She was kidnapped by an incense-burning hippie; hauled here from Los Angeles in the back of a Volkswagen van. At least that is how Jessica Sada, the last to take the stage of the Singer Songwriter Showcase, was introduced by the emcee. She fell in love with Santa Cruz and out of the love with the hippie, and here she was late on a rainy Tuesday night, performing her Aquabats-inspired songs to the small crowd gathered in the low light of Britannia Arms in Aptos.
She was kidnapped by an incense-burning hippie; hauled here from Los Angeles in the back of a Volkswagen van. At least that is how Jessica Sada, the last to take the stage of the Singer Songwriter Showcase, was introduced by the emcee. She fell in love with Santa Cruz and out of the love with the hippie, and here she was late on a rainy Tuesday night, performing her Aquabats-inspired songs to the small crowd gathered in the low light of Britannia Arms in Aptos.
Before her had come the banjo-plucking Planet Cruz comedian, the bearded troubadour who holds a gospel sing-a-long called “Matthew, Mark, Uke and John” on Sundays in Frederick Park, the softspoken country singer, the Latino Kurt Cobain, the folk singer-slash-bodyworker, the guy who was once in a band that toured with Hootie and the Blowfish in the ’90s.
When his or her name was called each would alternately shuffle, stride or bound across the tartan carpet to the stage to sing their songs. The styles differed, but the substance remained constant—most were about love, either the thing itself or the lack thereof. One man managed to collapse an entire relationship into two songs: the first “A Woman Changes Everything,” and the second “When Did I Become the Other Man?”
The show was held in a small space, and one that felt increasingly intimate as the night wore on (and on—it began at seven, and the time was almost eleven by the time everyone had sung their piece). By the end it had taken on the atmosphere of a support group as, in addition to their music, people shared their relationship problems, jokes and insecurities. True to form, the audience offered the same enthusiastic applause for their favorite and least favorite acts.
The fact that it was a competition was almost lost—but not quite. Joe Gibeault, Reis Woollen and Michael Shane Sigmon were sent on to the semi-finals, but if you missed the announcement you might not have been able to tell as the artists filed out of the bar as anonymously as they’d come in—that is, at least until the finals.
The Singer-Songwriter showcase is held every Tuesday at 7pm at Britannia Arms in Aptos through April 29, the night of the finals.
