Sounding the Depths

Gainesville's Women in the Blues - 2015

It’s been quite a week for the Blues, both locally and nationally. The legendary B.B. King passed away. Born to sharecroppers, he got his first guitar when he was 12 years old. His early records were produced by the infamous Sam Phillips, founder of Sun Records. He began touring and led a tough life on the road, but the music kept him going, hit after hit establishing his fame. In 1956, he was scheduled for 342 concerts in that year alone.

In the early sixties, King was a big influence on Eric Clapton and Paul Butterfield. In 1969, he played as the opening act for the Rolling Stones.  According to Wikipedia, “Discussing where he took the Blues, from "dirt floor, smoke in the air" joints to grand concert halls, King said the Blues belonged everywhere beautiful music belonged. He successfully worked both sides of the commercial divide, with sophisticated recordings and "raw, raucous" live performance.”

 B.B. King was ranked by Rolling Stone as #6 on a list of the top 100 guitarists of all time.  In Encyclopedia of the Blues, Edward M. Komara describes King’s style as “sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending and shimmering vibrato that would influence virtually every electric blues guitarist that followed.” Rest in Peace, Mr. King.

Also last week, a new movie starring about the famous Blues Singer, Bessie Smith, was released on HBO.  Queen Latifah, who plays Smith with passion and fury, said she waited 20 years for this role, and she does it proud (http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/tv/hbos-bessie-a-stirring--and-stuffed--account-of-the-life-of-a-legend/2015/05/15/75894612-f914-11e4-a13c-193b1241d51a_story.html)

Smith, known as The Empress of the Blues, lost her parents at a young age.  She suffered through a difficult marriage, and a serious descent into alcoholism, but at the same time, she made 160 recordings for Columbia Records.   Who knows what she could have done if she hadn’t died in a car wreck at the age of 43, just as she was making a comeback after the Great Depression put her career on hold.

It’s ironic that these events were going on last week, the same week some local Gainesville women got together for the 2^nd Annual Women in the Blues event.  The concert these women put on was truly amazing.  The Blues cast of characters, and I do mean characters, consisted of nine of the most talented performers in the city, nee, in the world: Barbara Paul Armbrecht, Cherie Cray, Nicole Andre Wagner, Becky Sinn, Anna Marie, Bridget Kelly, Cassie Keenum, Deby Starr and Michelle Banfield.

Barbara Armbrecht, who organized this wonderful event, started the night off with a great, diverse set.  Cherie Cray sang a tribute to B. B. King, and all the women performed in the tradition of Bessie Smith, who wanted the blues to move the audience.

The songs were incredibly varied, from a blues version of Going up the Country (which I’d previously only heard as a kind of hippie anthem from the rock group Canned Heat) to a song by Nicole Andre Wagner sang from Sapphire, Middle Aged Blues Boogie.  I love the words to this song, from “I’ll forget about my arthritis, my backache, my lumbago,/That young man makes me tango at the horizontal disco,” and of course, the line, “And like a rare wine, you don’t get older, you just get better,” had all the women nodding and the men laughing.

Bridget Kelly did two of her original songs, Texas Toast and Jeff Jensen Blues.  Kelly epitomizes the blues, and her talent as a singer and songwriter is unlimited.

 

From left to right: Barbara Paul Armbrecht, Cherie Cray, Becky Sinn, Cassie Keenum, Michelle Banfield, Bridget Kelly, Anna Marie, Deby Starr (not shown), Nicole Andre Wagner (not shown)

(Thank you to Bridget Kelly Fik for use of this great photo).

 The talented Cassie Keenum has been singing all over town, and her beautiful voice added to the delight of the audience.  Anna Marie sang some rock-based blues that had the crowd on their feet.  Becky Sinn’s classy blues added to the crowd’s delight, while Deby Starr rocked the night.

And then, as sometimes happens, there was that moment.  Michelle Banfield got up to sing.  I’ve heard Michelle sing blues before.  She is phenomenal – she also sings rock and roll, rhythm and blues, and I’d bet she could even sing country or classical.  So she started singing that old classic, Stand by MeBut as she sang, one by one, the other women got up and joined her.  And one by one, the song grew and became something different, a celebration of the blues, of comradery, of music.

Maybe like the first time B. B. King sang “Let the Good Times Roll” in public or the first time Bessie Smith sang “Nobody Knows you When You’re Down and Out,” in public, they proved magic still happens.  Thank you, Blues Women, for a wonderful evening!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gainesville Musicians: Wishin' and Hopin'

Gainesville Musicians: A Call to Action

 

(Note: photos courtesy of Debby Strickland © 2015 unless otherwise labeled)

When I first moved to Gainesville, I was fortunate to hear a variety of amazing bands, everyone from Jimmy Buffet (for free!) to Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young to Commander Cody and Emmie Lou Harris, New Riders of the Purple Sage and Bonnie Raitt. 

And of course, I got to hear Tom Petty sing before he ever got involved with the Heartbreakers.  We were out in a field off Archer Road, he played at a bar called Dubs, he played out at Graham Pond. Facebook has been burning up with memories on the site: Gainesville Rock History:  The 60s and 70s Bands, Venues, Stories.

Lots of great young bands played here, The Duppies, Less Then Jake, Against Me, and so many more.  But I had kids and a job so I never seemed to get out much.  Then all of a sudden, the kids were gone and my evenings were open.  And the music was everywhere.

A lot of the music we hear is free.  There are open mic nights, Thursday night at Cymplify, Thursday night at Loosey’s downtown, Coffee Culture every Sunday at 6 pm, a monthly open mic blues jam sponsored by the North Central Florida Blues Society.  I can go down to my primarily poetry open mic at the Civic Media Center and frequently hear great singers trying out their own brand new songs for the first time.

We are so lucky in this town – we have an active music environment.  Everyone knows musicians can be feisty and difficult (and if you’re saying “not me” right now, guess what? J ). But something amazing happens when they come together to play for a worthy cause: the evening becomes magic. So it was on Sunday, January 25, 2015 when a score of bands came together to play a benefit concert for the American Heart Association.  The event was absolutely wonderful.  I hope it made a lot of money for American Heart, but I’ll tell you what – it helped my heart just to be there.

Here was the lineup (Whenever possible, I added links to the Web sites or Facebook pages of these bands in case anyone wants to check them out or hire them for an event):

Schedule for Jan 25: BLUES for HEART at The Dirty Bar

12:30 pm Bo Page AKA Shaky Earle (https://www.facebook.com/shakyearle)

1:00 Bubba Can't Dance (http://www.bubbacantdance.com/band/content/who-we-are)

2:00 Root Redemption (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Root-Redemption/202082973138170)

3:00 Just Maybe (https://www.facebook.com/JustMaybeBand)

4:00 Anna Marie and Friends (https://www.facebook.com/pages/ANNA-MARIE-FRIENDS/270255689657177)

5:00 Hard Luck Society (https://www.facebook.com/The.Hard.Luck.Society)

6:00 Pete Karnes Blues Band (http://petekarnesbluesband.com/)

7:00 Middleground (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Middleground/160477307380835)

8:00 Little Mike and the Tornadoes (http://www.littlemikeandthetornadoes.com/)

9:00 Sheba The Mississippi Queen (http://www.sheba.cc/home.html)

10:00 The Jacoby Brothers (https://www.facebook.com/JacobyBrothersBand)

11:00 The Root Doctors (https://www.facebook.com/RootDoctorsGNV/info)

 

I didn’t get to hear every band – darn those previous commitments.  But I truly enjoyed hearing Bo Page, AKA Shaky Earle with Tristan Harvey and Earle Page.  Shaky Earl played an amazing banjo. Tristan also played for the Radical Press Benefit Show on Jan. 30, a versatile musician.

