|
Terry Christopher Wing
Review of Roger Kuhn's CD Release Party for
Proof
|
 |
Review of Roger
Kuhn's CD Release Party for Proof
Review By Terry
Christopher
To say that Roger Kuhn is
talented as a singer/songwriter is an understatement.
To say that Kuhn knows his way around a stage while delivering
a smooth performance would be as well.
To say that you missed a night of a great music performed by
one of NYC’s most promising OUT singer/songwriter is sad for
you but every bit a treat for those present.
Roger was celebrating his new
labor of love, the release of his new CD, Proof.
Last night,
4/22/06
, Roger took the intimate stage at
Rockwood
Music Hall
which was choked with friends and supporters and owned the room from
his very first note to his last.
It’s always
|
amazing to this entertainment industry
triple threat of many years, when I see a fellow performer who is so
comfortable in his own skin on stage while bearing his heart and soul.
Kuhn’s presentation was seamless, smooth likened to a silk road
meeting a velvet street.
Kuhn’s playlist was filled with really
solid material not only well written structure wise, but also in his
storytelling lyrics. His first
song What’s Your Name which was
expertly played on acoustic guitar in tandem with the very talented Robert
Urban, is a great opener with its lyrical musing of someone he/Roger would
like to meet and perhaps get to know better, by asking What’s
Your Name. Aptly so, this is
a perfect leadoff song especially when potentially playing to new fans which
Kuhn should not have a problem making on his musical journey of growth and
self exploration. Kuhn’s 2nd
song, No Place Like Home, which was
probably my most favorite, as it brought back to me wonderful memories of
touring internationally with The Wizard
of OZ, was a sign of a successful song in that as a songwriter, Roger
touched a nerve in this listener and took me to a moment of personal
reflection. Lyrically, it nailed
down every aspect of the
OZ vocabulary we all shamelessly know
and love and utilized it in ingeniously telling the story of wanting to simply
go home. And haven’t we all
been down that yellow brick road ourselves a time or too?
The song Lust From 17 spoke
to the room about the young burning of youth driven love, lust and passion and
how that walked hand in hand with Roger over the years.
Another song which was steeped in
personal passion and delivered with killer emotional connectivity was
Roger’s song Two Nations.
Two Nations draws on
Roger’s pride of being American Indian and Caucasian.
It draws the listener in to such a degree, that you can feel in his
vocal delivery the conflict of which side he should choose to align himself
with being that we unfortunately live in a society that makes one make such a
choice. It brings to mind the
somewhat campy
Cher
song, Half Breed but Kuhn’s song
sung live has a purer ethnic anchor that
Cher
’s song lacks. One of the
nights other highlights was when longtime friend, James Erickson, joined Roger
on stage to back him vocally on the combined songs of the beautiful and tender
Proof/Cradle Me and You Can Sleep While I Drive.
The vocal blend of the two singers was rich in perfectly matched tone
color, textured but not jagged and sounding as if they were vocal extensions
of each other.
The last 3 songs Beautiful
You, again with Urban this time on piano, My
Reality and the deliciously rocked out Black
Leather, were all nailed with emotional precision and vocal power that
each song demanded. Roger Kuhn
said at one point during his show that he hadn’t been this nervous since he
was 14, but on stage he was master and commander of his vocal ability in all
of its’ many colors and hues, his guitar playing, which alone is a show unto
itself, and his stage presence that oozes sexuality with those seductive Bambi
brown bedroom eyes.
At a couple of points throughout his
hour long set, I looked around the room to confirm that all eyes were on Kuhn
and of course they were. Roger
Kuhn jokes that he is the love child and Elvis and
Cher
. If that were actually true, his parents would be very proud that Roger got
his Daddy’s good looks and talents and his Mother’s command of presence,
showmanship and the innate ability to work a room while keeping all eyes on
him.
Written
by:
Terry
Christopher
Return to Terry Christopher's Wing
Entrance
Return to GLBT Artists
The Top 40 GLBT Music Chart! Support GLBT Music vote for your favorite GLBT
Artists.
Now a part of the StoneWall Society Network!
Receive our FREE monthly newsletter
|
StoneWall
Society free web-based email, 6megs of space.
|
Site Map
Sign My Guestbook 
View My Guestbook
Site opened 10/31/99
StoneWall Society 
10/99 - 2006