Slow down and enjoy the (live) music!

Friday night at Hero’s Pub in Davenport, my conversation with Danika Holmes went as follows:

Danika – Hey! Great to see you!

Me – Hey! I’m glad I came out!

Danika – So where are you off to next?

Actually, that’s the same conversation we had the week before. Hmm…

I’m thinking I might cut back on the number of bands I see each week. Some weeks I do anyway, just because I have certain other obligations. But the nights that I don’t have anything specific to do, I run myself crazy trying to stop in and see as many as possible. So if you don’t see me at a few gigs, don’t worry – I’m just trying to not spread myself so thin.

I was really, really, REALLY glad I stuck around for a while longer Friday night. I came away from Hero’s with a new appreciation for Jeb Hart’s abilities. Two words come to mind: bottleneck slide. The whole guitar solo was very cool. The beer bottle slide was classic. Loved it! This was my third or fourth time to catch Danika and Jeb, but my first to see the entire band. Danika keeps a hectic schedule – and tells me she rarely books the whole band in the QC. So when you see “full band” on the schedule – jump at the chance to see them. You won’t be disappointed.

By the way – Friday was my first time at Hero’s Pub. It’s a nice place and very roomy. I’ll be watching now to see what other bands might be playing there.

I stopped in at ThePub Davenport to catch another Simon Says Uncle show. I was able to get a couple of nice shots out of this show – and as usual ran into a few musicians. Don O’Dette (and Joanne, and daughters…) said hello, as well as Mark Moss. I hear Mark Dekalb was in attendance, but somehow I missed him.

I heard a comment from the stage at one point that really caught my attention. I wasn’t looking, so I didn’t see who said it, but one of the guys said “we’re not a dance band”. Whoa, hello! I had been wondering why they played to packed houses but I rarely saw a full dance floor. Of course! These guys like to play arena rock – remember that? They’re not looking to fill a dance floor. And they’re right – people don’t want to dance to most of their best stuff – they want to rock out!  ThePub is a good place for that – that dance floor is almost dangerous, especially for women in heels!

Sunday evening found me back at The Muddy Waters. (Has anyone begun to see a trend?) Sunday Funday with Lee Blackmon really IS a fun time. Lee was out on the patio, and thank goodness it wasn’t quite as cold as last week. Although we were watching a bank of clouds off to the north, we stayed dry right up til 9 PM. David G. Smith stopped by and stepped up to play a few songs with Lee, and I managed to bleat out a couple of songs too. I’ll be so happy when this allergy season wanes!

So who is playing where this weekend? Friday night finds Simon Says Uncle at Rascals. Justin Morrissey is playing at Bleyart’s in the village, and The Rusty Nail has The Hooks. Purgatory’s is hosting Ambushed.

Rascals is hosting the Dirt Road Rockers Saturday night, and Wicked Nature returns to Purgatory’s. ThePub Davenport has Orangadang, and you can catch North of 40 at The Rusty Nail.

Don’t forget there are open mic nights and jam nights all over the place during the week. Tuesday nights are jam nights at Brady Street Pub with the Harris Collection, Wednesday night open mic at Rascals, the RME and Boozies. Thursday night jams at The Muddy Waters. And this week there’s a jam Sunday night at Bent River as well.

As usual, if you want to see more photos from the bands I saw this weekend, check out my Flickr page. And remember: Support Local Live Music!