Fun With Music...

 Of course a grandkid is always up for honking on something around here but musical endeavors have been very fulfilling of late. 

There's been a new season of civic band rehearsals begin and in addition to the big time Temple Theater concert on Nov. 19 we have a small ensemble concert for various sub groups scheduled on Oct 29th in Hudgins Hall. Our polka band The Lufkin Brass will ride again with 2 or three numbers on that program. I am squeezing in extra rehearsals with the college band this week also just because it's fun. 

This past weekend I played a few jazzy numbers, folk songs and old spirituals at a birthday party Dr. Guessipina Bonner. Dr. Bonner is a member of our church, helps with SVDP, has a hand in preserving local history, is on the city council and is just generally a local good person of note. I was proud to play and the plate of oxtail, fried catfish, greens, field peas and cornbread I was paid with was on point. The event was catered by Bigg Boyzz  and I suggest you check out the spice line he sells. 

Finally one of the most rewarding musical adventures has been playing with the St. Patrick's Bilingual Children's Choir. We came into this job when one of the group leaders, Hugo who I worked with at the old papermill began cancer treatments that has limited his teaching of music to these kids which he was doing a very great job of. The other leader Maria was in one of our choirs when she was a teen so you can see while it may seem like we are doing something new this is just a continuation of long productive relationships in our community. 

The kids are playing guitars, percussion and flute so well under Hugo's coaching that all Cathy and I have to do is give some tips on things they need to know about presentation, basically getting stopped and started in an orderly fashion with a tune, setting up of music stands and music to be ready and just an occasional "thousand picks and patch cables" thing you have to know that no one tells you. 

I do have some good video from a rehearsal this past weekend we set to Hugo during his treatment stay in Houston but I'll get parental permission before posting. Here's an audio recording at this link to get the idea. 

Speaking of the parents of these kids they are a great group. They get the kids to rehearsal, help with set up and music distribution and do what they call "raising them right." This past weekend as always the group sings the old 14th century prayer, Anima Christi after Communion and we just used one 9 year old playing acoustic guitar for accompanist. I looked out and saw his mom crying because it was so pretty and because he played so well. I told her later my mom cried a lot when I played but it was because it was either tuba or what she called "honky tonkin'" songs.     

So say what you will. My brother says I will never get a job again after posting this and I say "good!" and this digeridoo rain drone is bringing a tropical depression ashore somewhere south of here. 

 

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When You've Been There Before...

 At our church, St. Patrick's, we have a St. Vincent de Paul Conference. Cathy and I volunteer there. if you don't know anything about SVDP it's an old charity ministry that begun in France a couple of hundred years ago to help the poor. SVDP finds it's place in communities with thrift stores, food distribution or as we do rental, transportation assistance utilities and more. We go on a home visit, listen, pray and help right then the best we are able. 

In the course of home visits I think I have been in every neighborhood, apartment complex, motel, trailer or RV park in town. I don't hardly need a GPS or directions to find a place and a few days ago I got a bit discombobulated on a home visit because I had been to the house before. 

I know the exact date I was at this particular house. I had loaded up with a couple of friends, Larry and Beamon and went there, which was where the drummer lived to jam on blues tunes. The date was March 10, 1989 and I do not recall the drummers name. I recall that date because it was written on the cassette tape that was recorded of the jam that night. 

It was mostly what you might expect. Guys playing too loud and long using low-fi equipment to record themselves. The instruments were Larry and Beamon on guitars, me on harp and bass and the unknown drummer. There was one song, written by my friend Larry that stood out and he called it "Cadillac Boogie."  

I guess the reason for my discombobulation was that I realized that out of the people on that tape that were together in the home I was visiting that long ago evening I am the only one left alive. Larry and Beamon are gone. I don't know but I bet the drummer is also. It's not like these were things I did not know it's just these are things I had not gathered in my thoughts the same way I did at the moment in time when I stood in that place again. 

We helped the folks living at the house with bill assistance. I mentioned music to them but it rang no bells. They had lived there several years but without any knowledge of previous residents. 

Here's some knowledge for you:

Click this link to hear Larry's song "Cadillac Boogie"  

Your Favorite King...