 

Next was a fun set by Bubba Can’t Dance.  Check out their Web site for an amazing variety of music.  The band consists of drummer Bill Binkley, Keyboardist Vernon Montoya, who also plays with the amazing band, Fast Lane, Saxophonist and trombone player Steve Hart, trumpeter Doug “Skywalker” Meyers, Bass player Michael Raftice who also provides vocals, and Yolanda Raftice, who sings and plays flute, Damian Angoli, an accordion player and singer, and Chris Tappan, a guitar player and singer.  Their music is fun and infectious.  The vocals are phenomenal, and every musician plays like a pro.  (Full disclosure here – Doug Meyers plays trumpet in my husband Ken’s band, Uncle Morty’s Rhythm Cream, so I’ve had the pleasure of listening to his music many times.)

 

(Photo of Bubba Can’t Dance courtesy of Ron Wilson)

One song that really surprised me was Smoke That Cigarette, a song originally composed by Merle Travis and Tex Williams in 1947.  (Yes, folks, it IS that old, even though it was redone by everyone from Sammy Davis, Jr. to the aforementioned Commander Cody.)  As a former smoker, I used to hear that song with sincere regret, particularly the line, “Tell St. Peter’s at the Pearly Gate that you just hate to make him wait/but you just gotta smoke another cigarette.”  Now it just makes me laugh!

I missed Root Redemption because I had to be at a previously scheduled meeting.  But I’ve heard them play before at the Dirty Bar on the Blues Open Mic nights.  The band consists of Alan Yeatter on Guitar, Rick Wagner on Drums, Gus Olmos on Harmonica, and Steve Roper on Bass.  They play great old style Chicago blues and Delta Blues with a driving beat.

 

I also missed Just Maybe, but again, I’ve heard them play before and know their skill. The band includes Ellen Donovan who sings and plays the flute and harmonica, Joseph Breeden, singer and guitarist, Steve Kattell, singer and drummer, and Richard Ritari, who plays bass, mandolin and sings.  Do I need to say that their harmonies are great?  They also have a diverse set of song interests including everyone from Adele to Wilson Pickett.

 

I don’t remember hearing Anna Marie and Friends before.  They were wonderful.  Anna Marie Kirkpatrick has an incredible voice and range.  Guitarists Tom Holtz and keyboardist Tran "The Piano Man" Whitley were talented and of course, I know Mark Armbrecht from the dynamic duo, Middleground.  Rusty Valentine played the drums.  I think it’s interesting that Anna Marie was mentored by the talented guitarist Nancy Luca.  Her influence is plain.  And I look forward to hearing some of her original work.

 

The Hard Luck Society was an interesting blend of a number of different styles.  I love the description on their Web site: “Band Members: Matt Shaffer, Dan Stepp, David Cook, Andrew Cook, and about a hundred other people who have played with us in the past.” And this – Band Interests: “We like to play for money.” From your lips to God’s ears, guys.

 

Pete Karnes stepped up next.  Anyone who has heard the Pete Karnes band knows that Pete’s harmonica playing is sometimes otherworldy.  I’ve seen Pete play with half the bands in town, and he’s uniformly amazing.  A member of the Blues Hall of Fame, Karnes hasn’t just learned the blues – he’s lived them.  I like to think he’s a good example of how music can save your life.  Check out his Web site.  And buy his new CD, I’m Still Here (http://petekarnesbluesband.com/).

 

Next up was Middleground, one of my favorite duos.  Barbara and Mark Armbrecht are amazing musicians with a huge repertoire.  I have reviewed their music before but am continually impressed with the range of their work.  Although they usually play together, for this night they were “the big band” – Rusty Valentine played on drums and Mark Jacoby joined them on blues harp. Barbara not only has a beautiful voice that renders every song she sings a gem, but she also writes gems of her own.  And Mark plays with half the bands in Gainesville (Not really - remember Mark also played with Anna Marie and Friends the same night).

 

And finally, it was time for Little Mike and the Tornadoes to play. It’s my understanding that Little Mike was one of the primary organizers of this great full day of entertainment, and we appreciate his contribution to local music and the American Heart Association so much.  Little Mike can sing like a pro, and play harmonica like no one else. His latest release, All the Right Moves, is available here http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/littlemikeandthetornadoe. And as always, on this night of celebration, his band was phenomenal.

 

(Photo of Pete Karnes and Little Mike – Courtesy of Monte Adkison)

 

 

 Next, Mike invited the exquisite Sheba, the Mississippi Queen, up to the stage.  Sheba is a phenomenal singer who brings a whole new element to the blues, a touch of gospel, and a whole lotta soul.  Sheba stretched the boundaries of blues with her song about a gentleman in black pantaloons.  I couldn’t find it anywhere – but I did find this

http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/lists/2013/08/the-50-sexiest-songs-of-all-time.html?p=2

This woman is so versatile you wouldn’t believe it.  Not only can she sing songs that would make Don Juan blush, but she also just put out a CD of inspirational songs.  You can buy her CD, Detour Road, at this site:  http://www.sheba.cc/products.html.  Or get Butter on my Roll, and see Sheba’s other side!

 

(Photo of Sheba the Mississippi Queen – Courtesy of Monte Adkison)

Next up was the Jacoby Brothers, a blues band extraordinaire.  I’ve reviewed them before.  They’re so good, we tried to go see them at a local restaurant and couldn’t even get in the door.  Next time I’ll make reservations!  Eddie and Mark Jacoby are the staples of the band but they are ably supported by Tim Gant on guitar, Paul Verdon on drums and Thommy DeRosa on bass.  Come on guys, give us a hint, when are you doing a CD?

 

I didn’t get to see the Root Doctors because I had to leave early.  But again, I’ve seen them before and they are great.  The band members are Bryan Blair, Rob Dark, Jim McKay, Richard Groene and Ben Andrews.  I love their quirky posts on their Facebook page – for instance:

(Used with permission from James, Root Doctors)

 

 You run out of superlatives after a while.  The excitement and electricity in the place made all the bands sound exceptional, and the audience was grateful for the opportunity to hear such wonderful music.

I also missed the great Willie Green, playing with Tony Valentine – drat to those previous commitments.

 

But here’s the deal, I’m going out listening to these fantastic bands all over town.  My husband plays in Uncle Morty’s Rhythm Cream (http://www.uncle-morty.com/um/), I’ve been privileged to hear some great music by such bands (http://www.fastlanefunk.com/home.html), as The Couch Messiahs (https://www.facebook.com/couchmessiahs), R. Mutt Blues Band (https://www.facebook.com/pages/R-Mutt-Blues-Band/147373708710354), Other Voices (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Other-Voices-Band/163109263705840), Cracker the Box (https://www.facebook.com/crackerthebox), Nook and Cranny (https://www.facebook.com/nookandcrannymusic), and Uptown Swing (https://www.facebook.com/UptownSwingMusic). 

Then there are all those talented individual artists such as Shawn Manley (https://www.facebook.com/Shawn.L.Manley?fref=ts), Kathleen Taylor (https://www.facebook.com/kathleentaylormusic)  and Cassie Keenum (https://www.facebook.com/CassiesMusic?ref=br_tf).

