Allison Lonsdale w/ Eben Brooks
Jan Hedlun June 23, 2005

Saturday evening (June 18th) seemed like a good day to listen to live music so a friend and I journeyed to LeStat's coffee house on Adam's Avenue to hear Eben Brooks and Allison Lonsdale. I had seen Eben during the Society for Creative Anachronist's Potrero Wars in a Bard's concert and had enjoyed his performance immensely.  I'd already purchased his CD Just Me and My Guitar v2.0, and wanted to hear more of his songs.  I was also interested in seeing his stage presence in an up-close-and-personal venue.

LeStat's is a cozy little coffee house nestled in a community of new-age shops, bookstores and more. You can learn more about the area on www.gothere.com/AdamsAve . It was too late for me to try their coffee but the tea was great and the food smelled so good.

The stage is in a lounge area next door to the coffee house proper, and when we came in Eben had just begun. He turned out to be the opening act and only played three songs, then three more during Allison's break - just enough time to warm up but not enough to really write about. He's got a couple of upcoming solo performances, one of which I'll be going to, and I'll have more to offer you about him then. If you'd like to know more about Eben and listen to some free music downloads check out his website http://ebenbrooks.com . I will tell you - my friend and I agreed that he has a Johnny Depp, Pirates of the Carribean appearance and attitude on stage . . .

Allison Lonsdale was a surprise and a pleasure to listen to, as well as an unexpected blast from the past for me. She proudly acknowledges that her songwriting is Geeky Music for Geeky People and doesn't disappoint you in that respect. Wearing a T-shirt that announced If You're Really a Goth Where Were You When We Sacked Rome, she began with a brief introduction of herself. Thirty-five years old she began writing songs at the age of 11. She's received a Bachelor's in Art History and her lyrics are invested with her intellect.  If you put her name on the internet you'll see more on her involvement in science fiction conventions and more. 

The LeStat's bio states it well: Allison Lonsdale songs are infused with "metaphors from math, physics, programming, biology, comics, and role-playing games." She sings songs about "sex, vampires, serial killers, ancient gods, and the messy business of learning to be human:, with a generous heaping of "obscure literary references."

She has obviously dabbled in a variety of experiences and has a wry wit. Lost on the Coast Road is about being old and she laughingly admitted "I knew nothing about being old when I wrote that song at the ripe old age of 19".

Learning to Be Human is a song inspired by Spider Robinson, the author. Sonja Blue was written with the Nancy Collins character Sonja Blue in mind; a vampire hunter who's a vampire. She easily encapsulated the imagery of being a vampire in this composition.

The Queen of All Deceivers and  Pilgrimage Road (one of my favorites) are based on Neil Gaiman's comic series/book Sand Man and The Dreaming. Neil would be an entire article on his own.  If you don't know about this creative man check out his website: ( www.neilgaiman.com ).

Grandmother's Place is the "there will be a brief quiz in comparative religion after this song" song, where the gods of different pantheons have a drunken shindig at Spider Grandmother's lodge in the Southwest.  Thank you, Allison, for your own words on this piece.

Her Mysteries is a "neopagan song for math junkies and physicists." while Transcriptions was a song for geeks in love, full of references to genetics, neurology, particle physics", and then there was Jack Daniels and the Magdalene.

Allison ended the evening with The Sickle and the Plow, a variation of John Barleycorn from her folk era with the Celtic Band the Wild Oats. She and Eben performed together from 1991 to 1997 before she left the band and he continued on until they formally broke up in 2002. You can still get CD's of their performances from Eben or from the Wild Oats website www.wildoats.com .

The audience was predominately friends of both singer/songwriters and were more than happy to fill in the gaps when she forgot or transposed lyrics, having already warned us that a "paper troll had eaten her lyric book" and she'd had to dig into her archives to supplement that evening's performance.

Allison has taken her own pain and experiences of her life, and her chosen world(s),  weaving them into the fabric of her lyrics. If you're a wanna-be Geek, an acknowledged Geek, or a Geek at heart, you'll enjoy her music.

If you want to hear Allison for yourself she performs once a month at LeStat's. Check out their calendar for Allison and other performers at www.lestats.com . Or you can receive announcement emails on Lonsdale-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

As for the blast from the past comment earlier . . . I didn't know, until now, that I was considered a geek by current standards.  In the late 1960's - early 1970's I was an affirmed Trekkie, going to the monthly Star Trek meetings at San Diego State. I was staff at Equi-Con (so I didn't have to pay admission), and was a staffer at five or six of Shel Dorf's first Comic Con's (again to save money) - both conventions were held at the El Cortez Hotel before they were turned into trendy apartments.

I was more than happy (much closer to hero worship) to volunteer as an escort around San Diego for visiting authors like Robert Heinlein, Spider Robinson, Harlan Ellison, Arthur C. Clarke and Ray Bradbury.   Does anyone out there know that June Foray was the voice of Rocky the Squirrel, among other cartoon characters?  Remember Fractured Fairy Tales?  Do any of you recall Larry Vincent and the Slimey Wall?  Now that's dating myself . . . and back then I thought geeks were just computer nerds.  Learn something new every day.

See you next time and Allison - thanks for the memories.