I really need a smartphone but in the meantime here’s some bad cell phone footage of Al Stewart and Dave Nachmanoff, both of them astounding guitar virtuosi, at Michael “Knitting Factory” Dorf’s City Winery last night. Scottsman Al Stewart (Time Passages, Year of the Cat, oh but there’s so much more to this brilliant songwriter) is holding his own at 64, still an unbelievable guitar player with a boyish, elfin voice that sounds exactly like it did 40 years ago. He’s also a hilarious, energetic wisecracker who chews up the stage, and a high end wine dealer when he’s not on tour. Who knew?
I’m not the kind to live in the past
The years run too short and the days too fast
The things you lean on are the things that don’t last
Hear the echoes and feel yourself starting to turn
Don’t know why you should feel
That there’s something to learn
It’s just a game that you play