Friday night

Friday night, thanks almost entirely to Josh and Steph, Deb and I went to The Canopy Club with a bunch of friends to see Monte Montgomery.

Well, we didn't really go to see Monte. We went because we wanted to go. Out. With each other. And friends. To [almost anywhere but in this particular case] the Canopy.

But Monte ruled. He was like.. for about the first three songs.. a dead split between Mr. Big and Stephen Curtis Chapman. Which is not at all as unpleasant as it might at first sound. Kinda like dipping your fries in your frosty.

Later on, he went ahead and stretched out a little, and we got some shades of Satriani, Lindsey Buckingham, SRV and Lord only knows who else. The guy has got great vocals, great songs, an un-be-lievable backing band (consisting only of a drummer and a bass player, both of whom had excellent vocals), and then additionally has guitar chops that are totally ridiculous. Not just lead, not just rhythm, not just rock, country, pop or jazz. Ridiculous.

And to put the final twist in the knickers, their gear didn't show up. So the only two pieces of equipment on stage that were theirs were the bass and the guitar. No amps, rented drum kit, playing plugged straight into the PA.

To anyone who gets the chance to see this guy I say, "Go do it!"

As far as getting out of the house is concerned, that was super. In a continuing stream of pretty-lame-ness, especially for a purported musician, the Canopy is a place that I've never been. I liked it. It struck me as a pretty straight-forward rock and roll club. Not fancy. They're certainly about the rock, not the look. (or cleaning the bathrooms) And the company was good. Some parts of it especially so. : ) Of course. And we got a coffee at Espresso Royale after, and that was also good. If I ever figure out how, we need to spend some more time down there.

So thanks to the Henrys, our friends, the Canopy, Espresso Royale and some guy named Monte for a very satisfying Friday night. We owe you all [at least] one.