Swing Dancing To a Plant-Based Beat

Listening to the latest release from the Terry Quiett Band out of Kansas, “Just My Luck” is a great genre mixing blend of blues, blues inspired rock and jazz with a bit of soul stirring around in the mix. Maybe we can call it “Blues Stew”! Having recently entered the world of swing and blues dance, I find myself with a keener ear towards rhythm and the swing/groove. This album is chock full of both. The band comes out of the gate and hits you with an attention grabbing groove and some incredible guitar work in “Karma”. This is a great opening tune and sets the tone for the album by getting your feet tapping and head bobbing from the start and then taking you into a full blown dancing frenzy by the end. You add to this groove rhythms of “You’re My Kind”, “Big Man Boogie”, “The Woodsman”, “Pound of Flesh” and “Fool’s Gold” and you’ve got the backbone of a really good record. The guitar work of Terry Quiett is clean, crisp and incredibly creative as he plays what is not expected, keepin

The good folks at the Natchel Blues Network put together quite an event as a final fundraiser to assist two blues acts, Roosterfoot (Seth Stainback and Keith Stainback) and The Bush League, with the expenses of their trip to the International Blues Challenge (IBC) that is being held in Memphis, TN from Jan 31 to Feb 4, 2012. For those of you who may be unaware, the IBC is an international competition where all of the Blues Foundation   affiliates are encouraged to stage a regional preliminary IBC competition, with the winner of that competition representing the organization in the Memphis international competition. I have never been there, but I hear that it is one of those mountaintop experiences for any blues music lover and based on what I heard and experienced at Mojo Bones on this day, I can only imagine what a whole week of this kind of talented musicianship and the blues can do to a person's soul. The day started with a nice 2 hour drive through the countryside, to get from

It was a Friday night, the first night in about three weeks that my wife and I had felt even anywhere near well enough to venture past our front door. When we left the house, Denise and I had agreed that we wouldn't push it and probably would turn in a little early. I was feeling well, but Denise was marginal as we headed to the Brews and Blues function at the Capital Ale House . This is a weekly event sponsored by the River City Blues Society  and features great local and live blues. This night it was The Bush League and, having heard them a couple times before, they did not disappoint. With Gwen Frederick (drums) and Royce Folks (bass) holding a strong and steady line on the back end, it allows John Jay (vocals) and Shane Parch (guitar) to play to their hearts' content. There were joined by a few guest musicians, especially Geo Jacopec on guitar. When he takes the stage with anybody, you know something special is going to happen. It has been three times now that I have bee

We have two dogs, Woody, a male golden retriever, and Morgan, a mixed breed dog from the SPCA. It is about this time each year, as the weather gets colder and the air gets drier that they realize their barks and conversations carry to other dogs in the neighborhood. These conversations between dogs start at about dusk and usually continue all night long or as long as the vocal cords will allow. It is only a couple of dogs at first but after a couple of weeks, it is a full-blown barking community. I would imagine that they are sharing really important information like food comparisons, how the opossum tasted that Woody wrestled out of the compost pile, how come birds don't play too long before they die, etc...But after all that I think that they just bark...and bark...and bark, plucking on my daughter's (whose bedroom is adjacent to their living space), our neighbor's, and my last nerve. All of my attempts to curb this behavior were in vain, as soon as I would correct them a

It was Sunday, November 20th, 2011. I had been looking forward to going to a blues jam at JM Randalls in Williamsburg, VA featuring The Bush League and Seth Stainback , and had convinced my wife of the same. We awoke to a beautiful Sunday morning and lazily hung around the house missing our scheduled departure time by about an hour and headed to Prime Outlets  for some shopping ahead of the 2 o'clock start time for the show. Had a good time there and, in fact, purchased a completely new Cool 18 outfit at the Haggar Clothing Store and wore it out. It was about 65-70 degrees and the jeans were getting on my nerves. I cannot stand to sweat in jeans, drives me nuts! Ended up leaving there a little bit before 3pm, so we didn't make up the hour that we were late in getting away from home. Seth Stainback (Rooster Foot) We arrived at JM Randalls Classic American Grill  and were greeted at the door by Mike Hilton from the Natchel Blues Network . It was our first trip to JM Randalls

It's early November and the leaves are still on the trees, in fact there we are still waiting on the bright fall colors here in central Virginia. We gleaned the garden in September of all the tomato and squash plants and planted some additional crops for the winter. I am hoping to be harvesting from the garden through November, into and possibly through December. I remember, as a child, getting and riding my bike in a t-shirt on Christmas Day. Also of the time my daughter, Caitlin, was swimming in the ocean on a soccer weekend trip to Virginia Beach during the first week of December. So there is hope! One of the things that I think about when I am planning my garden is not only what we like to eat, but also what plants give us the best yield for what would be the retail dollar. There are some plants that simply are not worth the time or space, either because we cannot grow them efficiently or the quality is better in the local market, where farmers grow larger amounts and they are

Save the date, October 12-14, 2012! That's the best time of the year to visit Richmond in all of its' beauty and splendid glory. The Richmond Folk Festival and its' eclectic mix of people, music, food and exotic wares set against the backdrop of Richmond's skyline is an event that should be experienced by everyone in our region of the US and beyond. If you are traveling through, it gives you the sense that you are entering the tip of the south but haven't quite made it yet. This year was no different! Having been to every one of these events since it started as the National Folk Festival in Richmond, I have yet to come away disappointed or unfulfilled. All of the work that is done, from the stage setups, organizing of volunteers, selection of food vendors and management of the facilities is second to none. Every year that you go back you see the things that are being done in order to try and make it even better. I think that's the sign of progress and hope tha