Bill Kirchen Update

Last year, I posted this piece which included some information on the recording of Bill Kirchen's latest CD. Earlier this year, that CD, Word to the Wise, was released and Kirchen has been playing shows and giving interviews in support of the it. A few weeks back, a friend of mine from the Sunset Grille sent me links to two these interviews. The first was Bill's appearance on NPR's All Things Considered. You can hear that interview here. The second appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle and can be read here. I find the picture of Bill that accompanies the Chronicle piece a little scary, but not as scary as the picture below which was taken in January at the Sunset Grille.





Back in January, Kirchen played a Sunday evening show at the Sunset Grille in Annandale, Va. Kirchen had held court at the Grille most Thursday nights for years, until he left the D.C. area for Austin in 2004. (Kirchen has since moved back to the D.C. area.) But in the few months leading up to Kirchen's January appearance, the Grille had fallen on hard times. Out of loyalty to the Grille and its patrons, Kirchen agreed to play the show with proceeds going to keep the Grille afloat. During the show, Kirchen decided to relive some the old days at the Grille and stuck is guitar in the ceiling over the stage while playing it. Shortly thereafter, part of the ceiling came falling down, severely cutting Kirchen's head. Kirchen refused to leave the Grille to get stitched up and instead kept playing. The picture shown above was taken by a friend of mine as Kirchen soldiered on. Thankfully both Bill and the Sunset Grille survived the night. Let's hope they're both around for years to come.

Friday Frolics, Volume 42: Drunk All Around This Town

As a warm up to Scott Miller's appearance tonight at Iota, here he is performing "Drunk All Around This Town".

(Yes, I know I posted another performance of the song about a year ago.)

Drinking With Dale Watson

Dale Watson brought his 2010 winter tour to Iota in Arlington this past Monday (1/25). The club was reaching capacity when Watson came on stage around 9:15 and started the show with "Truckstop in La Grange" from his 1996 CD Blessed or Damned. Before wrapping up the opening song, he briefly morphed it into Z.Z. Top's "La Grange".

After thanking the crowd for coming out, Watson made the first of his many pitches for Lone Star Beer. (When I saw Watson perform at the Continental Club in Austin is September, Watson made several Lone Star pitches. At the time, I thought it was something he only did at his regular gigs in Texas.) Iota doesn't serve Lone Star, but the club does have another Texas favorite, Shiner, on tap. A member of the audience was quick to point this out. Of course, Watson argued Shiner just wasn't the same and went on with his Lone Star pitch with his right hand curved as to say "someone put a beer in my hand".

(Dale Watson on stage at the 2008 Richmond Folk Festival)

Seeing Watson wouldn't settle for the Shiner alternative, it wasn't long before members of the audience presented Watson an option he could live with, a steady stream of whiskey shots. After throwing back the first shot, Watson settled into a pattern of performing a song or two, making a pitch for Lone Star and/or telling a story, throwing back a shot, and then taking a request. Many of Watson's shows revolve around audience requests, which seems to work well for him because most audience members know his material and the classic country artists whose material he likes to cover. But, occasionally some dumbass in the audience will begin to yell for something totally absurd. This time around someone in the back of the club began yelling for Watson to sing something by Mojo Nixon. Watson played it off well, saying Nixon was friend of his.

After being on stage for an hour so, Watson had knocked out a few requests, including his own "Wine, Wine, Wine" and Ray Price's "Bright Lights and Blonde Haired Women". At that point, Watson had also knocked back a few shots and a few beers. The between song Lone Star pitches were replaced with drinking stories about bad experiences with different types of liquor. For better or worse, these stories just inspired the audience to supply shots of the liquor the stories centered around. Soon, Watson found himself trying to knock back a shot of Southern Comfort. During the song that followed, Watson showed a little facial contortion. After the song was over, he admitted to throwing up "a little" in his mouth. Lucky for him, the Peppermint Schnapps shot that followed went down a little more smoothly.

