Joe Ely
Tuesday night I had 'one of those nights'. Not a bad 'one of those nights'---no no... far from it. One of those nights where everything is just about perfect, and you want it to go on forever.
Tuesday after work The Bills and I met up to head out to Richmond to Ashland Coffee and Tea to see the legendary Joe Ely. I had just seen him at the ACL fest last month, but he was with a band there, and I assumed he would be solo here, and was really looking fwd to it.
My buddy Bill drove, which was awesome, since it meant I could relax, and drink a little more. The Bills are just as hardcore about getting a good seat as I am--perhaps even more so, and as a result we got to the venue about 40 minutes before the doors even opened. Ashland is a small little town, so we strolled down the street to find a bar and grab a drink beforehand. We found a bar, but they had nothing on tap. Unfortunately that was the only bar to be found, so we drank there anyway. I ordered up some kind of Legend beer, and was presented with a 22oz bottle. Nothing like that to start the evening off right (except the beer was $8, but Bill ended up picking up the tab there). So... on we go...
We drank our gigantic beers (the one Bill had ordered the same beer as me), and strolled back to Ashland Coffee and Tea. They were just starting to let people into the listening room. Our timing was almost perfect. About 15 had gone in before we did, and had staked claims to most of the prestigious tables. (There's not really a bad seat in the house, but it's nice to get a table right in front). As I quickly scanned the room, I saw, there in the middle of the other occupied tables, an empty one DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF THE STAGE. It couldn't have been more centered, or closer. It was directly in front of the microphone. It was perfect. And it was ours.
We sat there, and after the Bills giving much grief about how bad our table was--- we ordered food and drinks. The food and drinks were excellent, service was great, and we lucked out and got the most attractive waitress in the place to be our waitress.
Oh yeah... and there was music.
There was an opening act. He was pretty good.
And then Joe Ely came out. He announced that there was another performer that would be joining him at some point in the evening, but that he was caught up in traffic. He said if we'd never seen Joel Guzman (pronounced 'Jo-El'), then we were in for a treat. I was a little discouraged, because I had been hoping for a solo show, but I figured I'd at least get a solo show for a couple songs and hope for the best.
Ely played about 3 songs solo. They were really good. Joe had just started the 4th song when I saw movement to the side of the stage, and saw this guy stroll in. He threw his bags in the dressing room picked up his accordion, started playing--- while walking thru the crowd, and hopping up on stage---never missing a beat.
It was incredible. From that moment on there was just a tremendous amount of 'electricity' in the room. Ely was already great. The addition of Joel Guzman took it to a whole new level. Joe's guitar and Joel's accordion were just in sync the entire night. It was amazing to watch. I don't know how long they've been playing together, but it seems like they were born to play music together. It was simply tremendous. Bill H. said one of the songs was so beautiful he actually had tears well up in his eyes.
Joe told some great stories about Townes van Zandt, and about Joe Strummer. Unbeknownst to me, The Clash were big fans of Ely. In 79 they met in England, and Ely arranged a tour for them through some cool TX towns, and in 1980 they arranged some tourdates for him in the UK. Wacky stuff. Very cool.
The concert lasted about 2 hours. It was 2 hours of pure musical goodness. I've seen literally hundreds of shows. This one was one of the great ones. Joe Ely has a great stage presence and an impressive resume of songs. Joel Guzman, who I had never heard of before, just wails on the accordion. The second coming of Flaco Jimenez. Together they were mind blowing.
Bill H. is an old Deadhead. He's seen over 100 Dead shows. After the show he told me that this show was as good as any Grateful Dead show he'd ever seen.
That's saying a lot. It's probably blasphemy to the other Deadheads out there.
But that's how good this show was.
It's not blasphemy if it's the truth.
Tuesday after work The Bills and I met up to head out to Richmond to Ashland Coffee and Tea to see the legendary Joe Ely. I had just seen him at the ACL fest last month, but he was with a band there, and I assumed he would be solo here, and was really looking fwd to it.
My buddy Bill drove, which was awesome, since it meant I could relax, and drink a little more. The Bills are just as hardcore about getting a good seat as I am--perhaps even more so, and as a result we got to the venue about 40 minutes before the doors even opened. Ashland is a small little town, so we strolled down the street to find a bar and grab a drink beforehand. We found a bar, but they had nothing on tap. Unfortunately that was the only bar to be found, so we drank there anyway. I ordered up some kind of Legend beer, and was presented with a 22oz bottle. Nothing like that to start the evening off right (except the beer was $8, but Bill ended up picking up the tab there). So... on we go...
We drank our gigantic beers (the one Bill had ordered the same beer as me), and strolled back to Ashland Coffee and Tea. They were just starting to let people into the listening room. Our timing was almost perfect. About 15 had gone in before we did, and had staked claims to most of the prestigious tables. (There's not really a bad seat in the house, but it's nice to get a table right in front). As I quickly scanned the room, I saw, there in the middle of the other occupied tables, an empty one DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF THE STAGE. It couldn't have been more centered, or closer. It was directly in front of the microphone. It was perfect. And it was ours.
We sat there, and after the Bills giving much grief about how bad our table was--- we ordered food and drinks. The food and drinks were excellent, service was great, and we lucked out and got the most attractive waitress in the place to be our waitress.
Oh yeah... and there was music.
There was an opening act. He was pretty good.
And then Joe Ely came out. He announced that there was another performer that would be joining him at some point in the evening, but that he was caught up in traffic. He said if we'd never seen Joel Guzman (pronounced 'Jo-El'), then we were in for a treat. I was a little discouraged, because I had been hoping for a solo show, but I figured I'd at least get a solo show for a couple songs and hope for the best.
Ely played about 3 songs solo. They were really good. Joe had just started the 4th song when I saw movement to the side of the stage, and saw this guy stroll in. He threw his bags in the dressing room picked up his accordion, started playing--- while walking thru the crowd, and hopping up on stage---never missing a beat.
It was incredible. From that moment on there was just a tremendous amount of 'electricity' in the room. Ely was already great. The addition of Joel Guzman took it to a whole new level. Joe's guitar and Joel's accordion were just in sync the entire night. It was amazing to watch. I don't know how long they've been playing together, but it seems like they were born to play music together. It was simply tremendous. Bill H. said one of the songs was so beautiful he actually had tears well up in his eyes.
Joe told some great stories about Townes van Zandt, and about Joe Strummer. Unbeknownst to me, The Clash were big fans of Ely. In 79 they met in England, and Ely arranged a tour for them through some cool TX towns, and in 1980 they arranged some tourdates for him in the UK. Wacky stuff. Very cool.
The concert lasted about 2 hours. It was 2 hours of pure musical goodness. I've seen literally hundreds of shows. This one was one of the great ones. Joe Ely has a great stage presence and an impressive resume of songs. Joel Guzman, who I had never heard of before, just wails on the accordion. The second coming of Flaco Jimenez. Together they were mind blowing.
Bill H. is an old Deadhead. He's seen over 100 Dead shows. After the show he told me that this show was as good as any Grateful Dead show he'd ever seen.
That's saying a lot. It's probably blasphemy to the other Deadheads out there.
But that's how good this show was.
It's not blasphemy if it's the truth.
posted by Hutch at 8:34 AM
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