On April 4, 2026, I headed out of work early and went to Hopmonk Sebastopol for another KC Turner show. The show for the evening was Penelope Houston from the Avengers and John Doe of the band X. It was an amazing show!
When Penelope Houston hit the stage, she said they wouldn’t be playing any Avengers songs due to a decibel-meter issue. But they would be playing songs she wrote, and what a job they did.
The first song was written by her, and Chuck Prophet called it “Hole”. That song set the pace for what was to come. The second song was introduced with a plug for her merch booth, was awesome, and was called “Winter Coats”. The next song was called “Missouri Lounge”, a song about divorce, and that song took place at the Missouri Lounge in Berkeley, California. That history is what makes the Bay Area so great. So many memories.
The following song was “Privilege in Gold”; it was about American farm workers who put food on all our plates. It was a truly touching song. The next song was “Pale Green Girl”. A song about a girl burning down someone’s house and the things that go with it. A kind of dark song, but musically, it was bright-ish.
The following song was “USSA,” about capitalism and authoritarianism combining into the mess we have today, and it was written in the 80s. It was a powerful song then, and now that everything has passed, it still holds true. The next two songs were “If You’re Willing” and “On Market Street”. Two songs that have the same flavor to them. The first was written on Market Street in Hamburg, Germany, and the second is about someone living on Market Street in San Francisco, California. Those two worked well together.
The following song was”White Out”. A song about the white liquid paper stuff before we all typed on computers. It would white out all your mistakes before you could read them. That, and a big ole jug of red wine that she would spill every time.
The last song of her set was “Glad I’m a Girl,” and that song was about all the reasons she likes being a girl. The audience was into it and gave a stirring round of applause as she left the stage, band in tow.
Follow Penelope Houston and the Jailbirds band members on social media
Penelope Houston – vocals
Michael Montalto – guitar
Tom Heyman – guitar
Bill Shupp – drums
Dan Carr – bass
SetList
1). Hole
2). Winter Coats
3). Missouri Lounge
4). Privilege + Gold
5). Pale Green Girl
6). USSA
7). If You’re Willing
8). On Market Street
9). White Out
10). Glad I’m a Girl
When John Doe hit the stage, it was to a huge round of applause and it was well worth the wait. He said before the music that he was going to sing some songs we knew, some songs we didn’t and some songs we didn’t thing he could. It was set for an awesome evening. He started off with “Get on Board” and when he wrote it, he was thinking Lead belly but that had past. His partner said “Oh, it’s about life”. Well kind of, it’s more like the other sing of the coin. It was a fabulous song regardless and that was the first one.
Following that song up was “Sunlight”, a cool song about a kid that wanted just a little patch of sunlight. The next song was a favourite of the crowd, “Burning House of Love” from the band X. It was about a person who quite figuratively burns a house down because they were in love with someone. Pretty simple really but, simple seems to work.
Following up that song was “Never Coming Back”. That song was co-written by Terry Allen and it was set in like 1880 or something like that. It was a tremendous song that was thoroughly enjoyed by the crowd. The next song was a love song. A little quieter one than the later songs but important nonetheless. That song was “Grain of Salt” and it had one rhyme, no chorus and sort of a bridge. It was awesome and the crowd felt so too with their applause.
The next two songs were covers. The first one was a Nick Lowe cover called “You Inspire Me” and the second was “The Look of Love” by Burt Bacharach. The following song was another X song called “Poor Girl”. A love song that ironically didn’t have any interaction of characters which made it perfect. The next song was “El Romance-O”. It was about a guy who gave himself his own nickname, which it a pretty dumb idea. The Spanish parts were written by Louie Perez and the writing was brilliant. So the next song was by the band X and it was called “See How We Are”. A mildly political song from about 40 years ago and the lyrics still ring true today.
From there he started “Everyone’s Talkin” by Fred Neil also he held a contest and the prize was a cd for the person that came up with the answer. The following song was a song by Jose Lopez Alavez called “Canción mixteca”. A powerful song that, regardless of the language barrier was pretty awesome. From there he played “Sweetheart” and that song just rocked. From there he played “I Must Not Think Bad Thoughts” and that song held so much feeling for most of us. It truly is an inspirational song no matter who is listening. He even had many of the crowd singing along with him for it.
For the next song, it was one of those that you never thought you would hear him sing. That song was “Over the Rainbow” and he dedicated it to Jill Sobel and Jon Dee Graham and he did it spectacularly. For the special guest he introduced Particle Kid (Micah Nelson) and the night was now complete. They played the Particle Kid song “The Wheels” which they ended up stealing parts of it from each other for a split single. The second song they played was a stellar version of “Big Rock Candy Mountain” which was a personal favorite of mine as well as many others in the crowd.
From there, he played “The Golden State” another love song. It was fabulous he wrote a song about our little state. To finish up the set he busted out “The New World / Revolution” and it was tremendous and he sang that song to an amazing end and a huge applause.
The applause kept up until he walk back out on stage with Particle Kid to do a killer version of “Call Of the Wrecking Ball” . That song was originally done by the Knitters and it was done to perfection that evening. With that song ending it brought up a huge round of applause. And with that, he said goodnight and it was time to go. Until the next night where I saw him again.
Setlist
1). Get on Board
2). Sunlight
3). Burning House of Love (X song)
4). Never Coming Back
5). Grain of Salt
6). You Inspire Me (Nick Lowe cover)
7). The Look of Love (Burt Bacharach cover)
8). Poor Girl (X song)
9). El Romance-O
10). See How We Are (X song)
11). Everybody’s Talkin’ (Fred Neil cover)
12). Cancion mixteca (Jose Lopez Alavez cover)
13). Sweetheart
14). I Must Not Think Bad Thoughts (X song)
15). Over the Rainbow (Harold Arlen cover)
16). The Wheels (Particle Kid cover)(with Micah Nelson)
17). The Big Rock Candy Mountain (Harry “Haywire Mac” McClintock cover)(with Micah Nelson)
18). The Golden State
19). The New World / Revolution (X song)
ENCORE
20). Call Of the Wreckin’ Ball (The Knitters cover)(with Micah Nelson)
Follow Penelope Houston on social media
Follow John Doe on social media