No man is so foolish but he may sometimes give another good counsel, and no man so wise that he may not easily err if he takes no other counsel than his own. He that is taught only by himself has a fool for a master. ~Hunter S. Thompson
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| Mojo Lemon at the Snout Saloon |
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| Written by John Abbott | |||
| Tuesday, 13 October 2009 20:15 | |||
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The music season has begun at the Snout Saloon, Chippewa Falls local blues hangout. It was a great kickoff too, with a pared down version of Volume One's 2009 winner of the category, "Chippewa Valley's Best Blues Band", Mojo Lemon. The band was just a three piece, because their keyboard player Willie Chopper, had a different gig. The missing person didn't reduce the output however, the band sounded great!
This will be the final music season for legal bar room smoking. It is hard to say if next year is going to be able to be the same. With general economic woes, crowds at the Snout Saloon have been smaller this past year than usual. When next year comes and a law takes effect that angers 90% of your cliental, will they really turn out to the same degree? Will they spend as much on drinks if they have to stand outside in twenty below wind chills when the monkey calls? Bar profits will be down for certain, and I am worried live entertainment might get cut.
I don't mean this to be an anti Willie Chopper comment, but I have to say I really liked the band sans Willie. As a three piece, the band was just different somehow. Tighter, rockier, bluesier. I liked them a lot this way. It could be the craving for something different. It could very well be that were they normally a three piece and they had a guest keyboard player, I would be raving about how they need to sign this Chopper guy up.
It was also fun to be back at the Snout, seeing the mixed bag of fans, drunks, losers, druggies and weirdos we like to call friends.
Musical highpoints, in the first set, a couple of B.B. King songs, _The Thrill is Gone_ and, _If you ever been mistreated_. Both were fantastic renditions. Mojo Lemon does the blues songs you know, but puts a bit of a rock and roll spin on them. And the solos…. incendiary.
In the second set, there was an amazing blues solo in _The Sky is Crying_. Slow and quiet, it was one of those real artful solos, where, even in the Snout, you could nearly hear a pin drop. When you can get the Snout patrons to shut up for a minute, you know something big is happening. Also in the second set, a dedication, and perhaps the only request played of the evening, "Mojo" Terry Demars played _Folsum Prison Blues_ for his mother, who was sitting at the bar. As anyone who reads these pages often, knows, I am many times not a fan of style altered Johnny Cash songs. I guess I am a Johnny Cash purist, or not at all. But, Mojo Lemon did a great job on this song. Bass player, Demars, has a voice which can appeal to my Cash puritanism, while the band was free to have fun.
It was a great night at the Snout! Hits: 345 Comments (2)Subscribe to this comment's feed...
Thanks again, John to you and your lovely wife for coming out to see us, and for the kind words. It's nice to know someone else shares a passion for what we do. We love the Snout. I think I'm always nervous to play there, which seems odd but it's just one of those things. You make it comfortable.
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October 24, 2009
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| Last Updated on Thursday, 15 October 2009 14:49 |
