Friday, August 26, 2016

Before-It's-Too-Late Update



Tonight! (Friday, August 26) Last minute schedule changes result in an appearance at Chief’s Tavern by Frankie Lee, Mel Ford, and Tom McCarty. They’ll be playing that Maintainers-type blues without all those noisy drums. (Kidding, drummers. You know we love you.) Downbeat at 6:30 pm.
Tomorrow night, Saturday (August 27) The Sparks Band at The Varsity Club—Beatles, Animals, Stones, and Kinks, Oh my! Even Beau Brummels, and Left Banke. It’s easier than building a time machine. Where is The Varsity Club, you ask? Head up through Lodi, past Okee, to Lake Wisconsin (also known as The Wisconsin River), take the free ferry across, turn left, then keep eyes right. You can’t miss it.
Big news for fans of Big Wes Turner’s Trio. The one and only Billy Flynn will be filling in on guitar for the whole month of September! That’s three Thursdays—the first, third, and fifth—September 1, 15, and 29. Blues? Yes. Sixties surf music? You betcha! Like it? Love it! That’s Grammy winner Billy Flynn to you, Missy!
Also in September The Maintainers (with Rick Becker on drums) play back-to-back gigs—Friday September 2, for the Mazomanie Music Conservancy, and Saturday, September 3, to open up The Knuckledown Saloon’s big outdoor blues and rockabilly show. Headliners are my personal all-time favorite band, the amazing BelAirs (biggest little band in all the land).
Kudos to Jon Vriesaker on fiddle and Dan Kennedy on guitar who answered the call last night (Thursday, August 25) and turned up the heat on the Birddog Blues Band performance at the last concert of the season outside the Green County Courthouse in Monroe. (If you missed it you also missed the headliners, the fabulous Family Business band.)

Thursday, August 18, 2016

Summer Not Over Yet!



We know that our guitar playin’ friend Gary Hendrickson can play the blues. And we know people who say that only through pain and adversity can you truly feel the blues. Well, after a knee-repair relapse, Gary is feeling both. We all hope he heals quickly.
Gary’s misfortune means Big Wes Turner’s Trio will NOT be at the Essen Haus this Thursday (August 18). Instead, The Sparks Band will be playing their deep repertoire of hits and obscurities from the 60s (with Tom sitting in on bass).
On Saturday, August 20, The Maintainers play on the deck at the Varsity Club in Merrimac (inside if it rains). Blues stalwart Mel Ford on the guitar, rhythm section Tom and Rick from Big Wes T’s Trio, and filling in for the vacationing harmonica-man Frankie Lee, Ken “Birddog” Olufs. Where is the Varsity Club, you ask? Head up through Lodi, past Okee, to Lake Wisconsin (also known as The Wisconsin River), take the free ferry across, turn left, then keep eyes right. You can’t miss it.
Still on the calendar (Thursday, August 25), a concert right outside the Green County courthouse in Monroe, Wisconsin, with the Birddog Blues Band and the fabulous Family Business.
And the very next Saturday (August 27) The Sparks Band steps in again at The Varsity Club—Beatles, Animals, Stones, and Kinks, Oh my! Even Beau Brummels, and Left Banke. Easier than building a time machine.

That’s it for keeping all up to date. Did anyone notice a promise to deliver more than a list of gigs in the previous post? Something about the "ART" of bands in bars. Well, time is short and the deadline looms, so we must make do with this teaser...

...A svelte guy in a sport coat and no shirt is up on a stage with a wireless microphone jumping up and down in time to some music that is so dominated by booming bass-drum quarter notes that its essence is mostly just that. His “band” is a couple of guys behind him with laptops. In front of them are hundreds, maybe thousands, of people yelling, screaming, pumping their arms in the air, and generally displaying signs of excited participation in whatever it is you call this. A concert?

Thursday, August 4, 2016

Have you noticed the list of bands?



Top of the list is Big Wes Turner’s Trio. You can hear them in August four times, but only if you hurry. First August gig is tonight (Thursday, August 4) at the Essen Haus. Miss them there and you’ll get another chance on the deck at the Rockdale Bar & Grill on Sunday afternoon, August 14, at the Essen Haus on August 18, or The Varsity Club on August 27 (if you're heading North, take the free ferry across the Wisconsin River to Merrimac, turn left, then keep eyes right).


Next on the list is the Birddog Blues Band. Hear them on August 25. It’s an early evening concert right outside the Green County courthouse in Monroe, Wisconsin. Also on the bill, the fabulous Family Business.

Faux Fawn was a busy, busy band last week (see most recent post) and will be busy again during Appleton’s amazing Mile of Music celebration. Previous commitments will prevent Tom from participating, but if you have a taste for smart, wholly original songwriting, seek Paul Otteson and friends out.

And what about The Maintainers? These tenacious badgers of the Blues, featuring guitarist Mel Ford and harmonica-man Frankie Lee, carry on Madison’s Blues tradition. The full quartet, with Mark Haines on drums and Tom McCarty on bass, play the patio at Tyranena Brewery, Friday, August 12. Hear them again on Saturday, August 20 at The Varsity Club in Merrimac.

Next post will have more than just a laundry list of what Mr. McMusic is up to.
Next time we will delve deeply into the nature of "ART" as it manifests itself in bands that play in bars. Your reactions and engagements will be encouraged. Promise!