Monday, May 11, 2015

Emergency gigs with Liz

THE ROCK AND Roll Bus has run me over, yet again.

Cellar 21.
It started Friday night with a crazy Pepper Spray gig at One Restaurant that quickly careened out of control. You know it's good when you look out at the crowd at about 11 p.m. and nobody wants to leave. I guess it's a good thing that Pepper Spray doesn't know when to quit - we played for another hour.

At one point The Mighty Adam Yates started into "Uptown Funk" and from what I remember, it went off the rails pretty quickly. But then I looked up again and everybody, and I mean everybody, was singing along and dancing.

GUH.

Saturday after another huge day at Second String Music, Sheryl and I went to Cheeseburger guitar player Tim Lawless' wedding reception. Then we were at Chicks On The River eating dinner and decompressing when I got a phone call from Tom Bentley. His daughter is the uber-talented Liz Bentley - nobody should be that good and just 17 years old.

Anyway, Liz had lost her voice and was playing a show Saturday afternoon, and she had another gig Saturday night at Cellar 21. Would I be interested in helping her out and playing with the amazing percussionist, Paul Wood?

Uh ... yes!

So we had a blast at Cellar 21. Liz was a trooper and playing with Paul is so easy - he's great on the djembe and it goes perfectly with acoustic guitar and piano.

Spirit Knob - during the rain!
It went so well that we got invited yesterday afternoon to play again with Liz at Spirit Knob Winery, and again, it was More Fun Than You Should Be Allowed To Have.

We used Liz's amazing Bose PA and played for two hours on the outdoor stage. Then a thunderstorm rolled in, so Tom and friends grabbed stuff, hauled it inside to the lodge and we jammed for another hour. Kathy Brink came by and sang a few songs for an even better time.

Here is the thing about Liz. She can sing and play guitar and piano and she's everywhere, always doing shows. But she's the nicest girl you'll ever meet and her parents are the same way. While it was our privilege and honor to hang out with her, she took care of us and made it easy.

That's what good musicians do around here. They support and take care of each other.

Good grief, that was fun. Now it's Monday morning and I can't move.

When do we do it again?

3 comments:

  1. Sometimes the greatest things happen from the most unusual circumstances. You and Paul were both such troopers this weekend. Liz and I talked Sunday morning and it goes to show that musicians are great people with big hearts. They don’t play for the money or the notoriety but for the love of the music and their musician families. It’s probably going down as one of the greatest events in Liz’s young career as I know she had a blast…even under the weather. Thank you so much for giving up your weekend to help this kid out and thank Sheryl for sharing you Saturday and Sunday. It was fun to hang out with her on Sunday at SKW. I’m hoping this ‘thing’ might happen again sometime.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I hope it happens SOON! Other than moving slowly this morning, it's all good!

    ReplyDelete
  3. We enjoyed the jam very much and would love to see you guys again when Liz is feeling good and can have an even better time. Thanks for a great afternoon and helping Liz out of a tough spot.

    ReplyDelete