And do you know why two of our most talented artists weren’t at the Heart for Blues concert?  Because they were busy representing Gainesville at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis, TN.   Rick Randlett (https://www.facebook.com/rick.randlett.77?fref=nf) and The Bridget Kelly Band (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bridget-Kelly-Band/201550646603937) did a great job representing our town against the world’s stiffest competition.

Now if I can come up with that many talented people and I’m not even a musician, you people who are musicians should be able to come up with a whole multi-day concert.  Maybe we could even get the talented Storm Roberts to introduce everyone.

What we need is a massive 3-day festival in Gainesville, a local Woodstock, as it were.  Preferably without the rain, the drugs, and the massive loss of money!  The Facebook folks on Gainesville Rock History:  The 60s and 70s Bands, Venues, Stories have been trying to organize such an event for a while.  But as I know from organizing my writers’ group, (www.writersalliance.org), organizing artists is like herding cats.

Still, I think with all this talent, there should at least be a way to set up some concerts similar to those we used to have in the 70s where people just spontaneously gathered in the middle of a field in the middle of nowhere and suddenly a concert was performed.  I know, it would have to be a lot more organized than that.  But we have so much talent here.  And seeing how the musicians inspire each other when they play together, I know that the resources are unlimited.  And I know they’d have to be PAID so this would have to be a super-organized event…

 

(By the way, when I was very young, I asked my mother if I could go to Woodstock, and she said, “You want to go to a concert out in the middle of a field in the middle of upstate New York with no adults?”  Then she laughed hysterically.)

Maybe if you got organized enough, you could also invite hometown boys Sister Hazel and Tom Petty to come for a visit.  I hereby volunteer to help with publicity – but only if I get a free ticket :)

 

(Thank you so much to the talented photographer Debby Strickland, Monte Adkison, James McKay and Ron Wilson for the use of the great photos!)

 

Middleground

I’ve been wanting to write this for a long time, a review of the two-man team, Middleground.  I’ve seen them play quite a few times and every time, I think, wow.  But that doesn’t seem like an appropriate response to a small, local group, so I’ve gone back again and again to make sure I’m being objective.  That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Barbara and Mark Armbrecht have obviously been playing together for a long time, 35 years according to the Jazz and Blues Website (http://www.jazzbluesflorida.com/Middleground).  This makes sense, because their interplay is funny and entertaining.  Mark plays bass for a huge variety of local bands, but when he plays with Barbara the collaboration is brilliant.

One of the main reasons they’re so entertaining is that they have this staggering repertoire of songs.  Mark’s intro to Rickie Lee Jones’ song, “Easy Money,” is a classic, like nothing I’d ever heard before. Listening to this opening just proves what I’ve always said, bass players don’t get enough credit.

Barbara Armbrecht has obviously had a long and amazing career of interacting with musicians, some of the most famous in history.  She played with Doc Watson in college.  On Saturday at the Brew Spot, the duo even played an instrumental Barb learned from Chet Atkins.

And the variety of songs these two play – unbelievable.  Tried and Tempted, by the Wood Brothers, Well I'd like to be the wind / Don't want to be the sail / I'd like to be the train not the rail (http://www.thewoodbros.com/). 

The lovely Landslide by Stevie Nicks - And can I sail through the changing ocean tides/ Can I handle the seasons of my life? (Songwriter Stevie Nicks, Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC). I saw Stevie Nicks perform recently with our Gainesville hometown boy, Tom Petty, and Barbara does a fantastic, very original version of this sweet song. 

So just when you think you got it figured out – you know, kinda folksy, kinda bluesy, kinda oldschool – what do you make of Mama’s Broken Heart, made famous by country singer Miranda Lambert in 2011?

Go and fix your make-up, girl it's just a breakup / Run and hide your crazy and start actin' like a lady / 'Cause I raised you better (Written by KACEY MUSGRAVES, SHANE L. MCANALLY and BRANDY LYNN CLARK, Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.)

I mean, who does that?

But the humor is what becomes most distinctive about the group. When you hear them do Wild Women Don’t Get the Blues (Written by IDA COX, Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group), or a mashup of Joni Mitchell’s Brand New Key with Harry Nilsson’s Put the Lime in the Coconut, and you hear the audience laugh, you realize their brilliance.  Although, I have to say, even Mark seemed surprised by this last choice of Barbara’s, as did their impromptu drummer, Michael Hitchcock, who played the cajón drum box, a box-shaped percussion instrument.  Barbara made a joke about not getting the name of that instrument wrong and both guys laughed.

Middleground at the Brew Spot, Gainesville, Florida (one of these days I'm going to find a camera that works in the dark...)

But you can also learn from this band.  For instance, they played a song from 1923, Don’t Advertise Your Man (https://archive.org/details/Clara_Smith-Dont_Advertise_Your_Man).  And then Barbara launched into a tune that was so similar it startled me – and there I was singing along to, “You can get anything you want / at Alice’s Restaurant.” Yes, artists steal.  Surprise!

They got asked to perform Lyle Lovett’s “If I had a Boat” twice.  It’s such a strange song -

Whenever mystery masked man was smart / he got himself a Tonto /'Cause Tonto did the dirty work for free / But Tonto he was smarter and one day said Kemo Sabe / "Well kiss my ass, I bought a boat, I'm going out to sea" (written by Lyle Lovett, Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, MICHAEL H GOLDSEN INC). 

I pride myself in knowing a lot of songs, but I’ve never heard this one before I heard Middleground do it.  Obviously, the rest of the audience felt the same – how many times are musicians asked to do the same song twice in one night?

Altogether an entertaining evening.  So I think it’s safe to say I can give an objective review.  Or  not. :)

 

 

Mother’s Day Weekend 2014 – Birth of a Tradition – I hope!

Sometimes in this town you get a weekend of music that just leaves you breathless. I’ve heard there are other places like this – Nashville, Austen, and of course the biggies – New York City and San Francisco. But here we feel honored to be blessed by so much talent, so fortunate! On Mother’s Day Weekend, May 10 and 11, 2014, I was honored to hear some absolutely fantastic talent. Had to brush up on my thesaurus to keep from using the same superlatives over and over.

On Saturday night, we went to the Civic Media Center for a concert by Cracker the Box, one of our favorite bands, and a woman named Kathleen Taylor. I’ve reviewed Cracker the Box before, two amazing musicians who create the most extraordinary music on cigar boxes converted into guitars. (Somebody in the audience obviously didn’t believe this – he kept asking, “But what are they made of?” “Cigar boxes, really!”) They had a new drummer, Jared Groom, who was wonderful, kept a low-key beat that allowed Cracker the Box to maintain their distinct style. It’s not easy for a drummer to be subdued :). The band is putting out a new album soon and I can’t wait.

But this weekend was about the ladies! Mother’s Day weekend, and I was thrilled with my “present,” great music. Kathleen Taylor sings, as Glenn Moody of Cracker the Box describes it, “superb Americana.” Actually, I don’t know what Kathleen’s music is, but I do know it’s sweet, funny, snarky and very, very original. The guitarist she played with for the evening was Tom Nelly, who was just fantastic. The song Oh, It’s Hard, was not what I expected at all, but was a wonderful example of her beautiful song-writing abilities (and of course, that gorgeous voice).

 

Here's Kathleen's song on Youtube - http://youtu.be/afZJ97Eu24M .

The following night, Sunday, was what I hope will be the FIRST ANNUAL (Hint, hint, local venues!) Women in the Blues Concert, with Cheri Cray, Anna Marie Kirkpatrick, Michelle Banfield, Cassie Keenum, Nicole Andre Wagner, Nancy Luca (a Gainesville institution!) and Barbara Armbrecht. Their music was unbelievable.

