BEVERLY HILLS-October 25--Ryan Green and Cameron Hood, collectively known as Ryanhood, took their energetic and enigmatic acoustic duo act to Ian Copeland’s Backstage Café in Beverly Hills, CA, on a pivotal evening. It was Ian’s daughter Barbara’s 25th birthday celebration. It was also a homecoming of sorts for lead guitarist Ryan Green. Viewers and contributors to the Backstage Café Web site’s message board were introduced to him by the forum’s host (Ian) via a performance he did earlier in the year with the electronica tinged, hybrid beat, genre defying band Iluminada. The message about Ryan’s other musical endeavor with long-time collaborator Cameron Hood continued to spread, and spawned awareness of the Ryanhood duo across the United States and around the globe.
For many fans of Ryanhood it all began at the Backstage Café. As a gesture of thanks and appreciation, Ryan and Cameron performed two sets for Backstage patrons. They performed relatively early by Backstage Café traditions out of consideration for those who traveled a distance to see them and had early morning commitments, career and otherwise.
This set was modeled on those they performed throughout the summer at Boston’s renowned Faneuil Hall-Quincy Marketplace’s 19th Annual Street Performers Festival. Much of the set’s material emanated from Ryanhood’s first, acoustic-only CD Sad and Happiness. It began with the shortened, Simon & Garfunkel-ish "Oh No" and featured other proven crowd pleasers like "Invitation," "Can I Kiss You," and "Softly Slowly" among others. "Army," "Welcome You Into My Head," and "Helpless Hopeless" were featured from their new CD Forward. Two long-time Ryanhood covers, The Beatles’ "Dear Prudence" and the theme to "The Prince of Bel Air" were included. The surprise for Ryanhood followers was their inclusion of "Mrs. Robinson," restoring the tune to Paul Simon’s original incarnation with due respect to The Lemonhead’s energetic take. Evan Dando wouldn’t have disapproved. This combination of the two sides of Ryanhood highlighted Ryan Green’s guitar mastery and Cameron Hood’s penchant for melodic ballads, lullabies and waltzes.
Cameron broke with Ryanhood tradition and kept the between-song colloquy to a minimum. Listeners heard an entirely musical-only presentation of the Ryanhood experience, and they performed and sang solidly, spiritedly, and cohesively.
The second set occurred after a lively birthday celebration, and began close to the start of October 26th’s ante meridian hours. It was lively in keeping with the festive birthday party atmosphere, and Ryanhood proved they could enhance the high-spirited mood. Cameron reverted to form and took control of the room, serving as its Master of Ceremonies. His brilliant extemporaneous inter-song musings were in fine form, and Ryan was exceptionally prone to extemporaneous and experimental guitar phrasings and solos. All of the first set’s features from the Forward CD were included in addition to the lively "Separate" and "Gardens and the Graves." "Invitation" was repeated from the first set from the Sad and Happiness CD. Ryan Green’s beautiful "Jasmine" was included from the first CD as well, as was the title track "Sad and Happiness," which was extended to include incorporations of the "Theme from the Prince of Bel Air" and other songs pulled out of the stratosphere. Requests were even entertained; Cyndi Lauper’s "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" was therefore included in the mix among others. Ryan was completely unflappable and kept any requests fluid and consistent within the Ryanhood musical framework, no matter how extraordinary and out of context; Cameron managed to conjure the correct lyrics to each request. These aren’t easy feats—Ryan and Cameron just made them look that way.
The late set also featured another standard Ryanhood Beatles cover, but this time with a new twist; the beautiful "Two of Us" from The Beatles’ penultimate Let It Be. For me this is their Beatles cover tour de force, and they perform it beautifully both instrumentally and vocally. This time they integrated a short chorus from The Beatles’ "I Dig a Pony" at the end of the song, something I’ve not heard them do heretofore.
Ryanhood’s second set was tight but flowing, rehearsed yet spontaneous at once, and humorous without being boozy. They were at one with the ethos and mood of the crowd, and brought it to greater heights.
Ryanhood fuses popular musical traditions in their songwriting with a modern, forward looking perspective. They evoke the styles of musical icons like Simon & Garfunkel and the Beatles with modern popular artists such as Dave Matthews, Nickel Creek, and even some unexpected hardcore acts.
Ryan and Cameron spent the wee hours of Tuesday, October 26, listening to advice and counsel from someone who seemed taken aback by Ryanhood’s inclusions of Beatles songs in their act, and spoke disapprovingly about their incorporation within. I disagree vehemently with this notion. Ryanhood has proven highly skilled at presenting the acoustic side of The Beatles to young and old listeners alike, and captures the unplugged Beatles in an astonishingly spiritual way. Nobody has more right to interpret The Beatles than Ryan and Cameron. I’ve often suggested to them that they should incorporate other acoustic Beatles treasures in their act. I have quipped, more than once, that Ryanhood could bring any house down to waves of standing ovations by doing a set devoted entirely to Beatles covers. I have witnessed the enthusiastic applause they receive upon performing Beatles songs time after time at Boston’s Faneuil Hall, so I know what I’m talking about.
David D.
