It's been a while since we got to hang with a couple of good friends and tour the city all night long. Karl was celebrating his birthday, and even though we haven't seen or spoken to him or his girlfriend Heidi in months, they wanted to spend the night with us. We were quite flattered and thrilled to hang with them again. Two really good people we've known outside of the music world for a long time. But, they love live music, too, so..off we went. First stop 1300 Southend for their newness to all of us, as well as their wide variety of American foods. We walked out with full bellies and headed for the Muse and caught some of Patrick Davis. It was just him and his dad this time, and I realized and think that I like this more stripped down version of his work than with a full band behind him. After all, I first heard him, all by my lonesome, at Manifest where he performed a solo set when no one knew him. Now he sells out the Muse on a regular basis, is getting his songs on major country stations, and can charge $12-$15 cover too. We're always happy to hear of his successes along this fickle road.
Next we took our friends over to Sanctuary so we could sit and talk and catch up some more. From there, they willingly went along with us to see The Rosebuds at The Visulite. Oh wow. We got there a bit later than I had hoped, and after 4-5 songs (ALL of which I was familiar with and was Hoping I'd hear!), they announced this next song was their last for the night. Ahhhh!! Noooo! Turns out they did 3(?) more anyway for the encore, the last one being one I'd never heard and one of the prettiest things I HAVE ever heard. All in all, I can't complain and they DID sound just as grand as I had hoped. The room was filled, too. I hope, I hope they come back again soon and I get to see them from the front of the stage instead of the back of the room. I love their music very much.
Since the night was still young (11:30), we headed back to NoDa to try and catch two artists whom I heard online and was REALLY excited to see live, and then The Rosebuds had to schedule a show opposite them. I was torn. We did catch a couple of Hezekiah's songs before we left for the Visulite, but missed Chris's set altogether. It's hard to be bummed with so much else going on, but we did get to talk to them after the show and they couldn't have been nicer to us (incl. CD's!) They said they should be back around in July, which seems so very far away to me. They ARE from Philadelphia so I can understand the spacing. In the meantime, the CD's are constant companions to me. Both artists write from a very personal place, and have their own unique singer/songwriter sound. I'm going to stop right now and spend a little bit more time with them before I do a disservice to them by trying to describe what moves me so deeply about their music, songs and writing. When I scheduled them in our calendar and notified Don of these new artists, I wrote "2 more seriously good acts." I was right.
All in all..whew! What a weekend of music for me! And everyone, everywhere seemed to be so much more joyful than usual...me included. I really think Charlotte is gaining steam as a hotbed of musical talent and supporters. I'm proud of the people we know and surround ourselves with. Won't you join us? :-)
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