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LOOSENOTES
AUTUMN – Is finally here and not a moment too soon. We caught lots of good outdoor live music in October at the Third Annual Seabrook Festival of the Arts where The Myrna Sanders Band sounded fantastic on the open air stage on perhaps the nicest weekend for the month. Myrna passed along that she’s gotten the song writing bug and been creating lots of new content so we’ll stay tuned in. A nice addition to this year’s festival was the performance by Farpoint Theatre, a local troop of young talented actors performing a takeoff on Firefly – A nice way to spend the day. T-Bone Tom’s was packed as usual for the weekend dinner crowds this month and brought in The Lineup from Galveston for an interesting night of variety of post dinner cover dancing. Crazy Alan’s Swapshack scored well as the place to enjoy an outdoor meal & drinks, intelligent conversation with friends and pleasing sounds hosting the Blue Moon duet of Doyle & Bradshaw on the Swampshack stage. Somebody needs to hire the full Blue Moon Band as they report a lineup which should be definitely a dandy. Further into the lighthouse district, we caught Laura Mager’s new cover project, Risky Business at Zone 504. Looking forward to hearing more of this group in the months ahead as they settle into their groove. Down in Bacliff, the music friendly setting Bob & Katie have going is clearly taking root with appreciative music lovers taking in the finest of R&B brought to these parts. This month, we took in a great show from Luther and the Healers whom we’ve been enjoying since the days he headlined the South Shore Harbor Wine Festivals of yesteryear.
OVER THE TOP – For five years, we’ve been following this all-volunteer collective of local musicians from across the Greater Houston metroplex. Each year, they come together to recreate renditions of Classic Rock albums from the 60’s -- Having already accomplished Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Pet Sounds, and Abbey Road “it made some sense” as the groups leader, David Blassingame, puts it, for this year to go with “Revolver”, the seventh Beatles Album and number 3 on the updated Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (2012 Updated List) – Not too shabby, eh? If this alone weren’t enough, the show marked the 50th anniversary of the Beatles making their live appearance on the Ed Sullivan show, which good people, was one of the most widely viewed television events in history. The group claims a legitimate reason to rename itself to the Fab 56 with a larger than ever orchestra section this year filling the stage at Discovery Greens. Also filled this year was the viewing lawn which speaks of the following this group has built over the years. Individually, the members of this group possess considerable talent, each enough to front their own performing band and each year, are able to get it together by coming together for the BIG show. Congrats to the band for a job well done!
Tour Stop Clear Lake – This month, we took in two shows, Fly Leaf and Flock of Seagulls (at Scout Bar of course). We’ve seen both before on The SCENE and follow ups were in order. First, the band from Temple, Texas: Since the last time we saw them, their lead singer had quit the band yet here they were on their Between the Stars tour promoting their fourth album and first with their new label, Loud & Proud Records. With over 2.7 million Facebook likes and a nationwide tour, this band is clearly clicking big. We were mostly interesting in checking out Kristen May (the band’s new lead vocalist) and weren’t the only ones as we bumped into and chatted with her parents and uncle who came all the way from Temple for the show. High flying energetic show, check check check. Connection with the crowd, check. The band having fun on stage, check. Fly Leaf – Good to go…. The last time we caught Flock of Seagulls was at Cullens, the band backing up front man Mike Score was incredibly crisp but it was hard to connect with Mike that evening years ago – Seemed as though Mike was hiding under his baseball cap the entire night. This time around at Scout Bar and at peace with his new hairstyle, it was a much more relaxed Mike Score on stage chatting it up with the all age Scout Bar audience and comfortable being the seasoned rock musician he happens to be. I Ran and Space Age Love Song were catchy this evening as they were 30 years ago. Perhaps better would have been for the song to play out longer but then, music of the 80’s was rarely constructed with long lead breaks that we tend to like. Nonetheless, the show was satisfying – Onward…
College of the Mainlands – Folks should try to make it down to catch Sparky Koerner’s Jazz Ensemble & Jazz . These are seriously good shows, offered free to the public and are played in perhaps the finest sounding rooms in the area. Many musicians have been through Sparky’s curriculum which includes some of the snazziest jazz your ears will ever enjoy. What I like about this style of music are the crisp stops, sharp breaks, and nifty progressions the entire band pulls off song after song after song. In the unifying forces of music department, I’ve a hunch we will someday see a few of the areas young industrial metal rock musicians trying out jazz which makes sense as the music form stimulates the brightest of minds, has survived the test of time, and would be simply cool to see pan out. Now back to the show….
Biker Night – Which would be Thursday nights at, where else? How about one of the few places out on The SCENE large enough for everybody, which of course would be Jackie’s Brickhouse. The menu at Jackie’s has gotten crazy good as I’ve noticed steady growth in the weeknight dinner crowd. The band I was interested in seeing that evening was Slide Effect, a group I hadn’t caught in quite some time and a bunch I’m quite fond of. The night was rocking with the kit and bass holding down the fort and Pat Beadles on harp, was connected well with the cosmos that evening. However, what I was curious about was catching Bennie Brasket sharing guitar duties with Lynn Raggio. This duo, in my mind, has the possibilities similar to Joe Walsh playing along with Don Felder and not many bands locally can boast of such a strong guitar paring (The Navigators and Cold Feet are two local bands that do come to mind though). I’m not sure if I’ll get to hear a local live rendition of a Hotel California outro soon but the possibilities with this duo exist and it would be a good set to catch….
IT’S A WRAP – We waited all summer for this weather we’ve been having in October and I hope everybody’s getting a chance to enjoy it. As we turn our sights to the Holiday Season, we hope all of you get the chance to enjoy time with family, friends, and catch a few magical moments along the way which hopefully includes taking in a couple live music shows while out and about out there on The SCENE. We’ll see you out there!
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