Courtesy of myspace.com/lilihaydn
Violinist Lili Haydn rocks for human rights in Hollywood
April 1, 2008, at the Roxy
By Melissa Bobbitt
Published: April 2nd, 2008 | 9:40pm
Every swipe and caress of Lili Hayden's silvery strings cried out for the less fortunate, but too often during her hourlong set, her message of benevolence and beauty was drowned out by commonplace Hollywood frivolity.
The Sunset Strip wasn't the most fitting place to host an honorary event for the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which coupled as the album release party for the violinist vixen's Place Between Places (Nettwerk). Agitated barflies looking for hair metal nostalgia crashed the party and exercised their rights by belching and blathering over Haydn's heartfelt diatribes of suffrage and suffering. And an entire other faction of fans attended merely for the evening's host, comedian Bill Maher, who nonchalantly rattled off his usual political prose that elicited insincere laughs from the perfectly coiffed crowd.
But Maher was reverent to the night's main attraction. "When they write the history of rocknroll," he said, "she'll be remembered as the greatest violinist." Indeed, Haydn's scope of experience is great; she's collaborated with everyone from Page and Plant, to No Doubt and Josh Groban. And because her stage presence is as scintillating as the most heralded of guitar-slingers (not to mention the incredible abs her belly-dancer costume showcased), it's no wonder George Clinton dubbed her "the Jimi Hendrix of the violin."
But her own material sounded more Lilith Fair than Electric Ladyland. Sure, there were strings a-blazing in the classic rock behemoth "Maggot Brain" and her audacious take on Hendrix's version of our national anthem, but too many tunes depended more on her wispy vocals and flowery lyrics than her instrumental prowess. No musician wants to be pigeonholed, but her second-rate Alanis Morissette lilt proved detrimental to the boldness of her bow.
Which is not to say the show was a bust — on the contrary, some very interesting things conspired on stage. Painter Norton Wisdom served as opening act and ambient background entertainment during Haydn's performance, splashing his tall, illuminated canvas with dripping, nightmarish oils. And what would a night out in Hollywood be without a "Hey, aren't you so-and-so" moment? Her mandolin player was so much of an Elvis Costello doppelgänger, one might have expected the group to bust out an impromptu cover of "Veronica." (No such luck.)
Though mesmerizing when showing her skill on the strings, Lili Haydn comes up short as a frontwoman. In her case, the position of second fiddle is a most honorable and suitable role.
Issue #35
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