'Infinite distractions' fill new album
Musician fascinated by ragtime, honky-tonk
By Shari Kaplan
His name is short and simple--Davido. That, however, is probably the only thing about the local recording artist to fit that description.
A Los Gatos resident, Davido (that's duh-vee-doh, no last name, please) is a singer, songwriter, poet and musician. He has a new CD, Infinite Distractions, and also performs weekly at a handful of Bay Area venues, including colleges, community centers, senior centers, nursing homes and private parties.
Despite the growing number of feathers in his cap, the lanky, dark-haired musician remains pleasantly surprised by the attention he is receiving. Perhaps this is due to his humble beginnings.
In the mid-1970s, Davido relocated to California from his native New York and headed straight for Hollywood, which he admits was rather idealistic. He did land a job in the performing arts, but playing ragtime piano in Shakey's pizza parlor was not exactly what he had in mind.
"By the end of a three-night gig, I couldn't stand the sound of myself," he recalls with a chuckle. He must have been doing something right, because he says the management kept giving him raises. He stayed, but only for a while.
In his free time, Davido was busy playing instruments and writing dozens of songs. Later, having had his fill of Southern California, he settled in the South Bay. He released his first album, Bronze on Bronze, in 1997, but his notoriety didn't really start until Infinite Distractions. His appreciation for this form of creative expression, he says, began at the age of 10, when he became enthralled by ragtime/honky-tonk pianist Joanne Castle.
"I can honestly say that individual changed my life. I wasn't really into music until then. Then it just hit me like a brick. It literally formed the direction of my musical life," Davido recalls. His current repertoire includes the autoharp, piano, synthesizer, harmonica, bass and xylophone. On Infinite Distractions, several musicians join him on back-up.
Although he didn't realize it while putting the album together, Davido says the songs are loosely tied with themes that speak to the rushed and sometimes materialistic and impersonal lifestyle of Silicon Valley. Some even contain, appropriately, techno-synthesized sound effects.
"There's a lot of humor in the album, which contrasts the underlying sadness at the core," says Davido, who calls himself an optimistic cynic. "I'm not cynical to the point that I've given up on everything. I stubbornly maintain hope in my fellow human beings. In my songs, I want to wake them up and remind them what it's like to be human."
With an eccentric, eclectic melange of tunes--with and without lyrics--that range from upbeat to melancholy and are flavored by rock, blues, country and folk, Davido says these songs often have a cathartic effect as he's writing them.
"I get a feeling of empowerment; it gives me a degree of control. Not so much of how things are, but maybe how I can help shift them to be," he adds. "There's a lot of things I wish I could say to certain individuals with my songs--maybe people who've drifted into and out of my life. Even though they may not hear [my music], at least it might reach out to someone else."
Los Gatos, California Since 1881
Among the instruments Los Gatan Davido plays is the autoharp, which he favors because it's as portable as a guitar but much easier to learn.
