Zee Avi w/ Matthew Hemerlein at Ram's Head On Stage in Annapolis Feb 25, 2012

Zee Avi, Ram's Head on Stage, 2-25-12

This was my first visit to Ram's Head On Stage, which is a dinner-theater type venue next door (and attached) to Ram's Head Tavern. We parked about a block away in a pay lot and had lunch at the Tavern before the show, which has a cozy brew-pub feel to it, but the food was only so-so. The venue itself holds about 300 people all seated at 2 to 6 top tables. There is food and beverage waiter service at the tables. The stage is large for the space and projects into the room so that 2 sides face the audience - the tables are configured in an "L" shape around it. I recommend getting tickets facing the long side of the stage, even if you are several rows back, because they set up the performers to face the long side and the performers don't always remember the people facing the short side of the stage. The decor and bathrooms are both nice - this is the kind of place a grown-up crowd would especially appreciate. Acoustics are really good, and the sound was level was comfortable. The ceiling is lower than I would prefer, but not unusually so.

The most unusual part about this show was that it was a all-ages matinee, and Eric and I took our kids with us, which meant I spent a LOT of energy encouraging the 3 year old to remain calm throughout. He did a good job, only losing it at the encore. Eric took him outside for that.

Matthew Hemerlein opened. I'd never heard of him before. He was easy on the eyes, ladies! His thing seems to be pedal-repeaters with violin and guitar and a sensitive-guy voice. He performs barefoot. I loved his cover of "Creep". I wouldn't seek him out, but if I saw him as an opener again, I wouldn't be upset. He didn't engage the audience much, though, and forgot to turn to the other half of the audience on his right.

Zee Avi, a Malaysian woman with a gorgeous old-school 50's style voice had a very world-music inspired set. She played with 3 band members who used some novel instrumentation. She had a good stage presence and engaged the audience well. She was much better at acknowledging both sides of the stage, though it clearly took a few songs for the band to realize they needed to consider that other half of the audience and play to them, too!