Jason Darling, Gabriel Gordon – Bowery Electric Glen Matlock – NuBlu

I walked in just as Jay was starting, the usual cast of characters strolling in, Sounds For Your Hounds alumni and offshoot. He rolled through his standards “Mother’s of New York” and “Goodbye Chelsea Hotel”. Then before playing my favorite “Ways In Which We Burn” he informed the crowd that Tony Bennett’s daughter was going to use it on her next album. He has taken his solo acoustic set to another universe, honing in on his guitar, playing electric rather than acoustic. Exceptional set indeed.

Gabe soon followed. I had seen him numerous times solo acoustic and with The Hounds, but never with a full band. The rhythm section of Tony Mason and Andy Hess locking in together is just ridiculous and tight as a crab’s ass. The addition of Brian Charette on keys rounded out the sound and the fluidity of the band. Gabe ran through his vibrant song’s without pulling from the trove of gems The Hounds had churned out in the brief time together. He held his guitar mastery in his pocket until the end when the band started to jam and pulled out some mind-bending solos.

After a quick bite at Lil Frankie’s with Dawn we marched down to Nu Blu, and met back up with Gabe and Jesse. Glen Matlock hit the stage in the back room with an acoustic and a microphone. He played some songs he wrote like “God Save The Queen” and “Pretty Vacant”. He was ousted from The Sex Pistols to bring in Sid Vicious, a move that brought them more attention and notoriety, but deprived them of a songwriter that could have elevated The Pistols to the caliber of say, The Clash. While lounging on a cozy couch in a crowd of maybe 40, I explained to Dawn that there were only a couple of these original gangsters left. In the end Gabe and Jesse jumped up to sing along a ruckus chorus of “All Or Nothing” by The Small Faces. Glen commanded a sharp delivery of simple, honest songs, and offered insight with classic covers. It reminded me why I fell in love with music, and helped me understand why The Damned would have Nick Lowe produce their first single “New Rose”. Don’t get me wrong I still lean more towards Brian James and Johnny Thunders, but this was a special evening an a rare treat.