During Watson's second hour on stage, and for obvious reasons, the pace of the show slowed somewhat. Watson did perform his version of "Fox On the Run", a song brought into the country & bluegrass world by groundbreaking D.C. bluegrass band The Country Gentlemen. (A mention of the Gents would have been nice, but maybe Watson learned the song from the Tom T. Hall version?!?!) Fiddler Don Raby was featured on "Orange Blossom Special", with the kicker being the band playing a portion slow motion, as opposed to kicking the song into hyperdrive as many bluegrass bands do. And, Watson played two of his odes to Ginny's Little Longhorn in Austin, "Honkiest Tonkiest Beer Joint" and "No Fussin', No Cussin'".

Around the two mark, Watson broke into one of his anti-Nashville establishment songs, "Country My Ass". The song has a slightly awkward meter to it to begin with, but with the number of shots Watson had put down at that point, the song became somewhat of a trainwreck. But, Watson did quickly comeback with a nice version of Merle Haggard's "Silver Wings", which Watson said would be his last slow song of the evening.

After two and half hours on stage, at least eight shots and with Watson working the Del McCoury squint, he had outlasted me. I headed for the exit as the clock neared midnight, but Watson was showing no signs of leaving the stage. I'll readily admit the show was well worth the $15 cover and I'm sure the folks who stuck around until Watson wrapped up the show more than agreed with me.

(A short postscript. "J.D." attended Watson's show in Richmond the following night and reported that Watson showed no ill effects from Monday night's show. "J.D." also reported Watson continued with the Lone Star pitches. So much so, "J.D." thought Watson was on retainer for the brewery.)

A Nighthawk Says Goodnight

Seeing I've been held hostage by SiriusXM radio for the greater part of 2010, I missed the recent announcement that longtime Nighthawk drummer Pete Ragusa is retiring from the band. Last week, a friend sent me this link to John Kelly's Washington Post blog which has an interview with Ragusa. Ragusa had been with the Nighthawks for over 35 years. That's a hell of lot time to be anchoring the rhythm section in any band, let alone one that was considered by many to be the world's best bar band for many years.

Although I've seen the 'Hawks numerous times, I'm a little too young to have seen them play in the rip roaring days of the 70s and early 80s when their "classic" lineup of Ragusa, Mark Wenner, Jimmy Thackery and Jan Zukowski was playing up to 300 nights a year. And, to be honest, I never comprehended how much of a national band they were until 1994, the first year I attended Jazz Fest in New Orleans. I didn't see the Nighthawks play in New Orleans in 1994. They weren't even in town. But, not long after setting foot in Jimmy's for a Delbert McCllinton show, I noticed several Hatch Show Print posters for past shows at Jimmy's that featured the Nighthawks. Some of the aged posters listed the 'Hawks as the headliners, while others had them opening for acts like Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown. To this day, it always makes me feel good to see something old school D.C. when I'm traveling in other parts of the country.

Since I missed out on those wild 'Hawks shows back in the day, I'll share a story my friend "Mr. B." shared with me via email last year as we were discussing potential D.C. music posts here on Shedd's Spot.

I do remember the first time I saw the Nighthawks, though. It was the fall of '79 down at William & Mary in a large gym-like building. Admission was like a dollar or 2 and included unlimited beer courtesy of the student activity fund or something. Wenner had hurt his back and seemed to be paralyzed from about the chest down. A couple of roadies carried him on stage and propped him up against a stool or something. I didn't know anything about the blues and had likely never heard of the Nighthawks, but free beer? Hell yes. What I remember is that they jammed and jammed and jammed. I remember them totally rocking, playing for hours and just not stopping. Thackery playing behind his head, duck-walking, teeth, the whole thing. Finally at like 2:30 AM or something the authorities turned on the lights and the band took the hint and quit at the end of that song. We wandered off and threw a shopping cart off the roof of Billy's dorm or something. Anyway, great show and I saw them many times over the next several years.

After sharing that story, I guess the only way to wrap up this post is to say the Nighthawks, including Ragusa, have just released Last Train to Bluesville, an all accoustic CD recorded at, of all places, the SiriusXM studios in D.C.

