Sooza Brass at The Great American Brass Band Festival...

 We saw many bands at The Great American Brass Band Festival on our recent trip and they were all great. One that stood out for me was Sooza Brass from Gainesville, Florida. 

I could plagiarize from the band's website to describe their music but using my own words I'd say they have some similar elements to a couple of dual sax and drum bands which I have seen and bought cds by called Moon Hooch and Big Blitz. Afterwards I met the band, a bunch of friendly nice young people who when I told them my impressions they said, "Yeah!" 

Seems a popular brass band style of dress is the Dickies zip up coverall type garment which is how my dad dressed to go fishing. Louie Meshoit, the Cajun fiddle player in the Lost Bayou Ramblers wears a pair on his gigs. Like Louie my dad chose the lighter browns and sky blues while the brass bands choose black or maybe dark blue. I happen to have one of these garments in dark blue but it's never occurred to me to wear it to a gig. I do like the look. It gives the band a post apocalyptical/tech/punk/Devo sort of vibe that they fine tune with their music to get the message across.

I did meet the tuba player, Bianca at the merch booth and bought a t shirt with a tuba on it. She had a nice tuba tone with a bit of grit to it and I ask how she got that sound. She said "plug ins" which is some kind of digital thing and makes me think she might be good at math since I'm still using tube amps, Big Muffs and envelope filters to chase sounds I hear in my head and they need no math.  

I suggest adding Sooza Brass to your playlist.

 

   

 

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"  

The Hot 8 Brass Band at The Great Americian Brass Band Festival...

 We saw the Hot 8 Brass Band at the Great American Brass Band Festival in Danville, Ky. I think the last time I saw them was in New Orleans at a Frenchman Street club in 2018.  The tuba great Bennie Pete was still leading the band. Bennie passed away due to COVID in 2021 and their latest release is in his honor and remembrance and is called "Big Tuba." Naturally this release is my new favorite and I bought it as soon as it came out. The Hot 8 has always been one of my favorites and they do a great job of bringing all the elements of New Orleans culture that I love so much together in a rocking show. 

Of course I think the tuba player in this band (I couldn't find a list of band member names) is great but my favorite guy in the band is one of the trumpet players. He's the guy on the left in this photo. 

Last time we saw them in New Orleans he was stone cool onstage but he seems to have a more prominent role center stage singing, second line style dancing, sweating and soloing that really highlights the joys of New Orleans brass band street culture. It makes me feel happy watching him. 

That looks like a happy drum and tuba section right there.

Trumpet and trombone.

Big Tuba!

I guess if I would have headed over to the merch tent I could have met the guys and I'd had names and probably a new t shirt but the weather was iffy and the Hot 8 set was cut short by rain and lightening. Actually when lightening was reported the band said "they say lightening but we will play one more," but festival officials quickly said, "no you won't" and that was it. It was enough and I though a great set.

 Instead of heading to meet the band we headed for the parking lot in the rain and our car was the last one there.

In 2014 my family, or most of us as I remember (only two grand kids at the time) all went to New Orleans for some of the early season Mardi Gras. There were no big floats but mostly walking parades and low crowd numbers with many brass bands and tubas. I snapped this photo after a parade and I did not know who it was at the time but it's Mr. Big Tuba, Bennie Pete of the Hot 8 with family. I don't think we saw the Hot 8 as such that weekend but Bennie was just out sitting in on the parades and enjoying the community, culture and this photo shows what kind of guy he was. 

Join the family. Get some Hot 8 right now.

  

  

   

 

A Road Trip...

 We are back from an 1800 mile round trip to Danville, Ky to see the Great American Brass Band Festival. It was a fun time at the festival, we stopped to visit family and along the way stayed in nice campgrounds in Arkansas and Kentucky in our camper. I'd highly recommend Jacksonport State Park.   

There was a very good little museum in the park headquarters telling the story of the area. It's the usual thing where big rivers and steam boats make markets and other places accessible, slave labor and fertile ground produce riches for those that have them but then there are floods, war and eventually the railroad bypasses the place and makes the steamboat obsolete and judging from the population stats the area has been in steady decline. You can see it in some of the houses and yards we passed on the way in the park. There were run down properties with old boats, cars and lawn mowers abandoned in the yard. 

You see the same thing in our East Texas area or maybe in our volunteer work for Saint Vincent de Paul we see it more. When we go homes to see how the charity can best assist people it literally looks like something has blown up there from the debris scattered about. Even in my neighborhood there are places close by with this junk car/trashed out chic look and I don't think the people there are particularly poor. 

In contrast Kentucky, where visit to see family and have found a couple of music festivals to like, seems like an unusually clean and orderly place and I can't quite put my finger on why. There is lots of agriculture work which can be difficult to make a living from but I rarely saw a disorderly property and it sure looks like they like to keep the yards mowed. 

