Guest Book

So yesterday I got up, ready to enjoy a day off and do some serious chillin', maybe go to a movie, take an afternoon nap, some of that old timer kind of stuff. I checked my e-mail and saw one that I had saved about the Derek Trucks Band playing in Columbus that night. I thought to myself, "Self, don't you know someone in Columbus?" Then it hit me, duh, of course! My Peach To Beach buddies Dan and Chris were in fact Columbusites. Score! I called Dan, and he and Chris were all over going to the show. Had many cold ones on hand, and had baked some cookies, too. "And these aren't your grandmother's cookies," Dan told me. Triple letter score!! :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: So one thing led to another, badda boom badda bing, and I was headin' up I-71 at a high rate of speed--and getting pretty darn excited, too! According to mapquest.com, Columbus is 211 miles from Louisville. Not too bad, but not exactly right around the corner. Got there and found the guys ready for action so we commenced to tuning up in a big way for an hour or so. As an added bonus, the venue was only about five minutes away, a straight shot down...no kidding...High Street. Nice little room, much smaller than Southgate House in Newport last week, and definitely more intimate. Caught two or three songs of the openers the Zelinski Band, not too bad at all. The dTb hit the stage around 10:45 or so with the percussionist from Ekoostik Hookah sitting in, and they gracefully eased into "Rastaman Chant." It was about this time that we happened to notice a 40-something sister totally cuttin' a rug and groovin' to the side of the stage, looking quite stylish in her shiny black leather pants and matching stovepipe hat. More on her shortly. The percussionist stayed out for the first few songs, and really added a lot, I thought. I completely dig the arrangement of "Goin' Down Slow" that the band is doing, and I can't wait to hear them start to tweak it a bit as they go along. Another epic version of "Pedro", with Yonrico and Johnny (the Hookah guy) really getting off during the drum segment at the end. Rather than building the intensity with each tradeoff, the two of them started to get more and more subtle with their chops. The band brought it down, a little more each time. At one point when it was Yonrico's turn, he just stood up and rapped his sticks together. When it came back to him next, he treated the crowd to a moment of what could best be described as beat boxing, if I remember my hip hop lingo correctly. It was pretty wild. A totally smokin' show up to this point, and then the percussionist left the stage and things got really over the top. Derek played the first sweet notes of "Gonna Move", and the asses really started to shake. I simply LOVE that song! Makes me feel good all over. Next, Mike left the stage, and Yonrico stood up and introduced his sister Rhonda, in from Detroit for the gig. Oh, okay! The same woman we had seen movin' and groovin' over to the side of the stage. She took up her position, the band all exchanged big ol' grins, and then glided through a "Stormy Monday" that will have to be heard to be believed. Man!! Rhonda was really belting it out, and the crowd was responding to her in a big way. At the moment the song ended, Kofi jumped out from behind his keyboards and rushed to the center of the stage and threw his arms about Ms. Scott. Quite a moment! Next came a new song that the band has apparently just started playing, a first for me, called "The Making Of You." An old Curtis Mayfield balad, I later found out. Really nice, a good chance for Mike to show his stuff. A little on the lounge jazzy side for me, but I'm sure it will grow on me. The obligatory "Joyful Noise" was another rollicking thrill ride. At the Newport show the previous week, I had nearly fallen down from dancing so hard during the super uptempo gospelish parts of the song on two different occasions. Only swift, heads-up action from my friend dancing next to me kept me from hitting the deck. So last night I took it easy a little bit, tried to just stand and watch. Sure enough, saw a couple of other people almost fall down! :boomerang: The set closer was "Afro Blue", and as someone pointed out recently, the band is really doing some wonderful things with that song. It bore little resemblance to the one I saw last month in Indy, which bore little resemblance to the one I heard on July 4th in Nashville, and so on and so fourth. My favorite moment of the evening came during this tune when I opened my eyes and stopped twirling long enough to see that Derek had walked over towards Kofi's side of the stage, so that he was standing right next to Todd. All three of them had their eyes closed, and they were just jamming away. And then I looked back at Yonrico, and he was driving the bus, watching the rest of the band. Not with his usual eyes open wide, mouth agape hot dog look, but instead with a furrowed brow and a rather intense look on his face, hunched over the drums somewhat, sticks moving so fast I couldn't even see them. Just amazing. If I could have one image of the band frozen in time and framed above my desk, that would be it. Totally awesome!! I was pretty much toast after that, but the "Feel So Bad" encore was fun neverthless, the Hookah percussionist as well as the guitarist came out, and it all worked quite well. Overall, just a phenomenal show, everyone looked and sounded great. Another bangup job by Joe and Marty making sure everything was just right, I might add. Probably the most enthusiastic crowd that I've seen at a Derek show, which was great to see. I woud guess that it was mostly comprised of Ohio State students, as Little Brother's was right on the edge of campus. And yes, there were two or three tapers there, so I imagine this one will make it around soon enough--get it when it does, trust me on this one. I noticed one of them wearing an Allmans shirt and thanked him for all of his hard work, but I stopped short of giving him my e-mail address and groveling, as I figure those guys get enough of that already. Shoot, man, what else could I ask for? The band just keeps on amazing me. Can't wait for more! Bravo, guys, braaaah-VOH!!! 😀