What a week...

Another apology for the silence over the last week or so but let me try to bring things up to date after a pretty good stretch of stuff worth sharing. A week ago tonight D & I had an unusually late night after watching Katie McCall nail her role as a liberal-arts college dean dealing with racism at The Firehouse Theatre. Katie's a fellow voice talent in town and it was our first time seeing her on stage and she owned it. Energized, we'd heard that Richmond's amazing James Brown Tribute Band, The Big Payback was playing that night in Bogart's Back Room so to Lombardy we went and we ended up helping close up at 2am. The BP is a ten-piece churning urn of burning funk led by vocalist Kelli Strawbridge that serves up an incredibly authentic and true list of The Godfather's tunes, familiar and non-, big and brassy, with a vise-like hold on James' signature rhythm. I saw Soul Brother Number One at the National Guard Armory in Staunton when I was in high school and it's so cool that his unforgettable energy and presence can still be experienced right here at home. Don't miss these guys next time they fire it up. Only negative is seeing so many young folks smoking at Bogart's and having to smell like you do when you get home.

The next day we set up for our JAMinc/In Your Ear studio concert with Colorado's Mike Lille. Mike spent some time around here before making the move to Nashville and then farther west.
As always, the CD's can't really prepare you for how good an artist can sound in that intimate, acoustically pristine setting and Mike did not disappoint...his talent as a tunesmith, warm resonant vocalist and ever so tasteful guitarist matched his formidable 6 foot 6 frame. His pal Robbin Thompson joined him for a couple of songs they'd co-written and it was a treat. If you missed it, at least we have a gorgeous 5.1 surround sound recording of the whole thing we hope to get out one day. Thanks to Carlos Chafin and Jan Williams for that. Mike wore his size-16 Chuck Taylor-style clown shoes for his in-school performance the next morning at Mary Munford Elementary. He was a big hit...literally.

Robbin's off to Cambodia on a major life adventure...we'll keep you posted. Our next IYE show is on Friday, November 9th and features another great singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist, Jake Armerding. All we can say about these JAMinc house-style concerts is, trust us. They're worth your time and a few bucks. Click here for reservations to Jake's concert.

A lot of love goes out to the fabulous Farr Brothers who threw together another big musical feedbag for the fortunate few who had directions to the Powhatan hideout last Saturday. A very special surprise this year was an opening set by the always outstanding Honky Tonk Experience with big Brad Spivey. Multiple servings of the world's best hors d'oeuvre, The Big Boss Combo, and a magnificent moon-lit October evening sealed the deal. We're not worthy.

Tuesday night, my clandestine date Valerie Plame and I ventured downtown to Toad's Place for Style Weekly's 25th anniversary soiree and if I were a name dropper, this would be a very long journal entry. My evening's highlight though was getting to welcome Daniel Clarke back home from his big tour with Mandy Moore only to learn that 2008 will find him all over the planet as keyboardist/vocalist with none other than k d lang! The boy's hot. And he so deserves it. Daniel will be doing some Modern Groove Syndicate and other gigs around here in the next few months, so be watching.

So have you made your decision between Ricky Skaggs at Toad's and Meyer, Bush & Douglas at UofR on Saturday night? I finally have...we'll compare notes next week. Hope you survived Halloween. Enjoy this dreamy weather...TT