For reference I'll post this photo of "The Lawn" where spectators sat on the Center College Campus where the brass band festival was hosted. It's very well kept and much of the surrounding area is like that.

I don't know if it's the influence of people working the land, the Amish community near by or the local  Shaker Village history that contributes to this neatness but it's certainty a notable thing. Some might even use the word, "picturesque." 

Whatever it is we could use some of it around here. I don't know enough about the history of the area to be aware of any boom and bust times as seen in the Jasksonport area that have had generational impacts on recovery. Makes me wonder, not to say anything good about data centers, they seem universality opposed by the general population locally and in Kentucky but if they pass us by will it be like the decline of steamboat usefulness and the next thing you know we can't keep our yards mowed? 

The Kentucky countryside outside of Danville was dotted with these signs. I did not see any signs in favor.  

I'll keep thinking on this and welcome any comments on ideas readers may have. Upcoming blogs will run down the music and bands seen at the festival, something I know about. 

 

  

     

It Was a Good Weekend For Music...

 It was a good weekend playing music with people and for people. It started out with a Children's choir rehearsal on Friday night, busking at Fae's Hideaway, a Ren Faire Pride Event Saturday and ended up playing with the children's choir for Spanish Mass at St. Patrick's Sunday morning.  

I was glad to get the invite for the Pride Event. Nice people put together a DIY day of local vendors selling arts and crafts with many people wearing costumes or sword fighting and it was the perfect thing to have a tuba player playing grooves, harmonica and didgeridoo. . 

Note that I also used my turtle shell shaker, the instrument that I am second most famous for playing. 

I got to jam on a tune with a strolling musician (i think I heard his name as Dawson, but you know the ears, tuba and big Fender amps) on uke playing a bit of harp, tuba and percussion. 

It was also the first time I opened for a harp player, Tris Day. As they say, check her out on the streaming platforms. 

Mass was good with the kids today. Great fun playing with Maria and Hugo who are the group leaders and we often have a great mix of kids singing, playing guitar, flute or Cajon drum. This photo grabbed off a video a couple of weeks ago. 

I think I might have actually grown up to be everything I wanted to be, 

Of course you have to eat and there was crawfish Saturday evening at the big Agular birthday party. 

 

Used Records This Week...

 I've just about sworn off buying records and cds. The cd rack is full and while I can always stack records on the floor it is always a possibility that the back room where all this lives, which was probably originally some kind of old fashion sleeping porch might collapse into the backyard. That said when a friend called and told me my mom's old church, Lifepoint was having a garage sale and there would be records I had to go check it out. 

Sure enough they had just what I wanted. One of the things I collect is the old readers digest box sets. They made millions of them so the price is always right. Usually I'm on the lookout for the swing music/ragtime/big band/Latin sets and so forth and the sale actually had one of the swing years sets I already own but I couldn't resist two other which though not swinging like I like it's the most perfect sappy white jazz singers backed by strings that would go great with an evening of martinis after I got home from the grey flannel suit everyman salt mines. That is if I drank martinis, worked in a salt mine and had a gray flannel suit. When Cathy heard these two records she said, "my grandparents music" and meant it in a good way. What will my grandkids say about our music? Probably, "Pop Pop did you ever see the Sex Pistols, you were a teen then" and I'll have to say no.  

I have a lot of Al Hirts and recently counted them but don't recall so it's a no brainer to add another. I did not have this Herb Alpert but I said, "maybe I can adapt that Lonely Bull Trumpet for tuba," and why not Nat King Cole? See how my kind kind of collecting goes. 

Actually my friend, Ray who tipped me to these records told me they came from my parents neighbor, Ray's mother in law, Shirley's home. Shirley lived to be 104 and always said I was the prettiest baby. Maybe these smooth jazz sounds will add to my longevity.

Long live listening. Never trust someone without music of all kinds in their home.     

   

Trout Fishing in America...

From the title you may have thought this would be another fishing report but last night at the Live Oak Listening Room in Nacogdoches, Tx we saw a concert by the musical duo Trout Fishing in America. 

Ezra (6'9" tall) and Keith (5'5") have been making music together for 50 years. I probably first saw them at the old Crossroads bar in Doches in the 1980s. I took my kids to see them at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in the 1990s. In 2017 we had a big family outing to the Mucky Duck in Houston including grandchildren Warren and Coraline, who were with us last night as well, to see the band. The music appeals to everyone with styles ranging from blues, jazz, country and more with nursery rhymes and other kid adjacent themes mixed with much humor and the enduring inspirations of adult life that seemed to be reflecting a bit on getting older and not acting your age.  

For those wanting to go a bit deeper the band took their name from the book of the same name by Richard Brautigan, an abstract work critiquing mainstream American culture. 

