All words and photos: Joe Mittleman
Walking out the Mayer Hawthorne show at the Rock & Roll Hotel last Wednesday, I said to my friend Jen: “Man, I loved that, but I worry it’s kinda problematic: White, Jewish boy taking on the persona of a Black soul singer.” “Nothing problematic there,” she said, “just a White boy with a lot of soul.” In this, as in all things, Jen is probably right.
As anyone who’s heard him knows, Hawthorne does have a lot of soul, and he laid it all out on Wednesday night. The house was packed with a diverse and energetic crowd. Coming out on the stage, Hawthorne seemed thrilled to be performing for us, saying “Looks like some of y’all told your friends since the last time I was here.”
Hawthorne’s thirteen song set flew by with relatively little banter or gimmick (which was a relief). His four man band, the County, revved up the energy of his restrained debut, A Strange Arrangement, in a major way. Songs like “Love is Alright” got the crowd dancing so hard I actually got scolded for focusing on my camera rather than my moves. Putting a sloppy reggae spin on Hawthorne’s single, “Just Ain’t Gonna Work Out,” felt like the only misstep of the set: I was cool with the blue-eyed soul, but did we really need to appropriate two Black genres in one song?
The great surprise of the night was opener Nikki Jean. Jean was the kind of rare opener you feel lucky to see, sensing that they’re on the cusp of much greater things. Though she’s already recorded with Lupe Fiasco and toured with Kanye, for Jean, the best is almost certainly yet to come. Her soon to be released Columbia Records debut has her co-writing songs with some of America’s greatest living songwriters: Jim Weatherly (“Midnight Train to Georgia”), Lamont Dozier (“Sugar Pie Hungry Bunch”), Burt Bacharach (“What the World Needs Now”), and others. Despite her impending super stardom, Jean had a breezy and appreciative stage presence and posed for photos after the set. It was a real privilege to see her perform.
DJ House Shoes, a Dilla confidant and fellow Detroit scene-maker, spun before and between sets. Though it was exciting to be watching someone who was close with one of the greatest of all time, you got the sense he wasn’t terribly concerned with keeping the crowd interested. That’s cool.
Like any good White boy, I cringe whenever I hear someone use words like “beyond race.” Still, despite the protestations of some generally like-minded friends, Hawthorne’s show made me hope that someday I could start to put my guard down about these things. Raised in the cradle of Motown, recruited and promoted by one of the most legit hip hop labels out now, backed by a multiracial band and loved by a multiracial crowd: if Hawthorne can’t inoffensively adapt a piece of Black culture, the rest of us White, Jewish boys should probably just throw up our hands.
And maybe we should, I look forward to any thoughts in the comments section.
Previously in Live DC:
- 2/13: LiveDC: Veronica Falls/ Brilliant Colors @ Black Cat
- 2/13: LIVE DC: Steve Aoki/ Datsik/ Alvin Risk @ Fillmore
- 2/13: LiveDC: The Darkness @ 930 Club
- 2/9: LiveDC: Theophilus London @ 930 Club
- 2/9: Best Weekend Bets
- 2/8: LiveDC: Kathleen Edwards @ 930 Club
- 2/8: LiveDC: Thurston Moore/ Kurt Vile @ Black Cat
- 2/8: LiveDC: Thurston Moore/ Kurt Vile @ Black Cat
- 2/7: LiveDC: Demetri Martin @ Warner Theatre
- 2/7: LiveDC: Augustana/ Graffiti6 @ 930 Club
God loves a cheerful giver.
Stick to reviewing the music rather than skirting around racial stereotypes.
life was better when only blacks listened to black music and whites listened to white music. and we felt more comfortable in our shoes going to an all white club in and all white neighborhood.
most relevant/popular genres in america we're begotten by blacks. rock n roll of course, "techno," even folk/bluegrass (the banjo originally came from africa).
didn't stop whites and other races/ethnicities from putting their own cultural stamp on such musical traditions.
your remarks are extremely fucking silly. i'm trying to be as nice as possible in saying that.
Haircut makes good (not Great) soul music and happens to be white. Is there something to unpack there? Sure there is. The eccentric delivery and shtick straddles the fine line between homage and satire, but ultimately it makes for a mostly pleasurable listening experience. I'm not mad at him, and hopefully we can all let our guard down a little bit about these things one day... that is, after Eminem is surpassed as the highest-selling rapper of all time.
And for some reason it sounds like "whatever" would have also preferred it if Strom Thurmond had been elected president. Is that you, Senator Lott? And what era exactly are you referring to? You might want to try Googling "Cotton Club" before your next comment post.
What's with the quotes around "techno" dude??? RESPECT.
I just felt inauthentic saying it, as if my European heritage should be embarrassed of wielding such a word.
dear logan,
hey man, thanks for being as nice as possible. also, i'm so stoked to hear that i don't have to think about race and power when i'm consuming culture. phew! what a relief. i'll be sure to tell my white friends we can stop worrying about privilege and my black and brown friends that they can stop complaining about oppression.
thanks a lot!
I just don't see what the big deal is about a white guy singing within the tropes and traditions of two genres (R&B and Reggae) that have been assimilated, digested, and recycled in musical cultures worldwide. Maybe the reggae song disrupted the flow of the show since the audience was already settled and grooving to a different tone/mood. But w. t. f. -- why does the explanation of his gaff have to be because he "appropriated two black genres in one song."
I dunno, maybe the author is hung up on him being white AND jewish. How many reductive descriptors does it take for one to be incapacitated by his or her own heritage/lineage? Apparently just two. Meaning if Lenny Kravitz were gay, he would possibly be the the most insurmountable mindfuck in music history.
I think maybe talking about race was an attempt to make this show more interesting than it was. I'm a fan, and it was a good show, but it's borderline gimmick (or not even borderline). Which sucks, because MH is really fucking talented and the music's great, but without a twist it's just recycled motown, without as much polish.