Pissed off that "Looking For Eric" hadn't arrived via Netflix yet, I turned to my XBOX 360 to see if there was anything worth watching online. If you're a stranger to Netflix's online catalog, you should know that ninety-five percent of it is either complete crap or complete crap no one I know has ever heard of. Near the end of my desperation I stopped at Californication, a Showtime production I'd heard some good things about (but nothing great) and never made the time to judge for myself. Six episodes later, I was immersed in the show and scrambling to find out who covered Warren Zevon's "Don't Let Us Get Sick" as the sixth episode came to a close. Thanks to my bff, Google, I quickly learned that a self-described "saloon singer" who specializes in covers from nowhere, New Jersey, named Pat Guadagno, was directly responsible for improving my evening. I quickly gathered info on this fellow and devoured as much of his material as I could. Turns out he is just what he says he is: an aging man riding out a mediocre career in bars and saloons somewhere along the eastern seaboard. Of what I've consumed so far, three tunes stand out: the aforementioned cover, a cover of Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower," and a cover of a tune by The Hollies called "Bus Stop." His live album, Live at the City Lights Saloon, is aggressively entertaining. Up and down and fast and slow, covers and originals, he certainly knows how to put on a show. Lastly, in the cover of AAtW Guadagno's attack on his acoustic guitar is rousing, and overall, his ability to make the songs he covers his own but not stray too far from what made the originals so great is a unique strength that draws me closer with each listen.
Don't Let Us Get Sick
All Along the Watchtower
Bus Stop
