Sheli & Keith Monacchio came up with a great idea when they started ‘The WORKS Series’ back in January at the new Green Planet Coffee is Ocean, NJ. The idea was to get two artists to each play one of their albums in its entirety in a very intimate venue.

This being my first time in the Green Planet Coffee in Ocean (there are 2 other locations), let me start by saying what a nice space it is. The décor is really nice and relaxing with lots of plant life and artwork, the antithesis of most of the dank bars that I see bands in regularly. They also have a better sound system than some of those bars. Both acts sounded absolutely pristine in the room. Oh yeah, and they have good coffee too.

Opening the evening was Tommy Strazza, performing, “the model citizen lp”, one of my favorite albums of 2010. Tommy, as always, sounded incredible as he played through the CD, including several tracks that he normally does not play out. That is one of the beauties of ‘the WORKS Series’ is that many artists have songs on their album that they either never play live or rarely play live. By knowing up front they are playing the entire album, you know you are going to hear those songs that even if you see the artist frequently you might never have herd live. Of course the highlight for me from this set was a song Tommy plays often. On this night a slowed down version of, “Dinerral’s song”, made the story of Dinerral Shavers all the more powerful.

Michael Brett played his 2006 album, “in the basement (with Rosie)”. Admittedly, I had not heard this album before. I do have his more recent album, “some kind of solitude”, and absolutely love it, so I knew to expect some great storytelling songs. Well I got that, along with some wonderful guitar work, which is why putting him on a bill with Tommy Strazza (who is also a very skilled guitarist) was a stellar move. Michael Brett’s 13 song set just flew by and left me wanting more.

I go to a lot of shows, generally when an act plays for an hour I’ve heard enough, but tonight I could easily have listened to Tommy & Michael playing for another hour each (they both have other albums they could play in their entirety, maybe a future show?)

‘The WORKS Series’ is a glorious gem of a concert series at a great sounding, and comfortable venue. And check out the great lineups they have for the next two shows:

Saturday April 14th
The Cucumbers - “who betrays me and other happier songs” (1985)
Jon Caspi - “the little ones” (2011)

Saturday May 19th
Anthony Walker - “when strangers say hello” (2008)
Keith Monacchio - “the long evening” (2010)

- Lazlo

www.tommystrazza.com

www.reverbnation.com/michaelbrett

Photos
(click on photo see full size)


Tommy Strazza









Michael Brett