Sam Locke Ward made his second appearance on Little Village Live this past week. Like all of Sam’s shows, there was no telling what he was going to do once the mic was on. This time he brought the ruckus of his own crowd to the airwaves. The weight of an unopened pop can on the keys of his Casio projected a stadium-worthy roar that remained the only constant throughout his set.
Sam bounced around his hefty catalog of music, performing one song after another, leaving no time in between for idle chatter. In fact, the only break in Sam’s repertoire was when he cheekily cued up Aladin’s “A Whole New World” to buy himself time to stroll off and grab a delicious cookie provided by the New Pioneer Co-op.
I happen to be a big fan of Sam’s work and was really tickled to see him being a total goof while the small crowd that had assembled at PS1 giggled and looked at each other as if to confirm that this was really going down this way. Believe it, folks.
Now, I have no idea how this sounded to those tuning into KRUI, but from PS1 it was an auditory and visual spectacle. Sam sat center-stage, surrounded by his amp, the keyboard – complete with pop can crowd – and some kind of synthesizer-looking gadget sitting on folding chairs around him. He laughed, screamed and sang as only he can. At one point toward the end of the hour, I snuck back to the soundboard and snapped a photo of Sam’s wailing sending the volume-o-meter needle dancing into the red zone. It was exactly how I like to listen to Sam’s music: Loud and unapologetic.
Click here for videos from this event.
