A few days after I posted the last Weekend Music Roundup, "Weekend at Birdie's", I got a
message online from local photographer, Fred Salinas, giving me the heads up
on some blues music coming to The Shed Barbeque and Blues Joint that Friday
and Saturday night. The Friday night slot was going to harp player Rockin
Jake, followed by Nick and The Ovorols the night after. Though I would have
liked to have been out Friday, I had a follow-up podcast with Will Lammons
which we ran as our first live episode.
Saturday night. Eight o'clock is approaching and the radar is saying a serve
weather storm is pushing down from the north. I'm pretty tired. As much as
I'd like to say forget about it and retreat to the comforts of home, I
decide to see what the weather has in store for me. The Shed is a fairly
airy place, so I'm not sure what would happen if, say, a tornado appeared
out of nowhere. I figure I could use a little excitement and my rain jacket
hasn't seen any action in the last couple months, so I grab my things and
take on down the road. The plan is to do some solo shooting at the Shed and
then head down to the Government Street Grocery where Black Water Brass (a
much hyped group by Will Lammons) and a few friends will be. In attempts to
beat my early night grogginess, I stopped in at a gas station in hopes of
finding some late night fuel. I got it in the form of a Starbucks
Frappuccino, but then, I thought, why stop there? I saw a Mike's Hard
Cranberry Lemonade and thought of the scene from The Departed in which
Leonard DiCaprio orders a cranberry vodka and then proceeds to smash it over
the head of a mouthy bar dweller. The fact that it was probably loaded with
both sugar and alcohol had me thinking it might come in handy at some point.
I however didn't drink it (or the bag of potato chips I bought along with
it) until the next day while lounging around the river. For the best,
considering how unhealthy the whole purchase was.
The radar was showing streaks of red all about the sizeable storm that was
fast approaching. I drove with a slight haste as bolts of lightning gathered
in the northern sky. When I arrived at The Shed, the rains had yet to begin,
but the music was in full swing. Before entering the main music stage, I
stopped in at the bar for a quick drink. The half bottle of Frappuccino I
drank along the way had given me a nice boost and I was curious to try
something new. I found a "Curlee's Coconut" porter and resisted the urge to
purchase one of the delicious sounding Mississippi Mud desserts made with
ice cream sourced from local shop "Quakers". I think I had acquired enough
sweet stuff in the last hour to hold me over for the next few days.
I took a seat at a table behind the front row. I listened to a song or two
and then began shooting. Nick and The Ovorals, a Chicago group, proved to be
a trio powerhouse of blues music, with recognizable tunes from the Cream and
Hendrix eras being prominent show cases. Though I detected the nasty storm,
which was just beginning, had kept many at home, the performance still
captivated the audience in attendance, most of whom were there well before I
was and stuck through till the very end. After the show, I approached Nick
to inquire about his travels. He expressed his liking of the coast and I
assured him that if his group came back, I would do my best to promote their
future performances. We shook hands and I departed for The Government Street
Grocery just as the rain was letting up. A quick check of the radar showed
the eastern perimeter of the storm had just brushed passed my current
location and the rest of the night promised to be dry from what I could
tell.
Down at the Grocery, Black Water Bass was in full swing. Unbeknownst to me,
fellow musicians Jackson Weldon and Zach Fellman were in the mix of other
members delivering a spirited mix of heavy instrumental jams that proved
quit danceable. Familiar tunes were transformed into big band style numbers
with horns, keys, guitars, bass, conga, drums and more. At one point, I
counted nine musicians crammed on the stage as a large crowd gathered around
to groove with the high energy performance. After the show, I caught up with
Jason Sanford and Robby Amonett who were also in attendance. I told them I
was looking for another group to photograph to complete the roundup and
Robby suggested I look into Enjoy The Weather who was currently headlining
at The Juke Joint (with an earlier performance by Future Primitives).
Down at the Juke Joint, I stood by with the crowd and listened to a few of
the fast driven, heavy hitting songs that Enjoy The Weather was cranking
out. Their light display was particularly noteworthy and went well with
their intense presence. Shortly thereafter, I reunited with my friends who
had migrated from The Grocery, as well as awesome bartender and lover of
psychedelic cats, Brittney Coblentz. Brittney had just returned from a
weeklong stay in the great state of Colorado, and I was eager to hear of her
travels, as the Rocky Mountains usually draw me to them at least once a
year. In fact, I think I am about due for a return soon. Maybe, on my next
go around, I can find some local podcasters to sit in with.
This concludes this edition of the Weekend Music Roundup. I will be posting
the latest Coastal Noise Podcast within a day or two of this article being
published. It is likely that we will do more live podcasts in the future, so
please follow along on FB, Twitter, and Instagram to see notifications and
links to the live audio feeds when they go up. Thanks for reading and feel
free to reach out if you have a place of interest for me to visit, music to
hear, or a potential podcast guest recommendation.
