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Peter Rowan at Caffe Lena Sunday; Deep Bluegrass Mastery

Check the hat; I’ll wait. Peter Rowan’s Tom Mix-scale topper fits well; Rowan’s talent and accomplishments range so wide, stack so high. The veteran singer and picker, now 81, totes decades-deep experience onto the stage at Caffe Lena on Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 12.  He’ll lead a sub-set of his bluegrass band. That fits, too.…

A Kinda Non-Review: BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet at Universal Preservation Hall in Saratoga Springs, NY

This is a non-review since my Nippertown colleague Don Wilcock got the assignment and I shot photos, on Thursday, April 18, 2024 So, this is mainly to share these images, though I also have some word-thoughts, including a stab at a set-list, below.  This was a listening crowd, in a church-y space, and everybody sat…

MICHAEL ECK MAKES HIS MARK, SHARES THE SPOTLIGHT WITH FRIENDS, PLAYS HIS OWN BIRTHDAY PARTY

Michael Eck knows how to mark a milestone; right onto his own skin.  On Friday, hours before he introduces his new album “fermata” in an all-star show at Caffe Lena, tattoo artist Deanna Louise* will etch a fermata symbol onto his arm. The show also marks Eck’s 60th birthday, another onstage major-birthday (with zeros) musical…

Aloha

All due respect to my brother in law Richie, a Maui resident, this is something else. Her name and face jumped off the page. Alphabetically the first person listed in the Times Union obituaries on December 1, she bore the unforgettable name of Aloha Coleman.  ALBANY – Aloha C. Coleman, 65 of Albany, passed away…

Last lagging leaves Leap off trees And tumble, spin and spiral To crash on stiffened ground Slippery, sneaky, snarly snow Got next

Judge Woody

1966, San Angelo, Texas. Summer, or what felt like it on the sun-hammered flat wide. Late afternoon, a dive bar that mixed low-alcohol beer with Tabasco and tomato juice in its trademark “red bird.” A bartender responded with innocent surprise when a patron remarked that dousing bowls of popcorn with chili powder revved up drinkers’…

Some Blues Guys

This summer, I’ve mostly been reviewing live shows for Nippertown, several a week. http://www.nippertown.com. But I’m talking here about a blues show Aug. 18 in Springfield: Kenny Wayne Shepherd’s Backroads Blues Festival co-starring Buddy Guy and Christone Kingfish Ingram. My friend Dennis treated me to the show as a birthday gift. Dennis leads a posse…

Remembering Zevon

When music buddy Stephen-in-the-Adirondacks asked about Warren Zevon last week, memories and music ganged up on me, starting with a 1978 Page Hall show – and not just because he jumped off the piano. He climbed to his feet slowly then, with painful effort. “I think I hurt myself, doing that Michael Jackson shit,” he…

Wise Ass Wednesday

Late edition – Contrite Thursday… I did it, and I’m SO sorry. I admit it; I caused that ugly snow-mess on Tuesday morning. You know: trees and utility lines down, power out, traffic signals dead and everybody driving like cowboys late for the rodeo. Let me point out that others helped me; I know I…