I tipped the 35 foot ladder up against the house, and pulled the cord to extend it, stopping just a rung short of all the way up.  I looked down at the paint brush and paint can at my feet, and then back up the length of that long ladder.   Up at the very top of the ladder, the eaves still needed another coat of paint.  I hate painting over the top of my head when my feet are planted firmly on the ground.  Being thirty two feet in the air is not going to improve things.  Then, I looked out at the street and said, no, its just too nice of a day.  Fifteen minutes later the wife was planted on the back of the Harley as we rolled through the cool air on the way to River Bend Vineyard where Jeff White was playing solo.  The day was looking up.

River Bend Vineyards has made Sunday afternoon music a regular thing there in their backyard.  Exiting off the sales floor to the west, there is a sunny deck with an arbor over the top of it.  The arbor is of nice design, somewhat surprisingly, given the venue, it had no grapes growing over it.  I suppose when you grow grapes for wine, it is tough to see them as functional decor.  Too bad.  Sunday was a hot day and on the west side of the building with the sun beating down, the shade of grape leaves would have been idyllic.  As it was, it was rather hot and sterile.  Still though, looking out on the grape fields, the green grass, with live music and a glass of wine in my hand, life was good.

Jeff White plays at the Sunday Concert Series at River Bend Winery. Aug 2010

I had never heard Jeff play solo.  Last year though, the best local live show I saw all year was Jeff playing lead in a band called The Old Fashioneds.  A great show!  And, perhaps never to be repeated because drummer for the band, Bill Hamilton has moved to Arizona.  Solo, Jeff played a similar type of music.  Sort of country, or cross-over folk music but with a decidedly old style country twang to it.

Jeff is a great ballad singer.  I think that is where his real strength lies.  He has a voice of a story teller.  His acoustic guitar playing is quite nice.  He is able to pluck very complex rhythms, seemingly flawlessly.   And so musically it was very enjoyable.

The music was great, but I have to say the real winner of the day was the River Bend wines.  I was really impressed with how much better they were since the last time I tried them a couple of years ago.  Back then their wines were mostly sweet.  The only red wine they had was what they label as "Magenta", which is a lite-sweet wine.  Now though they have a full selection.  I thought their River Bend Blend was excellent!  It is a wine made by mixing the local grapes with a California Zin and I found it to be dry, and very flavorful.  I bought a couple of bottles.  All that would fit in my empty saddlebag.

It was a good day.  The ladder was waiting for me when I got back home.  I did get a couple hours of house painting done before the bugs came out.   But the afternoon break made it all worth climbing up that ladder.  I recommend the whole River Bend Experience quite highly, even if you aren't escaping from what you should be doing!  And, I also suggest you see Jeff White play his solo act.  He has a great voice and above average guitar skills for your typical local folk singer.

The video clips don't have the best sound.  I think it was distance that had the camera picking up lots of extra noise.   In addition, the distance was really good at showing off my camera shake.  I wish the music was a little closer to the people.

	The song A Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress as performed by Jeff White (with a cameo by the MRS.)
	Jeff White plays us a little Bob Dylan as requested.

Hits: 596

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

Write comment

Name

Email

Website

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

I have read and agree to the Terms of Usage.

Add Comment