For the Love of Mic: Wood 'n' Lips Newsletter

Hi Ya,

Mark your calendars, the second annual will be on July 21, once more at the amphitheater.  We’re starting early with the planning in hopes of doing a better job of promoting the event to draw a larger crowd.  We will probably tweak the hours to allow for some mid-day open jams, and run a little later to attract the early evening audience.  More details will be available as we get closer to that time.

We had several people show up that we haven’t seen for a while; we do miss our friends when we don’t see them, so it was good to reconnect.

6:30 – John Movius & Greg Gross – John started the evening properly with “The Wearin’ of the Green”; he switched genres quickly for some surf music ala The Chantays’ “Crystal T”; and The Bel Airs’ “Mr. Moto”.

6:45 – Ken Morrell – Returned to our stage after a long absence; his repertoire now includes Agnes Obel’s “Riverside”; and a couple of Moody Blues numbers, “Emily’s Song” and “Are You Sitting Comfortably?”.

7:00 – Joe Cabaniss – Joe was another who joined us after a hiatus of over a year.  He was playing a vintage 1945 LG2 Gibson guitar and used it well to bring us a couple of Townes Van Zandt tunes; “The Catfish Song”, and “Pancho and Lefty”; he also did Steve Earle’s “Fort Worth Blues”, written about Van Zandt after his untimely demise.

7:15 – Les Armstrong with John Movius – Les treated us to some of his masterful lead guitar playing with Merle Haggard’s “Swinging Doors”.  His wife requested Hank Williams Jr.’s “Eleven Roses”; then he and John did Jerry Jeff Walker’s “Trashy Women”; Earl Green & Carl Montgomery’s “Six Days on the Road”; finishing with a quick version of The Carter Family’s “Wildwood Flower”.

7:30 – Bill Lodin, Ken Morrill, Neil Peters, & Joe Faber – The guys did Bo Diddly’s “Before You Accuse Me”; The Grateful Dead’s “Friend of the Devil”; and Jon Randall’s “Willin’”.

7:45 – Bob Setzer – Once again Bob started off with his electric guitar and jammed on some lead licks; then he switched to his acoustic for his own tunes, “Dreaming of You”; and “Oh Love”; and Simon & Garfunkle’s “Richard Cory”.

8:00 – Tom Barbarie, with Les Armstrong– The pair did Buck Owens’ “Act Naturally”; Charlie Pride’s “Crystal Chandeliers”; Johnny Smith’s (Bill Anderson) “Once a Day”; and Willie Nelson’s “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain”. 

8:15 – Lynda Sterns – Lynda is known as part of the Pony Tales, but she doesn’t need the group to put out some good music.  This evening she dedicated a tune to her husband (who wasn’t there)—they’re preparing to celebrate their forty-third anniversary—The Beatles’ “In My Life”; then she tipped her hat (figuratively) to her heritage with “Irish Lullaby”; the traditional “Maggie”; and Donovan’s “Catch the Wind”.

8:30 – Tim Woods – I played a set of Tom Paxton’s “The Last Thing on My Mind”; John Lennon’s “Imagine”; Neal and Leandra’s “Old Love” (for my wife, who had already left); and Paul Simon’s “Homeward Bound”.

8:45 – Greg Gross – Greg drew the next slot—he did the Doobie Brothers’ “Toulouse Street”; Joanie Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi”; Fred Kohler’s “God’s Gift to Women”; and David Gates’ “If”.  While Jesse E. was getting ready, he filled in with his own short song “Trolley Car”.

9:00 – Jesse Eisenbarth – Jesse’s our barista, he took five (or fifteen) to play a few tunes including his own “I Can’t Fall Asleep”, “Believer”; and “Field of Flames”.

9:15 – Don Bidwell with John Movius, Tom Barbarie & Greg Gross – We finally managed to get Don back on our stage with his fiddle.  With plenty of backing from the guys (some were his cohorts from Emma’s Gut Bucket Band), he did “The Cherokee Shuffle”; Jay Unger’s “Ashokan Farewell”; “Red Haired Boy” and “The Death Valley Waltz”.

It was a low-key but fine evening of music.  It’s nice when people stick around until the end to see all the performers.  God Bless and see you soon.

Tim Woods, Greg Gross, and the Wood ‘n’ Lips open mic crew