Out and About

I'll have to keep it short on all the great music I heard in the last couple of months.  The festival stuff is all covered elewhere but I did make my way to some great shows - Buddy Guy and Jonny Lang (with Buddy, it's startin g to feel like you better see him because this might be the last time - but infact, he was full of energy and great seeing Jonny Lang again. The first time I saw him he was a "wunderkind" putting on a showcase for the local music press at the Horseshoe and he seemed more intent on conquering the video game than the audience who came out to see him.  But he has matured into a solid player and I couldn't help but notice that the drummer had his own name on the bass drum (you would have expected it to say "JL", then Jonny acknowledges the whole band by name as well as his whole team right down to the merch lady - and then he even leaves the stage so his second guitarist can showcase his skills (and they were formidable).  Buddy still plays a lot of tunes that are not very "P.C.", talking about how "the little girls understand", etc bud he did try to brush it off with a "Don't blame me. I didn't write the song, I just sing it!".  And yes, he did a "walkabout" with his wireless guitar right out to the lawn on the Budweiser Stage.

Other musical highlights in the last couple of months were Hat Fitz & Clara, from Australia, playing Lula Lounge and Tri-Continental (with my Buddy Madagascar Slim, Bill Bourne and Lester Quitzau), David Bromberg, Robert Gordon with Chris Spedding and Johnny Burgin with Sugar Brown (I played bass for Johnny last time he was in town),  all at Hugh's Room where despite all of these great shows, the club is barely holding on to get through the summer doldrums and hopefully the fall will bring many packed houses and some cash flow.  Support this worthy live music venue and get over there to a show. I know, the new menu is kinda weird, but they keep trying...