What were you doing at 75? What will you be doing at 75? At three quarters of a century, Loudon Wainwright III was playing "How Old Is 75?" at the Alberta Rose Theatre in Portland on Wednesday, November 17th to satisfy an encore from another entertaining evening of songs inspired by "shitty love" and undignified aging.
"-Here's a song about both," said a giddy Loudon after opening the show with "I'd Rather Be Lonely," and strumming gleefully into "A Guilty Conscience & A Broken Heart." A contagiously wide, shit-eating grin stretched across his face and fastened itself there for the night, reflecting his contented career of self-deprecation. "Now, I'm going to do a song that I forgot to do last night. A guy asked me to play it and I forgot about it halfway through. I know he's probably not here tonight, but I've been worrying about it all day. Just to give you an idea of some of my problems," he laughed before attempting to remember "Man & Dog," and failing. "Now I'm really glad that guy's not here tonight!" Two more welcome requests from the audience were lovingly butchered with rusty half-attempts before Loudon decided he was safer sticking to new material. "Why did I do what you told me to do?" he cried as he jokingly cursed the seats. The sad jester within never faltered as Loudon's music strengthened the shared human experience (at least in the room) with chuckling cynicism.
Loudon performed mainly on acoustic guitar, however, he did keep things interesting with an a capella "Between," and piano renditions of "Red Guitar" and "In C." He also marked the halfway point of the show by taking a break to read a piece of his own literature. He wrote about the evolutions and parallels of romance and monster movies, citing his own experience with diary entries from his youth in the 1950s and 60s. This put a spotlight lens on the source of Loudon's charisma, his mastery of creative writing. A genuine folk troubadour, his clever lyrics are his strength and the reason he's still receiving two standing ovations a night at 75. And no, he didn't forget to play "Dead Skunk."
