All my rowdy friends.....are sleeping, and I have to be at the golf course at 7:30 in the morning, but what the hell. If I plan it right, I can nap while I watch the Yankees/Royals game (yes, it's painful and, no, they aren't going to make the playoffs) and zip down Highway 91 just in time for the show. No call from Keith, so I'm solo.The Yankees have just tied the game as I pull onto State Street. A parking spot on the first try! Life is good, for I usually have to circle the lower State Street area a few times to get one of these precious bad boys. A cute, punk'd-up young lady takes my $8 cover and I squeeze through the front door located adjacent to the stage JUST as The Reducers finish their set. That means the intimate, narrow, corner bar, packed at 11 o'clock on this Friday night, is immediately in motion: Reducers exiting the stage, receiving the adulation of their fans, hauling their shit offstage/out-the-door, selling their just-released CD; Broken Singles (hey, Binky!) dragging their shit onto the tiny stage; patrons exiting the front/back doors for some fresh air and a smoke or refilling their beverages at the bar. I find an open spot at the bar near the front, order up a Brooklyn Lager and look around. Kerouac is still looking down at us from his perch above the bar, right next to a six-pack of Hull's Export.
In no time at all, equipment is appropriately in place and tested, the crowd is reassembled and energized, so let's get on with the show. The usual suspects (Binky/bass,backing vocals; Mike Castellana/lead guitar,pedal steel; Bob Dulany, drums; Sarah/guitar/vocals) take the stage and launch into their set. This is to be lead guitarist/pedal steel Mike Castellana's final official gig with the band because, as Sarah explains, he is shortly to become a dad. So, who slips into his spot? No mention. And it's Sarah's 30th birthday! She's sporting a black eye, which shows prominently each time she blinks and mentions how she broke a tooth a couple years ago at a Cafe Nine gig (they've played The Nine seven times). Guess you got to be tough to rock 'n roll! The band is relaxed, assured after so much touring and sounds great. They've tweaked some of their standard concert numbers and added a few new songs to be included on their next CD, which should be out by next Spring. Castellana takes some extended solos, seems more animated tonight, is in good form. All are having fun. The crowd seems into it. And the Zelig-like Josh from Long Island is back! If you remember, Josh is a 12 year old SBBS superfan who comes to numerous shows with his parents. Entertaining set (although still no Blind Love). Toward the end Sarah offers that we not play the encore game (finish, stroll offstage, wait to be called back up), but agree that the next few songs will serve as such. Good deal. The set finishes with an extended Turn Your Lights Down Low (Open Up Your Back Door) featuring half of the audience being brought up onstage for a call/response thing. Cool.
Good show Sarah, Binky, Mike, Bob. Catch you again sometime, you never know where. Meanwhile, I've got to get to bed!
Sarah emails to remind us that Sarah Borges and the Broken Singles return to New Haven's Cafe Nine (tonight), August 15 with hometown (and our) faves The Reducers. They have a new record out, and we're psyched to be playing with them! It is also with happy sadness that we announce that this will be SBBS guitar/pedal steel player Mike Castellana's last official show with the band. We love and will miss him.
It's way past my bedtime (they don't go on until after 11pm) and I've got a very big golf match at 8am Saturday, but I plan to make my way down I91 to New Haven. Coming along, Keith?
No comments:
Post a Comment