Avant-folk troubadour Michelle Shocked flew the red-eye in from LA just to help raise some money for Dennis Kucinich in his own backyard. The Beachland Tavern was the site for the VIP party and when Shocked walked in, the room of 50 supporters burst into spontaneous applause. After some conversation, food and open bar, the party moved into the Ballroom where the hard corps were joined by another 100 or so who came for the concert.

Combining aspects of folk hoe-down, sing-a-long, and political rally, Shocked regaled the enthralled audience with stories of her songs, her life and her outlook. Accompanied only by an acoustic guitar sounding as large as a train, she launched into an East Texas trilogy, then a train trilogy, and when she sang, "If love was a train, I'd throw my body down on the tracks," you knew you were in the right place.

Her comfortable style allowed her to speak directly to the crowd, often ignoring the microphone, and the great lines came fast and furious. Her passion boiling, she warned, "Never piss off a songwriter."

She continually professed her belief in the man of the hour, who sent his regards from New Hampshire. "I get the same question that Dennis Kucinich gets: Do you think you can be elected? And I tell 'em the same thing Dennis does: Yeah, if people vote for me." Shocked even offered her own take off on Dennis' new tag line Fear Ends. Hope Begins, but hers was more like, "Be good to your butt, and your butt will be good to you..."

The setting was almost too perfect for a concert-cum-rally. Entering the Beachland, you notice the new blacktop and fencing, and you realize that this architectural gem was once a center of Cleveland's Croatian culture, and now that it's being renovated, it is stimulating the economic revival of an entire neighborhood. The lovingly restored proscenium in the Ballroom framed Shocked perfectly, (is this the finest show room in Cleveland? In the state?) and everyone knew they were witnessing a special event.

Review & photos by Thomas Mulready

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