Karen Ponzio Photo
Lawson, Dyckman, and Gordo.
“Can you handle one more round?” asked Frank Critelli of the crowd that filled the back room and bar at Next Door on Wednesday night, but he wasn’t talking about shots or pints. He was referring to his latest music series, “Another Round,” which began at the Humphrey Street bar back in July and was on its third round Wednesday night with three more players. Critelli – singer/songwriter and Local Band Show cohost for WPLR and Cygnus Radio – is well known for his prowess at putting together shows with acts that complement each other and has kept the premise simple: three singer songwriters and their guitars offer up their selections one by one in a round robin style with Critelli throwing in a “challenge” at the end where they are asked to perform as a trio.
On this night the three performers chosen by Critelli included Shandy Lawson, “a regular on the local music scene between 2000 and 2010” said Critelli, “and not a minute since” added Lawson with a laugh; Bobby Dyckman who Critelli said “plays in one of my favorite CT bands Wolf Harbor” and Buzz Gordo, aka Gary Mezzi who Critelli noted had a career “spanning decades in seminal CT bands,” to which Gordo added with a laugh, “almost centuries.”
Sitting all in a row in front of a pizza-based solar system piece of art and accentuated by ever-changing but softly hued multicolored lights, the three offered up their songs beginning with Lawson. His first two were eventually revealed to be new songs he had not played out in public before and included “Metaphor,” with the lines “she’s a metaphor, like a holiday, like a hideaway, like a first autumn day,” and “Here We Are.” Before he came back around to his third song he thanked the audience “for their patience,” noting that “he wanted to get them out of the way” though each one was received with generous and loving applause. After his third song Dyckman turned to him and said “that was awesome” which was followed up by an audience member adding “that was stupid awesome.”
Karen Ponzio Photo
Frank Critelli.
Lawson kept adding to his fan base with each lyrically luscious tune, adding in old favorites that many who were already fans sang along to, including “When I Die” and “King Shandy,” causing him to respond by saying “I’ve been out of the scene for ten years and the fact that anyone remembers the words to that song is amazing.” He also added in a cover of one of Critelli’s songs, “She Laughs and Cries,” and gave the already poignant piece another level of sentiment as his friend looked on and smiled.
Dyckman played a number of selections from his band Wolf Harbor, including “Fever Dreams” and “Dead End Roads,” after which he said “good thing my bandmates were here to help me with the lyrics,” which garnered laughter from his friends who had been singing along and cheering him on. He added commentary to many of his pieces that kept the proceedings light, like when he announced that his next song was about “when I went to Florida and had a bad time,” which caused Lawson to nod and respond in agreement. He offered to the crowd that he had initially been “a little nervous” about the show but was feeling good now that he was there, then sang a song “about awkward situations like that.” The majority of Dyckman’s songs had an uptempo vibe that got many in the audience smiling and moving along in their seats, including his two stage mates, even when the lyrics were of a more serious nature.
Gordo had a quite a few stories to tell and got his stage mates as well as the audience to respond with praise. Lawson responded with “I wanna write lyrics like this guy and sing like this guy” after Gordo’s song “My Old Band,” which included the lyrics “I was on the ladder of success when I should have took the stairs” and “we were good at self-destruction / we were bad at self-critique” (Gordo himself added afterward about the song “it’s a 100% true”). His choices, all lyrically fresh and fun, included new songs from his band Bronson Rock such as “Around the Sun,” that he said were soon to be released on an album, and older songs from his band Big Bad Johns. These included “The Bar That I Call Home” — which he noted had ended up being included in a bar scene on the HBO show Divorce — and “Smokin’ Joe,” a song about Joe Frazier that ended up garnering Gordo a call from the Champ himself after he had been sent a copy of the single.
After two rounds of music Critelli asked the crowd if they had “one more round in them,” to which they responded with enthusiasm. He then asked them to give the three performers 15 seconds to come up with a song they could play as a trio.
After quickly consulting each other Gordo announced that in honor of Robert Hunter who has passed the day before, they would sing for him and proceeded to collaborate sweetly on “Friend of the Devil.” Gordo and Dyckman harmonized and Lawson and Gordo provided the strings. The crowd responded wildly and Critelli thanked everyone and invited them back for more, encouraging them to “tell their friends.”
“The bar keeps getting raised higher here,” Gordo said at one point when it got to his turn. No doubt Critelli will continue to make sure to find those willing to reach for it.
Another Round continues on Oct. 30, Nov. 27, and Jan. 29, all Wednesdays at 8 p.m. and all free admission. For more details please consult Next Door’s website or Frank Critelli’s Facebook page.
