David Nachmanoff Concert - DMTC - Saturday night

Left: Donna Lemongello (left), an audience member Saturday night (but a fellow band member with Dave Nachmanoff in the nineties) sings a song with Dave (right) Saturday night.


Experiments are a good thing, especially the kind where you throw something against the wall, to see what sticks. For the inaugural concert of DMTC's "Keep the Music in Your Community" series, we carefully placed Dave Nachmanoff in a medieval-style catapult, outfitted him with a bicycle helmet (for safety's sake), and flung him against one of the new walls of the Hoblit Performing Arts Center. Lo, and behold! Dave stuck!

What an excellent concert! About 45 folks showed up, mostly die-hard Dave Nachmanoff fans - some from the Bay Area, some from the Sierra foothills, and one couple from Arizona! He sang some of his favorite sings: 'Gulliver, The Cowboy Cat," "The Pope Valley Hubcap King," "The Loyalist," and he sang "Sophia," as his daughter, who was sitting behind me, told her mom, "Daddy's singing about me!" He also sang as tribute song to my neighbor, well-known Sacramento bassist Erik Kleven, who recently perished in a head-on collision on Highway 16 near Rancho Murietta. The song was called "Without a Compass or a Map." He also sang a song about a local place, "George's Corner," about the intersection of Second and L Streets, in Davis.

Dave is going into a recording studio this coming week, and this December, he will be touring in Europe with fellow singer, Al Stewart.

"Glorious" (and one of Ben Wormeli's favorite songs)

Have you ever seen a newborn baby?
The wonder in her eyes
Every sight and sound astounding
Every moment's a surprise
Mother's smiling at her laughter
Father's babbling like a child
Now they're cast into a new world
By the glory of her smile

We were glorious once, and we're glorious still
If we take the time to look, we can see the glory well

"A Certain Distance"

And the satellite is beaming down its signal, to your tiny town
But nothing's getting through
He's much too far from you and you know it
There's a certain distance

"El Niño"

They're catching stingray in Washington State
Down south, there's nothing but drought
There's brush fires all over Australia
And in the north, it's flooding them out

The tradewinds are stuck in the doldrums
The Pacific's receded and warm
The forecast is gloomy for winter
What's causing this tropical storm?

El Niño
blame it all on El Niño
It's because of El Niño
Says the man on the news

El Niño
blame it all on El Niño
That anomalous weather phenomenon from Peru

My last 15 gigs have been empty
It seems like I'm under a curse
The computer is invaded by gremlins
And the stock market couldn't be worse

I broke a nail last Thursday
And the dog somehow injured his paw
I gained 20 pounds, and lost my wife

I tell you, there must be a cause!


I asked Dave what kind of music he calls what he sings: folk, rock, emo, reggae, jambalaya, what? He said, "I don't know - historical folk-rock?" Whatever it's called, it's very intelligent!

Regarding DMTC's plans for its concert series, locally-base singer/songwriter Dave Nachmanoff offered some advice. He suggested keeping a local component to the artists that DMTC brings in. Local artists have local fans, who can be counted on to show up. Local artists will ask less in the form of a money guarantee. And since the only viable local alternative, short of the "Palms," is passing the tip jar at the "Delta of Venus" coffeehouse, local artists may even forgo a guarantee altogether, perhaps in exchange for a portion of the gate. Artists brought in from outside will have no alternative but to have a money guarantee, and since they may not have a local fan base, DMTC might end up losing money on them. The risk is greater.

As DMTC Treasurer, I was pleased with the inaugural concert. The concert brought in slightly more than the most-recent "Dancing Through The Decades" dance, but with fewer food and decorating expenses. As we develop a reputation in the community for these events, and as attendance rises, we will benefit all the more.

Thank you, Dave, for the wonderful music, and for being such a sport!