 Cathy and I were driving home last night. The night skies were beginning to light up with  late spring thunderstorms that promised to bring much needed rain. It's only a side note that King Charles is visiting the USA because the USB drive plugged into the car which makes it a random play stereo on wheels started to belt out a long slow blues by Albert King and the stinging sustained notes from his signature Flying V guitar must have made the hair stand up on the back of both of our necks because Cathy asked, "Who is your favorite King?" 

If you are a blues fan you should know there are four Kings. There is Earl King from New Orleans, Freddie King from Gilmer, Texas, B.B King from Mississippi and the one we were listening to, Albert King also born in Mississippi. I had to answer that probably my favorite is Albert. 

Actually Albert has been on my mind as it's that New Orleans Jazz Fest time of the year and I always think about music that was the soundtrack in the car for long rides south on I-10 to the fest as well as the music I've seen at the fest. There was plenty of Albert King on those old cassette mixtapes we played in the Rocket 88 and actually saw Albert once at the fest but for what ever reason, too much beer in the sun or too many funk and tropical sounds for me to sit though a set of 1234 blues in the middle of the afternoon. My loss. 

I took a quick count of the music in my collection and found these three records. That live one has had the most play and if you don't count the greatest hits package these are not even his most well known recordings. Though I have seen Earl King twice I think I might only have one side by him on a jazz fest compilation. I never got to see Freddie King but I think I might have three or four cds. I have seen B.B. King live twice, have two of his albums and though he is a great maybe my least favorite. 

So I guess to answer that stormy question who is your favorite King:

1. Albert

2. Freddie.

3. Earl

4. B.B.

Don't let my thoughts influence your judgment. Take a late drive. Crank the tunes. They will speak to you and maybe rearrange your hair.   

  

Grupo Generacion Mix at the Lufkin Heritage Festival...

 I went downtown yesterday to see my friends from church, Grupo Generation Mix play at Lufkin Creative's Heritage Festival. I had last seen the group at the Fiestas Patrias Festival at St. Patrick's Catholic Church in September and while I enjoyed that performance (what's better than friends playing music?) I believe this group is improving and with it's mix of various generations should be gigs to keep an eye out for at future events. 

Grupo Generacion is made up of family members and participants in St. Patrick's Bilingual Youth Choir. This music is an expansion of that project and I don't really know what you call the style but it's dance music with lots of cumbias. I've known some of the members for years even going back to the 1990s when we had a kids choir at St. Pat's and the early 2000s when we had a bilingual choir so I feel this group has that same spirit combined with more ambition to present itself to the greater Lufkin Community at events like this. 

That's Hugo on bass. I worked with him at the old paper mill another lifetime ago. The mom of one of the singers sang with us when she was a teen in our church groups and still comes for the Quinceaneras, weddings and funerals we play for.  

Check the lady in the boots dancing. Cathy who worked 30 years as a labor and delivery nurse, says she delivered her as a baby. That's her dad, Enrique on guitar. 

There were also traditional dancers in the style of Oaxaca (I think) and I had some real good food truck quesadillas.  I think earlier in the day there were some DAG (dude and guitar) acts and other entertainment. It was a good show and I look forward to the next festival in this great downtown space. You might even see a Drum and Tuba Christmas pop up gig here soon. 

 

Del Castillo at The Live Oak Listening Room...

 I often find myself (yeah, you, self) mystified when excellent music that me (and many of my friends, yeah, you know who you are) hold in high esteem is not well known to the average Joes (yeah you know if you Joe) of the world. Last night the  Del Castillo Trio played the Live Oak Listening Room in Nacogdoches, Tx. and it was a fantastic show to a full venue.    

The Del Castillo full band played at Stephen F. Austin State University a bit over a year ago and that was my first time to see them. Last night was the first time to see the Trio format which the only difference from the big band might be a bit of electronic trickery on the guitars that adds delay, spacy ambiance and violin type sounds to blazing fast flamingo style fret work. 

In the course of audience interactions, which the band enjoyed because this is a cozy space and made fine gig encouragement on their end of the show they mentioned playing Europe, releasing music sung in Italian with musicians from that country and the age old joke of being "big in Japan." Del Castillo is an Austin, Tx based band and it seems that they stick to a circuit of clubs in Texas that I am very familiar with visiting, many of which are close enough I could attend a gig at and then drive home afterwards. Probably where that average Joe listener most likely may have encountered their music is in the movies of director Robert Rodriguez.

