Wednesday 27 May 2009

Kristin Hersh Drawings Norwich










Tonight I went to Norwich arts centre to see Kirstin Hersh perform her songs, that she say come into her head, but I think they come from her heart and soul. My Boyfriend Robert is a big fan of Kristin and use to see her play in Holland. So he bought me a ticket and was excited about introducing me to Kristin. I was intrigued because when I first met Robert he had her photo on his laptop screen saver. 
My first impression of her voice was like hearing a dutch girl speaking English, but she is from New Orleans. She has a very childlike appearance which is hard to draw but I gave it a go. 
Normally I draw on the floor of gigs but for the first time ever in my history the arts centre had chairs and they were all filled apart from two near the front speakers. This is not good for me with hearing problems, as I thought straight away I would get feed back from the speakers. As soon as she started playing it was hearing a lullaby and the sound quality was the best I have heard in a life time of gigs, although lyrics are hard for me to make out. 
I sketched her as best I could knowing Robert would want to frame these pictures being her big fan. 
Then near the end I went down the back to see her face on, but she was quite far away and I was now sketching in the dark. The audience was middle aged and above which was a first older audience I had seen at the arts centre and it was nice to see them enjoying the show. There was also a little girl with her dad enjoying the show.
Kristin's songs were great and she came back out after a standing ovation and gave three more songs. 
At the end of her show there ques for her CD and I should have gone back stage to meet her and show her my drawings but I didn't have any dinner and was tittering on fainting so I went home and thought she could check them out on line.
As cycled home with Robert waiting at traffic lights at the bottom of Grapes hill, I waited for a guy to cross the road and as I waited I heard him humming Kristin tunes aloud amongst the traffic and he had a little skip in his step. 
We got home and showed Robert the drawings he was happy with the first impression but the others in the dark down the back were not his impression of her. 
Kristin has her songs on line for free or by donation of cash which is nice, because if you were a teenager like me who could not afford to buy records in the 80's and felt alienated by Friends who all bought records and new about music. This can only be a good thing.