Anna Marie Kirkpatrick is a new name to me but her performance of Guilty is unbelievable. The perfect blues song – “I find myself in trouble darling, and I’ve got no place to go.”

I was pleased to see Cheri Cray there. I’m used to hearing her husband play guitar for open mic, and she is more known to me for her swing music. But her version of Route 66 was original and fun!

Michelle Banfield is one of my favorite singers. I used to enjoy watching her rip it up with the band Fast Lane. So I was thrilled when she performed one of my favorite songs, Gimme One Reason to Stay Here, by Tracy Chapman. But wow, Michelle gave the original a run for its money. And then she sang a song I wasn’t familiar with, Love me Like a Man, that was fantastic. I should have known she’d be that good.

Nicole Wagner who I also had not heard before was a gifted singer and amazing guitarist. I loved her version of “Middle Age Blues,” although I doubt her veracity. As she sang, “I need a young man to drive away my middle-aged blues” I’m pretty sure there were men in the crowd who would have been willing to assist  .Very talented.

Cassie Keenum has this beautiful, powerful voice that makes you do a double-take every time she sings. She’s that good. Her rendition of I’d Rather Go Blind was amazing. And she can rip up Hoochie Coochie Woman with that voice.

Now I know who was the guiding light behind all these performances, one half of the amazing duo, Middleground, Barbara Armbrecht. Barbara is a talented singer and songwriter, and she played guitar for almost everybody, besides performing herself. Barb’s rendition of Nobody Knows You when You’re Down and Out was spectacular, the way blues should be. But her song, Woman Be Wise, was at the opposite end of the spectrum – funny and snarky. She’s a jack of all music. Or should I say a jill.

But for me, the highlight of the evening was when Cassie sang the song Halleluah and the others joined in. What a spectacular performance!

Here’s a link posted by Cassie Keenum to all the songs that were performed that night – Thank you, Cassie! https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjilpSbS80uYXnfa1bZ01i0XvhmaHemM1

More, more, and let’s hope this will be an annual gathering.

Our Trip on the Rock Boat

Our Trip to the Rock Boat

For the past few years, our primary vacation has consisted of traveling to various places with the band Sister Hazel and many other bands on a cruise ship affectionately known as The Rock Boat.  We don’t care what cruise line we go on or where we go. We have gone to the Bahamas, to Jamaica, to Mexico and private islands. To us, being on a ship with 35 different bands is the most fun you can have in four days. We go from concert to concert to concert. We don’t care what the destination is for the ship – all we care about is discovering music we love.

On this particular trip, we heard a number of bands that we’ve heard before – in particular Sister Hazel and Gaelic Storm, two of our favorites. Sister Hazel, a band who lives in our hometown of Gainesville, Florida, is the host band for the Rock Boat. We’ve also heard Bronze Radio Return and Alternate Routes and we have been privileged to listen to the concerts of Stephen Kellogg, Amy Gerhartz, and Will Hoge a number of times. But a couple of bands that I have not heard before, or else I don’t remember them, were Collective Soul, Red Wanting Blue, and Honor by August. All these artists are truly amazing.

One of the most fun moments was listening to the various members of the bands talk about what inspired them to write various songs.  It’s wonderful to see the interaction between the band members. On this trip there was also a salute to the Rolling Stones.  Each band picked a song from the Stones and did their own interpretation of it.  I’m not a big Stones fan, but the interpretations were great!

This particular trip was a little more exciting than usual.  Usually I can just go and relax, but this time, I received a really large job the day that we were supposed to leave for Miami, so I knew I would be working the entire time I was on the ship. But that’s okay.  When you work for yourself, you’ve got to take the work when it’s available. I just didn’t expect this particular job to be quite as stimulating as it turned out to be.

We left for Miami around noon last Thursday. I had to finish up a few other jobs before we could go and of course I am a frenetic packer, so I had to keep packing and rearranging and repacking till the very last minute. I talked my poor, long-suffering husband into taking the alternate routes. We drove through the Ocala National Forest and ran into incredible, record-setting rainstorms. This was frustrating because I had checked the weather and there was no rain expected below Gainesville the entire day. Those weathermen. Phooey!

We drove down the East Coast on A1A, which is probably the slowest road you could travel in the entire country. It was sort of like traveling through time. I remembered so many trips I had taken when I was younger. I remember going with a bunch of surfers to Sebastian Inlet and visiting friends in Boca Raton, West Palm Beach, and all the small cities around Fort Lauderdale. That was one of the advantages of the school I went to – Nova High School, which doesn’t exist anymore, pulled students from all over the Fort Lauderdale area.

I really enjoyed seeing the sweet little beach communities that I remembered from my childhood, and I was glad to see that they hadn’t  been totally destroyed by condos, even though many of them were completely different than when I was a child. And of course this was a very slow way to go. This meant we got to Miami pretty late. Ken looked on his phone to find us a hotel room and was shocked to find that the only hotel rooms were over $200. Even though it was my fault that we got there so late, I refused to pay $200 bucks for a hotel room.

So we drove around Miami looking for a place to stay. It was midnight. It was 1 o’clock. It was 2 o’clock. Every place we went, even those little tiny horrible motels that had been there since the 30s, had “no vacancy” signs on them. I started saying, “Well, I guess I could stay at a $200 hotel room for the night. They better provide breakfast.” Guess what? No $200 hotel rooms left either. We had – wait, let’s be honest – I had screwed up royally. There were no hotels left in the Miami area at all. Nowhere.  Seriously!

So, we decided to do what we have done before when we get some place too late to get a hotel room – we decided to sleep in a Walmart parking lot. However, the Walmart parking lots in Miami are not quite as welcoming as those in the middle of the great American West. The security guard kept cruising around, and finally I realized that we were going to get kicked out of there, so we drove another 50 miles looking for a place to stay.

Finally, we found a new Walmart. We pulled into the parking lot and lo and behold, we had found the only Walmart parking lot in the state of Florida that was still in existence that didn’t stay open all night. So our car stuck out like a sore thumb. We were too tired to go any further, so we went to sleep. I think we slept for about three hours before the cops started circling us. And finally we drove back into Miami, found an all-night restaurant, and had a huge breakfast, killing time while we waited for it to be time for us to get on the ship. I do not know why my husband doesn’t divorce me sometimes.

Anyway we finally got on the ship and it was as fun as it always is right from the start. Even though we only had about three hours sleep, we left our stateroom and went up on deck to listen to sister Hazel play as we pulled out of the port of Miami. All night long as we headed out to sea, there was one concert after another. You could go from place to place onboard and find music you’ve never heard before all over the ship.

The next day was a day at sea. The theme was St. Patrick’s Day, so the band Gaelic Storm was everywhere, pushing their craziness. Gaelic storm is a band that creates amazing Irish music (http://www.gaelicstorm.com/) or as their website says, “Gaelic Storm blends indie-folk and world grooves with Celtic tradition.”

 

The music started at noon with a concert on the pool stage by Honor by August. I sat in the hot tub and listened to them play and enjoyed the first sun I’ve had all winter. The funny thing is, a lot of people go on the Rock Boat from cities up north and they think they’re going to get a tan in four days. We Florida people know to avoid getting fried, but as the days go on you can see those who truly think they can go back home with a glorious suntan. What they go back with is an agonizing sunburn. Of course, it doesn’t matter, because they’re usually too drunk to feel it.

