I don't usually speak poorly of any musician in these pages. I really appreciate that they are up there and playing. But, I feel like I need to make a little bit of a special exception in this case. Because Friday night at the Kingston Mines, 2548 North Halsted in Chicago, was a night of balance. On one side good, on the other, not so good. I am going to caveat it, people have off nights, not everyone likes the same thing etc. But, I also feel like I always try to write with the movie, Almost Famous, credo of "honest, and unmerciful. " I really feel like the Kingston stage deserved better.
The Kingston Mines is actually two bars that have now been combined into one, via a doorway between them. With two bars, the north and the south, and therefore two stages, the bar is able to alternate stages and offer continuous music. I suppose the Mines is now the pinnacle stage in Chicago, at least as far as the genuine article blues bar is concerned. Sure, there is The House of Blues, but that's just a couple of movie stars' side project. And, since the Checkerboard Club has now moved into a neighborhood where one would actually have to look to find trouble, it has lost it's authenticity. And, though there are many smaller blues bars, the odds of fantastic music experience is a bit more spotty. This really just leaves KIngston Mines. And, even the Mines has changed. Chicago bars are smoke free, and the fire escape pathway nazi's are ever vigilant.
The Vance Kelly band was at the end of it's first set when I walked in. Their set seemed to be of the lighter blues variety. I don't think it was until their second set that I really began to enjoy them. The second set brought us a rocking blues version of the Commodores Brick House, Shout by the Isley Brothers (though you might know this song better as performed by the fictional band Otis Day and the Knights in Animal House), and my musical high point, a fantastic blues number Night and Day. With wonderful vocals and guitar solos and also containing a ripping sax solo by Ayako. There was also a nice version of Just my Imagination. Really, I was very happy with every song Vance Kelly performed. So, picking favorites is really just splitting hairs.
 Everyone who reads me regularly knows my love of blues and my aversion to jazz. And, many times, for me, that line gets drawn between the strings and the brass. If I walk into a bar and see brass instruments, mixed in with the guitars, I know my likelihood of having an outstanding experience is greatly reduced. Particularly horns. Trumpets belong in marching bands. But I had never had a truly outstanding sax experience before Friday night. That wait is now over. Vance Kelly's band has two sax players at alto and tenor.
Looking at the band, it's one of those "what's wrong with this picture" moments. Five old grizzled black men, one worse for wear white guy on the bongos, and a young fresh japanese woman on sax. Huh? Wait a second, what was that last? I knew the second I saw her, that for her to have earned the right to stand on that stage, she was going to be something special. I was not disappointed. It was the most amazing sax performance I have ever seen. Sure, there can be that inherent sadness a sax brings to the music. Played slow and mournful, a saxiphone draws you into the sadness of the blues. What I had not ever seen live before, was where a young, ultra skilled, ultra confident sax player, without age slowing their fingers and mind could display the high peaks of joy, which is also part of the blues. Not to mention the showmanship of being able to contort, hop and stand on one foot while playing. ...A sax player equivalent to a guitar player's "pulling face" I was stunned. I have never complimented the sax player in a band before, but I pretty much rushed her as soon as the set was over and she stepped off stage. Ayako, you deserve it. You were great! Outstanding! Amazing! The two solos you did in the second set were mind openers for me and I thank you!
 Now, I said at the beginning it wasn't a perfect night, and it wasn't. I have a couple of complaints. Joanna Connor, who was the band on the north stage, was quite a disappointment. Now don't judge it fully by me. I saw her one night, and on one stage. And, everyone has off nights. Nights were you can't pull a note to save your ass. And, it could be Joanna was having one of those. She seemed tired, which immediately bled off onto the audience. The crowd was lackluster and dragging. Vocally, she seemed weak and her guitar timing just wasn't quite there. Her musical selection was good, if she would have been pulling it off. Stevie Ray Vaughn, Cold Shot. The song Ophelia, for all the hippies in the audience. A few random blues numbers, all good tunes, but just not really quite *there*.
I don't really know any of these musicians. I don't know if there is a lot of friendliness or animosity between bands or not. So I don't know if things like this happen and nobody even thinks about it or not. But, what I felt was a bit of a tweak, was when Vance Kelly played "Hey Joe" at the end of his second set. He played it extreamly well. The vocals were assured and strong, the guitars had depth and punch. Just an hour before in Joanna Connor's first set she had played it, not so well. So had Vance heard it and wanted to show her up? Or was it just next on his playlist and so a coincidence? I don't know.
 And, my other complaint directed at the bar itself; I realize there is a desire to be safe. But it gets to be more and more of a pain in the ass to even visit Kingston Mines. Don't stand here, don't stand there, I was told no less than three times to move to different places. How the fuck am I supposed to know where I can stand and where I can't? The rational is fire codes and open paths to the exits. Now they have a policy that you can't stand on the dance floor in front of the stage. You have to be dancing to be on the dance floor. Standers block the view from the tables where people are sitting and buying drinks. Years ago when they first started to require crowd control they had some lines painted on the floor. Now that seems to be too much trouble for the owners and so they resort to hiring gorillas as enforcers. Maybe it is more safe. It is less fun. A competing bar, B.L.U.E.S. is just down the street. Personally I am going to begin to check the schedule there before I even walk into the Kingston Mines.
I did get Aimee a t-shirt from Kingston Mines. They are cool. If you see her, don't tell her. Don't worry about the surprise getting out, she never reads my stuff. :-)
So, my final evaluation of the night. Vance Kelly is totally worth seeing. And, if you see a beautiful japanese sax player move from the back of the stage to the front, stop talking, don't take a bathroom break, because it is time to be amazed.
I would be skeptical of going to see Joanna Connor anywhere I had to pay cover to get into. She might be worth it or she might not. If anyone sees her in the future and she does great, please leave comments below here.
And, if you can find some music someplace other than the Kingston Mines, you might have more fun.
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