What a beautiful evening. Perfect temperature, a gentle sea breeze, and live music everywhere in downtown Sarasota. John Howard and Captain Matt offered a an enthusiastic rendition of familiar tunes and originals at O'Leary's Tiki Bar on the Sarasota Bayfront from 5 to 9PM. Captain Matt's left-handed musical artistry on various string instruments is always a pleasure to admire. John Howard's songbook is packed with tunes both rollicking and sweet.
At Mattison's City Grille, the busy outdoor bar/restaurant that anchors the corner of Lemon Avenue and Main Street, T.C. & The Troublemakers got the crowd going -- and not stopping -- on the dance floor and on the street. With a date, with your friends, or by yourself, it's a friendly free-for-all in front of the bandstand, and this band is a great way to spend a fun Saturday night. There were other bands here and there on Main Street tonight, but these are two of my favorites. Enjoy them whenever you can.
High and dry in the Wasatch mountains, Park City, Utah, is a popular tourist destination in the summer as well as the winter, when it's best known for great powder skiing. A local organization called Mountain Town Music promotes live music at numerous venues around the area during the summer.
Walking uphill on my way home, in scenic Old Town last night, I was drawn to the sound of a woman vocalist singing on Main Street under the permanent stage at Miners Park Plaza. Turned out to be Gabrielle Louise, who's here from Denver with her drummer and bass player. She entranced the crowd with soulful originals, including a number inspired by her winter spent in Buenos Aires.
Here's a youtube video to give you a feel for her sound:
Beyond her potent musicality, Louise is a passionate environmentalist, who has apparently fueled her entire national tour with vegetable grease: "For over a year - 60,000 miles on the road - The Gabrielle Louise Show has toured using vegetable grease collected, for free, from restaurants. The tour van was converted to run on 100% waste vegetable oil at a cost of less than $1000.
Driving from coast to coast several times as well as to Alaska and back, The Gabrielle Louise Show has saved over $9,000 in would-be fuel costs and spared the atmosphere of over 11 tons of CO2 - the equivalent amount of CO2 release to power a 60-watt light bulb 24/7 for 20 years!"
How incredibly inspiring is that? And how does she do it? "Ridiculously simple! Clean (filtered) waste vegetable oil, heated to 160+ degrees, functions the same in a diesel engine as petroleum diesel. Waste vegetable oil has already served its purpose (cooking!) thus this second use comes free of any manufacturing, transportation, or pollution requirement. Unlike diesel and gasoline, waste vegetable oil emits no sulfur oxides or sulfates (acid rain) and is 100% carbon-neutral (does not cause an increase in the overall amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere)."
For my part, I'm happy to be without a car in Park City this summer. There's an entirely FREE bus system here. Sturdy sneakers, a knee wrap (ouch, the hills!), and hiking boots take care of the rest.
I hope to be posting more musical finds from Park City, now that I can breathe again, after two weeks of adjusting to high altitude (7300 ft.) and walking up and down the hills and stairs. Best to all in SRQ, where the beaches are beautiful and storms never touch down.
Walking out of the Whole Foods garage in downtown Sarasota last weekend, I heard a unique collection of sounds coming from the outdoor plaza. Upon closer inspection, I saw yet another talented group of Sarasota middle-school musicians. (Yes, this town is full of precocious players, including Jazz Juvenocracy and Fogt's Jr All Stars.)
The twist in this case was that each of their "instruments" was constructed from recycled junk. The lead "guitar" body was a cereal box, the bass "guitar" was made from a shoebox, and both had been electrified and hooked up to an amp. The "drum kit" consisted of jars and metal cans. The "horn section" included a trombone, flute, and recorder, all wrangled out of PVC pipe and a plastic funnel.
Beyond the novelty of their instruments, these kids could actually play music, by ear, and they surely cheered up an empty day downtown in the heat of the Memorial Day weekend.
