musical abilities. The Lemon Twigs didn't start until 9, after which they played for two hours.
If I recall correctly, most of The Lemon Twigs' setlist was songs from Go To School (their sophomore album,) with songs from Do Hollywood (their debut album) also appearing at various points. I was disappointed that there weren't more songs from the debut, as I consider it superior to their sophomore effort. Throughout the entire concert, The Lemon Twigs' musical influences (or, depending on who you ask, peers) clearly reverberated, from Supertramp to Stooges, Wings to Ween. Notably, the brothers had decidedly different "auras" surrounding them. Brian D'Addario, the brother who stood on stage left, sung on the more "Beatle-esque" songs, often evoking the psychedelic, baroque atmosphere of late Beatles records. Meanwhile, Michael D'Addario, the brother who stood stage center, had a very Mick Jagger/Iggy Pop "thing" going on, in particular with elements such as fashion, singing style, and movements.
Overall, The Lemon Twigs was a very enjoyable concert, and I'm kind of shocked that they couldn't even sell 350 tickets. Chances are, if they had even a minor hit, even the kind that could be sandwiched between a dozen-year-old MGMT song and whatever single Imagine Dragons just grunted out on KNDD, they could maybe step up to a bigger, better venue.As the kids noted, the theater was tiny. We stood in the 'far' back (I thought it would be nice to have a wall to lean against, and it feels safer than being in the sea of humanity). However, we were still plenty close to the action. In fact, for most of the show, the kids stood behind a bar that wasn't open, and had a nice, clear view of the stage.
The Lemon Twig brothers were only 17 and 19 when this live set was filmed here in Seattle at KEXP in 2016. (They have since picked up a drummer, and the drummer in this video now stays up from, sharing lead singing duties with his brother, the guitar player.)
CRAFTERNOON: Monday afternoon, Facebook let me know there was a craft session for teens at the Burien branch of King County Library System. We headed west and arrived there a little after 3 p.m. The project for the day was making mini art canvases.
This was accomplished by using a portable printer of the library's to produce a couple of images. Those were then affixed to a tiny canvas via Mod Podge.
CJ chose to do a self portrait and a photo of his favorite Instagram-famous dog, Walter Geoffrey.
It took a couple of hours for the Mod Podge to dry, but when they were done, they made for cute little keepsakes (they're about 1-by-2 inches, if you're wondering).
RUNWAY STROLL: We're trying to squeeze a walk in every day, and haven't been meeting that goal, unfortunately, as much as we'd like to this past week. We did manage to take a stroll around the perimeter of the Museum of Flight on Tuesday afternoon. That meant we got to see a number of planes of various sizes take off from Boeing Field, and we checked out items of interest parked around the museum's plot.
One thing we got a close look was an old MiG that looks like it's undergoing some major restoration.
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