In comparison, Ken and I were like the old fogies who sat around, sober and covered in suntan lotion, him reading his book on his phone, me working on that important project I had to do. But again, all accompanied by the most amazing music.

We spent a lot of time reserving seats in various venues so that we could see our bands the most expeditious way possible. We had no problem sitting in one place for five or six hours, waiting for whichever band we really liked. We alternated going to get food or going to take a nap or going to hang out in the hot tub but because we both had our electronic toys with us, we were able to get the best seats in the Stardust Theater for Gaelic Storm and Sister Hazel.

Apparently Gaelic storm upset some people at one of their concerts. I missed that one because I was working on that report in my stateroom. The lead singer of Gaelic Storm, who is a very sarcastic guy, apparently made some comment to someone in the audience about how rude it was to wear sunglasses in the middle of the night. It turned out the person, a very funny, charming guy named Dave, was actually blind. A lot of people got insulted by the fact that the singer had the nerve to harass a blind guy about his sunglasses, and gave him a hard time about it.

So the next day, when he performed a major concert in the Stardust Theater, he called the blind guy up on stage, and Dave became part of the act. For the whole trip, people would suddenly yell “Dave” as loud as they could whenever they saw him. He played the symbols with the band during their concerts. His wife led him onstage during the Gaelic Storm concert and it was apparent that Dave really enjoyed his 15 minutes of fame almost as much as those of us who shared it with him.

http://youtu.be/CzB93Srww0E

 

One of the amazing things about being on the rock boat is when a musician will call another musician to the stage and they’ll play almost an open mic-type event. We saw a lot of that on this trip.

The last night of the cruise is always the biggest night for this, and on this particular voyage, the last night was more spectacular than it’s ever been, in my humble opinion. Sister Hazel did a tribute to the Beatles, complete with Sgt. Pepper uniforms and solos by the other artists on the ship. What a fantastic concert. It’s amazing to me that that was only one of the many concerts we got to see, so many that I couldn’t even list them all here. It was incredible. Don’t I sound stupid? Well, superlatives fail me.

http://youtu.be/fX2RBq_EYzc

The last day, we were supposed to be off the ship by 9:30 AM. Reluctantly, we gathered up all our things and prepared to leave the ship nice and early. We went to the deck where we were supposed to disembark and waited for them to call us up so we could go home. I had to find a Starbucks somewhere so I could send that very important report that I had been so faithfully working on to the professor who awaited it. But I wasn’t worried. There were millions of Starbucks in Miami. What could happen?

All of a sudden someone came on the loudspeaker and said that there had been a radioactive spill in the Miami terminal and the terminal was being evacuated. We were not allowed to leave the ship. No one knew how long that we’d be stuck on the ship. No one knew what was happening. No one knew how bad the radioactive spill might be. Were we in the midst of a terrorist attack? Were we going to be there until food and water ran out? We all tried to remain calm, but all I could think of was “son of a bitch – I have to get an Internet connection. I have to send that report!”

We went to be client services desk and they told us that the Internet was cut off. We were not allowed to access anything. Bear in mind that I had had very little sleep during the entire trip. The three hours we slept in the car in Miami was probably the best sleep I had had. I get seasick and have to take patches to control it. They leave me in a state of semi-exhaustion but don’t allow for deep sleep.

I totally panicked. When we found that there was no place to get a connection, I literally kicked a chair over in the dining room. Made a very big ass of myself in a restaurant full of trapped people. Very mature.

However, apparently this inspired my husband to go find somebody who worked for the Sixth Man group that put together the cruise and this sweet, wonderful woman let me use her Internet connection to send my report. I was so relieved when it finally went to the professor who was waiting for it that I hugged her.

But she wasn’t the only fantastic, hard-working person on that ship that morning. Ken Block, the lead singer for Sister Hazel, put together a lineup of musicians to do an impromptu concert for those of us who were trapped on the ship. The groups played all morning, spontaneously and spectacularly, keeping everyone calm. Remember, a lot of those people on that ship had airline flights out that day at 2 o’clock and here it was noon already. You think I was panicking?  There was another cold front coming in tying up airports – if these people didn’t get off the boat and onto those planes, it might be days before they could get home.  When you have to be at your job and you can’t get off the ship that leads to heavy stress.  I wasn’t the only one freaking out!

I have so much respect for musicians. I used to play piano and flute, sang in the school choir, and even had some solos, all of which I screwed up. But I could never be a performer. The idea of standing in front of a room full of people and enjoying myself by performing just makes me feel ill. I cannot imagine how the artists who perform in front of thousands of strangers can be so brave. I would forget the lyrics, or forget the music, or forget my name, I’d be so scared. My husband, Ken, is a musician and he loves to perform.  He’s always saying I should take some of my poetry and turn it into songs. That would be fine. As long as I don’t have to perform them.

To me, musicians are an amazing breed. Everything they do is made for public consumption, and their work is such a communal experience, even when the songs they sing are sad. They bring joy and comfort to people. I know for myself, when I get mad or frustrated or tired or whatever, I can turn on my favorite songs and sing along or dance and I feel refreshed and energized. Thank you to the wonderful artists who made my winter warm.  I’m ready to go on the Rock Boat again – but next year I’m booking a hotel room in advance!

Finally, we were all able to get off the ship.  It turned out that the radiation leak came from a Korean War compass that somebody had in their baggage (probably from our ship J ) http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/26/travel/miami-compass-radiation-scare/ .  We were so happy to get off the boat, not because we wouldn’t have enjoyed more days of music, not because we couldn’t have spent more time hanging out in the hot tub or eating delicious food or enjoying the camaraderie of thousands of crazy folks, but because it was time to go home.  As we headed back into the cold, back to work, I thought, oh well, you gotta have something to contrast all that fun with!

 

Always Check the B Side

  The first record I ever owned was a Beatles 45 with a song called, “She Loves You.”  My older, more pop-oriented cousin (i.e., the one who knew what popular culture was about when I was ten and didn’t know it existed) gave me a copy of the 45. She said it would change my life.  This little round record was completely different from the Broadway musical LPs my parents and grandparents.  I played the song, and while it didn’t exactly change my life, it made me decide my cousin was nuts.

You see, the song begins “She loves you” and then launches into a screeching chorus of “Yeah, yeah, yeah.”   First of all, I knew that wasn’t good English.  My mother, the English teacher, wouldn’t let us say “yeah.”  We had to say “yes.”  Generally followed by Ma’am Sir, please or thank you. 

Second, what was that noise?  Harmony?  Harmony was “The Surrey with the Fringe on the Top,” from the musical Oklahoma.  Harmony was “If I Loved you,” as sung by the two main characters in the Broadway musical Carousel.  Harmony wasn’t a bunch of guys singing, “Yeah, yeah, yeah” and then topping it off by shrieking  “Whoooo” in a high-pitched falsetto.  Who were these guys anyway?

I did not know this song was going to become the bestselling United Kingdom song of all time.  I did not know that the music magazine, Rolling Stone, was going to select it as number 64 on the list of the top 500 songs of all time.  I’ll admit, it was a catchy little number, but I just couldn’t understand the appeal.

But worse was yet to come.  On February 9, 1964, I begged, bargained and pleaded with my parents to let me stay up late and watch the Beatles first appearance on the Ed Sullivan show.  What a shock.  These guys had long hair, like girls.  They wore suits, but even the suits were weird, not like the formal suits my father sometimes wore on important occasions.  And they were surrounded, drowned out, by screaming, shrieking crying girls – why, you could barely hear the music!  My parents were horrified.  I was horrified.

