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 | |||
| Thursday, 03 December 2009 16:55 | |||
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The band, Mojo Lemon, Volume One reports to be the Best Blues Band in the Chippewa Valley. For my part, I would have to agree. Strictly speaking, a real blues aficionado wouldn't consider most of what the band plays as blues. I, on the other hand, am willing to color outside of the lines where blues is concerned. They are having fun on stage. The music selection is great. I am having fun listening. It was a great night to be at the Snout Saloon. The bar was full. I knew it before I hit the door. Central street was fully parked and the lot across the street nearly so. So no surprise when there was a wall of people just inside the door. The band was playing, and good times were being had by all. We were arriving late, having caught another show earlier in the night, Brian Bethke at the Acoustic Cafe. Naturally the band went out on break at the end of the song they were playing. My timing has always been lucky this way. Mojo Lemon plays a variety of rock songs that have been blues'd up. Also, some blues in the Stevie Ray Vaughn style of Hendrix, and a few straight up blues songs. Currently they are just playing as a three piece, Josh Entzminger on guitar, Terry Demars on bass and Big Jay Introwitz on drums. Not to slight band keyboard player Willie Chopper but, I like the band quite a lot as a three piece. Adobe Flash Player not installed or older than 8.0.22!  I do wonder some about the band long term. Josh is just three months away from college graduation. When he will have a shinny new computer science diploma in his hands. What then? I am hoping for local employment, but as I know, us IT people have a rather Suttonesc attitude toward employment. I became a fan of this band during the time when it was being called Mojo Terry. And though I enjoyed them then as well, for what they were, but lets face it, they wouldn't have been Volume One's BBB. Something that made the night special, we ran into friends we hadn't seen out and about for a long time, Mike and Barb. Bringing balance to the smoking/anti-smoking argument, they both said to me at various points, "i can't wait until July". I think that is a great thing to hear. Understand, I am a non-smoker myself. I don't like coming home smelling like smoke any more than the rest of the non-smokers out there. But, I am willing to trade some stinky clothes for barroom solvency. I have been worried about what is going to happen in these small bars. Wondering if they will be able to stage the kind of music they do, once the ban is in place. Will attendance really be smaller? It is in Minnesota. Bars are having trouble there. But Wisconsin is different than Minnesota. We moved to Chippewa Falls from there. And, lemme tell you, just between you and me, the drinking culture is a *little* different here. We lived in Northfield Minnesota. A small town, roughly the size of Chippewa Falls. In that town they have two bars. ..they struggle. Well, here in Chippewa, we have, <ahem> more than two bars and most nights (and some mornings) it is hard to find an empty stool. So there we are, hanging out with Barb and Mike and they have two of their college age daughters with them. We are all happy, but the girls are always looking for the next best thing. They want us to all bounce over to the James Sheeley House, where there is live music also. Now I don't frequent the Sheeley House. You see back a few years ago, we had just moved to town a few months before. Talking to a guy who was doing some furnace work for us, he said, "You like music, you need to get down to the Sheeley and see Howard Ludtke". Advice I decided to take. We went, the wife and I. Loved it! And from that point on we were fairly regulars there on music nights for about six months. In fact, one night we met Barb for the first time. But then one night, while listening to Howard the owner of the place came up to my wife, mother of three children and asked for her ID. When she didn't have it, he kicked us out. We walked up the street and into the Snout Saloon for the very first time. It was amazing the difference. The second time we walked in we were treated like long lost family. I take offense at something like this. And, my offense doesn't die easily. It isn't about underage drinking. Which I'm not trying to condone. It's not even so much about being a better judge if someone is underage. Its a matter of knowing your customers. I like to go places where I am known and my money is appreciated. Five years later my shadow has not again darkened the Sheely House door. My opinions are well known. But the girls held sway, and eventually the whole gang was wanting to bar hop. So here I was. In the position of either being the stick in the mud for not going, or tag along and bend. I'm easy to get along with. A short time later we were walking in the back door to the Sheeley house. In the front, the band Lucus K and The Cool Hand Saints were playing. A new band to the area, they have a bluesy, electronic sound. Totally, totally want to see them again. Electric violin right up front! Very yummy. I love the addition of that sound in a band. To have one on lead, sounded fantastic. The only trouble was, it only sounded fantastic for about half a song. You see, I had walked in right before the break. Unbelievable, I thought. You see about my luck? Two times in one night do we walk in for the last half of a song before band break. But then, discovered troubles were deeper than that. One of the girls didn't have her ID and we were being bounced back out to the street! Ah well. My smile was wide on the way back to the Snout.
Mojo Lemon's schedule is on their web site at: http://mojolemon.com/ Hits: 835 Comments (2)Subscribe to this comment's feed...
Thanks for all the continued support John. We always look forward to talking with you at our Snout shows.
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December 07, 2009
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I too can't wait until July. Our oldest daughter graduated from UW Madison, where they went smokeless within the city limits. The bars all complained about it at first, but, as it turned out, their clientele remained the same or even increased. So, I don't see it as an issue, albeit, I'm not a (cigarette) smoker.
I haven't seen Mojo Lemon for quite a while. I definitely enjoyed them very much when we had.
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December 09, 2009
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