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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| Layne Yost at James Sheeley House |
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| Written by John Abbott | |||
| Saturday, 29 January 2011 23:15 | |||
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It was a rare weekday school night out this Thursday night. We put the 12 year old in charge, until the 20 year old got home at 9:30 and we were out for a night on the town. This weekend The Wife is going to be gone with number two son to cub scout winter camp. So, before she rolled out of town, we decided to get a night out. We headed for The James Sheeley House where Layne Yost was playing his acoustic guitar. Layne puts on a good show, has a sweet voice. The whole night made for an excellent send-off! I have to say though. It was a quiet night at the Sheeley. Only five of us patrons were left for the final set. I am surprised! Where are all those non-smokers who pledged to be flooding the bars? Were they all perhaps snug in their beds at 9:30? Or were they settled down in front of their wide screen televisions, as they are every other night? Too bad for them. They missed some great music.
Layne sings a light, airy three set show the last Thursday of every month at the Sheeley. His voice, very much like John Denver. Not a huge amount of depth there, but quite enjoyable. Within his limitations, he performs a really nice set of music. He even plays some John Denver, Back Home Again, Rocky Mountain High some of it kind of upbeat compared to the Denver versions. Sounding like John Denver seems to be something he is comfortable with. He describes himself just before launching into R.M.H as John Denver and Bobby McFerrin's love child.
Other music, a struggling version of Lee Greenwood's God Bless the USA, a tough song and Layne didn't quite have the range to pull it off. It wasn't terrible, but it was on the low end of his bell curve. Much better were Gary Puckett & Union Gap's Over You, Greg Kihn's Breakup Song, Neil Young's Sugar Mountain and Cliff Eberhardt's Your Face. My favorite of the night though, Leonard Cohen's song Hallelujah. Outstanding!
Layne Yost and his acoustic guitar on stage at The James Sheeley House January 2011
This is the second time I have caught Layne at the Sheeley. The first might have been a month ago at his last show there. Or, maybe it was the month before. Recently anyway. It was a good show then too. Bigger crowd in the bar, the music was a touch rowdier, just like the crowd. I remember David Alan Coe's Perfect Country and Western Song quite fondly.
Really I have only one objection from the whole night, and it doesn't even involved Layne. And I happy to report it didn't involve the Sheeley House either. Where we first sat, the woman at the table behind us thought she was there for a sing along or something. Now don't get me wrong. I don't mean to be one to stomp out anyone's musical fire. But, I figure it this way. Go home. Practice. Eventually you get to be in the front of the room holding the microphone. I will be happy to see you there. I really will.
It doesn't even have to be for the whole night. There are lots of musicians who get an audience member to come up and sing a song. Fantastic! A few years ago, one of those very situations was my musical highpoint of the year. A woman walked up on stage and sang a Four Non Blonde's song that was a jaw dropping, "holy shit" moment. But, if you are sitting at your table, swilling your wine, Shut The F* UP! This woman behind us was singing, at times, louder than Lanye and she didn't even have a mic! I will even grant you, I suppose, if it is your one, all time favorite song of your entire life, OK. Sing that song from your chair. But not every single song the way this woman did. At the set break we moved as far away from her as we could get and still be in the same bar. My video has crappy sound. And, you can STILL hear her.
As it turned out, musical small world that it is, Layne had at one point played with Freak & Geek family friend, Doug Weidenbach down in Lacrosse. They were in a bagpipe band together that played around the states. Aye, but I'm thinking' thar might'a been some stories thar. Bagpipe bands hit it hard, maybe only second only to heavy metal bands.
I bought some new hardware this past week. I made my way down to Brickhouse Music in Eau Claire where I bought what reviewers claim to be the perfect camera for Freak & Geek use. A new Zoom Q3HD video camera. It can do 1080p video, it has stereo mics. Really, once I learn how to use the damned thing, its going to be great. Sadly, though I shot a dozen clips of Layne on Thursday night but I could only sort of salvage one. …I will try to actually read the book this time before I go to an event.
I almost never plug upcoming shows here. I don't really want to turn this space into that sort of thing. But, for this, I am going to make a special exception. Left Wing Bourbon is coming to Chippewa Falls. Friday night, February 24th. Music starts about 9:30. I promise an amazing show. I call them the reigning, Best blues band in the Chippewa Valley. I am looking forward to it. Hope to see you there.
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| Last Updated on Sunday, 03 April 2011 18:01 |