 

 

The Beatles performing on The Ed Sullivan Show, Feb. 9, 1964. In the foreground (left to right) are Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and John Lennon, and Ringo Starr is playing the drums.

Credit: AP (http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/media/101046/The-Beatles-performing-on-The-Ed-Sullivan-Show-Feb)

 

I went back to my room, distraught that the four boys who made half the girls in America cry were so weird-looking.  I wondered what was wrong with me.  Why didn’t I get it?  Was I so out of touch with the rest of my peers that I didn’t see the appeal of these long-headed moppets with their simpering songs (Really? “I Want to Hold Your Hand?”)

In disgust, I thought of getting rid of the 45 my mature, in-touch cousin had given me, thinking I’d appreciate her idols.  But back then, we didn’t randomly throw away gifts – we were expected to treasure them and take care of them, whether we liked them or not.  Back then, the popular song was the “A” side, the secondary song was the “B” side.  So I turned over the 45 and listened to the B side, “I’ll Get You.”  When I did, something amazing happened.  I joined my generation in an instant.  I gave up Broadway musicals and happy little Disney Tunes (“Drip, drip, drop, little April shower, beating a tune as you fall all around”) and moved into the 1960s.

 “I’ll Get You” drew me in from the first line, “Imagine I’m in love with you.”  I liked that.  I was ten years old.  I could easily imagine some boy saying that to me someday.  I could imagine myself saying it to some boy, blushing all the while.  Maybe the boy down the street I had a crush on.  There was clapping.  There was harmony.  There was romance.  And yes, I decided Paul was adorable, even with that weird hair.  But that boy, John … He of the sparkling eyes.  He of the secret smile.

The metamorphosis happened so fast I didn’t even know it was happening.  Within a few hours, I was a rabid Beatle fan.  I played that song over and over and over again, till my brothers and sisters threatened to break the record player if I played it again.  I started listening to the radio and found other songs I liked as well.  I started listening to the Dave Clark Five, Chad and Jeremy.  I cried over Gerry and the Pacemakers song, “Ferry Cross the Mersey,” though I had no idea what the Mersey was.  Obsessively I began to listen to music on the radio, the same radio where, a few weeks before, I had been listening to Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra, my parents’ faves.  Now all I could think of was the British invasion.

I made friends with other similarly addicted people, both boys and girls.  We all played air guitar and pretended to be singers in rock-and-roll bands, though we didn’t know we were playing air guitar.  We just imitated our heroes.  I was always John.

There were two types of fans back then, those who loved the Beatles, and those who loved the Rolling Stones.  The Beatles were considered more conservative.  They weren’t wild and crazy members of the anti-establishment the way the Stones were.  (That would come later.)  When one of my fellow classmates said, “I like Mick,” I knew they were heading into the counter-culture more quickly than I was.

John Lennon’s eyes always glimmered with a bright humor.  I got to see him on television many times.  He became my hero, an ongoing introduction to the new world of the counter-culture.  He seemed so edgy, but he wasn’t bad, the way the Rolling Stones were bad.  Okay, yeah, he said that dumb thing about being more popular than Jesus, but his quote really was taken out of context.  The real quote was based on extensive reading he was doing in religious writing.  He clarified his misstep later, with a statement that almost perfectly reflected my own beliefs:

 

“ I believe Jesus was right, Buddha was right, and all of those people like that are right. They're all saying the same thing, and I believe it. I believe what Jesus actually said -- the basic things he laid down about love and goodness -- and not what people say he said."

(http://www.beatlesinterviews.org/db1966.0304-beatles-john-lennon-were-more-popular-than-jesus-now-maureen-cleave.html)

 

Many people in my family were against the hypocrisy of organized religion, so I didn’t have a problem with the statement.  I was appalled when people began burning Beatle records and banning them from appearances.  But John was never as bad, as downright evil, as it seemed Mick Jagger could be.  I never could figure out why Jagger sang “Sympathy for the Devil” at the 1969 Altamonte Concert where people were actually killed and violence was further provoked by his aggressive song. 

A year before, the Beatles had issued a controversial song called “Revolution,” which many people objected to.  Obviously, these people had never listened to the song, or they would have heard the signature line that stuck out for me – “When you talk about destruction, don’t you know that you can count me out.”

I knew that John Lennon wasn’t perfect.  Neither was I.  Neither was that song on the back of “She Loves You.”  In fact, there’s one place where John and Paul literally sang different lyrics for the same line.  I didn’t care.  I found something the first time I heard that song, music that was mine, not my parents.  In the wonderful documentary, “The Sixties: The British Invasion,” Tom Hanks says that hearing the Beatles was like hearing the future.  That’s the way it felt for me. 

 I found a new style of living, one which involved trying alternatives to the most popular elements of popular culture.  I never again assumed that the most popular songs were the best ones for me – I learned to listen to all kinds of songs no one else knew; I learned to adapt them to my life.  I learned to appreciate the B side of life as a soundtrack.  Thank you to the Beatles and especially to my hero, John Lennon, for enticing me out of my box.

 

 

 

Finding the Magic

It’s miserably cold and I don’t want to go anywhere.  Actually, I do – I want to go to the beach in 80 degree weather, but alas, that doesn’t seem possible right now.  When it’s not raining, it’s cold.  When it’s not cold it’s raining.  I want to get under the covers and disappear into hibernation.

But finally I talk my husband into going to see a local group, Little Mike and the Tornadoes, at a restaurant where his band plays regularly.  I have never seen Little Mike with his band.  I’ve seen him play with other people, I’ve seen him play at the blues jam sponsored by the North Central Florida Blues Society, but never with his own group.  So I decided to go, in spite of the crappy weather.

At the restaurant, called K.C. Craves, high-def televisions played on the walls all around the stage where the band played.  Little Mike was rocking his signature harmonica.

 (http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/littlemiketornadoes),

and surprisingly, Ed Jacoby, who I have written about before, was playing guitar.  I guess he was a stand-in for the evening, and as always, he was stellar. I believe the bass player’s name was Danny Hamilton – what a talented guy!  Not only did he play, but as the night went on, he turned out to be quite a singer, too. And of course, no one puts together a great band without a great drummer.

Originally, I didn’t pay that much attention to the music because I was watching the golf tournament displayed on the TVs – not because of golf.  I am probably the worst golf player in the world.  I can hit the ball so hard and so far, but with so little control, that it’s just a matter of time before I got sued.

But this tournament was being held in Hawaii and they kept flashing on the coastline, beautiful sun-filled waves rolling in, beautiful sunny beaches, palm trees waving in the sun, sun.  I find myself imagining that I’ll catch that next wave, leap into it like a swordfish playing –

Hey, wait a minute.  This music is really good.  This music is inspiring me!  This music is taking me out of my winter doldrums.

That’s the amazing thing about live music – you never know what you’re going to hear.  Live music among cooperating musicians is absolutely magic.  First was the happiness of finding Eddie Jacoby playing.  Then Little Mike switched to the piano, and Mark Jacoby took over harmonica.  Wow what a set.  Then, a little later, a fabulous blues singer named Sheba, the Mississippi Queen, (http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/shebatmq)

was invited onstage and was wonderful.  Even the dancing was great. 

