A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a column about the grand opening of The Anchor, a new club in Kingston. This week, in an effort to give equal time and recognition to other venues that are helping to keep live music alive in the Hudson Valley, I turn my attention to BSP Lounge in Kingston!
BSP is a place that has had its share of ups and downs, but since Trevor Dunworth came aboard as manager, it’s come alive! Nice room, good music, hip crowd, it’s one of the hottest spots around, in my opinion! Very sophisticated, urbane, and cosmopolitan. Not your average Hudson Valley nightspot!
Their booking policy has brought all sorts of national acts to Kingston in the past few months. Former Captain Beefheart guitarist, Gary Lucas was there in June, former Stiff recording artist, Wreckless Eric and Amy Rigby in July, they’ve had Grace Potter and The Nocturnals and Assembly of Dust on a double bill, Neko Case (who just tore it up at 
Radio City Music Hall!), Marco Benevento, 3, Mercury Rev, and last Saturday night, BSP brought Sean Lennon to Kingston, with Charlotte Kemp Muhl, and their band, The Ghost of a Sabre Tooth Tiger!
The place was packed with the hippest people for miles around, the opening bands, Parakeet and Brother JT, were awesome! Parakeet performing a long ambient piece of music and Brother JT waking up the crowd with their punk infused original songs! Brother JT must be singled out for special mention, and I am planning a longer piece on them, as soon as I can! They were intense, weird, and great!
But everyone was there to see Sean, and he didn’t disappoint! Hanging out at the bar before they went on, Sean seemed to be, like his father, a man of the people. Very casual, very relaxed, seemingly very comfortable in his own skin. Sean and Charlotte took the stage like experienced pros! I didn’t know what to expect, because people had warned me that Sean had more of his mother in him than his father (not necessarily a bad thing), and was heavily into electronic music, but I’m happy to report that Sean channeled both of them and added his own thing to emerge as a real artist in every sense of the word! The show was marvelous! The band was rockin’, the songs were good, and, without being slavishly imitative at all, were very John, with a Sean filter. Really, really good stuff! Not Electronica at all! Just Rock and Roll, and a splendid time was had by all in attendance! Come back Sean! You said Kingston was hip from the stage, now come back and give us some more love, brother!
In an effort to meet my deadline, let’s get right to this week’s live music picks!
Th-th-th-th-th-that’s all folks! See you next week!
Fred Perry is the owner of Reservoir Music Center on Route 28 in Kingston, and founding member of Alt-Country supergroup, The Brooklyn Cowboys, is from a 3rd generation musical family and lives in the Hudson Valley, where he does what he can to promote live music.
