Friday night in Hartford for the UConn/Quinnipiac game found the AHSC gang (JK/Gumbo/Steve/Rod) easing on down to Black-eyed Sally's for some post-games cocktails 'n blues. Our familiar burly, but friendly doorman informs us that Ramone and the Monster would be starting shortly and at a $5 cover we're inside searching for the barkeep and a spot to land. I order up 2 Long Trails, a Bass and a Tanqueray 'n tonic while the boys discover a cozy (?) spot to right of the stage next to the bathrooms (which allows us to commence an informal game of 'rate the rack'). Ramone and the Monster is a CT quartet consisting of a pair of Middletown brothers (a McCartney-lefty on bass and sibling on drums), a Windsor-born organ player and a Boz Scaggs-type lead guitarist. They all alternate turns at singing lead, which makes for some nice changes, and play a tasty variety of music in a funky style (think Young Rascals), mixing Leon Russell, Ray Charles, New Orleans funk, etc. But, as Johnny Gumbo notes, the transition from song to song is uneven, which becomes distracting and loses their momentum. When they are good, they are very entertaining, which in turn makes the dance floor very entertaining as well. Johnny Gumbo is beckoned to the dance floor by a couple of lasses and, as you probably know, Gumbo needs VERY little encouragement to shake his moneymaker (to paraphrase Steve Miller, he's a dancer, he's a prancer, he's a midnight lancer).
An Earth, Wind & Fire number was surprisingly good with Boz showing off a very decent falsetto. We stay for a long first set and call it a night as Stevie Wonder's Superstition keeps the crowd dancing. I have not found any website for this band, but I'd see them again. Maybe a C+ (by the way, an '8' wins best rack in a somewhat disappointing field).
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