Shakey Jake at Bishops 10-07-06
Vashon Island/Bishops Cafe/October 7th, 2006 Was it just me or did that show at Bishops last Saturday night just flat out frickin' rock? Holy crap, that was fun. It was good to see some old faces, faces I hadn't seen for awhile and actually, some new folks I'd never met. Hard to believe I've never met Todd Zimberg before, with so many of the legendary stories of his kick-ass drumming floating around on this island. He did not disappoint. There's drummers, then there are drummers. Todd can smack the hell out of his drums and you feel it in your gut clear across the room. Thanks for that, Todd. Reminds me of the days of John Bonham (damn, that guy was in a league of his own). Anyway, it was great to meet Todd and I hope that this is just the start of something that happens more often. Last Saturday, Todd pulled double duty--drumming for both Bob Krinsky's band, Radio Daddyo and for the legendary Shakey Jake. Well, let's see...the night started out with Hamish Todd, bringing spoken word and/or poetry into the mix in his own unique thought provoking way. I love this guy, Hamish...he's a good socially, politically conscious man....caring about this world we live in and making us remember why we should care. He's funny as hell too. If I don't see Hamish for awhile, I miss him--he's fun to be around and it was great to see him out doing his thing for this event. This event was organized by Danny Mclean as a benefit for a kid named Johnathon Owney, who recently was in a pretty severe auto accident. Nice work, Danny....I hope you were able to pull together some money for John--it was pretty cool of you to help out. It was a treat to have Bob
Koch as the emcee--I've known who he was for quite awhile and met him several times (he would never remember my name, until finally this night...he actually remembered for the first time). Koch goes way back with Krinsky and another newcomber on the island, Billy Random...these guys grew up together somewhere back east and have remained friends for quite awhile. There's a lot of stories in there somewhere, of this I am sure. Not for this blog, but maybe around a campfire near you soon. I just like to shut my mouth and listen to these guys. Much like last Saturday night. I shut up and listened to some great music. I was able to record Hamish's bit and all of Krinsky's set, but my Edirol R09 ran out of battery power (or something) right before Shakey Jake took the stage. I was pissed--I missed recording a stellar set by Shakey Jake and then Ron Hook's set afterwards. Live and learn, sometimes the hard way. As Ron told me yesterday, maybe that night was for the gods, not meant to be recorded. A memory, a damn good memory. Bob Krinsky, gifted musician and an even better father/husband and another friend for life, brought the room to life with his collection of musician friends....this time as Radio Daddyo. Bob, along with Lee Robinson on vocals, Henry Sondie, Easy Eddie King, Tony Walters, Doug Ringer and Todd....well, let's just say they made us folks out in front forget about anything but the songs they were playing. Bob & the gang were having problems with the monitors, but no worries Bob....you sounded great from
where I was standing. Mark Cavener was doing the sound and doing the best he could, given some faulty equipment. Fish-lips needs to learn how to take better care of the good equipment that they have (had). Radio Daddyo closed out with "Vashmakahn", an island favorite. "It's the only world we've got there is no other..Like I." Yeah, then it was the return of Shakey Jake, after ten years of being idle. Jason, for one thing, is a workaholic and hardly ever comes out of his hole except for once or twice a year...but then he sees his shadow and disappears again. If I played guitar like Jason, I'd be on top of a rooftop somewhere playing my heart out to whoever would listen. But I've learned...Jason's a classy guy, he's not like the football player that makes a touchdown and does the freaky dance....nope, he just walks the walk and lets his guitar do the braggin'. My hat's off to ya Jason, I was blown away by this rockin' experience. I gotta tell you, these guys, they put together an amazing performance--I'd never seen them play before, so it was all new to me. This was Chicago style blues at it's best--for not playing together for so long, they sure didn't appear that way. I know for a fact that everyone there was having a great time...there was some dancing going on the entire time they played. And a lot of bobbin' heads in the room. My god...is it not enough to have such an awesome guitarist as Jason and such a powerful drummer as Todd....but then also have one incredible harmonica player in Terry Parr. This guy....man, he blew the shit out of that mouth harp. Doug Ringer sat in on bass guitar and I swear, it was as if he'd played with the band all along--it sounded great. I couldn't help but wonder why these guys don't play more often, this was some great music. The night flew by, before you knew it..they were done and off the stage. But for those killer blues tunes that they blazed through while they were up there, it was golden. I will now make it my quest to bring another gig together with these guys, maybe not real soon....but at the right time and the right venue. It's what this island needs more of--things are getting a little stale around here since Alex stopped booking AMAZING shows at Bishops. It's a weird venue to begin with, but with the new owner and nobody really booking music there any more...it doesn't seem as if they care if they use their stage and sound system to it's full potential or not. Me...if I owned that bar...it's pretty a pretty simple formula. Good music = bar patrons = drink sales = $$. But that's just me. Anyway, off on another tangent...don't get me started about the lack of good music 
venues. The night was topped off with a great acoustic performance by Ron Hook. I feel as if I've known Ron all my life, he's one of the coolest people I've EVER met and a huge reason we moved to the island in the first place. Front man for the band Subconscious Population, Ron has entertained folks on the island for many years with his mystical ways. When Ron plays solo, it's a fantastic treat. A highlight for me is when he played "Wish You Were Here", a song he is currently teaching my son to play on guitar. Sure wish I could have recorded that. Also standout was his (echo) version of "Jah Lee Kali". Note to self: plug the R09 into the wall next time, leave the batteries at home. Thanks Ron, thanks for everything--you mean the world to my family. Wow, what a night. A big shout out to Danny for putting it together, to Mark for doing the sound and big ups to all the musicians....this night was pretty special for everyone who was there. It will be talked about.
posted by Pete at 4:53 PM
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