My last trip brought a few surprises. It was a weekend, which enhanced the
possibilities.
I found John Earl and his Boogieman Band listed in the handcopy of the
Entertainer magazine. They were doing the Kokopellis Lounge in EW for three nights.
Mr. Earl has organized the Blues and Brews weekend festivals for EW/CB for
ten years. His band takes their turns playing sets outside in the CB parking
lot. This was the first time I was going to catch him indoors. They perforn
better under the netting outdoors in front of dedecated followers.
It was Saturday night when I got over to EW. Kokopellis now is an enclosed
venue. They built new walls. Sure, no cover but I miss the olden days when we
used to sit at the end of the O' Aces bar, play some VP, get comped and
enjoy the live tunes.
There were maybe 20 people in the Lounge. So I just snagged a seat at the O'
Aces bartops right next door. The side door was open, so I could hear the
band at a decent level. I could actually see the bass player on the end.
BUT, WTF? The bartender was totally watching TV. There were now four of us
sitting at his bar. I had to tap my slot card on the bartop to get his
attention. He had the TV volume cranked up to compete with the live music. What a
joke. His name tag said "Angel" for future referance.
On the other side of things is the New Orleans/Dixie style bands that play at
CB on the weekends. Two different groups play right by the front enterance.
They start early like 5pm. It is just a little platform stage, maybe 8x8
feet. I have caught their routine act. The bands have been putting in their time
since Marnell-Sher got the keys 16 months ago.
But something was different for the last set of this Thursday night. An
audience member is now going to play the lead. The guitarist and leader of the
band has turned over his instrument to a member of the audience. He is dressed
in jeans/denim shirt/tennis shoes and a baseball cap...a skinny pale white
guy. The band is in uniform, with their fake honky-tonk straw hats. This guy
sticks on the leader's hat on top of his baseball cap.
You can tell this guy has an entourage of friends by the slots right by the
stage. You can tell this guy is profecient in playing the guitar too, just in
warming up. So we have three old-timers, a drummer on his little kit with two
drums, a top-hat and cow-bell and bass player and a tenor sax player who
actually sits below the cramped stage, but has his own floor standing mike.
There is some talk from this new guy to the rest of the combo. But he is all
smiles. They did everything on the fly...who takes the melody line or rhythm
in the next phrase. This guy played 4-5 songs with the group. A BB King
tune, a Marvin Gay tune, a two-beat dixieland tune. He then borrowed a slide
guitar device to play his last song, a cajun style song. I just sat at a slot
chair watching the show. He was good! The band was good.
I swear I saw this guy and his smile playing a hollow-body electric steel
guitar cajun slide-style on one the the late night shows recently. You know, the
end of Letterman or the Tonight show.
BS
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