From the Orange County Register, Rancho Santa Margarita edition, October 8, 2004
You could find a treat at Borders tonight
If you happen to be at Borders bookstore tonight, you’re in for a treat just as I was about a month ago.
That evening, I was intent on researching an author for an upcoming column so I found his book and, notepad in hand, settled into a chair at the far end of the store and started jotting down notes.
Then I began hearing the gently persistent lyrics of "Fire and Rain" and a voice that sounded very close to that of James Taylor.
I moved in the direction of the bookstore’s in-house café and there were a couple of guys with guitars, one singing, the other providing steady backup.
I sat down and, while the duo played "The Way You Look Tonight," "Crying," and "Bridge Over Troubled Waters," proceeded to scan the book’s chapters. As I continued to take notes, my attention drifted back to the music. What a pleasure it was to sit quietly on a Friday evening and listen to heartfelt song lyrics and really mellow guitar.
Instead of gathering up my notes and leaving, I stayed, as did a number of the café’s customers, and heard, with great pleasure, "The Water is Wide,"
"Someone to Watch Over Me," "You’ve Got A Friend," "South of the Border," "Something In the Way She Moves," and even an impromptu "If I Only Had a Brain," which charmed the adults just as much as it did the children.
The duo played until they had about 15 minutes to gather up their acoustical equipment. At that point I went up and asked for their card. "Keith & Warren" it said. "Good music."
Very good music indeed. I went to their Web site at
http://members.cox.net/keith.comer/music/
and noted the considerable list of easy-listening
songs within their repertoire, some of which had audio links. I e-mailed both guys and found they hoped to return sometime in the near future.
"The RSM store is easily our favorite Borders to play at, of all the ones we’ve done so far," Keith said. "Something about the family atmosphere."
If you go to their Web site, you’ll see that Keith and Warren have played a number of locales, including quite a few Borders cafés. By the time this column appears, they will have made their debut appearance at the Borders in Hollywood, which is a bit of a ways to trek, since Warren is based in Irvine and Keith lives "almost spittin’ distance" from our Borders. But, as they say in show biz, "a gig is a gig."
So how did Keith Comer and Warren Allen become Keith & Warren?
"I’ve been playing guitar since the Pleistocene era, though I’ve only picked up electric guitar in the last couple of years.," Warren said. "I migrated to OC from back east, about 15 years ago."
He and Keith met as co-workers at a local computer company and discovered a common interest in guitar playing. They found that their skills were complementary, with Keith’s "fingerpicked guitar weaving the basic fabric, ornamented by the colorful threads of Warren’s lines, fills, and solos." Eventually," Keith said. "after a year of lunch time rehearsals and after-hours company parties, we decided to try our luck in the real world, and have been playing steadily in south Orange County coffee houses."
I’m not surprised. Easy listening music is a rarity, and-Keith & Warren provide just the right mix of pop ballads, from Chris Isaak, Paul Simon, the Beatles, and yes, James Taylor, to songs going back to the 1930s. "A
great song is a great song; I don’t care if it’s brand new or if it was
a hit when my mom was in school," Keith said. "Besides, it’s a lot of
fun to surprise people with favorite songs they haven’t thought about
in a while."
Tonight,
you might want to mosey over to Borders café and stick around for the
listener-friendly music of Keith & Warren, beginning at 7 p.m.
Can’t guarantee how long they’ll go, though. As Keith told me, "The
schedule says we’re supposed to quit at 9, but we love to play and if
people are willing to listen, we just keep on playin’ until they close
the joint up around us."
Encore, Encore!
Just
as every group seems to have its "quiet Beatle," Warren remains the
enigma of the two, but if you check out the Keith and Warren Web site
you’ll find a link to Keith’s own site.
There’s
even a section called "I Had A Heart Attack! " This sounds ominous but
is really Keith’s humorous take on his hospitalization about a year ago
and features a series of clever cartoons and laugh-out-loud captions.
Check it out, and enjoy!
CONTACT THE WRITER:
whitcombjl@juno.com or
(949) 858-5473.
’ROUND THE RANCHO