Something happens when great musicians, singers and performers play spontaneously, when they are obviously enjoying themselves, working together, each urging the other to be better, do more, try harder.  Solos and soul. You take the same old songs, Unchain my Heart, Got Your Mojo Working, and Blues for My Baby.  Add the many amazing originals by Little Mike, “What did I do to make you so mad, baby?” and you mix them up with a bunch of talented people and lo and behold, magic is born. The night is hot!  Hurray!

Now …  I’m not exactly a social butterfly – I’m one of these people who prefers to stay in the background and not be noticed.  But I couldn’t help myself – I had to tell everyone how great they were. I felt like such a geek, “Oh, I love your playing, wow that song was great, unbelievable – I love how you dance, amazing bass playing…” You get the idea.  Later, I thought – geez, all these people must think I’m such a suck-up. 

But maybe not – maybe they’ll know I was just grateful to be warm.  Why, if this keeps up summer will be here again before we know it!  Thanks, guys!

 

Musician Jokes

I was at the open mic Thursday night at Cymplify, a local coffee shop owned by Ken and Tracy Block (that is, Ken Block of Sister Hazel fame), when the musicians started trading musician jokes. I was fascinated. I didn’t know there were so many jokes about musicians. So, I started looking on the Internet and found a whole bunch of them.

It turns out that the group at Cymplify had hit on some of the most popular ones on the web – who knew? For instance, do you know how to get two guitarists to play together in tune? Kill one.

Apparently there are there are many variations on jokes about guitarists in general. For instance:

Q: What do call a guitar player without a girlfriend?
A: Homeless.

** * * *

That particular theme seems to run through many of the guitar player jokes. For example:

** * * *

What do you say to a guitar player in a 3-piece suit?
"Will the defendant please rise ..."

Of course, the guitarist who told this particular joke changed the protagonist to a bass player.  He also told this joke about bass players:

Q:  What do you throw a drowning bass player?
A:  His amp.

** * * *

 I get the feeling there’s some conflict between guitar players and bass players:

 

What does a guitar player do when he locks his keys in the car?
He breaks the window to get the bass player out.

 

** * * *

 And I love this one, especially for the bass player take:

 

A mindreader is at a nightclub one night and decides to give a small demonstration of her abilities.

First, she reads the mind of the lead guitarist: "Wow, look at all the cute chicks who showed up tonight! Good crowd!"

Then the drummer: "Lots of people showed up tonight...Great! we're going to make good money tonight"

Then the Keyboard player: "All three of these guys have no appreciation of my talent...What a bunch of losers"

Finally, the Bass player: "C...G...C...G..."

** * * *

 But back to the guitar player jokes:

Two guys were walking down the street ...one was destitute ...
the other was a guitar player as well ..

** * * *

What do call a successful guitarist?
A guy whose wife/girlfriend has 2 jobs.

** * * *

How do you get a guitar player off of your front porch?
Pay for the pizza.

** * * *

 

And then there are the light bulb jokes.  These tend to be equal opportunity humor hits, i.e., there seems to be one for just about every type of musician.  So we’ll just start with the guitarists again.  Not that I mean to pick on them – there are just so many of them…

 

Q: How many guitar players does it take to screw in a light bulb?
A: 13 - one to do it, and twelve to stand around and say, "Phhhwt! I can do that!"

 

** * * *

How many lead guitarists does it take to change a light bulb ?
None...they just steal somebody else's light

** * * *

 

Q: How many Folk Singers does it take to change a light bulb?
A: One to change it and 5 to sing about how good the old one was.

 ** * * *

Q:  How many vocalists does it take to screw in a bulb?
A:  None. They hold the bulb over their head and the world revolves around them. 

** * * *

 

In fact, there’s only one area of music that has more jokes than guitarists, and that is jokes about banjo players.

 

Q: What's the difference between a banjo and an onion?
A: Nobody cries when you chop up a banjo.

** * * *

 

There’s a hundred and forty-three ways to tune a banjo – and none have ever been achieved.

(Courtesy of my husband, Ken Booth,

Saxophone player for Uncle Morty’s Rhythm Cream)

 

** * * *

 

Q: What’s the definition of perfect pitch?
A: When you toss a banjo in the garbage and it hits an accordion.

** * * *

But apparently, when it comes to jokes, musicians are equal opportunity kidders. They like to be all-inclusive.

There are jokes about piano players:

Q: What’s the difference between a pianist and God?
A: God doesn’t think he’s a pianist.

** * * *

 

There are jokes about trumpet players:

Q: What's the difference between a jet airplane and a trumpet?
A: About three decibels.

** * * *

Q: How are trumpet players like pirates?
A: They're both murder on the high Cs.

** * * *

Q: How does one trumpet player greet another?
A: "Hi. I'm better than you."

** * * *

 

There are even – surprise – jokes about saxophone players:

 Q: What's the definition of a minor second interval?
A: Two Soprano Sax players reading off the same part.

** * * *

And of course, one of my favorite musician jokes is a drummer joke:

How is an orgasm like a drum solo?
You can tell it's coming but there's no way to stop it.

** * * *

What do you call someone who hangs out with a bunch of musicians?
A drummer.

** * * *

But again, musicians are equal opportunity insulters:

 Q: How can you tell when a singer is at your door?
A: They can't find the key, and they never know when to come in.

** * * *

Q: If you see a conductor and a violist in the middle of the road, who would you run over first?
A: The conductor –  business before pleasure.

** * * *

We know a guy who was so dumb his teacher gave him two sticks and he became a drummer, but lost one and became a conductor.

** * * *

 A man and his son were walking through a cemetery. The boy asked, "Daddy, do they bury two people in the same grave?"

The father said, "Two people? Let me look."

So the father took a look, and sure enough, the marker said, "Here lies a symphony conductor and a humble man."

** * * *

Of course, musicians can apparently be insulting about anyone, even writers.  For instance:

Writing about music is like dancing about architecture.

 

To which I reply, here’s my favorite musician joke:

 

A young child says to his mother, "Mom, when I grow up I'd like to be a musician." She replies, "Well honey, you know you can't do both."

 

** * * *

 

Want to read more?  Check out these sites:

http://www.osbornmusic.com/jokes.html

http://www.ahajokes.com/muscn.html

http://www.ducksdeluxe.com/jokes.html

 

And thanks again, guys, for a great evening!

 

 

 

Gainesville Blues Challenge

On Sunday, Sept. 15, we were treated to some of the best music Gainesville has to offer – and that’s saying a lot!  This town is a music mecca.  I suppose all college towns are, but I love living here where I can listen to bands every night of the week if I want to.  But some nights are exceptional, and the evening of the Gainesville Blues Challenge was definitely one of those nights.

The first act up in the Blues Challenge was musician Rick Randlett.  Rick played an amazing set made up of old-time blues songs and many entertaining original works.  I understand he’s putting out a new CD and look forward to getting a copy.  I actually thought this part of the competition was the closest, with Rick and old time blues artist Willie Green both bringing such amazing talents to the table.

Rick Randlett  wore a tan porkpie hat with a navy blue band, white beard, long hair. He sits in a chair in front of the microphone, playing his guitar, with another guitar next to him. He’s got that growly voiced sound that is so blues distinctive.  “It’s hard to believe but I’m still not over you.” Another great song was Fool for You, and the very funny Big Spender.  “She wants a big spender, but I’m as cheap as I can be.”  From serious, sad songs about breakups to funny songs about mismatched lovers, Randlett has them all.  “She says the car really makes the man, but I’m going to drive my Pinto as far as I can.”

