Meredith DiMenna
| Recent Reviews: |
|
Box Set: local folk-rock band Capsule:Dreaming about David Bowie JelloHat: twangy, blues drenched, funk infused, rockin' American music Jim Campilongo and the 10 Gallon Cats My Tribe:singer/songwriter/funk/dance band Storm and Her Dirty Mouth: Alternative rock A visit to the Great American Music Hall to hear some loud punk girls Sleater-Kinney. Wonderbread 5: cheesy Jackson tunes |
San Francisco is a magnet for great singer/songwriters, like Meredith DiMenna who was pulled over all the way from Connecticut, through the clubs of New York. I saw her perform for the first time at the Lilith Fair Acoustic Talent Search back in May. She was one of twenty finalists who contributed to a great night of music for a capacity crowd at Slim's. The song Meredith chose for her slot was "Old Man", which went over really well, especially the introduction. If you weren't there, You can listen to it here.
I got a chance to ask Meredith the question on everyone's mind - whom the next lead singer of Van Halen should be. In her opinion, no one could ever replace David Lee Roth. I argued for my idol, Sammy Hagar, and maybe she agreed with my reasoning, or maybe she just smiled to appease me. Of course, DiMenna bears no similarity to either Roth or Hagar, and she surely won't be vying for the Halen opening. But she is well on her way to becoming an accomplished solo artist.
In 1999, Meredith DiMenna recorded and released a little gem of a CD titled Academy. It's a collection of acoustic-based songs that draws from rock, pop, jazz and soul. It's full of well-crafted lyrics, percussive acoustic guitar and sweeping melodies. Along with "Old Man", the disc includes the catchy, "Vaccine", which has an interesting lyric with the word disease. "Breakfast in Bed" is one of two remakes on the album, and it's a great showcase for her voice. My favorite track is the curiously-titled "Clean White T-shirt" in which she adds a little bit of aggression to her otherwise soft vocals. In that song, she sings, "I wish you were a rock star and I was just a girl in the front row." I can only guess it was David Lee Roth she was dreaming about.
Meredith has been gigging around town for the past couple of years in
various cafes and bars, including Paradise Lounge, where I recently saw
her paired with another local singer/songwriter Kyra. Meredith played
a few of her own songs on guitar, and was able to branch out a bit by
bongo drumming and singing harmony vocals on Kyra's tunes. The two of
them also did a sweetened up version of Joplin's "Mercedes Benz." Meredith
and Kyra will be performing together next at Kimo's on Polk Street, Sunday
December 19th at 7:00.
Steve Cefaratti
Reproduction of material from posthoc is prohibited without written permission.
Copyright 2002, Posthoc, Inc.