'Once' and for all

I once read you're not supposed to start correspondence with an apology. Not that there were a lot of shows that fell by the wayside here at Maximum Tuneage, I think I've only been to one in recent months -- a spectacular Pete Yorn show at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City, where he took a backseat to adult alterni of the year, David Gray. (I thought that was a "General Hospital" bad guy, but apparently he's this decade's answer to Dave Matthews.) So I roll on, sans apology.

Oh wait, I think I didn't do one for The Dana Fuchs Band's show at the Highline Ballroom. That I apologize profusely for. Onward!

When the charming indie film "Once" came out a few years ago, I was bedazzled by Glen Hansard (who had been in "The Commitments") and Marketa Irglova (who is Czech, which is a virtual 'in' for me). The way their voices, guitar and piano melded melted my hardened heart.

I saw them at Radio City Music Hall soon after they won the Academy Award for "Falling Slowly," the lovely ballad in the film that started the characters' down their path to love, with the audience along for the ride. They still seemed so unaffected by it all, really impressed by being in the storied NYC venue, and at the time, they were also together in real life.

It's a couple years later now. They're not still a couple, but they again sold out Radio City (something which a surprised Glen charmingly alluded to during the show). Indeed he was so impressed by the atmosphere that he beckoned the audience to join in and sing lines from about half the night's numbers. For the songs from the new album, "Strict Joy," he delivered very detailed instructions for different lines and even harmonies. And truth be told, it did sound a bit ethereal, even if he made us do it one or two too many times.



The current amalgamation of Glen, Marketa, The Frames, Clarence Clemons' nephew Jake and the rest of the band is known as The Swell Season. And there's no doubt about why Glen is the frontman, for he can do it all. He belted "Say It to My Now" off microphone to the back row of the balcony -- where he claims he usually sits at shows since he's always the last to buy his ticket. He told an endearing story about an older woman with an unusual blue coat he met in Chicago, not divulging the fact that Lois' son had perished in the Sept. 11 attacks until it was time to reveal the real reason for the story's inclusion in the set -- that the space between your mind and your mouth may not be that far, but it seems like a much greater distance when so many important things often remain unsaid.



He deftly worked his ex into the mix several times, once with a story about someone whose better half has a bigger vocabulary, "even if it's her second language." We could almost feel Marketa blush as she turned away from the microphone (and the audience) ahead of "Maybe I Was Born to Hold You in These Arms." Later, he credited Irglova with being the missing piece to success for he and his band of 20 years, the Frames.

Hansard & Company paid homage to a wide array of their influences -- Van Morrison, the most obvious and blatant with a dynamic "Astral Weeks" that allowed Glen to show off his guitar chops; the local flavor of Bruce Springsteen (with Clarence Clemons' nephew Jake on sax) on "Drive All Night" and the traditional Irish tune "The Parting Glass" with nods to The Clancy Brothers and Kate McGarrigle, but which is really adapted from its use as a song used at a wake to wish "good night and joy be with you all" to those who remain behind.

But as fabulous as all those covers were, The Swell Season was at its best when Glen and Marketa were front and center. The other ingratiating song from "Once," "When Your Mind's Made Up," starts softly, ends powerfully and sort of makes you wonder if the right song won the Oscar. The songs from "Once" all were delivered with as much verve as they had been the first time around.

But that I expected. The big questions I had were about the new album, which outside of the radio-friendly Van Morrisonesque "Low Rising," I had found a bit lackluster on the first few runs through the iPod. But at Radio City, with Glen giving introduction and explanation for almost every new song, they came alive, particularly "The Rain," which Glen said was written for his "gang," his longtime Frames bandmates.

When Marketa took to center stage with an acoustic guitar for her woman-child numbers, "If You Want Me" from the movie soundtrack and "I Have Loved You Wrong" from the new album, there was Glen at her place at the piano. Hansard may not have been born to hold Irglova in his arms, but it's very evident he was born to make beautiful music with her.