If you haven't been to the Live Oak Listening Room you should go. Last show they had was the Denton, Tx based polka band Brave Combo which is another band I think should be world famous along with Del Castillo and have their music blasting out of everybody's radio. The order of business the night of a concert is cook some good food to share at the pot luck which begins at 6pm. Get a comfy seat as these are civilized shows starting at 7 where you get to sit down unless you want to get up and dance and there's plenty of room for that. I might mention there is no admission ticket but you know how much a show costs so just drop your money in the tip jar or scan the handy venmo code to assist with operating expenses.

A great band, playing in your neighborhood is a treat. What if everyone went to see that? It would create some logistical problems for the venue but it might be the start of a transition from average Joe to something else and that's what's good for the world.  

         

        

Lady Trucker at The Jessie Mae Hemphill Festival...

 I don't think I should write about the Jessie Mae Hemphill Festival without talking about Lady Trucker. 

Apparently there is a core group involved in many of the little festivals that take place in and around Clarksdale and Lady Trucker is at the center of this. We met her the night before the festival at Red's in downtown Clarksdale when she was selling Red's t-shirts and offering a VIP festival pass of you bought one. I bought a shirt.  

Next afternoon we arrived at the festival and Lady Trucker was everywhere. She was directing the bands where to go and between bands she would sing a song. Here's Lady Trucker on the left and that's the late R.L. Boyce's daughter laying down the groove on tambourine. R. L. played drums for Jessie Mae before his debut album in 2013. One of Lady Trucker's helpers, Jankey is on guitar on the far right.   

Later that night Lady Trucker served me a bowl of spicy gumbo and fixed Cathy a pulled pork sandwich. When I say she did everything I'm not kidding. 

When we visited the North Mississippi Hill Country Picnic earlier this summer there was some restrictions on photos. Only photos during the first two songs were allowed and no videos. Sometimes in the press area some performers had asked that only certain photographers have this prime viewing spot and there were people at the stage to enforce these rules. Because of this I asked Lady Trucker if it was ok to bring my 35mm camera in. She said, "this is tourism. You can do what you want."

At the end of the evening Jankey showed me the back of his guitar which was signed by many of the Mississippi greats. 

 

  

Best I Figure 2010 Miles...

The best I can figure it from place to place of latest travel trip in our camper was 2010 miles over 11 days and that's not counting detours for fried catfish, the Moogsuem and thrift shopping. We visited family, Morgan, Ali and kids in South Carolina, Cathy's sister Margret in Kentucky (with a side trip for the rest of that crew in Evansville, In.) where we missed a visit with my cousin Carolyn because she was under the weather and the Jessie Mae Hemphill Festival in Clarksdale, Mississippi and a final stop to see nephew Chase and HD in Shreveport. I don't think I've missed anything.  

Morgan and crew on Lake Harwell.   

Margret and Kevin's Lake house in Dunmor, Ky on Lake Malone. We camped in Lake Malone State Park just across the lake. This is Muhlenberg County of the famous John Prine song. The house is nice but no photos of the inside which is all torn up for renovation. This lake which is about the size of the old papermill lake back home looks like a great place to fish and hang and enjoy some old school lake time.  

Great scenery around the lake and though we are not big fall color people you could catch a breath of the changing season as we cruised around the lake. 

Our next stop for the Jessie Mae Hemphill Festival was the old Stovall Gin Company outside Clarksdale Mississippi. This is the exact location where folklorist Alan Lomax recorded blues singer Muddy Waters for the library of Congress in two session during 1941 and 42. It's still a working farm bt there are four camper hook ups for water and electric. No showers or other perks and we had the place all to ourselves. A worker for the farm stopped one day because he though we were the crew to set up the stage for the upcoming Mighty Roots festival on the grounds next weekend. 

Clarksdale is a great place. I had last been through for a brief lunch stop 30 odd years ago but the people are friendly, at the festival you could just sit around and chat with the performers, food was good, when seeing the love music there was places for old people to sit and there were no crowds. Oh yeah, the music was great also.  

At the festival you wouldn't see the big worldwide names but there were plenty of local and regional legends. Names like Kimbrough, The Rising Stars Fife and Drum Band, the organizer of the festival Lady Trucker of boundless energy and huge singing voice, Lighting Malcom a great Texas band Spitcup and the Jukes and more. Together they put on a great show. 

One example was this guy who they all called Mr. Farmer. He filled in for Mr. Joe Ayers, famous as a member of Jr. Kimbrough's band who had had a fall. If this is the fill in act I know Joe would have been great. 

