9/30 Last night Bimini Road performed to a full house at our store. The performance was outstanding, I think the best they have done yet. Everything was "on". The sound system, an engineering marvel, worked perfectly (although Chuck may not buy into that) from the audience's point of view anyway. Shelly Heard's mandolin added an extra demension of depth and character to the group, he and Chuck really played off each other in their jams. I hadn't noticed this before in their previous appearances. Ruthie and Daniel have really matured, their first year at Alabama has been good for them musically somehow. Daniel's conga solo blew away the crowd which wasn't expecting that, he hadn't done it before. Ruthie voice continues to amaze us, her rendition of Summertime is according to some customers the best they have ever heard. I agree, even better than the musical, was it Lena Horne? She has developed a captivating stage presence and a Janice Joplin style delivery, but retaining her own personality. She really feels the music and gives it her all which is considerable. She is a talent to be watched. American Idol eat your heart out!
Even Chad's drumming was just right, not too loud, and fit perfectly into the background and carried the rhythm complemented by Daniel's conga drum. In a small setting like ours it's hard for drummers to accomplish that. Richard's base is always perfect as he sways with the music and even does a wonderful base jam on several numbers. He didn't use his slide which I really do enjoy when he does, it adds a bluesy sound. Chuck's choice of music, his really accomplished guitar work and great vocals rounded out the band. A perfect night of music, I only wish I had the capability to tape it or especially video it. The amazing thing is that they had not played together since their performance last February also at the coffe house. If you missed this one, you missed one of the best performances we have ever had here. This band could play anyplace.
9/22 Fall is in the air, man it sure feels good too after this really hot and oppressive summer. Here is a poem I wrote about it years ago, back in the 70's when I did that sort of thing. I actually forgot I wrote it until a friend sent me a copy today.
Summer's heat is with us still, though mornings have a touch of chill
Grey squirrrels darting to and fro, with nuts to cache 'fore winter's snow
The giant oak with leaves once new, has now begun to lose a few
The hill's still clothed in Summer green, will soon give way to Autumn's scene
When nature's palette, a raging fire, with reds and golds make new atire
Though summer lives, still hear its call, it fades on this first day of Fall
Have a great fall, come share it with us for coffee, music or just hang out. We will be glad to see you. Bob
9/21 Jason Elam who started the Organic Church here on Thursday evenings brought by some bumper stickers that he had made that had the OC logo and the statement "Religion Kills, Just Follow Jesus". I put them on the counter near the cash register and they created quite a contoversy and engendered some neat discussions. We gave them all away. The whole point of the Organic Church is to promote the fact that organized religion often substitutes for real Christianity, which is simply following Jesus, by imposing extra burdens and demands on the Christian that make it hard or even impossible (in extreme cases) to allow the Holy Spirit to bring about spiritual transformation. Thus religion is counter productive as it often seriously hinders Christian growth through the distractions of legalism, ritual, temple work, authoritarianism, even heresy. Something I have personally believed for a long time.
9/20 The Cullman Fair Parade was last Saturday. At the last minute we decided to enter a float, actually just our van. So Saturday morning Erin, Julie and I spent an hour or so painting it up with flowers, peace signs, slogans (peace, love, coffee), and a little about our store such as "folk music", espresso", "healthy lunches", you get the point. Then the three of us dressed up as hippies in our tie dyed shirts, granny glasses and headbands and joined the parade. I drove while Julie and Erin walked along side giving out candy. There were thousands of people lining the main drag for about a mile with kids darting in and out sometimes between the floats trying to get as much candy as they could. I even had someone (a family member) tell me they were going to try to get all their candy for Haloween and they did. It was fun and was phenomenal advertising. When it aired on channel 27 the announcer raved about our store it was great. I've got several pictures of the van and the girls on the web site now.
9/19 We had a good open mike last night. We had 11 performers and maybe 30 people there total, but the acts were really good. Lately we have had mostly singer-songwriters come and try out new stuff, last night was no exception. Dennis Kaylor, Roger Snow, Dennis Speegle and Josh Brooks performed originals and some new songs. Debbie Dean a newcomer sang to cds, Heidi Wheeler, Carlo. Garland Talbert and the Mac, Bobby, Robert combo rounded out things. I performed some old folks songs too. Open mike is always fun.
9/18 Last Saturday night we featured Down Home Fire at the coffee house. This is a local band made up of Dustin Thornton, Greg Alexander and Ryan Cook playing djembe drum, lead guitar, sometimes with a slide (he is a really acomplished young guitarist), and rythym guitar respectively. Greg and Ryan handled the vocals. This was a really good concert and the house was full. The energy was good, the music tight, and the vocals were handled well. They have an interesting style that defies categorizing. Their name for it is "all out swampy southern psychedelia", I would charaterize it a a style of folk rock with a bluesy note. Dustin's djembe drum provided a neat 60's revival folk style background Gregs guitar added the rock and bluesy character. They did covers such as Werewoves of London, Daddy's Girl, Evil Woman and some originals. A good concert, the kind we like to provide here showcasing good local musicians for our customers. A picture is on the Performance Photos page.
