What a difference two days of mild weather and full sunlight can make!!
This is the first weekend where we haven't had a boatload of bad weather in ages, and the first time we haven't had a featured artist at the Don Gibson Theatre. But I just heard The Hot Club of Cowtown on WNCW and that portends great times when they come to play in our Uptown!
The week just past has been one for more mundane work. Everyone I've talked with has felt pretty much the same way about it. Nothing bad, but nothing really wild and fun either. Is this the "new normal" I keep hearing about? I doubt it.
Time to close up the shop and get ready for a couple of days with a different rhythmn and standard. Adios for now.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Monday, February 15, 2010
Winter! Be gone!
It's Monday, it's raining, and I'm glad of that. --It's not snowing at least! I moved back to my native soil to escape this type of weather born travesty and this is getting on my nerves in new and unexpected ways.
But even a nasty snow, with slow to blocked traffic on the highways from all directions did not do any more than delay the Shemekia Copeland concert on Friday evening. She put on one of the best concerts I've ever experienced, and that's a whole lot of concerts if you don't know me. Best of all, the smaller crowd who were braving the weather were in a rowdy and fun mood.
I've been hearing her recordings on radio for quite a while, but she's such a powerful performer with the perfectly timed movement of her arm or a quick step forward, communicating even more than the most amazing voice I've heard in years! This was her first tour date in a few months as she'd taken off time for her wedding. She was clearly ready to get back into performing and I think she's an artist who feeds off spirited audiences.
Most of Shelby missed one heck of an opportunity to hear greatness in abundance when they stayed inside with this latest snow storm. But if you ever get a chance to hear this lady, no matter the cost, no matter how far you must drive in awful weather, get yourself to the concert and be ready to float out of the place revived.
She even did a song she wrote to honor the memory of her Grandmother Jesse back in the Wilson, NC area, that was a miniature Holy Ghost revival with a full-sized effect, called Testify! It was as if Saturday Night and Sunday Morning had merged and risen above thi old world in one mighty song. And then she went on to bring the house to our feet, dancing and swaying around. As I've heard some singers and observers note before, when we talk about the Blues, we aren't just talking about songs that dwell on tough times and hard emotions. The Blues, when in the heart and voices of the best, will take us through the low spots and the high, helping us understand how to get over. Testify! And snow be gone!
But even a nasty snow, with slow to blocked traffic on the highways from all directions did not do any more than delay the Shemekia Copeland concert on Friday evening. She put on one of the best concerts I've ever experienced, and that's a whole lot of concerts if you don't know me. Best of all, the smaller crowd who were braving the weather were in a rowdy and fun mood.
I've been hearing her recordings on radio for quite a while, but she's such a powerful performer with the perfectly timed movement of her arm or a quick step forward, communicating even more than the most amazing voice I've heard in years! This was her first tour date in a few months as she'd taken off time for her wedding. She was clearly ready to get back into performing and I think she's an artist who feeds off spirited audiences.
Most of Shelby missed one heck of an opportunity to hear greatness in abundance when they stayed inside with this latest snow storm. But if you ever get a chance to hear this lady, no matter the cost, no matter how far you must drive in awful weather, get yourself to the concert and be ready to float out of the place revived.
She even did a song she wrote to honor the memory of her Grandmother Jesse back in the Wilson, NC area, that was a miniature Holy Ghost revival with a full-sized effect, called Testify! It was as if Saturday Night and Sunday Morning had merged and risen above thi old world in one mighty song. And then she went on to bring the house to our feet, dancing and swaying around. As I've heard some singers and observers note before, when we talk about the Blues, we aren't just talking about songs that dwell on tough times and hard emotions. The Blues, when in the heart and voices of the best, will take us through the low spots and the high, helping us understand how to get over. Testify! And snow be gone!
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