5/31 What a wonderful surprise the Double Shot band gave us. This is a new band, made up of really good musicians who hadn't played much together, and none of us really knew what to expect. The band is composed of John Lott, Julie Lindsey, Martin Mann on bass, Bill Warren on drums and Zach, a young hot guitar picker. Julie did most all the vocals, which surprised me as normally she and John evenly share the venue. Julie is a great songwriter, but in the past she had been shy with her vocals and even the mike had trouble picking her up and she used to get very nervous and it showed. But what a transformation! Tonight it was a different Julie, confident, energetic, great stage presence, belting out her songs, talking between sets and really feeling the music from the band which at times had her jumping around on stage like a rock star. It was great, she has a really nice voice and she put her personality into every song. Many of the songs they performed she had written and I had heard her perform them in the past, but with John's country rock band backing her up, and they were really good, the songs sounded brand new. It was an incredible performance, one that could have played anyplace. The band was led by John's hard driving guitar in his very unique style which set the mood for the band and for Julie. His guitar sound made this band really special and then add Julie's wonderful vocals on top, and it was an impressive and enjoyable evening.

She started off with What I Know and went into Fireflies, a really good song for her. Then John sang his Cowboy Song, which I really like, and after six more neat songs they ended the set with a Julie original, maybe the best song of the night, Coffee Monkey. I had never heard that one before, it could be the anthem of our store. The second set started with Feelers, many of Julies songs are very introspective and emotional and deal with unfulfilled or maybe even disfunctional relationships as you can tell by the titles: the next two were Nobody Knows and Hurt Me. Then she sang Desert Song which she wrote for Kevin's girlfriend, Kevin being a customer from Utah who hung around the coffee house for six months I guess, 2-3 years ago. We all got to know and like him and Julie wrote that song for him. Zach played an instrumental called Groove, that boy can play. It was a great night. I hope they will come back, but I think they will be able to get all the paying gigs they want.

5/30 Karaoke on Friday night was another huge success. We had a good house, most got up to sing and it was a lot of fun. We had new singers and the old regulars. If it was just the same folks singing the same old songs, I probably would have problems keeping it going. But it has not been that way so far and this was our fourth karaoke evening. I'm not a karaoke guy, but I even got up and sang the old Lefty Frizzel song "If You Got The Money Honey I Got The Time" (nobody took me up on it). Josh sang a couple of songs, one a duet with Chris Holland "New York, New York" probably the last song you would expect to hear here. Even Steve Bluestein sang two songs, one was "House of the Rising Sun". As I said it was a lot of fun. Next month, due to a conflict, we will have it on the third Friday instead of the fourth.

5/29/08 The Inlaws put on a great concert last Saturday night. The group consisted of Josh Brooks and his sister in law Courtney Brooks and Josh's dad Len Brooks. Josh and Courtney started the evening with my favorite song they do, to me perhaps their strongest, "Please Come to Boston". I love their harmonies and Josh's improvisations at the end "please come to Berkeley Bob's...please put some money in the tip jar" a nice touch of humor. Josh's stage presence was the best I have ever seen, he was relaxed and was able to turn glitches into opportunities for humor, such as when they started in the wrong key several times. Courtney doesn't really take part in the rapport, she just blends her strong harmonies into Josh's lead and it is very effective. She did play several songs with her guitar which were nice. They next did several of Josh's neat originals "One More Good Moment" and Maybes" then some covers "Starfish and Coffee" with audience participation and "Be My Yoko Ono" which he dedicated to Erin.

Len joined them for a few oldies with his electric which he played lead on- pretty good stuff. "Crazy" with Courtney, "Amie" and old favorite of mine, "Seven Bridges Road", a Surfin' Melody with old Beach Boys tunes and some others. After some other originals such as Josh's new "The Old Yellow Door" about meeting Erin at the old store and, "Ektusis" Josh started his protest set. He did some of his beat poetry, really great, hard hitting stuff, including "A Gospel Full of Prosperity" and "Apathetic Activists of America" and then some of his original protest songs including "Flag of the Losers". They closed with Beautiful World" and transitioned into the great Louie armstrong song What a Wonderful World". I was a really good show, a good mix of singer songwriter originals, protest, Christian, and a cross section of good covers.

