News

As I stood in this dimly lit room the size of a living den, shoulder to shoulder with fellow wondering wanderers, a sense of anticipation and anxiousness washed over me. What could possibly be worth the 45 minute wait outside that could be unleashed into this tiny worn out slightly out of focus dwelling. Standing room with drunks, socialites, travelers, music aficionados and critics of self-proclaimed taste and others not so much… A small bearded man, beaming with giddy excitement, announced that we, by sheer virtue of being the first guests of the evening, were to be the fortunate few to experience thee one and only “Preservation Hall Touring Band” recently featured on Dave Grohl’s HBO Sonic Highways. Unsure of how I am supposed to react to this news I stood upon tiptoe to get a glimpse of the eight uniquely fitting souls that hobbled wearily to their seats wielding their acoustic weapon of choice and settling themselves into a slight nesting position. A group that was neither color specific nor age biased, they were every bit of character that you would hope to see. Dressed in garb appropriate to the mystic moniker of Jazz Man, what proceeded… can only be experienced. For words or iPhone video could not possibly express the humor, the intensity, the intimacy, the life that belted forth. The room became a washboard tub of spinning and tumbling musical gestures and phrases, howling horn blasts and clanking keys, flurries of notes climbing and falling, thumping bass and syncopated rhythms, crooning with an attitude all too cooler than you. It lasted a little less than an hour, more than most sexual experiences and just enough to keep it’s mystery intact. When you see a group of musicians perform in such a way, that the sum of their individual efforts combine to form the soul of something much bigger, it is always inspiring and maybe even a little intimidating that they have a gift that grants them pathway into something of an experience with an almost spiritual lifting. Something you may never know. A divine enlightenment of social frequency and wavelength. As quickly as it started, the room fell deaf. All that was left in the room were smiling faces, the reverberation of hand clapping, and the historic musical residue that clinged to the walls and spilled onto the floor of this age old house of tradition that was born from a culture of expression and character. I would recommend this to anyone… shows are nightly at 8, 9, and 10. However, afterwards, it’ll be hard pressed to top…