4/25/06 We have introduced a new cool drink to our summer drink menu; the California Creme Soda. These creme sodas are made with various flavors or flavor combinations, club soda and cream. It is our version of the Italian Creme Soda, but with a 60's ambiance. For example the Berkeley Hippie is a hip high flying combo of rasberry and vanilla, Flower Power features a powerful elexir of cherries and amaretto, San Francisco Hooker is a sweet and sassy caramel and butter rum mix, LA Smog features espresso with no flavors, a perfect fogcutter. There are many more, but I think you get the idea. A cool and refreshing way to celebrate the good (?) old days while cooling off during the hot and humid dog days of another Alabama summer.
4/17/06 We had an interesting open mike last night. Local Channel 27 came and filmed it, complements of Andy Stephens. It will be on the Morning Show at some future date. We had everything from storytelling (Linnea Stevens told a story about a dog that became a human, she did a great reading) to poetry (Melia and Josh James read several of their deep interspective pieces, Melea did hers while Newby played background, very effective). Andy Stephens sang a couple of his great folk song parodies. We had a couple of new performers Daniel Lopez, Jacob Jetton, and Clint Vurden. Regulars Carlo, Opie, Josh Brooks, Mac and Robert and Newby performed. Andy Newby told us that he had passed thae last USMC audition for the Marine Corps Band and will be their next guitar player, he goes to Paris Island for Boot Camp in May. This is a fantastic accomplishment, they had one opening and he competed with musicians from all over. Siemper Fi.
4/15/06 Gregg Rowell did a really great job performing at the Coffee House Saturday night. We had a good enthusiastic crowd and Gregg was really hot. I'm used to him playing more classical type pieces (see his cd Freight Elevator Music), but this time he played mostly traditional and popular stuff; Bob Dylan, John Pryne, Jimmy Driftwood, John Hartford and more. He did some great pickin on the Pink Panther theme. His selections included Bojangles, Steamboat Whistle Blues, Big Rock Candy Mountain, Times They Are A Changing, Neautral Ground, City of New Orleans, Tenesee Stud, Gentle on Your Mind; two hours of really good stuff.
4/4/06 We had a great open mike last night. Not many showed, but the quality was really good. Dane Braun read three of his poems, "City Planning" about how the ambiance of small towns has been changed by outlying strip malls and shopping centers, "Beauty in Decay" about a giant tree falling in the forest and all that it effects, I want to post this one, and "North Wind". Jarad Lewis and Chris Synard showed up and performed some of their great songs including Tony Rice's "This Old House", Wanted Dead or Alive", "Bury Me Beneath The willow" and their showstopper "Summertime". Garland Talbert read "The Cremation of Sam McGee" an old favorite of mine. Dennis Kaylor performed several of his great originals including "Riding for the Brand", Pickin' Cotton Seeds", and Flora-Bama Lounge. The night was rounded out with Carlo, Robert. Seth and me.
4/1/06 I missed most of the singer songwriter night since Gerri had knee replacement surgery Tuesday in Birmingham and had just come home from the hospital today. She will be an invalid for a while as she is recovering from the surgery itself and learns how to use her new knee. It is pretty painful for her right now and she can't get around without help, that's my job. Also I was pretty beat after spending three nights in a hospital recliner. I was there however to kick it off when WP started and came back near the end while Dennis was playing. They sounded as good as usual. Unfortunatly we had probably the fewest in attendance that I can ever remember. It was very disappointing. One of my goals with this business was to provide live music in a coffee house setting, which was one of the things I really enjoyed about the 1960's in California and particularly Berkeley. As a part of the 60's folk revival I used to play in a place called the Blind Lemon. I wanted to create an atmosphere like that here. My greatest fear about trying to have quality live music here several times a month is that it won't be well enough supported by my customers and thus there won't be any incentive for the kind of musicians we'd like to feature to come back. So far I think we have had a wonderful venue of music, and it has in the main been pretty successful. Being a "struggling coffee house" as I like to say (which is true) we can't afford to pay performers and they must rely on tips to make it worth their while to come here. Most travel from the Husntville area since there is a large cadre of folk and traditional musicians there that I have been able to tap into. I also like to feature local musicians especially singer songwriters, folk and tradtional or bluegrass types as much as possible. If our music nights are not well attended it will be hard for me to keep them going at the level we have. It's hard for these folks to come and play their hearts out to an empty house. That has only happened a few times, but it is always a concern to me.
