Pop Music Reviews : Singers Act Naturally at Beatlesque Benefit

Two decades later, Beatles songs still evoke the era of unity and fellowship that produced them, and that sense of community was the tonic chord at Sunday’s Fab Four-themed benefit for AIDS Project Los Angeles at Club Lingerie. The format: a parade of L.A. musicians, each digging into two Beatles tunes with acoustic accompaniment.

That left the performers with little instrumental cover to hide behind, and the audience keyed on moments of special vocal revelation, like Kimm Rogers’ echoing, low-flame torch take on “Oh! Darling” and Carmaig de Forest’s wiggy narrative spinout from “I Saw Her Standing There.” The drawing cards were names like Dave Alvin and Peter Case, but as emcee Phast Phreddie pointed out, part of the fun at these round-robins is encountering unknown acts with something to offer. The folk trio Far Cry kicked “Run for Your Life” into a higher gear with a trumpet solo by the woman singer. And Stringtown asserted itself as a formidable folk-rock entry in the Fairport Convention vein.

Bigger names? Tom Petty’s keyboardist Benmont Tench backed a gathering that included the Williams Brothers, Marvin Etzioni and Victoria Williams. And, unbilled and unintroduced, the Replacements’ Paul Westerberg and Slim Dunlop offered that Beatles classic “Heart of Stone.” The audience wasn’t too sure, but John Lennon would have loved it.