The family visits were great. We can't wait till next time. Clarksdale, see you again. 
     

 

 

Every Now and Then I Pick Up a Guitar...

Every now and then we manage to pick up a guitar and play for something. This past weekend it was the bilingual Mass for our church Fiestas Patrias Festival. We had a little help, a good group of five that always responds to help out and I must say it sounded pretty good when I went back and checked the church livestream.

I must say in this photo we do look like we know what we are doing and are pretty cute doing it.   

I was glad the music sounded good because I have not felt all that much like picking up an instrument lately. I don't know if it's the time taken off for traveling, the other things of life that have kept me busy or what but I just have not been able to focus on any one project with the intensity I can usually summon.

We depart on a trip tomorrow. In addition to visiting Morgan, Ali and grandkids in South Carolina we have a stop to see Cathy's sister and my cousin Carolyn both in Kentucky and a stop in Clarksdale, Ms for the Jessie Mae Hemphill Festival. 

In addition to the music at the festival our camping accommodations are at the old Stovall Plantation that was the home to Muddy Waters. Maybe all this music history will be inspirational. I have packed guitars just in case.  

In the meantime enjoy this Fiestas Patrias collage by Father D. 

 

The Mighty Orc...

 Saturday saw us at the Live Oak Listening Room to celebrate the proprietor Jerry's Double 40 Birthday Party. The BBQ was by Richardson and Crew and the side dishes, brought by everyone else overflowed the tables. The music was by the Mighty Orc and it made for a truly great evening. Thanks to Jerry and Patty for opening their home and venue to our community. 

If you don't know The Mighty Orc you should give him a listen. We saw him open for Fantastic Negrito in Houston and he did play the local brewery blues fest here in town but we missed that because of travel so we were glad to see him again. He's a great electric blues player but our favorite part is his resonator and cigar box guitar playing where he uses ambient sounds and delay to blend songs into places you might not suspect them to go. He's also has a great set of pipes and an excellent band that makes this a really great show. I'll go out on a limb here and say that his version of the much recorded traditional tune "John the Revelator" is my favorite of all time.  

His youtube shows him to be very generous with lessons and tips which I'm going to give a listen. Looking at his tour schedule it looks like if you are within the area of Houston, Tx it would be pretty easy to enjoy a show. 

  

 

Peterson Brothers at Summer in the City...

Thanks to Visit Lufkin for hosting the Summer in the City series of downtown events in Cotton Square. We managed to make two of the events this summer and this finale by the Peterson Brothers was fitting to a fine schedule and I hope they bring more good music next summer.  

We have seen the Peterson Brothers three times now. First time was At the Conroe Americana Festival in 2017 and again at the Live Oak Listening Room. Word on the street last night was "we got to have them back to the Live Oak." 
 

The Peterson's hail from Austin, Tx and mix up soul, funk and blues into a great mix of rocking, happy music and look like they are having fun doing it. Their mom and dad drive the van and sell merch. 

It was a very nice evening of music downtown and Cotton Square Park is a good venue to enjoy a summer evening letting the grandkids run and play, food trucks and socializing with friends. 

Who Knew She Was a Fangirl...

 A few months ago I mentioned to Cathy that the North Mississippi Hill County Blues Festival had released the line up for their 20th anniversary concert and there were several of our favorites playing, the tickets were cheap and I thought we should go. One of the favorites playing was the blues guitarist Elvin Bishop.  

We have a few of Elvin's albums, some stuff dating to the 60s and several recently released that show him still in fine form at 82 years old. We like this music but I guess I never realized Cathy was such an Elvin Bishop fangirl. How she knew which side of the stage he would be sitting on I'll never know because when the show started we were right in front. 

Playing with Elvin was the famous harp and guitar player Charlie Musselwhite. Charlie is reportedly the inspiration for Dan Ackroyd's Elwood Blues character in the movie the Blues Brothers. Charlie and Elvin along with Mike Bloomfield and Paul Butterfield are given credit for bringing Chicago Blues and the older players responsible for it to the forefront of 1960 rock music. 

These men are legends and can still play. 

