So,
I decided to take a short break in the action from the series to write about some new music that I heard last night and my new favorite band. Also, anything to get Jim and Jeremiah to stop talking about love crevices (see WSM #3). Anyway, I will get back to doing a couple more of those either tonight or the beginning of next week.

Last night Eva and I went to a concert at the 9th Street Abbey in Soulard last night to hear The Fundamental Elements and JR. Let me tell you, this was some downright good stuff. This building is cool and very much Soulard. The high ceilings and the stained glass windows were very cool. The room pretty much asked for some good music. However, it was a tricky room to do sound in as we soon found out with JR hit the stage. JR has quite the rock feel. His performance was very much Andre 3000 with the sound of John Legend in his voice. For those of you who don’t know either of those people, click on the name…

Anyway, a couple friends of mine were playing in his band, so you always want to see your friends succeed. Let me tell you, they succeeded. The beat was thumping and the sound was electric. Unfortunately, there was so much reverb in this room that the words got REALLY muffled and eaten up by the rest of the sound. I believe that what he was saying was good, but you could only catch a couple words. That was a bummer because you could tell he was really working to share his gifts with everyone. It wasn’t lost on me, JR…you did your thing.

After their 7 song set that ended with a Michael Jackson ‘Thriller’ outro (which was hot), we waited a couple minutes for the second group. Surprisingly, they didn’t take a long time to set up and get ready to go. They got in and got it started with a little ‘The Way You Make Me Feel’ by MJ. I have been loving all the MJ tributes at concerts and stuff lately. They did a great job. Then they went into their set of music. I was instantly hooked. The beats were infectious and the lead singer’s voice is just smooth. Again, it was a little tough to hear all the words, but you don’t have to hear words to hear a good voice. Song after delicious song brought me in more. I’ve never heard 5 white guys bring straight soul to the stage like this. I had been exposed to them by their song ‘That Girl’ that I had recently heard on the radio, so I was waiting to hear that one. Good stuff.

One of the highlights of the night had to be when the bassist and the drummer, brothers, went off on a planned jam session. I think I died for a couple minutes. There’s nothing in this world like family connection when it comes to music. They just fit together and it was amazing. They went back and forth between drum and bass solos. I could still be sitting there listening it was THAT good.

I want to wrap this review up by saying that there is some amazing musical talent in the St. Louis area. If you don’t believe me, grab a newspaper, find out where the live music is going to be and find yourself there. You will be totally surprised. In the mean time, I’m going to sit at home and wait for this group to say that the keyboard player got mad and decided to leave. Then I’m gonna drop whatever I’m doing and play for them. Until then, I’m just their newest groupie. And I’m not afraid to admit that man crush.