5/24/08 I thought yesterday's blog would be my last foray into politics for a while, but not so. I read an editorial in the Birmingham News by columnist David Browder yesterday that I just had to comment on. His column was on Ted Kennedy's diagnosis this week with terminal brain cancer something he called a catastrophe for the nation. I beg to disagree. I was a great Kennedy fan in the late 50's and 60's. I pulled for JKF in the 1960 presidential election, I ticked off my girlfriend at the time because I watched the Kennedy Nixon debate rather than see a Clark Gable Marylin Monroe movie that was playing in San Francisco that she wanted to see, and I remember exactly where I was when he was shot. I supported the war in Viet Nam early on because of a speech given by JFK about it in the early 60's where he talked about the domino effect (that was his term)and communist expansion. I changed my mind later, he was wrong. I never really knew Bobby Kennedy, he was way overshadowed by his older brother, but was saddened by his death also. However I never had any feelings for Teddy, from day one he was different, not charismatic, not as personable or seemingly as intelligent, too hedonistic, a spoiled Ivy League boy to my way of looking at it. And Chappaquitic (?) just cemented this opinion in my mind. To me he was always about form and not substance and it showed in the politics he supported. To me all of the things he advocated, eradication of poverty, welfare, social security, medicare, women's rights, unions, etc. were done to cement his popularity by gaining constituents. Very little of these "reforms" ever worked, they have failed: there is still poverty, women are still not equal, unions still are corrupt, welfare is an entitlement not a bridge and the social security and medicare systems are about to collapse. He spent (wasted may be a better word) a lot of our money on programs that never could succeed because they were not well conceived or managed well (many were never managed at all)and were scammed easily and ended up lining the pockets of politicians and their cronies through the gigantic bureaucracy that became part and parcel of these programs. I am a fiscal conservative and a social liberal, I would like to see the things he claimed to advocate work, but what good are great sounding programs that don't work, especially when they don't work because of inattention or just poor planning. Teddy K was to me the leader of that group of so called liberals that talked a great game but in the long run never really delivered and ended up leaving a legacy of debt that our children will be hard pressed to pay off. I'm sorry he is sick it is a personal tragedy but certainly not a national catastrophe.

5/23/08 "Give 'em the gate in '08" is still my mantra for this year's election cycle. In other times they would have said "Throw the bums out!" Either way I feel we, the people, need to begin to take charge of our government again and take it away from the special interest groups and large corporations. Look at the Alabama State Legislature (I even hate to capitalize it) this year. They couldn't even pass an education budget to fund our schools and now teachers will have to be laid off all over the state. That is not only disappointing, but it is stupid. How can you not fund education? If anything should be bipartisan it should be the future of children. And the reason they failed was the influence (or is it the money) of special interests, even of all things education lobbies, who all greedily wanted a bigger piece of the pie and to hell with the common good. And our legislators listen to this garbage and don't vote for what is best for all the people. The biggest part of the legislative session was tied up in a filibuster because someone couldn't get their way and wouldn't compromise for the common good. Politics is supposed to be the art of compromise for the common good, not holding out for what you want which flies in the face of the common good. Because of special interest pressures in the rarefied atmosphere of the legislature it is probably hard for our legislators to even define what the common good is. How sick is that. They should be listening to us and acting on our behalf, and not be so paralysed by special interest that they can't do anything. "Give 'em the gate in '08" means vote them all out, the good, the bad and the ugly. All of them. Then in 2 or 4 years vote them all out again. Maybe, maybe, maybe, then they would learn who they are supposed to work for. Politics should not be a career, we need a continuous supply of fresh, in tune, idealistic, or even pragmatically realistic folks coming into positions of power replacing those who become too entrenched and find the deep pockets of special interest groups comforting and purposely stall legislation designed to foster the common good to appease their greedy buddies and supporters. Time limits is another way.