We had a very good time at the picnic. I don't know the attendance figures but I doubt much more than 300 people in front of the stage at any time and there were no lines for anything. There could not have been much over 1000 all together in the campground or sitting in the shade canopies.  People were friendly and the grounds clean. It's a cheap festival and though Elvin and Charlie are timeless players who have left a mark on history most of the players are of the particular kind of local to the hill country blues tracing it's roots to musicians like the late greats Junior Kimbrough and R.L. Burnside. Many of the performers are shoots off these family trees carrying on the traditions.   

One more photo of Elvin in case there are other fangirls out there. 

Camping McKinney Falls and HonkTx!....

 For the third year in a row we camped at McKinney Falls State Park outside of Austin, Tx and used that as a base of operations for attending the HonkTx Street band Festival. HonkTx is one of those things I always yearned to attend when I was working and it seemed like that's what I was doing every time they scheduled it but now I'm free and the festival is like a band geek paradise if you want to dress up, dance around and fit in like you have never fitted in in your life because you were like this weird guy or girl that played a horn that no one else did. 

Water was a little cold but on hotter days Cathy and grandchildren have jumped off that rock she's standing on at the Lower Falls.      

One thing attending HonkTx re-enforces for me each year is that there is a place in the world for everyone.  

Our old friend Darwin, who lives in Austin stopped by our camp for a visit and some biking on the trails. 

Great park for bikes. Probably 40 years ago me and Darwin would have been scrambling down that cliff to get down and fish and swim in the creek below and would have done it carrying an ice chest full of beer. Now days I don't drink beer and while with the getting down part gravity would be your friend but getting back up might be a challenge as would taking the long way around looking for a short cut.   

HonkTx is a free festival. It's all kinds of music from everywhere and it's for everyone. If you were a band geek and never really quite fit in here is your chance to dress crazy, find a place for your music and dance wildly. It guess you could say it's woke and it feels good.     

I think I took some of the best photos of live music I have taken in some time and I was using an old kodak camera from several generations back after a couple of newer ones became causalities of rigorous outdoor use.   

I also met some internet friends, Dylan in purple on drums with Emperor Norton's Stationary Marching Band is in a Doom Brass Band I have been following called Eight Foot Manchild. It's distorted guitar and tuba with lots of effects pedals. ENSMB and Eight Foot Manchild share members and Dylan writes the music. I had on Eight Foot's tee shirt and I think I snapped this photo when Dylan saw my shirt.  

Looks like Alison, on tuba for both groups also saw my shirt and at the end of the day we all met and introduced ourselves.

The Kosmonauts from France. 

Many tubas. 

My friends think I have nice adventures and I tell them I just do free stuff like this festival. Of course they ask for donations to support it and the bands sell music and tee shirts which of course we bought but these are my people and it's good.   

 

Gabby Moreno at the Pines Theater...

 Gabby Moreno, who won a Grammy just a few days ago for her album "X Mi" appeared at the Pines Theater in Lufkin Tx last night. It was a very nice show and Gabby seemed a bit shy talking to the crowd but she built intensity with her songs through the evening and when called back for an encore played three more tunes.

I first got on to Gabby a Guatemalan immigrant, a few years ago when she released an album of bilingual Christmas songs. It was during the time Cathy and I were playing in a bilingual choir at church and there were songs we played included and was very much in our style something that validates what we were doing and encourages us to continue our vision.  

She played no Christmas songs this night but songs touched on many emotions and in a climate when immigrants are demonized (maybe that's why she was shy in East Texas) she spoke up for her belief in what makes America great performing her song The Immigrants.  In case you are getting a narrow view of the situation I'll post a clip of the song and (you have to read, sorry you voted to eliminate the department of education) The Pope's letter this week on migration. 

Gabby performed with herself on guitar and bass and drums. Now a native of L.A. the Fender Jaguar guitar and Fender amp gave a reverb and vibrato laden surfy desert sound that blended with the English and Spanish lyrics and her solid rhythm playing and occasional tasty leads. There were many of my church friends present and I got a big kick when Augustin, a musician I have collaborated with for 30 years said, "she plays that Carl Wallace guitar" and indicated all over the neck. 

I wouldn't go so far to say that myself but it was a great show, the kind we need more of in Lufkin. I know country music probably pays the bills down at the Pines but a growing diverse city needs music of the same.    

Turn Down For What...

