Songs for Presidents @ Sixth & I Historic Synagogue
Jesse Elliott of These United States
The line to get into Sixth & I on Saturday stretched around the corner, although it didn't quite rival the Ben's Chili Bowl lines. In fact, Songs for Presidents had the benefit of being decently full without making its audience feel like sardines—not going to feel that way again all weekend.
This was one of those weird shows where people came more for the intrigue than to play the sing-a-long game. In fact, the one time Kiefer, Gerkin and Pitcher attempted to get the audience to sing along, they were met by a sort of low pitched mumble. Sadly, that was for the set-closing ode to Barack Obama.
Certainly, all of the great and mortal men were well researched. There were a few lighthearted tunes, like "George Washington Dreams of a Hippopotamus" and an ode to Rutherford B Hays' impressive beard. Other songs delved into deeper and darker subject matter: the song about Bill Clinton spoke of his remorse at not doing more in Rwanda, and there were multiple songs about slavery and bomb dropping. Emcee Reid McLean sang a rather heavy-hearted song about James Buchanan called "God Will Strike You Down." Ouch! Even gentle-voiced Denison Witmer commented on the severity of some of the tracks quipping "Of course they gave the songs about dropping bombs on people to a Mennonite pacifist."
But hopeful and joyous as it was, it wasn't the most interesting of set of presidential songs. The problem with playing 43 songs is that somewhere in the middle, they all started to sound the same. The trio of songwriters and their band brought a slue of contributors to the stage to perform their material, but they also performed a lot of the songs themselves, and unfortunately, they weren't always as engaging. The short intermission I took mid-set meant that I missed the contributions from Jukebox the Ghost and the goofy Tim Fite. According to DCist arts writer Lynne Venart, Fite had the pant leg of his seersucker suit pulled up suggestively as he sang, "I love you but not like your parents do." I can't believe I missed Tim Fite.
Many of the onstage contributors were local, including the drum and clarinet playing Potomac Buccaneers of Leesburg, Virginia, who played on the George Washington track. Two members of Middle Distance Runner (who had let the visiting band borrow their home and equipment) and Laura Burhenn performed slow ballads about Reagan and Eisenhower, respectively. These United States, who seem to improve every time they play, was one of the night's show-stealers, first performing their own 30-minute set prior to the presidential tunes, and then giving a rollicking performance of "Rough and Ready," about president Zachary Taylor.
The other great show-stealer was the soft-spoken, quirky Nellie McKay. It seemed appropriate that the woman who told the organizers that she arrived from outer space in a tin can would sing a song about Jimmy Carter seeing a UFO. She also charmed the audience with a story about chocolate dipped strawberries in between sweet piano ballads.
This wasn't the marquee music event of the weekend, but it certainly showed that not all songs dealing with the presidency need be cheesy and grandstanding.