Flanfire

El Goins is goin' places -- and on Wednesday nights at Momo's (when he is in town) his drum kit is goin' all night long - as are the guitar-pickin' fingers of the wonderful Wayne Sutton.

Flanfire had for weeks been trying to get down to the "family" scene that Eldridge had told me was what Wednesdays are all about there. I missed the opening act - Jade Day, but I am told that Sutton plays guitar for him, too, every week. My special reason for slipping away from my wife, mother, daughter, and grandson was the invite from Wendy Lorraine Colonna, whom I had run into on a previous Sunday at Maria's during the Gospel Brunch. So with both El and Wendy on my tail, I HAD to go.

It was well worth it. Wendy and Wayne and El (with a bass player I do not know and the inimitable Cole El-Saleh on keyboards) also had Guy Forsyth in the house PLUS Brad Hauser on baritone sax (and the guy is really a bass player). Now Wendy is the woman many guys would probably vote as the one they would most like to be lost on a desert island with - sure she is sexy and funky, but the woman can probably crack a coconut, pick out the right herbs (and eschew the wrong ones), and even help build a raft. Plus, she is a RIOT and a deep thinker in her songwriting. Unlike the tinwoman/cowardly lioness women of television (the Brits and Jesses and Christinas without hearts or brains), this babe has both. She writes pretty good songs herself, but I was captivated by her cover of Snowin' on Raton. The band was JAMMIN' and Wendy was ringin' her "jingly-ass bells" and dancin' all over the stage.

After a break, the players lined up (El, Wayne, and Wendy) with a different bass player (Seth?) to back South Carolina import Brian Keane (whose CD, out in February, is being produced by El and is EXCELLENT!!!!!). Now Brian is a songwriter, but he threw in at least two Tom Waits covers (one a duet with Guy Forsyth that will be on the CD and the other a solo effort) and a Rachel Loy song (she, too, was in the house!). [DO NOT FAIL TO CATCH RACHEL LIVE!!!]
Songs like "Another Piece of Me," "Better Days," and the outrageous "Odysseus" (a Texas version of the story of the Greek mythology hero), and my personal favorite "Concrete Sidewalk" -- well, it was until I heard his final song (done acoustic) "She Used To Carry Me," which HAS to be an anthem song. [Find him at www.keanetunes.com NOT briankeanemusic.com or the actor Brian Keane] Sometimes one might think of Brian as an easy-going guy - but one song on Wednesday night outdid even Kris Brown's ode to a French Slave Ship. It was BAAAAAADD (and not just the lyrics) - "23 positions" must be the title, but the point of it all was some incredible drum work by Eldridge and awesome wailing by Brad Hauser (of the New Bohemians and Critters Buggin and all over) on baritone sax.

El and Wayne were keepin' on keepin' on, and the final act of the evening was the lovely Joy Davis, who is Patrice Pike's taller sister. Patrice told me this was just Joy's fourth live gig in front of an audience (since going to Nashville at age 17, Joy has had a couple of children that have kept her busy) - but what a voice. Patrice got up for a duet (This Is the Real Thing) and then closed the show with Joy for an oldtimy a cappella version of a song called A Mother's Smile that Joy says she sings to her children every night. Now, Joy's act was quite unique, in that some guy jumped up on stage after her first song and got down on a knee and brought out a little box and asked her to marry him -- and she said YES! This, I was assured, does not happen EVERY NIGHT! But it was so special - even better than the proposal being shown on TV that happened at the Trail of Lights!. Congrats to Joy and her man - and for a memory that will last as long as songs are sung.

Apparently, these Wednesday gigs (with who knows who dropping in) will continue into the new year. Crowds should swell to enormous proportions. Momo's should sell lots of beer and stuff.