I think this might have been the best show I have seen by them. I am not sure why I felt that way because they have always been a good band. Playing as a duo the sound of the band is very full and the Listening Room was a great place with another great video loop by Pat Casey running in the background. Possibly besides reflecting on some of the songwriting themes that touched me such as where's my cell phone, banjos on the moon and yes you are a pretty girl now where's your momma and imagining the confidence to musically explore 50 years together brought me to the fact that there were friends at the concert that I have known for 40 to 50 years and it was just amazing to all feel the same things.  

After the show the band were very gracious taking the time to sit on the edge of the stage to sell t shirts and cds while chatting up the crowd, signing autographs and posing for photos. Here's Warren and Rose with the guys. 

Keith shares important insights into the music business and life in general with my grandson Warren. The band repeatedly mentioned though the night how they were always looking everywhere to find songwriting inspiration. I know their music is an inspiration to me. 

 

 

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.   

  

Must Have Let the Magic Smoke Out of the Home Stereo...

 

Electronic things such as guitar amps, public address systems, cell phones, riding lawnmowers and home stereo units have magic smoke inside. Sometimes this smoke gets out and occasionally I have seen it escape it's container in very visible ways and when this happens said unit does not work anymore. This happened to my home stereo receiver this week. It was a 1990s Teac model that had served well powering turntable, cd player, cassette deck, two sets of speakers and a cobbled together bluetooth apparatus that could broadcast to outdoor speakers. 

 I purchased the Teac brand new and it's demise started when I noticed the digital display no longer indicated which accessory was inputting the sound. No problem, I'll just push buttons till I get sound. I listened to my new Hot 8 Brass Band cd, "Big Tuba" and a couple more. I did notice there was no display on the volume level which is semi important as I set it by the number that sounds best according to my location in the house or on the property somewhere. Next time I tried to play music there was no sound and it brought to mind a rhyme I bastardized from an old tune by bluesman Son House. 

I've had four stereo receivers in my life,

One bought by my mother,

One from my sister, 

One given by that good girl,

And one from my wife...     

Actually I have probably not owned that many and the sad fact is in this mad modern world of enshitification you can't go into a store and put your hands on a unit, maybe actually listen to it and buy what you want. I browsed on line all kind of info on home theater systems, bluetooth, karaoke inputs and more none of that are actually things I want. I did see a promising unit of an unfamiliar brand that seemed to do some attractive things such as play USB drives and record directly directly to them which would be handy to get the tunes on my old records into a format that would play in a late model automobile but besides being throwaway cheap junk it seemed you might need a pre amp for the turntable. That's not a good look to the budget manager on location to buy something and then immediately buy it a present.

So for a replacement I browsed online at used gear. The exact unit I am replacing is available which is tempting in terms of the learning curve but at $100+ the argument could be made for buying new as the level of quality I require in the digital world has become cheaper. Instead of this I turned to ebay and purchased a Panasonic made in Japan unit (used to be a good thing) that looks pretty simple for $40 plus $20 for shipping. 

Hopefully this will last till I forget how to hook all this up or how I want to listen to music is no longer valid in this world.     

  

Wake Up Deadman...

 My music room is worth a blog post at least once a year. Actually I have two music rooms, one full of electric instruments (the acoustic instruments are all over the house since they are not beholden to amps, zip strips and instrument cables) and this one full of records and cds. If you count trombone and three string trance guitar as instruments there is some spill over between the two rooms.  

I spent a good bit of time in this room during the recent deep freeze cold snap picking out a sound track for our cabin fever. I don't know how many titles there are available but I tried to pick things I had not listened to any time recently or those that I might have completely forgotten about. I recently read the book by John Lomax "Confessions of a Ballad Hunter" about his adventures capturing blues, folk songs and work songs by recording the singers in whatever environment he found them. This reminded me I had a cd of Texas prison work songs from the mid 1960s called Wake up Deadman. I could not locate that cd to save my life.    

Generally I file alphabetically except for the records on the floor that are piled into the categories of swing, polka, exotic and George Jones. Since Wake up Deadman is a compilation of various singers there is a various artists cd section which would be a sensible place for it except it's not there. I dug all through the piles in likely spots but no luck. This search goes on a few days and then I decide to listen to Dylan and picking up a handful of cds from the "D" stack and there is Wake Up Deadman. Makes perfect sense, file it under "D" 

The story does not end here. As usual it's on to the next big thing. Our last time in New Orleans at Satchmo Summer Fest I bought a New Orleans Brass Band Compilation at the Jazz Museum. I know I listened to it once and I'm pretty sure it's burned to a USB drive we listen to in the cars but I can't locate it there among the thousands of songs or in the room stacks either. It's around somewhere just creatively filed and I can't recall the exact title to give clues on the location. I do remember it's multiple cds divided into old school traditional bands and newer, modern sounds. 

Wake Up Deadman, find that cd! 

