Yellow Umbrella Tour for Cervical Cancer: Kaki King and Christine Baze

Umbrellas protect us from the elements, be they harsh or minimal. They can be used to express our individuality and creativity on a dull and drab day. They can also provide a glimpse of momentary brightness in the darkness. The Yellow Umbrella Tour was created to be that light in the darkness that is cervical cancer.

Christine Baze won her fight against cervical cancer and the virus that causes it, Human Papillomavirus (HPV). As a musician, she knew she had the tools to go out and make a difference. She created a benefit concert and called it Pop Smear (a play on the test that can detect cervical cancer, pap smear). The success of the concert spawned PopSmear.org and The Yellow Umbrella Tour. 2006 is the fourth year of the tour and it's traveling to over 35 cities this September and October.

The tour rolled into Austin, Texas and I found myself at Stubb's BBQ. Being a Texas girl, I like to eat and decided to grab some food and sit at a table along the balcony of the second floor. To me it was the best of both worlds; I had a great seat to view the concert without feeling crowded and I was able to chow down on some excellent barbecue.

Looking down, I saw this tiny, sweet female version of Carrot Top walk onto the stage. It happened to be Christine. She stood behind the keyboard as her drummer and guitarist joined her on the stage. A quick introduction to her story and the importance of being tested regularly, she jumped right into her show. It was a short set, lasting about 30 minutes. Christine Baze has a good sound. The only thing I found lacking was her lyrics; not all of us are meant to be great songwriters. I think if she found someone else to write songs and she perform them, she would be great. I did find it quite enjoyable to watch her drummer though. He was a large man with a shaved head who had the most dainty of smiles on his face as he played. If his dimples weren't enough to make him fun to see, his careful glances and obvious enjoyment of playing would do the trick.

Christine Baze and her band cleared the stage pretty quickly and then…nothing. There was no sign of anyone setting up a second band. There were no guitars being tuned. I was annoyed. It was getting hotter inside Stubb's, the ice in my tea had melted, and the girl I was there to see was making no efforts to get ready.

Nearly an hour later, Kaki King sat in a chair on the stage. She and the drummer started what I assumed was tuning. Apparently, Kaki's new stuff has strayed from her sweet acoustic to the experimental distortion. Not only that, but the sound mix was off that even if I were into experimental distortion it would have been painful to listen to. Ok, so maybe that isn't her new direction as everything on her MySpace Profile and Website don't seem to be anywhere near what she played - even the experimental stuff sounds entirely different live. It had to have been the sound mix because when she was just speaking, I couldn't hear a word she said.

Her next song, she broke out a guitar and sang. That is when I knew the problem had to be the sound mix, because her guitar was far too loud and totally overpowered her voice. She's good at playing the guitar, don't get me wrong, it's just her voice is an instrument no one should hide. Just listen to her song "Yellowcake" and you will understand exactly what I mean about her voice.

Anyway, I am not sure what the deal was tonight, but Kaki was less than I hoped for. I know she isn't new to the industry, what with …Until We Felt Red being her third album. And I know she isn't completely new to live gigs because she performs at NYC's Knitting Factory and is in the midst of a national tour. I enjoy that she has branched into a new realm musically, adding back up musicians and using a lap steel. Heck, I even love the fact that she doesn't play songs with standard tuning. She is an individualist. But something at Stubb's wasn't working and she lacked the charisma to make it a great show. I do hope she comes back to Austin soon, but with a different sound mixer.