I don't even want to talk about our national leaders who do the same things with much more enormously disasterous consequences and then try to appease us with fluff. They have mismanaged our economy for decades and do not want to be held responsible for the recession and impending financial implosion this country faces. They let the financial institutions determine how to loan money without any oversight (their lobbyists don't like oversight) and now we have the mortgage crisis. How about the Social Security crisis, Medicare crisis, the misguided war in Iraq, the global economy (that means allowing American interests to move offshore for cheap resources taking away our jobs and financial security with them), and of course, the latest crisis, oil prices. Why have we not taken seriously the development of alternative energy sources? Special Interests who finance campaigns and provide other benefits (legal or illegal) didn't want it. Where was the common good in all this? But they will give us meaningless fluff like stop filling up the strategic oil reserve or take a gas tax holiday (gas taxes fund our highway infastructure, that really makes sense...). Congress fiddled while America smoldered for years and finally began to burn and did nothing but find scapegoats and fund the Games. We need to take the government back, but do we have the courage to do it? It starts with the ballot box. Register to vote!!! Vote out all the incumbents, even those you like because they are all part of the system (they act differently when they are away at the legislature or congress than they do at home). Their words are sweet, but their actions bitter. "Give them the gate in "08" Its not too late but we have to act soon.

5/20/08 Open mike last night was another really wonderful experience. Junko Hemi, one of the Japanese ladies whose husband is an executive with Topre America, a Japanese Company with a plant here, came to play her koto. She had been telling me for a couple of months that she would do it, I was doubtful but she did. She and Mikiko Endo both dressed in traditional kimonos. They had a third Japanese lady here to help them dress, especially to tie the big bow in the back. They are both small, petite women, the kimonos were beautiful, it was a striking scene. The koto is a traditional Japanese stringed instrument, something like a zither, made from Pawlonia a very light wood, an exotic from China that is found here in Alabama. In fact, in my former life as a forester, we had sold koto logs to Japanese wood buyers, but I had never seen the finished product. Junko said it belonged to her grandmother and was over 100 years old. It was probably 7 feet long and 18 inches wide, cut from a solid piece of Pawlonia. It was light enough she could carry it in a special pouch and straps; it was almost a disconnect to see petite Junko carrying the 7 foot ungainly koto upright, but it is so light she could manage it. It had four (I think) large strings running along the top which she tuned by moving individual bridges. The koto is hollow like a guitar. She played it with giant finger picks while kneeling on the stage floor with the koto flat on the floor held on two supports at each end. Mikiko, who speaks good English introduced the koto, telling somethings about the instrument and its history. Then Junko played two tunes, one a special holiday tune and the other about cherry blossoms. We had a great crowd and they all really enjoyed it.

We also had a six year old fiddle player, Abrey Norman who started off fiddlin' Sourwood Mountain and then Faded Love, great choices, she was good. Josh Brooks performed his new song "The Old Yellow Door" about his experience meeting and marrying my daughter Erin at the old Coffee House. It made me miss the old place, I had wanted to put a yellow door here, but it didn't work out. Good song, Josh will be performing this and others in his concert here Saturday night. Skylar Davis from Birmingham performed three original which were really good. I'd like to have him back and even do a show, but his material was a little inappropriate for this venue which is always family friendly. I know we look like a more liberal place with the hippie decor, but our audience is made up of all age groups, so I am a stickler for family friendly stuff. I personally don't want us to drift off into so called "adult" entertainment. I think you can perform anything, with any message in a family appropriate way, without profanity and suggestive lyrics, if you really want to. End of sermon. Ryan, who came with the last 6th grade class, a couple of weeks ago, to read poetry and stole the show singing with my old Stella performed three numbers. That boy will be a star. Jason, Logan (with his uke)and Sy; Seth Thornton; Dennis Kaylor (he did three great new songs I had never heard, recently written); Steve Bluestein with a harmonica (nice touch); Carlo did a tribute to Garlon Talbert (thanks for that) along with pantomiming "Vincent" as Dennis K read that weird story, but it was good, Carlo should go into acting; Beth and Terry; Joe and Justin and a new group made up of Tommy Yates, Russel Wood and Alex Witcher also performed. It was a great night.

5/15 On Sunday, May 11th, we rented the store to several of the wives of some Japanese executives of Topre America, a Japanese company that has a plant here in the Cullman area. They wanted to host a party for one of their fellow wives who was returning to Japan at the end of the month. Her name is Nobuko and she has lived here for several years, her husband was CEO of the plant. He has already returned to Japan, but she was waiting for her son to graduated form Cullman High School. There were probably 20 ladies in attendance most of them Japanese who don't speak English too well. There were also several American ladies present, these were from Cullan Fist Baptist where most of the ladies were attending an English As Second Language class. These American ladies are, for the most part, the only Americans that these Japanese women associate with, although tthey are trying to become more plugged into the local community, which is great for them and us. They had a ball. We were told that in Japanese culture, the men attend stag parties regularly, but women seldom do. But they all had a really good time: good food, good fellowship, lots of laughter. They had a little ceremony for Nobuko and presented here with a quilt. Nobuko in her farewell speech really was high on Cullman and had really enjoyed here stay here. I talked to two of the younger women who were retuning back to Japan this summer, their husband's tours were over, and they did not want to go back. It was a wonderful function and I hope we can do more cross cultural events like this in the future.

