Friday night was a night of contrasts. I started the evening with three friends to see “Laura Fay and Undercover” at The Cutting Room on this Friday, July 17, 2021.
The Cutting Room recently reopened since the Covid pandemic shut down New York nightlife. Initially opening without food, on this night the kitchen was open, albeit with a limited menu. Pre-show, I had their excellent cheeseburger.
“Laura Fay and Undercover” was the opening act for “The Fopps.” I came to hear Laura Fay and her band, which consisted of Laura Fay Lewis on vocals, her husband Carlo Dano on guitar, John Keim on keyboard, Mike Schoffel on bass, and Graham Clarke on drums. They played a reasonably tight set, though Laura Fay had a music stand with lyrics that she sometimes read from.
Laura Fay told me later that she handpicked and curated the songs to fit her eclectic tastes in rock. And eclectic it was, with the band covering classic rock, blues and soul songs, staying faithful to the spirit of the originals without copying them. The band opened with “Heroes,” written by David Bowie and Brian Eno. They then did the soulful “Chain of Fools” by Aretha Franklin. The third song was a fun surprise. Laura Fay spoke to the crowd. “You can have my husband….,” to which someone in the audience yelled out “He’s right behind you!” She then went into “You Can Have My Husband (But Don’t Mess With My Man),” written by Dorothy LaBostrie in 1959 and introduced by Irma Thomas that year. This was a great, old-school blues number, and Carlo Dano played some excellent lead guitar here. The band performed the Paul Rodgers tribute song “Muddy Waters Blues,” followed by Queen Emily’s “Keep Getting’ Up.” Next the band played the R&B hit “Wishing Well” by Terence Trent D’Arby and the rock ballad “Breathe“ by Pink Floyd.
The next two songs were a bit of an Eric Clapton mini-set. The classic rock “Let It Rain” by Clapton and Bonnie Bramlett of Delaney and Bonnie was followed by The Beatles’ “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” which famously featured Clapton on lead guitar, though Dano did not attempt to copy Clapton’s famous solos.
This was followed by “Dear Mr. Fantasy,” a 1967 Traffic song by Steve Winwood and Chris Wood.
For their “encore” (they skipped the usual walking-off trope and just went into it after thanking everyone for coming), the band launched into a rocking rendition of the Rolling Stones’ “Jumpin Jack Flash.” This is one of those songs that everyone knows from the first beats of the drums and cowbell. They finished with the great T. Rex song “Bang a Gong” (aka “Get It On”).
I stayed for most of The Fopps’ set. They were a cover band of older rockers, kind of a “Cowsills with edge.” The band performed mainly 60s and 70s songs with lots of harmonies, some of which didn’t quite come together. They shared the keyboard player, John Keim, who changed outfits and wore a fedora for this set.
At this point, my growing group (we were now eight) left for Swing 46, where we caught the last couple of sets of “Professor Cunningham’s” swing quintet, led by the great reed player and singer Adrian Cunningham. I pooped out early for me, and left before midnight.