Still recovering from last night’s Hot Stove Cool Music show at the House of Blues. The show was great, featuring a guest appearance from Youk, geetar playing by Lenny DiNardo and Bronson Arroyo, Theo Epstein working out Buffalo Tom’s “Taillights Fade,” Kay Hanley making us wish she’d never left Boston for LA, and a remarkably good set by the Smashing Pumpkins/Cheap Trick/Fountains of Wayne/Hanson hybrid, Tinted Windows. Hell, Amalie Benjamin was in the house as well, albeit in the VIP seats, well out of my reach. Which, I’m sure, is just how she likes it.
From my perspective, however, what made the night such a blast was getting to see/meet the many “Friends of SG” who were in attendance, including Tex and VJ (both of whom traveled more miles to come to the show than I’ve logged in six months), the ever-ebullient Hayes, Magic Ben, Sarah (who looks so much like Amalie, I was actually stalking her by night’s end), [Not Matt] Clementine, Annette, Crazy Al, The Derj, Crazy Pete, Netz Fontez, Linanne, everyone’s favorite bartender, Easy Cleats, and a host of other fine folks whose names have escaped my hungover brain at the moment. Hell, my man Curtis Interruptus was even good enough to cart my ass from a table at Crossroads to the goddam front door of the House of Blues, earning “free beer for life” in my book.
Seriously, it’s cool to see that this site has brought so many like-minded folks (love of beer, Red Sox, beer and beer) together, and I would have spent more time mingling post-concert if I wasn’t staring down a 20 minute walk to my car in sub-zero wind and an hour’s drive back to suburbia.
Got plenty of video to upload, but I’ll start with The Gammons tearing through John Hiatt’s “Perfectly Good Guitar” with the help of bandleader Bill Janovitz, Seth Justman on keys, and a host of other players.