5/15 It just doesn't get any better than Bimini Road on Saturday night at Berkeley Bob's Coffee House. If you don't believe that read the paean at the end of this page and you can maybe get a better feel for what you missed than my words can do. More about that later. The band was hot, probably the best they have ever been here. The vocals were tight, Ruthie did some new stuff that was great, and its nice to watch how she and Chuck play off each other so well. The sound was good which has not always been the case here, but I think they have got it down pat. The musicianship as alway was superb, they make it look so easy. Daniel played drums instead of the Conga this time which gave them a new sound, but it was in the background and really added a nice touch. You might think a mandolin with a folk rock jam band wouldn't work, but not so. Without Shelly's excellent picking in both lead and background the band wouldn't be the same. Chuck's energetic and humorous personality keeps things moving. We had a full house and they were very appreciative. What more can I say. If you missed it I'm sorry.

The band performed a new instrumental, call "Invention Boogie", as a sound check and settling in number, it was nice and set the mood. The old Johnny Cash hit "Big River" followed. I have always liked that tune, it came out in the late '50's when I was in High School and I was a big Johnny cash fan back then. Then Ruthie got into "Son of a Preacher Man", she hadn't done that before and she nailed it. "Don't Take My Caroline away" a Bimini Road standard followed and the concert was rolling. Then they did a tribute to Garlon Talbert, a regular customer and performer at the shop who died a few days before the concert, I really appreciated that gesture. They did "He's Gone" and tagged on one of my favorite Bimini Road originals "Old MacNeil". "Up On Cripple Creek" followed, I love the way they do this one, then Ruthie belted out "Summertime" this should be an American Idol winner, it stops you in your tracks. Julie, our barista who is featured in the paean, requested they play "Bimini Road", their theme song, written by Shelly, which was not on their set list. How can you not plan to do this one Chuck? The almost calypso "No Woman No Cry" closed out the first set.

The second set was just as powerful as the first. They opened with a new one "White Rabbit", then "Next Time Around", a Bimini road standard as is "I Know You Rider" which they did in a different key and the harmonies were great. Ruthie then sang "Ode To Billy Joe" the Bobbie Gentry classic from the '50s, good job. Later they did their weird song "Hopefully Paranoia" which is neat and features some almost discordant interludes. They closed with their standard "We Bid You Goodnight" which features really good closing harmonies. There were other neat songs I didn't mention and their jamming which always seems so perfect. They can really play off each other. I didn't mention Richard Eves, alway rocking sideways, singing a few harmonies, providing the great bass sound, he didn't play his slide though. And Jason their newest member on guitar who is beginning to assert himself. I just loved this concert as you can tell. We are planning for an August rerun. And don't forget the North Alabama Folk Festival on September 20 in which Bimini Road will be our closing act along with Microwave Dave, Jerry Ryan, Liberty Junction, Act of Congress and others.

A friend of Chuck's, Rod Morgan, was in attendance and wrote the following piece about his experience. He calls it a paean. I'm not really sure what a paean is, but according to Webster it is read in meter, four syllables to the foot, one long and three short in any order. I have asked an English professor and others how to read this, but can't get any definitive response. But anyway, it is just a great read without trying to figure out the mechanics. It really gives the feel of that particular Saturday night at the Coffee House. Thanks Rod for writing this down and sending it along. I plan to put it on my poetry page.

Berkeley Bob’s on a Saturday Night in May
A Paean by Rod Morgan

Fat raindrops splattered the sidewalk, tables and chairs outside the doors of Berkeley Bob’s Coffee Shop now doing business in a renovated store front built in the 1920's. A sultry breeze from the South swept the moisture laden air in through the open triple doors of the cafe. The dampness in the Saturday-night air generated great drops of perspiration on the brows of the musicians toiling beneath the lights on the low stage in the back of the shop.

A rail-thin waitress with shoulder-length curls, a black apron, a wealth of bracelets on both wrists and a tattoo on her left, upper arm made her way back to the serving counter carrying an ice-cold can of Redi-Whip from the cooler near the front door.