Friday Frolics, Volume 33: El Vez

In honor of El Vez's upcoming appearance at the 930 Club......

Quickies

Truly, this will be a quick post.

First, a Facebook "friend" of mine from college recently posted a link to this story on his Facebook page. I think I've been friended by far too many "The Let-Me-Tell-You-Every-Detail-of-My-Day Bore" types.

Second, according to USA Today, the NFL wants enact these rules to cut down on binge drinking and its related side effects at games. Right.......

Finally, this clip posted on YouTube has some great photos from this past Saturday's unveiling of Chuck Brown Way in D.C.

Midweek Time Killers...The Castles

Back in February, I wrote a post on the Thrillbillys celebrating the 5th anniversary of their regular gig at the Sunset Grille. Head Thrillbilly Johnny Castle formed the band to play in the Thursday night spot vacated by Bill Kirchen when Kirchen moved to Austin in 2004. After seeing the Thrillbillys last week, I began to think it was time for everyone to learn a little more about Johnny...and his wife Jana. First, is this Eden Amp artist interview with Johnny that discusses his playing style and a lot of the folks he has played with over the years. Second, is this recent Washingtonian interview with Johnny's wife, Jana, that discusses her 38 year career as a waitress. Jana has spent half of that time waiting tables at the Red, Hot & Blue in Laurel, MD. I guess it's true that there is hard working woman behind every musician.

Midweek Time Killers...Serena and The Fat Man

I'm beginning to think I should just turn over the Midweek Time Killers series of posts to "J.D" in Richmond. He seems to be turning me on to more and more of the reading material included here. Monday, "J.D." sent me an email with info on this column by Jason Whitlock which takes several shots at Serena Williams, despite her recent Wimbledon win. I'm not going to comment any further on the column. But, I am going to include a few links to other blogs and columns where the writers throw their two cents in on Whitlock's column. There is this blog from The Pitch-Kansas City that also has a great picture of Whitlock with some "entertainers". The Retort has this and there is piece is entitled "Fat Man Calls Serena Williams Overweight…F*cking Hypocrite!". I do think the title of the aforementioned "Fat Man..." piece holds some merit because Whitlock is shaped a lot like another man who is somewhat associated with Kansas City, Jimmy Rushing (pictured below), long time lead singer with the Count Basie Orchestra. And, oh yeah, Rushing's nickname was Mr. Five by Five. Hmmm...maybe Whitlock could adopt the name?

And finally, if you haven't had enough of Jason Whitlock, there is this 2006 interview with The Big Lead, which was conducted not too long after Whitlock's departure from ESPN's Page 2.

Midweek Time Killers...D.C. Music

A few years back, a few writers at The Washington City Paper compiled this piece which surveyed 40 D.C. music scene insiders as to what pieces of local music were their favorites. My favorite quote from the piece is:

“I’m sure you’ll get a lot of votes for ‘Da Butt,’ and I do think ‘Da Butt’ is a f*cking great song. There’s no way around that,” says Mark Noone, lead singer for the Slickee Boys, who ultimately chooses the Slickees’ own 1983 single, “When I Go to the Beach.” “Not just because I wrote it,” he says. “I just think it turned into kind of a D.C. anthem.”

For those of you who haven't seen the Slickee Boys video for "When I Go to the Beach", you now have no excuses.....

Midweek Time Killers...The One and Only Blelvis

This week, the belated Mid-Week Time Killers post consists of just two items and they both are about Blelvis. The first is Eddie Dean's 1998 Washington City Paper profile of Blelvis. The second is Monica Hesse's article on Blelvis that appeared in The Washington Post in 2007, on the 30th anniversary of Elvis Presley's death.

If you went out in dowtown D.C. in the late 80s or 90s, you may have run across Blelvis on a street corner or performing in a bar like D.C. Space. At the time Eddie Dean piece was written, Blelvis was down on his luck. The Post piece, written nine years later, doesn't focus as much on the Blevis' hard times.

