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Beck Headlines Neighborhood Benefit For Free Clinic

LOS ANGELES — Fund-raisers usually don't have a neighborhood feel, but then the headliner usually can't walk from his house to the stage.

That would be Silverlake's own Beck Hansen, who completed a trio of self-assured solo performances at Saturday's Silver Lining Benefit for the Hollywood/Sunset Free Clinic, following Rufus Wainwright and Aimee Mann on the lawn of the neighborhood's historic Hotel Paramour.

While the audience was decidedly atypical of the working-class artist types who populate the Silverlake community, intimacy between performers and the crowd was not a problem, particularly in the case of the iconoclastic piano man Wainwright.

Wainwright was strikingly comfortable onstage. He burped (twice), he invited his sister to join him for a pair of duets, and he closed his set with a French rendition of "Moon Over Miami.

Opening with his ode to unrequited love, "Danny Boy," Wainwright followed with a tribute to River Phoenix,

"Matinee Idol," also from his self-titled debut of two years ago.

Then a preview of things to come, with "a new song I wrote at the Chelsea Hotel," "Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk" and "Posies," which is set for inclusion on the folk scion's next album, due in March.

Aimee Mann contributed a quiet set bolstered by two tracks from the "Magnolia" soundtrack, which was composed entirely of Mann originals. "Save Me" soared, and "It's Not Going to Stop" broke through the cocktail chatter. Earnestness played well Saturday night, climaxed by Beck's performance, which shied away from the loose party anthems that filled his most recent album, 1999's Midnite Vultures.

Instead, following the trend of recent performances, Beck was unplugged, leaning heavily toward a country sound. He opened with "Lazy Flies," off Mutations (1998), following with a cover of "(I Heard That) Lonesome Whistle," recorded by Hank Williams, then back to a set heavy on Mutations

material, including "We Live Again," "Dead Melodies," "Sing It Again" and "Nobody's Fault but My Own," which closed the evening.

A footnote from the evening was the unexpected debut of Minnie Driver as torch singer. Performing original material, the "Good Will Hunting" star displayed capable range. No word on whether her performance Saturday was a preview of a career redirection by the Irish actress.

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