Flanfire

Tom Stevens is quite an impresario, and on Saturday he pulled yet another rabbit out of his hat at the annual Harmonica Organization of Texas (HOOT) Austin Chapter fundraiser at The Pier on Lake Austin. First, he chose an absolutely beautiful day for an outdoor event as well as a fabulous place for folks to party - mostly in the shade. Props ahoy! Second, he made sure he had a place where there were good eats - grilled mahi-mahi and fried catfish in our case, with yummy veggies on the side. Third, he chose a highly respected co-beneficiary - LifeWorks of Austin. LifeWorks’ mission is to transition youth and families from crisis to safety and success. LifeWorks provides the most comprehensive network of services for youth and families in Austin. They offer a safety net of support to more than 10,000 youth and families every year. LifeWorks’ services to runaway and homeless youth are a national model, providing a pathway from street life to self-sufficiency.

Best of all, though, was the music, including lots of tunes from unsung members of the local HOOT chapter (Stevens himself included, backing the lovely Suzanne Smith). On stage quite early in the day was Rue La La's Jane Gillman, backed by guitarist Mark Viator. I recently got to see Jane backing Kerry Polk at her CD release at the Cactus, and Mark backing Jenny Reynolds (opening for Ruthie Foster) also at the Cactus. Jane switched from dulcimer to washboard to guitar but always had her harps at hand, and we danced to a Cajun beat for a while.

Then it was the bluegrass and Irish harp duo of Cara Cooke and Kenny Tweedy, in that order, followed by solo artist Jimi Lee (a bald white guy who lived 12 years in Hawaii), who dazzled the crowd after he repaired a broken guitar string. Jimi admits he just looked out at the water and went back to Hawaii in his head and started doing some mellow stuff he had not originally planned to do and it really really worked. This guys should be playing every gig in Austin that is on or near the water - his playing and singing and harmonica styling (some of the best I have heard in a while) just lifted folks out of their ordinary plane into a more mellow place.

Closing out the official HOOT portion of the day, Kris Brown and Family Sauce, featuring harmonica wizard (Michael) Rubin and an all-star cast of players. This is reggae, pure and simple, and people were dancing all over the stage. Then Guy Forsyth, whose band was to play an evening set, jumped up on stage and joined Rubin in a harmonica duel-duet that brought down the house and certainly was a very fitting way to close out the show.

Okay, so we stuck around to hear an hour of Guy's own band, featuring George Rarie on guitar (another Austin guitar legend), Ann-Marie Harrop on bass (who even let me help her unload her vehicle and bring her gear to the stage), and Nina Singh on drums (who had some of her family on hand to watch the show, including an elderly gentleman in full native dress just beaming and quietly grooving to the music - it was a thing of beauty). We slipped away while it was still light, after a lovely afternoon - all thanks to our pal Tom Stevens and his buds at HOOT. Okay, the whole day was a HOOT!

Tonight (Tuesday), Susan Gibson is up at Threadgill's north, and the show is FREE, so what is your excuse for not showing up? Tomorrow, I hope to make it down to the CD release for the Dimestore Poets (two others are also doing CD releases, so check your schedules for times and such), but mostly we are lying low. And, yes, we missed the barn dance in favor of having some of our kids over to celebrate Father's Day at home.