The Fireside Lounge is a woman-owned bar located in Alameda, CA that opened its doors in 1942. Nestled in the heart of Alameda California, this bar offers up an awesome outdoor venue. The space is stocked with plenty of picnic tables, a modest stage and plenty of canopies and umbrellas for shade. This afternoon, with the help of the Ivy Room, Tom Heyman, Penelope Houston and John Doe graced that stage.
Even though I covered the two latter artists a couple of months ago with their bands, The Avengers and X. This show was completely different. Both coming from punk rock roots, this was an acoustic, folk rock show and was just as amazing as the previous one.
First up was Tom Heyman. I was not familiar with his music but, was pleasantly surprised with his talent. Playing a twelve- string, Taylor acoustic guitar, his songs were executed with style as he flowed through his 45 minute set.
Next up was Penelope Houston. Backed by Tom Heyman and Bill Shupp, they took the growing crowd on a musical journey of Penelope’s solo material including the title track from her 2004 release “The Pale Green Girl”. She finished up with a classic Avengers song and the crowd went crazy. These classic songs are loved no matter what form they may take.
John Doe hit the small stage at 6:00 pm with a tiny amp and his Wide Sky guitar. This is the perfect stage for a performance like this; small and intimate. John Doe played a number of his staple songs as well as a few new ones. One of the crowd favorites is the song Harry Dean Stanton taught him many years ago called “Cancion Mixteca” all sung in Spanish. He then lightened the mood with “The Big Rock Candy Mountain” which he had to pause halfway through due to the crowd clapping to the music on the one and three beat instead of the two and four beat; we all had a good laugh. With three songs left, the rain started to fall, though not many noticed. He finished out the set with “New World/Revolution” which is a combination of X’s “New World” and the Beatles “Revolution”.
Setlist:
1). Never Coming Back
2). A Little More Time
3). Twin Brother
4). Fool Such as I
5). Golden State
6). Traveling So Hard
7). Don’t Forget How Much I Love You
8). See How We Are
9). Cancion Mixteca
10). El-Romance-O
11). Big Rock Candy Mountain
12). Help Me Make It Through The Night
13). Guilty Bystander
14). Burning House of Love
15). Only Have Eyes For You
16). My Darling, Blue Skies
17). New World/Revolution
I would recommend any of these artists to anyone looking for some good folk rock with a Punk Rock edge.
Follow Tom Heyman at:
Follow Penelope Houston at:
Follow John Doe at:
Photographer of about 10 years, I have been shooting concerts for about 8 of those years. I started to get serious about concert photography about 6 or 7 years ago and now try to shoot as many as I can. I shoot mostly rock but, have done some country and big band stuff. I love music and since I am nowhere close to being a musician, this is a way I can be a small part of what, in the words of Henry Rollins, “gets me through the highs, the lows and everything in between”.
