Artists offer relief at 9:30 Club

If the energy artists Anthony David and Fertile Ground stirred up at Friday’s Hurricane Katrina Benefit at the 9:30 club could be channeled to New Orleans, a minimum of five blocks in the Lower Ninth Ward would have restored electricity and heat.

Anthony David, with guitar and raspy voice, pulled the mingling audience from conversation, drinks at the bar, and nachos at the “Food Food” counter to sing and sawy to a few of the smarter cuts from his debut album “3 Chords and the Truth”: the sensuous “Yes,” reflective “Part of My Life,” and “Smoke One.” "Smoke one," is a track from his sophomore album due out in the spring. Though David apologized for performing without back up vocals, there really was no need, as the line of fans (with more than a few of them women crooning beneath his boyish charm) across the stage served just as well.

By the time Baltimore-based Fertile Ground took stage, the audience was poised to dredge floodwater and disinfect mold with shaking hips and sharp clapping. In ceremonial dress and feathered crown, the first note lead singer Navasha Daya sang commanded weary souls strengthened, and breached levees repaired. The energy Daya and band-members James (keyboard), Freddy (Trumpet), Ekendra (Percussion), Craig (Tenor Sax), Mark (drums) and Joel (Guitar) conjured was electrifying. The audience responded to every song and direction, especially Daya’s “ClapClap! And then ya boogie!” And on she did herself, often astounding in her endless energy and commitment to dynamic performance.

The benefit was a much a celebration of music as it was an indictment of political leadership’s mangled and disorganized response to Hurricane Katrina. Between acts, host Eric Roberson led the audience in extemporaneous songwriting, bridging a gap between song creation and audience contribution. Responding to the audience’s request for a song on karma, Roberson began, “I think our president is an idiot/I think our president is illiterate.” The moral of the jingle: Bush botched this one, and it some shape or form, it will come back to him.

Off-stage, Roberson clarified what rhyming restrictions had prevented him from articulating. Conceding Bush probably can read, he affirmed“he’s definitely an idiot.” “We probably won’t see the full consequences [of the Hurricane and the response] for ten to fifteen years,” he predicted. Roberson will perform in DC at H2O on Thursday, December 29, 2005.