Licking Stick

...that's the song that was echoing around my head this morning. Odd, because I saw two shows last night, not one of which had a single James Brown cover....

J10X, Lushy Luke & I went to see our friends Anne Castellano & Dorian James play at the Annex right in town- for once, didn't have to travel to hear good music! The Annex is a large brick-lined room above the art gallery of Main Street - and a convenient 45 second hike to the Main Street Pub. The sound is actually quite good there and we've seen bands ranging from acoustic solo performances, like Anne, to full-on noisy (the Chuck Hestons come to mind...)

Unfortunately we had to leave halfway through Dorian James' set in order to get Luke to New London for the Gamma Rays gig. The Rays recently acquired the fantastic Johnny Customs on bass, and that man can play! His presence has really charged up the rest of the band and they were fast & loose! Opening for the Gamma Rays was a duo from Maine called Meantone - they were loud, punkabilly & very rock'n'roll (a double bill of Meantone & The Royale Brothers in the future would be just divine). The singer/guitar player 'Meantone' was a fantastic player & during their set wore a gas mask with a mike inside. The drummer, Little Brett was terrific and part way through the set, Johnny Customs played with them for a few songs- too bad so many people missed such great shows last night - both places were pathetically short on audiences.

Levez-vous et dansez!