  

      

I Wear Women's Yoga Pants...

A late friend of mine, Jason Carriger (RIP) wrote a song called Yoga Pants. I've searched the internet and Jason left a pretty good YouTube and Soundcloud footprint but I can't find a performance of Yoga Pants. What caused me to think about my friend's song was the fact that the elastic they put in those old chicken skin long johns is just not what it used to be and though it may be illegal in some  states I purchased women's yoga pants to wear for my own convenience and warmth . 

A resolution I made and it was just before the New Year as I'm always always trying to get ahead of the game was that I was not going to be cold this winter. I also made a resolution that I was tired of those chicken skin underwear sliding half way down my butt. I could have been happy about that and said well the elastic is worn out and I'm just losing weight, they are not fitting correctly  but when I pointed out the decreased load that was my ass my doc busted that bubble by saying, "probably just lost muscle mass."

In this time of my life what with decreasing hormones I probably can't do anything about the loss of muscle mass. An increase in red meat eating and a furious weight lifting regime will only make me have a heart attack. What I did was abandon loose fitting long underwares in favor of women's yoga pants. 

Women's yoga pants are tight fitting and warm. I like them. I must add that I wear them under my outside pants. The are extra large size so when some one says, "pull up your big girl underpants" I actually can. Cathy has forbidden me to wear women's yoga pants as outside pants in public as she thinks I look pretty good in them and might get in some kind of trouble with unwanted attentions. I mentioned this time in my life and since it is that time any attentions is good attentions. 

Of course since I bought a warm garment the January weather has been mild this year and I've only worn it once. I have high hopes for wearing yoga pants though February, March and of course there is that bitch, April. 

Since there are machines that watch the internet for any dissent and I live in a state where who uses what bathroom is more of a concern than healthcare or education or songs about yoga pants they will probably be coming for me and my yoga pants anytime now. 

        

My Year End Music List...

 Every media source is pushing the best of, most listened to, most streamed, biggest fan and I'm sure there is some negative Ned or Nellie that has put out a worse of the year music list. I have news for you. If you used a streaming service they picked the music for you. They pushed on you like hard drugs. 

I picked my own music from this back room in my house. This is an old photo because it's not quite as neat as you see here. Seems like the drums are stacked a little higher along the right side of the room right now and there are piles of cds and longer record stacks on the floor but that just means I'm letting the grandkids run wild with instruments and I'm picking the music to suit my mood. Sometimes I don't put it up because I play it again.  

What usually happens is in the evening Cathy might be at the computer inputting some St. Vincent de Paul paperwork from the day while I cook and pick records. If I'm cooking French or Spanish or catfish the selection is appropriate. It gets more appropriate as the evening wears on.  

I did buy some new music this year. It was mostly by bands and artists I have seen and a few I might even know as knowing goes in the digital age and have met . There was a Christmas release by Eight Foot Manchild, a new Preservation Hall Jazz Band cd, an old Drums and Tuba album, (they give them away free but I paid them) a Cockaphonix , a Red Barrat, and an Emperor Norton's Stationary Marching Band. If that looks like it's heavy on the brass band thing I think I also bought singer songwriter James McMurtry's new one and the last album by the late Todd Snider.  

I did not keep count of the used records but there were not many since I am minorly worried about this back of the house room becoming unlevel and uncoupling from the rest of my home and falling into the backyard. I am close to the end but stuff has to last me. As a precaution I did give away about 20 records because I bought these. That Artie Shaw, a compilation released in 1956 is a gem. 

Don't let them push music or any content on you. Pick your own. It does not need to be the latest greatest. It could even be from me. 

   

 

What You Do?...

We do many things. I know it seems like an ever revolving good time camping, fishing and grandchildren escapade around here but there are actually things that we do to help people. We volunteer for St. Vincent de Paul which can be a full time job if you are carrying the on call phone and are often called to play music for funerals, weddings and Quinceaneras by our church family. Lately we have been handing out red cards. 

All people in the USA have rights and protections under the Constitution. You may have seen a TV show where they said, "innocent until proven guilty." It's true and the red cards give examples of how you can exercise your rights. They are not legal advice and for this it's advised you check with a trusted legal provider. 

In case you think this is some radical thing the Catholic Bishop of Tyler put of this letter and it's a document the Catholic Bishops of the United States are in agreement with as they support vulnerable migrant populations. As I am a member of the local Catholic Church I'm glad to see this. 

So far we are on our second box of cards well on the way to distributing close to 500 in the community. We give handfuls to friends and they spread out from there. 

If you need some red cards they can be ordered from a Union shop and you can also be supporting good jobs, wages and benefits or you can download a form and have your own printed in business card format   

You can also see me for a handful of red cards. 

All these things that we can do for our community, our church family or your friends might not seem like much but hopefully they will add up especially as everyone gets involved. 

 

  

  

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.