I probably shouldn’t have even gone out this night. Full moon, and judging from my mood, a treacherous one. I felt emotionally raw and vulnerable, like someone could tap me on the shoulder and topple me. But that would suggest human contact and interaction, and at times like these, I feel invisible, like I’m walking as a ghost amongst the living.

That’s how I was last Friday night, and it’s not as though I’m full of joie de vivre as I write this now, but it’s already been a week, so I must. The Plough & Stars, if you’ve been in there, is the least pretentious sort of place you’re likely to find anywhere. It’s a neighborhood bar halfway between Harvard and Central Squares, and it’s been there forever. It’s the type of place to get very drunk in, though they do serve food and it’s probably good. Size similar to Toad, perhaps even a bit smaller, with the corner cleared and an oriental rug laid down for bands to play.

My few attempts to start small conversations with people were absolute disasters (Boston, for me, has never been the friendliest of places at the best of times), so I tucked myself into a convenient corner, waiting for my Monique fix.

She performed tonight, as she did at the Regent Theatre, with Steve Bremen on second bass and Larry Dersch on drums. The trio played for awhile, then there was a short break, and Monique and Larry came back on for a luscious, bluesy, voodoo-filled second set that was better suited to my dark mood, and far more to my liking. Which is not their fault; not at all. The earlier part of the evening was more straight-ahead rocking and ‘upbeat’, they played well together, and I think it may have been material from her upcoming album, which she mentioned they were working on. But except for a song appropriate for the evening titled “Full Moon”, which piqued my curiosity enough to want to study the lyrics, it just didn’t do anything for me. Quite selfish, really. While the much-beloved Cambridge-based band Morphine and the memory of Mark Sandman obviously inspires and inhabits her, she is certainly not beholden to soothe our dull pain forever, and as an artist must follow her own inner voice, wherever it may take her. I’ll be keeping an eye out for the new material to surface, so I can listen again when I’m in a better space for it. Oh, there was one song she did on slide bass with the line “why did you come here by yourself?” which I must have really liked because I scrawled it down in my notes.

Meanwhile, back in my personal dungeon that night, she and Larry came back on as the hour got later, the fretless bass which she had been playing most of the night made way for a reappearance of the 2-string and slide, and I got a delicious, soul-satisfying, heaping helping of what I was desperately needing. Have a listen to “Three Chairs” (live), “Still Asleep”, “The Spider Sings”, the dreamlike “Laydown”, and “Happiness” by AKACOD (a.k.a. Colley/Ortiz/Dersch) on her MySpace, and you’ll know what I mean. Gorgeous. She closed the night with “Happiness”, and it was perfect. Just perfect.

[I picked up Monique's Reclining Female CD that night, which I highly, highly recommend for anyone wanting to hear her sound 'pure and stripped down'. It's a collection of demos that focuses on her beautiful voice and fretless bass. Wonderful. I can also highly recommend A.K.A.C.O.D. (a.k.a. Colley/Ortiz/Dersch) for more of the 'Morphine inspired' sound, as it features Monique along with Dana Colley on baritone sax and Larry Dersch on drums.]

Upcoming Shows

Sep 18 2009, 7:45P – Recoup – New York, New York
Sep 19 2009, 6:30P – ALL AGES SHOW – Chestnut Hill Cafe – Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Oct 24 2009, 7:30P – Monique Ortiz & Larry Dersch at TOAD – Cambridge, Massachusetts