She danced to the music as she sauntered back to the coffee counter pressing the cold cannister to her neck as she went in a partially successful attempt to gain some relief from the hot, humid, night air warming waitress, musicians and patrons alike.

Two young girls about five or six years old got up and danced along with the waitress in the aisle as the fifty-something adults smiled knowingly at their free-spirited swaying and stepping. The young blond girl insisted on a series of spins and twirls supported by the outstretched arm and hand of her almost reluctant brunette partner.

Framed by high shelves filled with glass coffee jars and topped with colorful fifty pound sacks of coffee beans, Berkeley Bob himself, the owner of the shop made one of his frequent appeals on behalf of the band. He hoisted the glass 2 gallon tip jar aloft so that all could see and give generously.

The T-shirts and hand drawn wall decorations took you back to the energy and optimism of the 60's. “Peace, Love, Coffee” declared the wall size poster behind the band. The other poster behind the counter bore the iconic VW love bus festooned with long- stem blossoms and the assurance that everything was “groovy.”

A black T-shirt sported the mantra of a generation committed to its belief that it possessed the power to change the world. “Stop Bitching, Start A Revolution” was its call to action. The sentiment seemed somehow appropriate even some 40 years on down the road.

The rich aroma of brewing coffee and grilling sandwiches seemed to render the music even more intoxicating as it beckoned its listeners to navigate the nostalgic melodies not often enjoyed on a Saturday night.

Ruthie, the feminine voice of Bimini Road, every bit as sultry as the early May weather, coaxed her energetic vocals from the depths of her Joplinesque throatiness to the dome of the skylight rising above the appreciative listeners.

In concert with her dad, Chuck, she quickened the sense that some sounds truly do transcend generations and find new voice in children nurtured on the stories lived by the parents who told and sang them.

Just another Saturday night it was not. After all, it was Berkeley Bob’s with all the promise of California in the 60's and it was the music of Bimini Road still keeping faith with the hope that created it all.

The flower children were unable to change all the world. Yet, they changed enough to empower the next generation to continue to make the music, speak the truth to power and live the notion that things do get better even if it is mostly on a Saturday night at Berkeley Bob’s.

5/8/08 I got some really sad news today. Garland Talbert died. Garland was one of our regulars here attending both our open mikes and concerts almost from Day One. He rarely missed an open mike and performed many times. He usually did old poems and songs and, although he was 90 years old and fairly feeble, we had to help him on stage, but once he got before the mike he became very animated and recited in a loud voice full of inflection, he did wonderful readings. We remember his readings of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven", he also did "Little Boy Blue" and a classic version of "Casey At The Bat" along with others. I alway wanted to record him on video, but never did. He also sang a very good version of "Grandfather's Clock" where he swung his cane like a pendulum to the cadence. When ever you asked Garland how he was, his stock answer was "terrible". When we started karaoke a couple of months ago, Garland came to them all. I knew he was a clown, but I hadn't really seen him in action until then. I've seen this twice and it was just as funny the second time. A lady would get on stage and sing Reba's song "Why Haven't I Heard From You?" and Garland would hold his cell phone and pantamine an exasperated boy friend, it was great. In his working life Garland was a mathamatician for NASA and worked on the Apollo 11 space shuttle mission. One open mike I got him to tell that story, he is a natural storyteller and the crowd was enthralled.

He pulled out in front of a car while trying to cross Highway 157 on a Saturday night, about three weeks ago and was T-boned. He was very seriously hurt, broken ribs and internal injuries. When he didn't show up for the concert that night, Sharon, his friend, got worried and found out that he had been taken to Huntsville Hospital. He lingered there for a week or so, on and off a respirator, and then was sent to Birmingham where he died Tuesday. Garland will be sorely missed. I have some good pictures I will try to post to the web site soon as I can.

5/7/08 On Tuesday, Lacy Sharpton's sixth grade class (about 30-35 kids)came from East Elementary School to read the poems they wrote on stage at the coffee house. We do this for several sixth grade teachers at East and also some high school poetry and drama classes at Cullman High School periodically through the school year. I think we enjoy it as much as they do. They recite one poem each and it can be in one of several forms such as haiku, repetitive, free verse, limericks and so forth and some of them are really good. All these kids were interested in the project and did well. When they were done Lacy asked David Speegle who had just walked in to play his guitar for the kids and he did. Then one of the kids, Ryan Klein, asked if he could play, we let him and he was good. He played and sang three numbers. Then another classmate Same Black played a song or two. The kids really enjoyed it and I think "A Star Was Born".

