Flanfire

Ruthie Foster is always a gas. Tonight at the Cactus Cafe, she was having so much fun - mainly as harmonica virtuoso (Michael) Rubin was blowing her mind blowing his harp - that she forgot some of the lines of her songs. Not once, but twice in the first set alone, Ruthie had to take an extra minute to get her mind back on singing.

Ruthie had run into Rubin at Kerrville just days ago - as she was about to leave the festival grounds, she ran into another friend (singer-songwriter John Smith) and was sharing stories and songs, when she heard Rubin fainly accompanying her vocals and turned around and said (after some intervening conversation), "Hello. I'm playing at the Cactus and why don't you just drop by and play along with us (Cyd Cassone on percussion and vocals) there." So he did - Rubin may appear shy, but he is not stoopid. He can also play.

Ruthie and Cyd were pumping their brand-new live CD on a day that began early enough - with a live rendition of her rain song on KGSR at nine o'clock in the morning (and other stuff before, no doubt). She had just been to a Terri Hendrix live set at Waterloo Records and spent a bunch of money, so it was good that she had new product of her own to recoup her "losses." The house, despite the rain, was packed - and superbly blessed.

Not only did the folks get to hear Ruthie and Cyd - and Rubin, but they were also treated to Boston emigre Jenny Reynolds' Cactus debut as the opening act (with Mark Viator on guitar). Jenny is off to New England on June 19 - but will play at the Saxon Pub with full band (barring changes) on July 19 at 7:00 pm (mark it!). As usual, I ran into friends at the gig - notably KK and Peggy, the golfing go-go girls and world travelers par excellance.

Talking with super songwriter Kerry Polk (there to support her buds), I learned about her work teaching Kindermusik and immediately thought of my grandson as a future pupil of hers. Hmmmmmm! [www.kerrypolk.com/kindermusik} Kerry says her youngest student was four months old - imagine that!

Despite saying I wouldn't, Tuesday night found me at Momo's to hear El Kabong and Canadian singer-songwriter Andrew Walker. Well, I had gone out the night before, and the power went out, so I thought I ought to take my new friends Aaron and Jennifer out to hear these guys play and get them introduced around. You know Andrew is good when the wives of other male singers talk freely about how much they like his voice and his lyrics. He's playing (weather permitting) with Leeann on Friday at Maria's - so catch him there before he flies back to Toronto on Saturday.

And where Andrew goes here, Kim Deschamps (and his bevy of slide-friendly instruments) will likely be very near by (keeping an eye on his latest recording project if for no other reason). With Charlie Robison playing daddy more and more, Kim and fellow band mate Kevin Carroll are having to get out and play more side gigs to keep their fingers limber. Kevin has been doing Wednesdays at Momos, but filled in for Willie Pipkin once again with El Kabong on Tuesday. [Willie is fishing in Florida, and if you know the boy, you will know that fishing comes before picking any day of the week.]

This was El Kabong's fifth gig or so, and the band (Ram Zimmerman on drums, Tony Velasco on bass) keeps getting tighter every week. Kim is having a LOT of fun, and real music lovers are getting a treat for a nice price to hear this headliner act musician up close and personal in a venue with good sound management. Tuesdays at 10 at Momo's - get on down so that you can truly say, "I was there when it all started."

In closing, I just want to pay respects to the man I first got to "know" as the host of General Electric Theater when television was young (and so was I). Reagan was a baseball broadcaster, the president of the Screen Actors Guild, and a man deeply loved by his Nancy (as much as I am by my Nancy). He took a bullet from a madman and lived to joke about it.

Reagan will always be remembered for taking on the Soviet Union and calling on President Gorbachev to "open that gate" and "tear down that wall." His challenge ultimately led to a new economic and political union in Europe and a lessening of tensions over nuclear war on a worldwide scale. If only Russia and the United States could come to terms with the negative impact of their conflict on our island paradise to the south - Cuba, where the memory of the missile crisis is the only real reason for our failure to "normalize" relations (as we have even done with Vietnam). Perhaps now is the time for a summit to deal with the aftermath of that defining moment in John Kennedy's term of office and those close off the final chapter in that long-dead conflict.