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July 09, 2005
A God in Greenwich Village
An unforeseen confluence of events found Tim free as a bachelor last night, so we took advantage it and headed into the city for a boys night out. And as much as I don't like the city, even I will concede that Greenwich Village is very, very cool. One of the great things about walking around Greenwich Village is the sheer diversity of the neighborhood.
On the same block of Bleecker Street, you can find a vintage record store, a day spa, a tattoo parlor, jewelry stores, vintage clothing stores, body piercing studios, hipster clothes stores, music clubs, fruit stands, bodegas, and restaurants serving any kind of cuisine you can think of: Mexican, Indian, Ethiopian,Italian, Brasilian, Vietnamese, Thai, Irish pubs... and then you go on to the next block and see a whole new set of stores and restaurants. You don't need to have anything in mind when walking Bleecker Street; eventually you just see something that looks good, and you go in. We ended up doing just that -- walking in to someplace that looked good -- and had Vietnamese for dinner at The Butterfly Grill. Not the best Viet I have ever had, but it was pretty good, if you're in the Village and looking for Vietnamese food.
But the highlight of the evening was going to Manhattan's last remaining blues clubs, Terra Blues. We're both huge blues fans, so we'd been looking forward to this ever since we started planning the boys night out. Terra Blues is a small club, might hold 150 people if you packed them in butts to nuts - but that's great, it lends an intimacy to the performance that makes the show even better. We got there good and early (have to start sampling the scotch collection, right?) and got a table right up front in the first row... And the headliner didn't disappoint; I saw the fingers of God play guitar last night.
I'd never even heard of Michael Powers or his trio, The Michael Powers Frequency. But after seeing him last night, I am an unabashed fan. That was quite simply the best blues show I have ever seen. This guy is an absolute god on guitar -- and what a relaxed, genuine presence on stage! He was playing three sets between 10:30 and 3:30 am, and we caught the first one. I was in awe. The guy did a cover of "Little Wing" that damn near made me cry; his original stuff is incredible ("Night In Madrid" and "Graffiti" are favorites of mine already), he did phenomenal covers of some standards ("Psychotic Reaction" and "Can't Quit You Baby" stood out) and he closed his set with a 15 minute version of "Hey Joe" that was far and away the best I have ever heard.
Should you think I'm just rambling on, don't just take my word for it: check out what Amazon's readers, Southbound Beat, and Music Box have to say about him. Bottom line is, if you are a fan of contemporary electric blues, Michael Powers' "Onyx Root" is a must-have album. And if you ever have the chance to see him live, he is a must-see show. Behold my new blues hero: Michael Powers.
Comments
A Blues fan, eh? I just KNEW it! ;-)
Posted by: jillian at July 9, 2005 04:03 PM
Hi Jillian - not sure what that means exactly... hopefully we blues fans exhibit good "flags" or obvious traits, and that's how you "just KNEW it." ;-)
But yeah... I was a late bloomer on the blues, didn't really discover them until I was well into my thirties, but now it's about my favorite style of music.
Posted by: Curmudgeon at July 10, 2005 09:58 AM
Man, I wish I coulda made it! Sounds like you two painted the town red.
Posted by: Ethan McCarty at July 13, 2005 08:57 AM
Ethan bro,
It appears that Michael Powers plays Terra Blues at least two Fridays every month. I'm on vacation for the next two, but once I'm back, I am definitely in if you really want to catch the show. Maybe we can grab Tim and Pemagnet and get another boys' night out of it.
Posted by: Curmudgeon at July 13, 2005 11:33 PM
I'm down with that. Mmmm. Beer.
Posted by: Ethan McCarty at July 18, 2005 11:20 PM
Glad to see you liked Michael Powers. His second album will be released in early October, and I thought you might like to know.
Posted by: Andrew at August 9, 2006 03:35 AM