5/6/08 Another great open mike in a fairly long series of great open mikes. We had a full house, in fact it took three of us to keep up with the drink and meal orders for the first hour or so. We had twelve performers, mostly regulars, but we had some neat variety also. George Thompson, our clarinetist was here and played some old tunes and then sang with his wife and Pam Hart, really good harmony. Alfred Hartley who played mandolin here recently brought a fiddlin' friend Charles Black with them and they played some great old timey stuff. Jason Lisle was here with his very young (3?) son Logan and his uke along with a friend Ben Burkart. Jason is a really fine guitar player and singer and they did some nice stuff. Steve Bluestein played some old gospel with Alfred and Charles fiddlin and pickin in ghe bacground. They did I Saw The Light among others. Carlo, Dennis, Jamie, Joe Carter and Andy Smith were also here. Jamie played her keyboard. After the show Andy told me that he will be retiring from IP (congrats) in 2 days and moving to Marrieta Georgia soon and that this may have been his last open mike. I for one am really going to miss Andy. Like me he is a genuine throwback to the 1960's folk culture, I love his finger picking style and smooth, easy delivery. He sang Barbara Allen tonight, I hadn't heard that one for a while. Good luck Andy in your new job, we will miss you here.

5/5/08 We are still trying to come to grips with how late to be open and on which nights. So far the experiment to stay open until 9:30 Mon-Sat has failed, we just don't get any business. As of right now we are open late only on Friday and Saturday. I am seriously thinking of closing every night at 7 pm unless we have some event going on such as live music, karaoke, or something. I really would like to stay open late, but we can't do it if we have no customers to help defray costs.

5/1/08 Last Saturday night the band "Mid Life Crisis" played at the Coffee House from 7-9PM. Although they are all members of the rock band Double Down (their new name is "Big D and the Funk Monkeys") this was their first acoustic set together. Mid Life Crisis is made up of Danny and Connie Haynes, Sherry Taylor and Alan Smith. Alan is lead singer and has an amazing voice, he is an ex American Idol contestant. Connie sings backup, Danny is the leader of the band and plays the lead guitar and also sings and Sherry plays bass guitar and some lead. This is a tight, well rounded band: musicianship is good and vocal harmonies are right in there. Alan does wonderful things with a song, he is so passionate and full of energy and has a roughed edged voice that really accents his songs well and Connie compliments him perfectly. Their repertoire is polished and very well rounded. They started out with "Sitting On The Dock of the Bay", then Bob Seager's "Main Street", continued with "Back on the Borderline", the Stone's "Wild Horses", Dillon's "Knocking On Heaven's Door", then to "Wild World", Marshal Tucker's "Can't You See", then "Crocodile Rock" by Elton John with audience participation on the "la,la's" (they got Pam Hart and Carlo to go on stage and "la la")! Next they performed several really nice originals "Stay the Night" "Can't Do This Today", and "Am I Still In Love With You?". Some more great covers by Santanna and others came before the break.

During the break Marcus Leaddy, from Wisconson, an older guy like me, same vintage, also an RVN vet, who is a friend of the band and is in Cullman cutting an album with Charles Baker, sang some old songs on his guitar and harmonica. It was just like out of a 1960's coffee house in San Francisco or New York's Greenwich Village. Classic! Marcus left me a couple of his cd's and I really like his stuff. He has promised to come back in the fall with his band and play a concert here. I am looking forward to that.

The second half of Mid Life Crisis' show was great also and the crowd stuck with them. We had a good crowd, nearly a full house. They started off with Jimmy Buffets "Cheeseburger in Paradise", went on to "Brown Eyed Girl" with the crowd again doing the "la la's". In there someplace was a version of the Beetles "Yellow Submarine". The band handed out musical instruments to the crowd, that they could blow and shake, and let them go wild on the chorus. It was a lot of fun. Somewhere in there they did "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" and got several folks on stage and off to do the 'whim-a-ways". "One More Silver Dollar" and Skynards "Simple Man" finished them up. They actually did a couple of encores, a first here. It was an awesome show and hopefully they will be back.