I don't know everything. That was painfully apparent the other day when I stood in a group of classically trained musicians and listened to them talk. "ya, that Beethoven slaps" would not even have added to the information passed back and forth. I have a neighbor though, not a right beside me neighbor but more of a cattycornered up a little rise neighbor who does know about everything. Once on hearing me play the tuba he told me he had a Portuguese trumpet that was so expensive and if he played it and it broke there would be no one who could fix it. I think you get the idea.    

I was on the porch with chicken, yellow squash and onion on the grill. Sweet potato was baking inside. Cathy was entering cases on the computer from St. Vincent de Paul visits we had done It had been a rough week with highs and lows all mixed up and Cathy asked that I put on the Beatle's Sgt. Pepper album. I put it on and cranked it through the two sets of inside speakers and the bluetooth jobs on the porch. Those bluetooths were punching way above their weight. 

In a drop a track world Sgt. Pepper's is one of those albums you just about have to listen through start to finish. Take a little trip with it so to speak. I remember having a music professor who said in 100 years the Beatles would be revered with the classical composers for their work. Sgt. Pepper was about 7 years old at the time. Now it's almost halfway to that 100. It's familiar tunes that forever influenced pop music. I hear music all the time and say, "they listened to their Beatles."

Still in the taking a trip mood to wind down because after all Medicare is not reimbursing for micro dosing yet I put on the old Quicksilver Messenger Service record, Happy Trails. Side one is a long jam on the Bo Diddley (pay Bo Diddley) tune "Who Do You Love." There are long eclectic guitar solos with sudden shifts in tempo, style, dynamics and mood with highs and lows all mixed up accompanying Bo's supernatural lyrics. The tune last for the whole album side. 

This is when my neighbor walked over. By myself I guess I had been enjoying the volume of the music which had been easily heard at his house and the Beatles raised no eyebrows but the QSMS brought him out. To communicate we had to shout to be heard. 

"I've never heard anything like that, all those guitar slides and scrapes" he said.

I said, "Was I bothering you?" (no) 

He knows I'm a musician and I realized he thought it had been me playing.

He said, "That's different." 

I said, Quicksilver Messenger Service," and I could tell it didn't ring a bell.

Since normal conversation was out of the question he glanced around and spotted my Little Giant Extension ladder leaning under my RV stall. "I know the guy that invented those." he shouted.   

Ya, Beethoven.

 

         

 

Evelyn Rubio at the Live Oak Listening Room...

The Friday night performance by Evelyn Rubio and band at the Live Oak Listening room in Nacogdoches, Tx was off the charts. Though she has played there three times it was a first for us to catch her show and it's easy to see why the friends that we always see at this venue consider her a favorite. 

Evelyn, a native of Mexico City covers a wide variety of music. Her honking sax digs deep into the blues rock idiom with detours into almost bebop jazz and soul. Her performance credits include touring as Mary Madelene in Jesus Christ Superstar and I bet this band could play a mean cumbia if they had to. 

Speaking of the band, the drummer and keyboard player seemed to be regular members but the bass player was new, played well and the guitar, Paul Ramirez who was a last minute substitute blew the top off the place with big bold solos and intricate interplay with Evelyn's sax. You would never guessed that he was sitting in. I mean how would you react if you got a last minute gig and they said, "oh yeah and then we cover this Joe Bonamassa tune..."       

Now you may be watching the big stars on your TV or phone but they have been living in gated communities so long, make so many millions and are so famous there are is no connection between who you are and them. Sitting in a small room with people playing music for all they are worth up close and personal makes me believe in the good things and good people in the world and how much it matters that we listen to what they have to say.  

 It's also worth a mention that the potluck dinner before the show, which is always good was really on point and a good start off to a wonderful evening. 

 

Del Castillo in Concert...

Well I never saw Lynyrd Skynyrd or Molly Hatchet or Blue Oyster Cult but I've seen Santana, Jose Feliciano, The Gipsy Kings, Rodrigo y Gabriela and now playing at SFASU in the Turner Auditorium I've seen Del Castillo.      

If you don't know Del Castillo they blend Latin, rock and world music with a flamingo vibe and lightening fast guitar fire works and I mean those guys use every finger into a happy uplifting mix that has them dancing around the stage and looking like they really enjoy what they do. 

The reason I contrasted music with a Spanish/World Music vibe with rock bands is that often when I find myself at a festival and wander away from these kinds of bands to catch some rock act I find the most self absorbed 1,2,3,4, beat that sends me back to where things are a little more hopping. 

Thanks to SFASU for a great show!