Community Sing

A convivial time at the Acoustic Showcase last night.  We started late, due to the impresario's scheduling conflicts, but we made up for it in enthusiasm and warmth.  The evening began at 6pm with perennial favorites Mike Barrett and Chris Eastburn, ably accompanied by father/daughter team Jack and Kate Donahue.

(Apologies for the photo quality -- forgot my camera, and had to use my iPhone.)

As usual, this group's song selection is a pleasure -- like meeting old friends you haven't seen in a while.  Lots of good singing, and some springy harmonica playing from Jack.

The audience always gets a kick out of these performers -- smiling, tapping their toes and singing along.  Lots of fun.

At 6:45 we quieted down a bit to hear from Dami Noah, another familiar favorite here at the Showcase.

Dami's songs are always interesting and compelling.  He delivers them in a high, quiet tenor, with quavering grace notes.  His guitar playing compliments his singing -- finger picking graceful, lacy melodies.  Yet there is considerable strength in his songs as well -- in subject matter, emotion, and intention.  Really intriguing and affecting.  He's currently recording a song-cycle CD, all about a single character.  Stay tuned!

And then Rob Cedrone took over, ably accompanied by Noah Mendelsohn on bass and Ron Chancey on lead guitar.  An engaging set of excellent songs from Van Morrison and others.  Talk about singing along.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: these guys cook!  I couldn't stop bouncing up and down while listening, and I wasn't the only one; we had one brave audience member up and dancing at Starbucks!  In Lexington!  How often does that happen?  (Answer: well... hardly ever.)

Particular kudos to Ron Chancey on the Strat.  His solos are soooooo smooth and tasty.  And with Rob singing and Noah pounding the bass.... well, all I can say is Yeah!  

So, still enjoying last night's music on the morning after.  See you next time!

Fun with Guitars

Yup, lots of fun last night at the Acoustic Showcase.  We began with The Jolly Topic -- this trio is as close as the Showcase comes to a house band.  They played a tight set (if I do say so myself), with some particularly nice contributions from Will Ryan on mandolin.

That's Will on the left, David Keevil in the middle, and Don Strauss on bass.  We're working on getting everyone to look at their instruments at the same time...  Almost there!


Next up was Josh Beetler, with his guitar, his Mac and his loop box.  Wow!

Josh played the Showcase once before almost two years ago.  His set has changed considerably -- he now features some of the most flexible, witty, facile guitar playing we've had the pleasure to enjoy, in layers above a vocal beat-box.  Musical quotes ranging from Willy Wonka to Bad Company kept us all on our toes, and everyone had a blast, including Josh.  We're looking forward to having him back as soon as we can.

Finally we welcomed back Rob Carlson, guitarist and singer extraordinaire.  I get an enormous kick out of listening to him -- so smooth, quick, assured and gifted.  His music gets to my gut, heart and head.  That's a nice combination!

Rob was joined by Jeff Trout on the (5 string!) bass, and Ted Millen on percussion.  These guys cook, and they're subtle too, with some really nice interplay.

So, yet again we had an evening where I was tapping my toes and smiling like a happy idiot about 90% of the time.  Not bad for free music at the coffee house!