Years ago, my cousin and I had a bunch guys we grew up with over one Sunday to watch football. One of the guys, let's call him "R.B.", was quite the Elvis fan, could sing a little himself and was also African-American. That Sunday, "R.B." told me with great pride how he and his boys had run into Blelvis downtown the night before and how Bleivis given "R.B." the great pleasure of singing a few songs with him. After singing a few Elvis numbers, "R.B." suggested they do a song by "R.B."'s all-time favorite singer, Sam Cooke. But, Blelvis would have no part of it and he left "R.B." to sing the Sam Cooke number on his own. Obviously Blelvis is a man of convictions.

Midweek Time Killers

There is no theme to this week's Time Killer post. Instead, there is a choice of items that are some of the recurring themes here on Shedd's Spot, music, sports and life in and around the Nation's Capital.

First off, Dave Alvin recently released "Dave Alvin and the Guilty Women". You may recall from a prior post, that Alvin felt he couldn't record and tour with his former band, the Guilty Men, after the death of Alvin friend and bandmate Chris Gaffney. Alvin talks about that and the new CD in this Country Standard Time article. Alvin and Guilty Women play the Birchmere on July 25th.

It's been a little over four years since the voice of Baltimore sports, Chuck Thompson, passed away. In this NPR audio essay from 2005, Frank Deford remembers Thompson.

Finally, in yet another Washington City Paper flashback, Catherine Alter details how hard a time men in D.C. had meeting women in her 1996 article "Bitch Hunt". I wonder if 13 years have changed matters any?

Midweek Time Killers...Country Style

In case of time flying by, it seems like it was just yesterday when I first read this Eddie Dean piece about bluegrass fiddler & country DJ/historian Eddie Stubbs in The Washington City Paper. When I checked the City Paper website, it shocked me to find the story was first published in 1996.

Also from The Washington City Paper is this Christopher Flores story on D.C. bluegrass pioneer Buzz Busby from 2000.

Finally, this story about Gary Stewart has been emailed to me by a couple of different friends over the past year. It's an interesting look into the career of a singer who was once considered the "next big thing" in country music in 1970s only to fall prey to drugs and paranoia.

Quickies

First off, a few weeks ago a friend told me about the website Fool's Night Out. The website features a pretty extensive calendar of roots music related concerts and festivals in the D.C. area. Plus, it lists some events the site's creator, Scott Mitchell, deems worthy of travel. Check the site out when you have the chance.

Second, the Flatlanders (Joe Ely, Butch Hancock and Jimmie Dale Gilmore) played a two night stand at the Birchmere last week. I didn't catch either of the shows, so I don't have a review. But, you can read a Country Stanard Time article about the Flatlanders and their latest CD here.

Finally, over the past few days, the Washington Nationals have been the best eight inning team in baseball. They've blown ninth innning leads in three stright games, leading to the bullpen being blown up after yesterday's game. Read all about it on the Washington Post's Nationals Journal here.

A D.C. Tribute to Allen Toussaint

In 2004, BandHouse Gigs began producing concerts where various D.C. area musical performers come together to pay tribute to a well known national or international artist, with the proceeds often going to area charities. A few of the concerts BandHouse has produced were tributes to Nils Lofgren, Nick Lowe and Bob Dylan. The latest concert in this series was last Saturday's tribute to Allen Toussaint.

In the history of American popular music, there are several legends who have worked primarily behind the scenes. But, their contributions to music are just as important as any of the performers who are front and center in the public eye. Allen Toussaint is one such legend. Toussaint is a New Orleans native who began writing songs, performing and producing records in the 1950s. By the early 60s, Toussaint had written and produced hits by numerous artists, including Ernie K-Doe ("Mother In Law"), Lee Dorsey ("Working In The Coal Mine"), Irma Thomas ("It's Raining" & "Ruler of My Heart") and Chris Kenner ("I Like it Like That").

Throughout the 60s, 70s and 80s, Toussaint continued to write, produce and record with artists as diverse as Jerry Garcia, Gladys Knight, Robert Palmer, Glen Campbell and the Meters recording his songs. In 2006, Toussaint recorded The River in Reverse with Elvis Costello.

