So, I am proud to say that I made it to Bill Kirchen & Too Much Fun with Mark Wenner and Ratso at IOTA. This was kind of a water shed moment for me to hear Bill Kirchen LIVE. I may have mentioned it earlier, but there was a point when I hung out A LOT with a group of guys 10-20 years my senior that grew up here. Therefore, they learned to play guitar because of Hendrix, learned their history lessons because of the Seldom Scene, and wanted to be rock stars because of Commander Cody and teh Lost Planet Airmen, and therego, ergo Bill Kirchen. So none of these guys I know grew up to be rock stars but they know their way around a lick or two and consequently hearing "California Cotton Fields" got me kind of teary eyed for the good ole days-that I experienced second hand thru devoted fans and pick up jams. But thats the beauty of it, music is an oral history that carries real well. Likewise, I was touched when Wenner sang "Walkin' After Midnight". So no one could do it better than Patsy, but that doesn't mean people shouldn't play it, it's the song that's great. She made that song SO LOVABLE that to sing it is a devotional act-I sing it all the time when walking home, it sounds great, 'cause for me devotion to music goes a long way, often quite a lot further than technical acuracy or hipness.

I was mightly surprised by the jazzy "Swing Fever"-is it just that I am now noticing all this jazziness? or is it a drummer conspiracy? It's OK with me. By the way, Jack O' Dell is a fine fine drummer with a great voice that he lets out from behind the kit and always chooses to sing balads with great character. Likewise with Johnny Castle, bassist, character extrordinaire in singin' and playin'. There's a decent amount out there on these guys, they were Grammy nominated for Best Country Instrumental in 2001 and they play around DC often.