Marsters Live Vol. 2

Thank you Steve for the review

A few months back, I reported about my experience attending a play that James Marsters was in, The Why. And now, here's a brief recounting of my experience seeing him in another type of live appearance: playing a solo music gig at the 14 Below bar in Santa Monica, CA last Saturday night. Accompanying me was my friend Pam who went with me to The Why; she's a huge Buffy fan and a fan of James in particular (she jokingly calls him "my husband"). Also there were our friends Dahlia and Jill, who are not Buffy watchers.

The place was packed - beyond packed - with Marsters fans. He was the first act on the bill, and while the other bands on it had their fans (there was a line around the block when we left, probably of fans of the other bands that they were counting on packing in after folks like us who just came to see James left), there was no doubt who the people in that room were there to see. Indeed, one of the other bands, who was doing a soundcheck when we came in, specifically invited his fans to stay and be part of the audience for a live video shoot they were doing! (Unfortunately for them, I didn't find them that interesting, and I and the folks I was with had an early day the next day.)

James came on at about 9:15 and played for about forty minutes, playing mostly covers and a few originals on both electric and acoustic guitars. (He covered Tom Waits, Springsteen, John Prine, etc.; I especially was happy to hear him do one of my favorite Nirvana songs, "On A Plain".) The set was marred by a *lot* of technical problems - feedback, hard-to-hear vocals, and the pickup on the acoustic not working at all (he had to mike it with a vocal mike "the old-fashioned way"). He was good-humored about these problems, even going so far as to blame it on himself ("I suck") instead of the club.

Indeed, the best part of the performance was - well, him. His voice and guitar playing were good but nothing spectacular. (My subject line comes from something he said at one point, a pretty apt self-appraisal.) What was pretty damned spectacular, though, was his charisma. You can see it on Buffy, but seeing him live *really* showed this guy's star quality. I actually enjoyed his actual music. And his sheer presence was really astonishing. This guy has truly got it, whatever "it" is.

And another thing - he is just stunningly handsome. He may be handsome on TV and in still pictures, but - as both Dahlia and Jill observed - he is even more good-looking live. Indeed, the audience was at least 3/4 women! And one of the funniest things he said during the night alluded to that. At one point, he introduced an original song saying he had written it for a woman, who now wouldn't return his phone calls. The crowd, predictably, responded with "awwww". Cracking a smile (as he did through most of the night), he said, "Oh, don't feel sorry for me." Again, indeed.

But for me, the best thing about his presence was just his sheer joy. This is a guy in the first flush of flame, who is not in the least jaded, who is grateful and having a ball. He's just so damned positive! At one point, he talked about having a new car, for the first time in his life not a used one. And he commented that he had already crashed it. Another "awwww" from the audience. But he replied, "Oh, that's OK! I have money now! It's already fixed!" This didn't come off like bragging at all, but just like someone who thinks he's the luckiest guy in the world. Very refreshing.

Overall, a really fun experience seeing a guy who has a lot more going for him than just Spike. Mark my words, folks: he'll be huge someday.

Steve