Saturday's Toussaint tribute concert at the Barns of Wolf Trap featured more artists than I can list here, so I'll hit some of the highlights. (Not that there were any lowlights. And, to clarify, Toussaint was not in attendance.) The show opened with the Nighthawks, before moving onto acts such as Junior Cline, the Grandsons, Mary Ann Redmond and Tommy Lepson. Caz Gardiner made her first appearance of the night with the Grandsons. Gardiner was a real treat and the best pure singer on the bill.

Early in the second set, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame members the Orioles hit the stage and fired up the crowd with a version of "Mother In Law". Other second set performers included Eric Scott and Jon Carroll. The Junkyard Saints delivered a high energy mini-set that gave way to the entire cast coming back to the stage to wrap up the show.

This is the second BandHouse Gigs show I've attended. (Last year, I attended the Nick Lowe tribute.) Both shows have been very good, with some of the performances being near classic. You can't go wrong attending one of these tribute concerts, particularly if the artist who is the subject of the tribute is one of your favorites.

The Godfather Winds Up the Crowd at Wolf Trap

Throughout the years, a lot of the institutions that are truly D.C. have faded from the scene. A fact I've lamented on these pages for a few months now. But, one D.C. hometown institution that's still going strong is Chuck Brown, the Godfather of Go-Go.

In the history of American music, very few genres can have their origins traced to just one person. Go-Go is one of those genres and Chuck Brown is the person. Chuck Brown started the Go-Go sound back in the 1970s when he had the drummer in his band keep the beat going between songs to keep people on the dance floor. From there, his sound got more funky with more bass, percussion and hooks and call and responses that involved the crowd. But, all the time a constant beat was kept to keep the people groovin'.

Chuck started his Friday show at the Barns of Wolf Trap with his version of the "Love Theme from The Godfather". From there, Chuck and his band, the Soul Searchers, played Chuck's takes on several jazz and r&b standards, including "It Don't Mean a Thing" and "Run Joe", before getting the crowd going with the call and response of "Wind Me Up Chuck" and giving some front time to Little Benny and KK, Chuck's daughter. In what seemed a matter of a few minutes, the band had played an hour and the break was upon us.

During the break, I was talking to my friend "Vern" who brought up a good question. Chuck Brown's son, Nekos, plays football at Virginia Tech and Chuck has been quoted several times as saying he never misses a home game. "Vern" wondered if Chuck dressed the same way for Tech football games as he does for everything else, fine clothing with a hat and gold sunglasses. (A Roanoke Times article about father and son is here.)

After a twenty minute break, Chuck and the band hit the stage again. He wasted no time getting the backsides shaking, running through several of his best known songs including "Woody Woodpecker" and "The Party Roll" before turning the mic over again to KK. KK rapped for several minutes before taking the band into "Chuck Baby" and it's famous call and response line "Chuck don't give a f*ck". By this time, a couple of dozen women or so from the audience had decided it was time to do some rump shaking on stage. One of them looked surprisingly like Rick James, if James wore an argyle sweater.

With the groove of "Chuck Baby" intensifying, more of the crowd headed up on stage to dance with the band. One of the dancers was an elderly white man who looked a little like Santa Claus on a cross country vacation. He had a bright red shirt on over his ample belly and was wearing an Indiana Jones style hat. As the song went on, Santa on vacation inched closer to Chuck before he finally got close enough to take off his Indiana Jones hat and place it on Chuck's head on top of Chuck's hat. Chuck's expression was one of disapproval and Santa quickly reclaimed his hat and backed away. I'll give Santa credit for one thing. At least he had the good sense not to swap hats with Chuck.

Not too long after the hat incident, Chuck called for the band to "gimme the bridge", indicating it was time for "Bustin' Loose". "Bustin' Loose" was a #1 R&B hit for Chuck in 1978 and has been his show closing number for years. The audience, including the 50 or so folks now on stage, had one last chance to shake their backsides. After a few more minutes of grooving, the band wrapped up "Bustin' Loose" and the gig.

