'Sweet Home Quarantine' online show on StageIt.com.
Playing songs related to Los Angeles
No Emma Swift at this show as she was in Australia.

Review by Adrienne Meddock from Zub Records
The Covid rise in Melbourne has meant that Emma’s Australian tour must be postponed as new lockdowns are being ordered there. It has been a strange homecoming for her, so much of it in quarantine lockdown in a hotel.

Today’s show is an LA “sinister-rom-creepy special,” with songs about or inspired by Los Angeles.

First up is ‘The Man with a Woman’s Shadow,’ from Moss Elixir. Robyn plays the harmonica because Tubby’s not in the room. My possibly deaf older cat (or perhaps she can’t be arsed by anything) is sleeping through. Robyn’s Nixons have started already. Tubby surprises us by coming in to investigate the action--he is choosing to ignore the harmonica. Ah, curiosity and felis catus.

The Doors’ ‘Love Street,’ Robyn’s low speaking voice is trotted out (love it) and he picks the acoustic through the whole song, a Spanish-style Krieger of sorts.

Arthur Lee, who discovered The Doors, is our next LA stop. “The Red Telephone” was recorded by Lee’s Love, is well-suited to Robyn’s voice. The swirling guitar gives us a nice psychedelic-acoustic take. Robyn tells us he was stuck in LA making a record, “all his dreams came true.” He listened in the studio to an Arthur Lee tape as part of that experience.

The natural follow up is ‘The Wreck of the Arthur Lee’ from Respect. I love the dismal optimism of the song, but that is RH’s wheelhouse, is it not? RH tells the story of meeting Arthur Lee, really a bit of a confrontation. We’ve heard this before, but it is always welcome, like a family story now.

Robyn switched “to a different out of tune guitar,” for a Flying Burrito Brothers request, ‘Sin City.’ “LA police, they come in different flavors.…”

Up next ‘Nietzsche’s Way,’ which provokes RH’s comment, “well, that was performed.” Tough crowd, he is. He tells us he had no idea what LA stood for when he was younger, he thought maybe London Airport. He eventually learned from Rolling Stone.

A Beatles request for a George song brings us ‘Blue Jay Way.’ RH gets a great drone going. Has he a sitar hidden in that Gibson? I never thought of it as an LA song, but there it is in the lyrics.

Marcus suggested a song that Robyn had forgotten! He had to relearn his Patreon song ‘No Cure for LA.’ He plays the song with real enthusiasm, so great suggestion!

The next song is introduced “by some old friends of mine, before they lost their drummer. A mention of Mulholland Drive gets R.E.M. 's ‘Electrolite’ on tonight’s card.

The top hat and harmonica come out for Tom Petty, a song with a “lot of creepy longing--one of the greatest things to which humans can aspire.” “Free Fallin’’ ensues, and I can swear to it, be I believe the lyrics were given an appropriate Robyn upgrade to “she loves cheeses...,” which would be a serious improvement to this Petty averse listener. It’s a very LA song and Tubby seems California-cool with the harmonica playing.

We are offered a Henley-off: ‘Hotel California’ or ‘Boys of Summer.’ Voting in the comments ensues while the beloved RH LA song, ‘Raymond Chandler Evening’ is up. Robyn tells us he plays it “all the time, but we keep requesting it.’ He seems a bit baffled about our collective devotion to the song.

‘Boys of Summer’ wins the fan poll, and Robyn tells us we ‘have now escaped any chance of me singing ‘Hotel California.’” Andy calls the ‘Boys” lyrics to an agitated Robyn, who stops the nonsense. “I really hate this song. I don’t know why I am doing it. I’ll play one of my own. One of my unhappiest LA songs.”

He goes out with ‘Vegetation and Dimes,’ clarifying as he signs off, “I don’t hate that song, I hate doing it.” Avoiding an Eagles-related fatwa, I suppose. Well, Lebowski had it right.

--Adrienne Meddock, loves cheeses, America too