It was a good sized crowd at the Mousetrap in Eau Claire Wisconsin for the band of the night, Left Wing Bourbon. By the second set, the dance floor was usually filled with people rocking' out. The fan base, or, at least the fan base of the night, had a decidedly bohemian look. The fans seem to know the music well, a sign the band provides consistent goodness. Left Wing Bourbon puts on a fun party, and it was a good night to be at the Mousetrap.

Left Wing Bourbon bills itself as five people who like to get funky. Their music is mostly bluesy covers. But, everything they play has an element of funk thrown in. I mean really, would you ever imagine hearing a regular blues band, singing backup vocals of "uga-chucka, uga-chucka…"? The voice of lead singer Faith Ulwelling was nothing short of amazing. Her vocal range, clarity and tone were perfect. She was 100% spot on key. It was really breathtaking. To me, she was Aretha Franklin incarnate.

Instrumentally, the band was pretty solid. Jason Keisler on lead guitar played well. The guitar solos were fairly complex and of good length. Jacob Ulwelling on bass did great. He had some good bass solos that were kind of fun. Another bass solo with a phaser effects pedal of some type, was maybe a bit over the top, but it wasn't too long or too bad. There were a few bobbles back on the drums. Easy to overlook really, except for the amusing fact that drummer, Derrick Biederman, would grimace when he would miss a beat. It was nothing too bad, and good for a chuckle when it did happen. Overall the band was very professional and practiced and when something unexpected would happen, everyone just rolled right over it and the show rocked on.

The bar got a special treat during the third set. Bill Hamilton and Levi Felling from the band Little Willie, stopped in. The pair had been playing an acoustic set at the Hay Market Grill. They got pulled up on stage with the band for a couple of songs. I am not really a Little Willie fan. I tasted jazz (and I am predisposed) in their music, the one night I heard them. I should really hear them again. It could have just been their setlist that night, it could have been I was having a bad night. At any rate, Bill Hamilton is a great guitar player, you might also know him from Excellent Adventure.

By total coincidence, Underdog Radio, out of Osseo Wisconsin, did it's show this week, and the front half of the show was all about Left Wing Bourbon. A great chance to hear more of their music. You can even have an "Uga Chucka" moment listening to one of their songs on the show. Archives of the Underdog Radio shows are hosted here on this web site, so you can easily give it a listen by clicking on the Podcasts menu up at the top of this page and choosing Episode 9.

Musical highpoint for me was the Rolling Stones song Honky Tonk Woman. Faith really let it all out for this song and it was really outstanding. Better than the original in many ways and being performed right there in front of me. But there were several other songs deserving notable mention. Chain of Fools was good, blues'd up and soulful. Instrumentally, Proud Mary was a lot of fun with it's well known riffs everyone can humm along to. It is tough to pick highpoints in a show like this though, I wasn't unhappy with any of it.

On a side note, un-musically related, I bought a new computer this week. Due to the warehouse on wheels situation of most computer makers these days, the mouse for my computer shipped from California last Tuesday, but the computer itself didn't ship from Texas until Thursday. So, on Friday, I had the mouse. I still have no computer as of Tuesday AM. Sigh. But that all aside, this mouse, the Apple Magic Mouse, is fantastic! Wireless, using Bluetooth, it is touch sensitive. I can just run my finger up or down on the surface of the mouse and the document scrolls. Swipe two fingers across it to the left and it is like hitting the back button on the browser. Easily the best pointing device I have ever owned. I feel like I am using it about 18 hours a day right now, finishing up a project. The computer arrival is going to be anticlimactic after this.

St. Paul, Excel Center has announced Lady Gaga's Monster Tour for August 30th 2010. I totally wanna go, just for the spectacle of it. No word on ticket prices, I am sure they won't be cheap.

Final word on the night at the Mousetrap, Left Wing Bourbon, they should be on your must see list. I am already looking forward to sometime when I can see them again.

They are on MySpace at: http://www.myspace.com/leftwingbourbon and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1570546395

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