After the show, Chuck stayed in the bar area of the Barns, greeting fans, posing for pictures and signing autographs for quite a while. One of those fans was Santa. Chuck happily posed for a picture with Santa, sending Santa on his way with a smile on his face. It's good to see, that now in his 70's, Chuck still knows how to please the crowd, on and off the stage.
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A 2007 NPR interview with Chuck Brown can be heard here. The above photo of Chuck Brown was taken by me at a 2005 benefit concert for the victims of Hurricane Katrina at the State Theater in Falls Church, Va.

So Long Cerphe

As I was heading to last night's Gourds show at the State Theater, the friend riding with me told be about the demise of D.C.'s classic rock radio station, WTGB The Globe. The station is switching formats and with that comes the end of DJ Cerphe Colwell's run at the station. I'll readily admit I didn't listen to very many of the stations Ceprhe worked at, other than WHFS back in its classic no format days. But, Cerphe not coming accross the airwaves signals yet another window to D.C.'s rich musical heritage being shut. Just the other day, I was listening to the Nighthawks' Ten Years Live CD. The album was recorded live at the Bayou in December 1982 and Cerphe made the band introduction that marks the beginning of the album. This front page article from today's Washington Post appropriately summarizes Cerphe's career here in the National Capital Area.

Music News from Elvis Costello and Bill Kirchen

A while back I got the Wolf Trap summer concert schedule in the mail. I was giving it a quick once over when one show on the schedule caught my attention, Elvis Costello and the Sugarcanes. I had of heard of the past Elvis bands the Attractions and the Imposters, but not the Sugarcanes. I read on to see the Sugarcanes featured some of the top musicians in accoustic music, including Jerry Douglas, Stuart Duncan and Mike Compton. The internet didn't provide much information on the band or a potential CD until this week. Country Standard Time ran this piece yesterday detailing the band line up and song listing. The CD Secret, Profane & Sugarcane will be released June 2nd with a summer tour to follow.

Back in February, Elvis Costello was in a London studio with Bill Kirchen. Elvis will be featured on the next Kirchen CD singing the Kirchen-Johnny Castle-Austin DeLone composition "Man at the Bottom of the Well". The song originally appeared on Kirchen's 1999 CD Raise a Ruckus with Kirchen on lead vocals. Castle played a rough mix of the new version of the song, which he played bass on, for me and some other folks after a recent Thrillbillys gig at the Sunset Grille. The cut sounded good and featured Kirchen playing a much harder sounding guitar style than what he is usually known to play. As of yet, a release date has not been set for the new Kirchen CD.

Going back to Elvis Costello's first country disc, Almost Blue, here he is singing "A Good Year for the Roses".

Happenings From the World of Music

Unfortunately, much of this entry deals with several deaths that have occurred over the past year. But, it's best good musicians not be forgotten.

Blues singer and guitarist John Cephas passed away this past Wednesday (March 4th). Cephas was one of the last purveyors of the accoustic piedmont blues. There is not a lot I can write about John Cephas that was not covered in these tributes written to Cephas in The Washington Post by Terrence McArdle, J.Freedom DuLac and Richard Harrington. I always did wish Cephas and his musical partner, harmoinca player Phil Wiggins, would have teamed up to record with Doc Watson, but I guess it won't happen now. Rest in peace John Cephas.

New Orleans music legend Snooks Eaglin died on Feb, 18th. I was lucky enough to see Snooks a few times while in New Orleans for JazzFest in the 1990s. The man always seemed to put on a good show. A lot of people would characterize Eaglin's music as the blues. But, that's not accurate. His style was just good music. He played all genres with equal skill and enthusiam and truly was one of a kind. This link is for Snooks' AP obituary, while this one details Snooks' funeral which was held at the Howlin' Wolf music club in New Orleans. Here's Snooks cooking up some red beans....