Willie Green played next, the old black man who epitomizes the blues.  We saw him sing and play recently at an event in the Thomas Center, a Gainesville Art Gallery and meeting place, for the opening of an art exhibit celebrating the blues.  I remember originally Willie seemed kind of old and tired.  He sang well, played amazing harmonica, but he just didn’t seem to have the strength to do the blues in a dynamic way.  Surprise.  Suddenly Willie threw away the chair, stood up and literally rocked the house.

This night, he started slow, peaceful, a nice bluesy standard.  His guitar is old and beat up, his harmonica attached to a handle around his neck.  I’ve been to blues jams where the musicians came in with a case of 30 harmonicas and changed every time there was a chord change (slight exaggeration J).  But Willie just plays one old harp.  Well.  Very, very well.  Like he’s been doing it since he was a kid…

Hootchie Kootchy man, sings Willie.  If you looked away, you’d imagine more than one person playing.

After the individual artists, the amazing bands played, starting with a band called Bootleg Creek.  I’ve never seen them play before.  They were an impressive bunch.  Four people in the band – guitarist is younger, the base player a seasoned player, the drummer is older and easily plays the blues.  The woman singer is fantastic.  She’s rail thin, dressed in heeled boots and brown jeans with a swirly off-white shirt and big earrings.  She sang a different kind of hound dog song.  Men as betrayers.  It’s nice to hear a woman blues singer who doesn’t need the help of some back-up guy.  And they did their own amazing song – I loved the lyrics, “Now I got that feeling, a lighter shade of blue”

Good gutsy guttural blues.  Someone told me the band was from Jacksonville, but I couldn’t find out anything about them.  I will definitely look for them again.

R. Mutt was up next, a Gainesville institution.  I’ve written about them before, a spectacularly proficient band.  We were surprised to see that they’ve added a saxophone player.  The lead singer in R Mutt has such a strong voice he blows everybody else out of the water.  He makes it look so easy.  He sings, he plays guitar, he plays piano.  Little bit of everything. Every member of the band, from the drummer to the guitarist, to Richard Heipp the bass player, were exceptional.  I must say, Heipp was especially effective.  You could feel the bass to the tips of your toes.  The band closed out with two original songs.  The one I liked the best, was a great hit, I hope Nobody Lied.

R. Mutt plays a sophisticated brand of blues, from their jackets and jeans to their coordinated sets full of call and response. We also enjoyed Juan Roland, their new sax player.  What an enjoyable set!

Old School was up next.  Old School is more of an old fashioned blues group, blue jeans and long hair tied in the back, three men who play exactly what it sounds like – jamming style blues.  They like long guitar jams and they are excellent riffers. They have a blues beat and stay in the blues realm, but their work is much more rock and roll oriented. 

Next came the Bridget Kelly band. They start out by explaining that they are planning to play nothing but original music.  Again, they’re more of a rock and roll blues band.  The lead singer, a gentleman dressed in black from head (hat) to foot (boots) has an amazing blues voice.  And the female lead singer, who I assume is Bridget, also has a great voice.  She is dressed in an interesting short black dress thing with cut outs on the arms, and she’s wearing high patent leather booties that glow in the dark flashing light of the fluorescent lit bar.  She is blond and sexy. Bridget writes a lot of the songs the band played and she’s an excellent writer.  I’d like to see more of this band, and maybe a little more bluesy focus.

Rob Richardson, the head of the North Central Florida Blues Society, announced the winners last night and today by e-mail:

Hello Blues fans,

The winners of the Gainesville Blues Challenge were:

Solo: Willie Green

Band: The R. Mutt Blues Band

Self-produced CD: The Bridget Kelly Band - Back in the Blues

Congratulations to the winners.  All in all, it was one of those nights I live for.  I wish I had any musical talent, but alas, I just appreciate it from afar.  And musicians assume that if you don’t sing or play you have no artistic talent :)

One good thing though – last night, while I was taking notes for this blog, somebody asked me if I was working on a short story.  That’s better than what I’ve been asked before – “Are you bored?” “Are you playing video games?”

I started to say, “No, I’m working on my novel,” but resisted. It's not every evening you get to hear so many talented musicians all at once.  It was a night for music and I loved it.

 

 

 

Some got to win, Some got to Lose

 

Everybody's gone away,
Said they're movin' to L.A.
There's not a soul I know around,
Everybody's leavin' town

Some caught a freight, some caught a plane
Find the sunshine, leave the rain
They said this town will waste your time
Guess they're right - it's wasting mine

Chorus:
Some gotta win, some gotta lose
Good Time Charlie's got the blues

 Copyright: Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Songwriters: O'KEEFE, DANNY
Album: Flower Power: Time of the Season [Time Life #2]

 

 I’ve watched the Jacoby Brothers play a number of times now.  Sometimes they play with my husband Ken at the North Central Florida Blues open mic.  Sometimes they play around town, or around the county.  I saw them one night in Melrose, at an art gallery called Gallery 26.  That night was interesting – the crowd varied from the very young to the very old.

 Some people were dressed up like they were going to church but with sandals or bare feet.  Others were in shorts and t-shirts.  Lots of white linen skirts. One girl, wearing a white halter dress, shimmied and shivered like light itself, she so loved the music. One man danced extravagantly with two women at once, a one-man show.  The other guys in Melrose were more typical male dancers, moving lightly back and forth while their partners danced wildly to entertain them.  The Jacoby Brothers get everyone dancing. Son of a gun gonna have some fun on the Bayou.

Then Friday night, I got to see them play again, this time at Dos Mamas in Gainesville. Dos Mamas, which used to be the Kicking Devil, is a fairly new restaurant with decent food and a small stage.  They’ve managed to make the place more amenable to the music than it used to be, but there was still quite a crowd on Friday.  There’s never quite enough room when these guys play.

  

Edwin Duane Jacoby is the singer.  What a voice, the perfect voice for blues.  His brother, Mark Ashley Jacoby can light the dance floor on fire with his harmonica playing.  And Timothy Gant is a great guitarist.

  I don’t know the name of the other musicians who played with them on Friday, but they were excellent. I mean, this is some serious blues, folks.   Walking Blues.  Talking Blues.  Flying Blues.  I don’t know how they can do Memphis (Long Distance information, give me Memphis Tennessee,) in two such unique places as Gainesville and Melrose and have the crowd go wild in both environments.

 The thing about the Blues is, you can always find something in the music to make you either ecstatically happy or dismally sad and it doesn’t matter which way you go.  One emotion will lift you up and the other will allow you to get through your dismay. 

 The song above, written by Danny O’Keefe, always resonates with me this time of year.  It’s that time of year when, if you live in a college town, you get to say a lot of goodbyes.  Everyone is always looking for the next best thing, the next opportunity, the better chance.  It’s nice to have some consistency.  It’s nice to know that the music will go on even though friends leave.  I love going out to listen to music, even when I have to work through concerts (when you work for yourself, you gotta work to deadlines, regardless of what’s going on around you).

 So good luck to all my departing friends.  I know you’ll enjoy your new environments, but I hope you don’t forget where you came from.  Don’t forget where you had fun, where you listed to the music and enjoyed the nights.  Don’t forget the Blues go away.  Just like you.

 On this particular Friday night, we got a special bonus.  Little Mike, of Little Mike and the Tornadoes, is a stellar blues musician who plays phenomenal harp.  Put him with the Jacoby Brothers, and you have a night to remember.  And then, to top it all off, we had a lovely drive in the country, under the shining stars on one of the only clear nights in months.  Truly, it is amazing what the blues can do for you – it can make you forget your troubles and enjoy the moment.