In addition to their appearance at Whole Foods in downtown Sarasota, the Garbage Men can be seen entertaining the strollers at the First Friday Towles Court Art Walks.
Local Sarasota singer/songwriter Susan James will perform at Sarasota Vineyard tonight, from 6 to 10PM. Along with familiar songs from the 70s and 80s, she'll serve up originals with folk-rock and country flavors. Themes include love and the quirks of everyday life, with music from sweet to rockin'. Look for a couple of special guests backing her up at the mic stands.
Sarasota Vineyard is a comfortable wine bar located on Main Street, next to Barnacle Bill's, a few doors east of Lemon Avenue, in downtown Sarasota.
No smoking, no cover. Tips and CD purchases appreciated. This show is part of the Vineyard's week-long celebration of its 2nd year anniversary in business.
Mike's been inviting some special guests to join The Michael Kach Group onstage at The Irish Rover the past few weeks. Dickey Betts and Tony Tyler showed up recently. Tonight there'll be another surprise or two, so stop by the Rover to listen and enjoy.
No cover, no smoking. The show runs from 7:30 -10PM. The Irish Rover is on Gateway Avenue in Gulf Gate, Sarasota.
It takes a certain kind of patience to keep the beat to slow, hypnotic music. Especially for musicians raised on pop or rock 'n roll, stretching out the measures and relaxing into a dreamy vibe can be challenging. In the case of Kenny Crawley, drummer for The Instigators, it's par for the course.
Born in Sheffield, UK, and now living in Florida, Kenny Crawley has been performing for thirty years. He's also an experienced session player, first in London, where he recorded with Glen Matlock, bass player for the Sex Pistols; Dave Bascombe, producer of Tears for Fears; and Don Was. During the 1980s, he was signed by Virgin Records with the band Floy Joy.
In the United States, Crawley has done session work and performed with Bo Diddley; Santana vocalist Alex Ligerwood; and Brian Johnson of AC/DC. He toured with Dickey Betts in 2005, 2006, and 2008.
On the creative side, he composes trance dance pop music. (Note: According to wikipedia.com, trance music is "a genre of electronic dance music that developed in the 1990s. Trance music is generally characterized by a tempo of between 130 and 155 BPM, short melodic synthesizer phrases, and a musical form that builds up and down throughout a track. It is a combination of many forms of music such as industrial, techno, and house.)
Since January of this year, Crawley's been keeping the beat and offering up some impressive drum solos with The Instigators, every Thursday evening from 7:30 - 10PM at The Irish Roverin Gulf Gate,Sarasota. If you stop by tonight, you can see Kenny's sticks in action.
Another stand-out night of surprising and captivating sounds from The Michael Kach Group at The Irish Rover in Sarasota. The first set started out with the band "trying out" a Duane Betts original, with Duane on vocals, and backup vocals by Bain Beakley and Burt Engelsman. Smooth as silk, and everyone knew the words, so it came off flawlessly.
Then it seemed every other tune was a smooth jazz composition by Mike Kach, with his keyboard and Duane's lead guitar playing off each other as if connected by one brain, or something like that. You just can't categorize these guys.
The second set was more of the driving Southern rock flavor that The Michael Kach Group cooks up so well. The surprise guest was a young tyro named Tony Tyler who smoked on slide guitar in tandem with Duane Betts and then delivered roaring lead vocals on a blues number later on. Props to Mike Kach for generously sharing the stage with other interesting local talent, with which Sarasota is overflowing for sure.
Continuing his nightly quest for complex variations of stick-flying and kick-pedaling on the skins, Frankie Lombardi dove into a couple of blazing solos, and all I could see was sticks whippping as fast and accurately as a hummingbird's wings, and legs in constant motion on the bass drums. When Frankie gets going, you've got to just sit back and be mesmerized until it's over, as his bandmates do up there on the stage. Whew!
How refreshing that this group presents a constantly evolving stew of creative ideas, all offered up for just tips at the Rover. Catch 'em every night you can--it's never the same show, and it's always a treat.