Grand Ole Opry member Ernie Ashworth died March 2nd. I realize Ashworth was far from a household name, but he was symbolic of another, very different time in country music. Ashworth's one monster hit in the early 60s, "Talk Back Trembling Lips", came at a time when a country artist could sustain a career and would not be forgotten after he/she was dropped by a record label or had a poor selling record or two. More on Ashworth's career can found in this Country Standard Time piece.

Country Standard Time also reports the master tapes of a 1990 Johnny Cash concert are up for sale on Ebay. The starting bid is $4,999.

Dave Alvin is releasing a new CD in May. The twist on this story is that he is not being supported by his normal band, the Guilty Men. Instead, Alvin brought together an all female band and named them the Guilty Women. Alvin told Country Standard Time he thought it was too soon after the death of Chris Gaffney to record again with the Guilty Men. Gaffney, who was Alvin's best friend and a member of the Guilty Men, died in the spring of last year.

Also being released in May, is Man of Someboday's Dreams - A Tribute to Chris Gaffney. Alvin and many other artists, including Joe Ely, Robbie Fulks and Alejandro Escovdo, participated in the project which will benefit the Washington, D.C. based charity Hungry For Music.

Quickies

This week's quickies post covers all sorts of items from the past week or two...

First up, Etta James railed on Beyonce for singing the James classic "At Last" way too many times since the release of Cadillac Records, the movie in which Beyonce portrayed Etta James. James also lit into the new president at the same Seattle concert where she tore into Beyonce. Read what she had to say about both Beyonce and President Obama here.

Reading about Etta speaking her mind brought back a memory of the only time I ever saw her perform in concert. One summer while I was in college, I went with some friends to see a triple bill of Etta, Lavern Baker and Ruth Brown at Wolf Trap. I was sitting in the second row toward the right side of the stage, when Etta waddled over my way. And, I do mean waddled...she was pretty big at the time. She made eye contact with me, then pulled the elastic top of her pants away from her ample body, made a motion with her hand and a facial expression that basically said "you wanna piece of this?" Ooof....

Second, Sirius XM satellite radio is surviving to broadcast another day. For better or worse, this financing deal keeps the company out of bankruptcy for a while. It also means the company is still stuck Howard Stern's contract.

Third, the Country Music Hall of Fame's class of 2009 consists of Roy Clark, Charlie McCoy and Barbara Mandrell. One of these days, I'll have a full entry on this. But for now, let me just say Roy Clark once played the honky tonks of southeast D.C. Really, there were redneck joints in southeast, I swear. Read Eddie Dean's Washington City Paper piece "A Brief History of White People in Southeast" here to learn more about it.

Finally, Merle Haggard returned to performing this month after having surgery to remove a cancerous tumor from one of his lungs late last year. Here's the Hag singing "Swinging Doors" in 1967. (Hey, I had to sneak something about drinking in this entry somewhere!)

I'm Just Drinking

There's no more fitting way to start Shedd's Spot's week long series of posts on alcohol consumption than with a classic drinking number from The Master of the Telecaster, Albert Collins. I had the good fortune, and I do really mean the good fortune, to see AC in concert several times before his death in November 1993. The man never put on a bad show.

Due to me being in the state of "I Ain't Drunk (I'm Just Drinking)" at most of those shows, the memories all seem to run together, but a couple of things about Albert's shows at the old Birchmere stand out.

First, was the evening my friend Virgil and I were waiting outside the Birchmere in line. We could hear AC wailing away inside while he was finishing his sound check. As soon as he finished the sound check, he came out the side door wearing an engineer's cap. He went all the way down the line shaking everyone's hand and thanking them for coming to the show before heading back to his bus.

Second, was the show legendary Washington blues DJ The Bama was in attendance. It was near the end for The Bama and he was in a wheel chair and covered by a blanket, sitting by the front door of the Birchmere. During the first song of the encore, Albert did his usual walk around the audience while playing, aided by his few hundred feet long guitar cord (he never used a wireless transmitter). When he got to where The Bama was sitting, Albert stopped and played just to The Bama for little while. I can still remember the look of joy on The Bama's face as AC was playing for him.

I'll save the rest of my Albert Collins memories for another post. But for now, let the drinking begin.....