Owen, Judith (August 2008)

Date of Performance: June 18, 2008
Venue: Shank Hall, Milwaukee, WI, US

Judith Owen, who opened for the Strawbs on this date, is married to Ned Flanders, Charles Montgomery Burns, and Waylon Smithers. She's not a polygamist. Actually, those are each articulated by the same person -- who we'll get around to in a minute.

While her husband precedes her reputation, she is actually brimming with talent. Not only is she proficient on the piano but her voice is top-shelf. Beyond that, she could be billed as a standup comic. Her first two minutes on stage were closer to a side-splitting monologue than a self-introduction.

The audience - who had pegged her as an unknown - was shocked to hear her sing so well. While the crowd was initially loudmouthed and brazen, they were lulled into a state of utter catatonia. The subsequent tremor came when she talked to great lengths about her notorious partner in crime.

What's ironic is that Shank Hall is a shrine to Spinal Tap. If you don't already know about the connection, she is Derek Smalls' spouse. Not only is he the hilarious bassist in the pseudo band behind that famous mockumentary, he's also a dozen different characters on the longest running television series ever in existence: That would be The Simpsons for those of you who still haven't collected the associated pie piece in Trivial Pursuit.

As mentioned above, her husband, whose real name is Harry Shearer, is both Homer Simpson's neighbor and executive nemesis. He's even the assistant to the "doh"-nut monger's radioactive boss.

While each song was an abstraction on a situation and less about bubblegum pop, my favorite was the one that talked about taking her dog for a walk when she needed to decompress from domestic disputes. That's very surreal when you bring her immediate family into view.

If you took her talented hubby out of the equation, she'd still be a wily storyteller, a vivacious vixen, and a stylish lyricist. What's unfortunate is that she most likely got this gig as a direct result of her relations - I could almost guarantee it.