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Community Corner

Richard Shindell Returns to Landmark on Main Street

Hometown boy returns home.

For Richard Shindell, performing in the Jeanne Rimsky Theater at is more than just returning to a venue where he has performed twice in the past. For Shindell, it is returning home. The singer/songwriter grew up in Port Washington, and for him, returning home (he currently lives in Argentina) is filled with memories. He shared many of those memories with the fortunate crowd who came out to see him perform on Friday, Oct. 28.

This was Shindell’s third return to the Landmark stage. His first was a solo show; the second was a double bill with his periodic performing partner, Lucy Kaplansky. For this performance, Shindall brought along bassist (and well known producer) Lincoln Schleifer.

One of the best things about a Richard Shindell performance is his rapport with the audience. He sits on the stage with his acoustic guitar, and the audience sits in their seats, but the aura is of sitting in his living room, chatting with him as he plays. Despite playing for close to two hours, he probably didn’t perform more than about 15 songs, mainly because he spent so much time introducing those songs. The audience got to hear about his inspirations, his song-writing process, his planned upcoming 1-year sabbatical, and his new CD in the works. Best of all, Shindell actually interacts with the audience – asking for requests, sharing recollections of his childhood in Port Washington with them, and responding to comments and questions.

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Shindell is a consummate singer/songwriter who, according to the evening’s host, WFUV’s John Platt, was hailed by Joan Baez as one of the next generation of Bob Dylans. And truly, one can get lost in his songs, which are often entire stories told with loving attention to detail. For example, “Reunion Hill” tells the story of a woman after the Civil War, tending to soldiers while looking for the face of her husband. Or “There Goes Mavis,” a particular favorite of mine, about a little girl trying to free her canary. For a moment you are no longer in a theater on a cool fall evening, but instead on “the beach at Newcomb Hollow” in “the last days of August” watching Mavis fly away.

Shindell played several songs off his upcoming CD, most notably “Your Guitar,” which anthropomorphizes a 1930s guitar once owned by a famous musician and now belonging to Shindell. For fans, he played some perennial favorites, including “Transit,” “Fishing,” and the cheerfully vicious “Are You Happy Now?” His encore was one of the heavily requested songs (via audience shouts) – “The Next Best Western” – about a tired trucker driving in the middle of the night and asking God to “deliver me to the next Best Western.”

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This concert was the first in Landmark’s Fabulous Folk series, which also includes Aimee Mann, Leo Kottke, Vance Gilbert and Ellis Paul.

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