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Chanteuse with a harp mesmerizes sellout S.F. crowd
Jaan Uhelszki, Special to The Chronicle
Wednesday, December 20, 2006

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Joanna Newsom gave new meaning to the term "going medieval on you" Monday night at the first of three sold-out shows at Great American Music Hall. Her methods are much subtler than those of, say, Randy Savage, the Undertaker or Andre the Giant. Yet the results are similar. She's not the fragile woodland creature that you've come to believe she is; by the end of her 90-minute set, you're still held in a headlock, but you find yourself clamoring for more.
"Bay Area!" a clueless audience member yelled at the beginning of Monday's show -- among the clamor of "I love you," "Will you marry me," "You're cute" and other expressions of zealous affection.
"Did you just yell Bay Area?" the pop harpist asked incredulously. "Hmm," she mused archly, a flawless eyebrow raised. Perhaps she'd have been more receptive if the fan had screeched "Atlantis" or "Ys," the name of the mythical Breton island for which she named her recent album.
Sitting before her arcane instrument -- at least a foot taller than she is -- she smoothed the sides of a puffy-sleeved dress that recalled Guinevere or Juliet.
She began with the winsome and wordy "Bridges and Balloons" and the near-tango rebuke of "Book of Right," which chided, "Even when you touch my face/ You know your place," from 2004's "Milk-Fed Mender," before she attacked the more prodigious and lyrically dense songs from "Ys."
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Topic - Newsom wows SF - LWR 08:31:21 12/20/06 (0)

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