John Shipe, a good friend of mine from Eugene, has been parked in San Diego for the last six months, and he finally played a couple of shows in Orange County recently. His shows on January 30th and March 6th at the Santa Ana location of The Gypsy Den, were characteristically solid.

John is a musician’s musician. He’s a talented songwriter whose lyrics defy expectations, and he gets so in the zone while he’s playing his guitar that he closes his eyes and performs an unconscious dance that looks a little like tenuous marching in slow motion.

One of my favorite of John’s songs is “Underground Debutante,” a tune he recorded with his former band, The Renegade Saints. I didn’t think to bring my camera to either show (I am getting better about it, though!), so I’m borrowing a video from John’s YouTube channel to share here:

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