Flanfire

In Austin music, Leeann Atherton IS the gold standard - but more and more folks in town are beginning to see the newlywed Jean Synodinos (whose ebullient personality and powerful pipes remind many of Leeann herself) as golden in her own right. Last night we got to do a back to back comparison, and boy were we well pleased!

After taking the spouse out to Chez Zee for some of their renowned cuisine (and cool environs), we trekked down to Maria's Taco X-Press and walked in just as birthday boy Sunny Coleman was boogieing to a John Lee Hooker standard. Kris Brown was in the house, and soon up on stage, joined by soulful San Antonian Giles Whitsett, and the five-piece band (with Jackson playing some wicked guitar, too) did some old-style R&B before Kris launched into a new song of his, "I'm Invisible to You" (we are guessing the title - but what a fine song in reggae style). Kris is playing around town this weekend (Alligator Grill Saturday night) with Five Ton Chicken and promises to get a new band featuring his own stuff on the stage before too much longer.

Then Giles (whose wife is pastor of a Unity Church in SanAn) blew us all away with his own composition, "Agent of Change," which features lines like "If I help you to see your light, will you turn around and help me, we can make the world so bright ....." Then Giles and Leeann did a strong duet of "Stand By Me," before the boys launched into "Little Wing," in which Giles, Jackson, and Sunny (Kris had to leave to write horn charts) all took turns with stunning solos. Somewhere in the fray, Jackson was pressed to sing one of his incredible songs, and then after some more joy, Leeann closed out the evening with "Piece of My Heart" followed by the Jackson original "Brown Eyes." Then, with the audience calling out for another "one more," Leeann and Jackson got everyone to join in to sing Happy Birthday to the Sunnyman.

By the way, both Jackson and Leeann have new CD's virtually in the can, and early reports are that BOTH are "Da Bomb" - so start saving your pennies. Send love gifts to Kris, too, so that we can all enjoy his own forthcoming reggae release (he's working with Courtney Audain on this, so you KNOW it's gonna be gooooood!).

Then it was over to Waterloo on Sixth and Lamar for the Pill Box Hat show - featuring Ms. Synodinos (whose hubby, Southwind Studios producer Charles Rieser, had to leave early to set up and play with The Scabs at Antone's) and fellow songbirds and songwriters Kerry Polk, Jenny Reynolds, and Catherine Berry. The quartet opened with a rousing rendition of "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere," with each lady taking a verse and all singing four-part harmonies on the choruses. In this their third or fourth or fifth show together, they had rehearsed enough to play and sing harmonies behind each other, and at times the effect was magical.

Waterloo had arranged the tables in a square, leaving a huge dance floor that was soon filled by two little princesses (ages four and three) who made everybody smile. Winker and Tom Pittman were in the house - so you knew you were in the right place. An early marker for the evening was Catherine's "Alice Wonder," which featured Jenny on bass and Jean on harmony vocals, then it was Jenny singing her signature song, "Bet on the Wind," followed by Jean with a song about a "bad day to quit cigarettes." Kerry especially shone on "Shoot for the Moon," which followed a Catherine song that got everybody dancing, Jenny quieted the house with a song for her mother. Then it was Jean doing the title track of her CD "Lucky" and the song Jean says is her very very favorite of all - "Little Bird" ( we only guess at the title, but what a song). Later, Jenny blew everybody away with a song, "Next to You," and then Jean sang a song about "misfits" after Kerry's supercool "Blue Neon" - Kerry will be warbling deep down in Longhorn Cavern out near Burnet at the end of next month, by the way. The quartet closed out with a mesmerizing version of Bruce Cockburn's "Wondering Where the Lions Are."

And by the way, Jenny's Boston pal, Lisa Bastoni, was in the house - she's new in town and ready to make her name known here, too ... check her out at www.lisabastoni.com and find out where she's playing. Lisa apparently was headed from Boston to Los Angeles and stopped in Austin and the rest is what usually happens when a Yankee finds Paradise. Here in heaven we all love the contributions of folks from all over who add their own voices to our chorus of joy.