Critics' Choice, May 1995.

Throwing Muses 9:30 Club Washington, D.C., May 7
Shriver Hall-John Hopkins University Baltimore, May 9

Throwing Muses leader Kristin Hersh opened the packed 9:30 club performance with a furiously paced "Furious," and it was a momentum the group maintained for 90 minutes and two encores.

Hersh, sporting a new close-cropped hairstyle that made her look 16, is a focused and seemingly tireless performer. She, drummer David Narcizo and bassist Bernard Georges (with tour keyboardist Richard Rust) enthralled the crowd with an unrelenting dynamism. Hersh often growls her fierce, quirky and imaginative lyrics, yet is soft-spoken in her infrequent stage patter. Countering the intensity of her lyrics and lead-guitar playing is her modified Brenda Carlisle-sway as she sings. (No short skirt, though; blue jeans and a Sun Records t-shirt.)

The Muses had a lot of ground to cover (Hersh and Narcizo and a variety of other members have been performing since 1986). Stand-out numbers included punchy arrangements of "Hazing," "Shimmer," "Snake" and "Start," four erotic songs from the new "University" (Sire) album and an expanded "Pearl," with a customarily stinging lead guitar by Hersh. Also noteworthy was "Firepile," "Counting Backwards," "Rosetta Stone," "Devil's Roof" and "Ellen West," the last featuring the line: "I keep looking in the mirror, afraid I won't be there."

That line bespeaks the troubled times Hersh had in her youth, while the new songs of "University," written during her current mature wife-and-motherhood, seem to focus on emotional and physical love without diminishing the elliptical puzzlement of her lyrics.

The Shriver Hall performance was slightly shorter and less intense but the acoustics were better in the Spartan venue. The Muses may have held back because of the smaller crowd, which was clearly inhibited by the rows of theatre seats. Hersh, however, seemed more relaxed and was fairly loquacious, occasionally joking and smiling between songs.

Opening for Muses was the group with the unfortunate name of "Ass Ponys, (cq)" whose modern-rock radio hit, "Little Bastard," was the weakest of its set, which featured well-written dramas largely about rural life.

Thanks to John Greene for giving me the article.

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