It's always intriguing to hear an unusual sound, and that's what was emanating from The Five O'Clock Club on Hillview Street in Sarasota late last night. From outside the club, I heard a horn section and saw drums and guitars, so I paid the $3 cover and stepped inside to see who was playing. (Full disclosure: I was tipped off to the gig by kinetic keyboard player Tim Meyer, who gave an entertaining performance Thursday night when he sat in with The Instigators at the Rover.)
Arrayed onstage were The Strangeways, well-named as they combine a highly percussive sound--insistent drums and lively keyboards--thumping away behind a cluster of horn players on sax, trombone, and trumpet, with bass and lead guitars lending rhythm and top notes to the mix. In addition to the sort of jazzy funky long, long tunes, there was a bit of horseplay among some of the performers, which all combined to keep the crowd on the dance floor stepping and gyrating happily, with lots of rapt listeners in the background.
The Strangeways is an eight-piece reggae and ska band founded in 1994. In addition to playing in the Southeast, they've completed two national tours and have a CD to their credit. Yet another testament to the versatility and technical virtuosity to be found in the Sarasota live music scene.
Imagine dancing to live music in Sarasota while looking out at a spectacular sunset across Bayfront Park to Sarasota Bay. Well, you've just imagined what it's like every night at the bar at Marina Jack restaurant, located at the western end of Main Street, across Mound Street from downtown. You can choose to sit outside on the deck, watching the tide lap against the bulkhead. Or sit inside, covered by the high ceiling above, yet open to the Gulf breezes in this bar-without-walls. Best of all, just get out on the dance floor and move to the beat.
There's live music seven days a week at Marina Jack, with no cover charge. Highlights include Democracy playing joyful reggae on Sunday afternoons from 5PM; The Venturas kickin' it with swing, blues, and jazz on Wednesdays from 6PM; and Omni dance band on Fridays.
Tampa-born, Sarasota-based singer/guitarist Bain Beakley has learned to interweave his technical, vocal, instrumental and songwriting skills as both a touring musician and local stalwart on the Sarasota area live music scene.
Recently off the road after providing guitar tech services for Dickey Betts & Great Southern for three years, Bain can be seen at The Irish Rover on Tuesday nights playing guitar and singing backup vocals with The Michael Kach Group. He also performs as a solo act and sometimes in a duo at Sarasota Vineyard on Main Street, in downtown Sarasota. Here's a video from one of those gigs:
His own band, The Chillbillies, featuring Bain on vocals and guitar, Tim Dodge on drums, Taylor Collins on Bass, and Tommy Troglin on guitar and vocals, entertains with their particular flavor of country, rock and blues at private parties and benefits.
Growing up, Bain formed bands with friends in Sarasota, developing his chops as a self-taught guitarist. He later toured with Guns & Roses, Poppa Roach, and Sebastian Bach (of Skid Row) as a guitar tech, followed by his stint with Dickey Betts. When not on tour, he gigged with Mike Kach, Burt Engelsman, and Dave Reinhardt in The 504 Group.
Going forward, Bain Beakley promises more original tunes by himself, Mike Kach, and Frankie Lombardi showing up in the The Michael Kach Group and The Chillbillies set lists.To see Bain in action, stop in at The Irish Rover on Tuesday night, from 7:30 -10PM. No cover, but tips are appreciated and well-deserved.
Gathering around the fire or sitting on the porch and telling stories is one of humankind's oldest after-dark traditions. So much of that interaction has been relegated to sitting at home watching TV or DVDs or the Internet. In Sarasota, FL, we're fortunate to have many world class, versatile, and entertaining musicians performing around town every night of the week. Having discovered this for myself, I now enjoy sharing it with you. Whenever possible, it's so much richer to "get off the couch" and come out to hear live music in Sarasota. See you out there. -Susan James, Publisher of BestMusicTonight.blogspot.com
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