Berklee Presents Nick Goldston and Endangered Speeches in the Summer in the City Music Series

Last week I started off once again at the Prudential Lunch Series, this time with Nick Goldston performing.It was a pleasure to see Nick again as I hadn’t seen him since our Marketing class final. Up there with his acoustic guitar and his percussionist playing Cajon, the same gentleman who played bass for Mario Jose. For a bassist, he did a superb job playing the little Peruvian box. Nick’s playing and tastes lent itself best to a folk rock, John Mayer style of playing. As such, the Mayer covers commenced. While I have mixed feelings of Mayer on the whole, Nick seemed to take every bit that I enjoy and emphasize it. His guitar voicings were unique and strong, and his vocals were crisp and clear even while having a cold (of which I didn’t know until he mentioned it to me on a set break). He was very in tune with the crowd. The funniest moment being when he spotted a small child running around with what seemed to be a pilfered tennis racquet. “Look at the little guy with that thing, it’s bigger than he is, Uh oh, I think he’s about to….” And SPLASH, the racquet went straight into the fountain…  While this may have had nothing to do with his playing or singing, it gave a much stronger connection to the crowd. He was relaxed and fluid in his comical observations and anecdotes and yet, didn’t spend too much time ranting between songs like some artists do. I had a great time watching Nick play and I’m interested to see where he goes with his music. While I would have loved to hear more originals, I know he was playing to the audience and what he believed they wanted to hear, so I can’t knock him for that. I guess I’ll just have to make it to another one of his shows. Shucks (sarcasm)

Endangered Speeches was a last minute addition to the Summer in the City lineup when I got to Kendall Square on Thursday. I was stoked to hear Kinki Ski Monkey, the band who was originally supposed to play, but some sort of injury/sickness was plaguing their singer. So, the band contacted Endangered Speeches to play in their stead. Mariletta Konstatara heads up this band as lead vocalist. She has a great presence and great pipes. Not only does she sing, but she also raps for half the songs. As this show was late notice and it’s summer time, only about six or seven of the full thirteen members of the band were able to perform, but it still sounded awesome. Because of this, the set was more of their reggae material, I was told by percussionist, Chris Orozco. This was there first show back in town after a brief vaction, but you can check them out at a few different festivals coming up this sumer, such as Kahbang Music Festival in Maine.