cusnjohn

Seeing Twiddle tonight at Meow Wolf. A blur when I saw them last at the final Vibes, with so many bands back to back. Think I liked them a lot.

What do you call a one legged hippo? A hoppo!

A shrinking man runs into a doctor's office, cuts in front of the line of patients and says "doctor you gotta help me, I'm a shrinking man!" The doctor says, "Well, you're just going to have to be a little patient."

Why shouldn't you try to write with a broken pencil? Because it's pointless!

I forgot to mention the fine opening set from these boys: Hot Tuna - September - Red Rocks - Morrison, CO

Here are the best shows I saw in 2019: Billy Strings - August - Four Corners Folk Festival - Pagosa Springs, CO Headlined this up and coming festival. Tore it up in every way. Amazing. DSO - 5/24 - Jubalee - Thornville, OH My favorite of the 3 shows - Marcus King sits in on a blues tune. The second set took off quickly and kept going, St Stephen into The 11 was great. Amy Helm - July - Santa Fe Plaza - Best of the free summer shows here. Soulful while paying fine tribute to her dad. Rarities like a song from the Hawks days, a nice choice from Big Pink, and a song Levon sang to her from his last days in the hospital. Great show. Grateful Ball - August - Rhythms on the Rio - Southfork -CO (my favorite new fest) A collaboration of several bands playing this fine fest; including The Traveling McCourys, Vince Herman, Larry Keel and folks from the Infinite String Band played a fine set of Dead tunes. Molly Tuttle - Four Corners Folk Festival - Pagosa Springs, CO First time seeing this flat picking shredder. Strong song writing and a very good band, except for the hired lead guitarist who posed a lot. Looking forward to seeing her again. Marty Stuart & the Fabulous Superlatives - May - The Liberty - Roswell, NM Fun roadhouse venue. Able to stand two feet away from Marty and Kenny and see the magic up close. A band worth seeing anywhere, any time. Not as wide ranging as the Lensic show last year. The Juice - April - Tin Roof - Memphis, TN Young band from Boston playing a wide range of sounds; Blues, Pop, Southern Rock, Rap.

Got my plane ticket there! Looking forward to my second Jubalee. Has a blast last year. JB

Who sang on Same Thing?

Saw a smoking band last week. The Marcus King Band. 22 years old, a cross between the Allman Brothers and Marshall Tucker, with a tight horn section. Warren discovered him some years back, they opened for Derek and Susan this summer. Not to be missed! JB

Had a fine time at the GSBF in Patchouge last weekend. Lineup was Little Feat, Hot Tuna, and the Dickey Betts Band. Little Feat played a very solid hour set. Great seeing/hearing Bill Payne again. Highlights were numerous: Oh Atlanta, Spanish Moon, a nice sing along Willin/ Don't Bogart that Joint, with a slow Dixie Chicken to close. I miss Richie Heywood and the drummer never opened up would be my only complaint. The band was enjoying themselves and will only get tighter with time. Hot Tuna brought the goods! An acoustic Been So Long into Hesitation, followed by some ripping electric tunes. They did both Come Back Baby's, can't remember the names of what was in between but it all smoked. One tune from Yellow Fever in there. Jack tore it up an it's always a pleasure to hear Jorma play, even if his singing is sometimes uninspired. A band to support for sure. Expected Dickey to be rough, and it was. Opened with Hot Lanta, with Nothing You Can Do soon after that. Even sixteenth notes were a struggle, but the tone was there and there were snatches of what could happen, enough to make me want to keep going. His vocals weren't too bad, and he played better when sitting on a high stool. Band was tight, Damon Fowler doing a nice job on slide and Duane pulling off a fine solo. The keyboard guy played a Gregg song I didn't know, something about the sound of guitars, very sweet. OK Blue Sky into a patchy Jessica that could become something. Favorite moment was the turn around that took Dickey twice as long as usual, but the band just waited for him to get there, then went right back to pace. Go support him, and maybe six or seven gigs in, he might find his way back to form. Glad I went and the fifty bucks was a steal for those 3 bands, all told. JB

Had a lot of fun. Enjoyed all but one band that I heard. Nice hanging out and getting to know you Michael. Sorry that I never ran into Masons Child. Hope to do this most years. Do not think that I will make Redrocks, but hope to catch a California Kind show somewhere this summer. JB