Happy Holidays everyone! I hope everyone can find their happy whether it’s with family, friends, or just a quiet night at home. This week had the amazing privilege to go see our son Zack graduate with honors from his AIT course for the Army. We were also extremely lucky to get to bring him home with us for a couple of weeks before he runs off for Active Duty service in the US Army. I’m going to cherish every minute I get with him!
This month started a long time ago, at Sierra Madre Saloon’s Open Mic, it was another amazing night of music and talent. It was awesome to see so many spectators become part of the show! Matt Jameson Live was filling in as the host for Hank the Buffalo, he was like a human karaoke machine with so many singers performing with him on stage! We also had performances by Matthias Cabbell, Justin Murphy, and Dave Gates. There were tambourines, tapping, cajones banging, and people clapping, singing, and dancing along. Ya never know what you’ll see and hear at an open mic!
With all of my super busy weekends, I’m always grateful for the weekday open mics to see so much talent in one place. I arrived at Blue Sky just in time to Megan Yvonne, it’s awesome to see how much she’s improved since her first time at the open mic just a few short months ago, now she’s even playing her own shows! Then Uncle Frank, an Uncle to many in the music world. You’re always in for a special Johnny Cash treat when he tapes his train whistle to the mic stand! Rob Davis played for us. Another guy that has really improved over the months, playing at the the open mics. Bob Klein, another one of those staples of the music scene that showed up to amaze us with his original music. Natasha and Andre are becoming staples to the open mic, and performed for us again. We convinced Aaron Zimmerman to grab the guitar and him and Matt sang a sweet love song to each other! Brock regaled us with some orginals, even with shoes on. Then, Merve wrapped up the night of music for us. It was another night of musical merriment at Blue Sky.
On a Thursday Dr. Nyce had an amazing debut performance at The Sturges Speakeasy! It was cool to witness so many people hearing him for the first time, and getting time to hang with my peeps. Dr. Nyce is really popping out the originals laltely. He will be releasing a Christmas album, “Sugar Spice, and everything Nyce”, on December 5th. I can’t wait to check it out!
Next up was Halloween weekend. After helping Cindy hand out some candy and treats, we headed to XL Live for DEAD!, a My Chemical Romance Tribute band. When we got there we unfortunately missed the System of a Down Tribute Band, Old School Hollywood, which I know are amazing, but we did make it in time for Y2Kids special performance as Linkin Park. DEAD! Used to play every year, but skipped last year, so it was cool to see and hear them back on stage. DEAD! Consists with a lot of amazing local musicians all smooshed into one band. Derek Henry is the lead singer, Logan Summey on percussion, Mitch Hood on guitar, just to name a few… Derek puts on such an amazing performance with this band. If you haven’t seen them, don’t miss your chance to check them out March 7th at Tellus 360.
To continue on our Halloween adventure, on Saturday we headed to Timmy’s Creepshow Annual Drink Or Treat with Hank The Buffalo at the Doyle Hotel it was a night of Spooktacular Fun!! Timmy’s Creep Show have been creeping out the local scene for years, and I’m so glad our paths crossed again! Hank The Buffalo finished off the night, and the Doyle loves these “Brawny” men! Such a fun night dancing with friends!!
On a Tuesday night I made it to the tail end of open mic at Copper Pub and Grille hosted by Megan and Dave. It was awesome to see a nice full list that even poured over to the back of the sheet! I did make it in time to see performances by Marshall Stone, Crash Acoustic, Crash & Cross, Dave Gary solo on the keys, RJ Conrad, and Derek Avalon. Then there was the jam at the end, where Chris Auxt showed up after his own open mic, with a mandolin and joined in on the jam! It was awesome to talk to Crasher after he just got back from a trip to Key West where he got to play some amazing venues. His story is pretty amazing. He was just a guy with a guitar, ready and willing to play.. anywhere! And he played some of the biggest venues in Key West! All because he decided to start coming to open mics after he picked up a guitar and started playing, I’m not positive, he might’ve hit one year as a solo musician, but it’s another awesome story how stepping out of your comfort zone, can lead to awesome things.
On a Friday night, Cindy and I were doing the multi-stop hop, zooming all around the town. The fun began at Fratelli’s Towne Tavern for Crash & Cross, where Crash was still buzzing from his Key West shenanigans! Then off to Floating Gems @ Gruver Farms Winery . I unfortunately had the time messed up so we literally caught the last 3 songs, but the crowd was dancing and having a ball! Then we headed over to Sierra Madre Saloon for some Dr. Nyce. He shared a brand new unrecorded original in amongst his requests which was a catchy tune, and a very special treat! Then we ended the night down at HORN PUB with Hank The Buffalo!! Cindy and I got the Horn Pub hopping and fun times were had by all!
On a Thursday night Derek Avalon had the Doyle packed with his adoring fans. Derek goes around and supports other musicians as much as possible, and along the way he has stepped up and played when he gets the chance, and in the process making new fans for himself. It’s a super smart way to build your fan base with people who love music. It was also his friend Paulie’s birthday which helped add to the celebration. Derek keeps adding to his song list, and keeping his fans intrigued with his song choices! Great job Derek!
Another Zoom! Around Night!! Stopped in for Hank The Buffalo with the hubs for dinner. He finally got to meet the Buffalo Boys!! Then a quick stop at Fratelli’s Towne Tavern for Matt Jameson Live! Then a zoom on down to Racehorse Tavern to see Steel! I love every chance I get to see these guys! The Racehorse was packed!! It’s a beautiful thing to see Steel get a resurgence from fans. Every time I see them they play new songs, and their song choices are always bangers! I love seeing a good crowd supporting bands and the Racehorse!! So glad I made it down there again, finally!
Saturday night I headed to Stealey’s Tavern for Matt Jameson Live. It was a special treat that Rob Rutz brought his cajone and played along. We even hooked him up with a super awesome mic stand! (It was taped to a napkin holder!) After their first hour, I went alone to Capital City Music Hall for Penntera!! The crowd was actually engaged and having a blast at Penntera! People were head-banging, moshing, and having a great time. It was so refreshing to see! It was also cool that it is an all-age venue and there were quite a few young kids loving every minute of the show. With amazing bands like Pantera, you don’t see too many new/young fans rocking out to their music, so that was so cool to see. Kudos to their parents that get them to shows, and continue to raise live music loving fans! On my way out, I went upstairs to check out the room, it looks amazing in there, hopefully I can catch a big show soon!
Thanks to all of the amazing talent who showed up for Wednesday open mic, this was a special week as Megan and Dave were the guest-hosts for Matt Jameson Live’s open mic at The Blue Sky Tavern! Zach Fink, Greyson Beardsley, Ernie Irwin, Uncle Frank, Bill Lang, Crash Acoustic, Nathan Merovich, Nick Minnihan, Joe Moritz, Andre, Leah Gaigler, Derek Avalon, and Merve Music 717 put on an incredible show!
Saturday was a super busy day, but oh so much fun! It started out early at The Vineyard and Brewery at Hershey for DMC Duo. It’s been way too long, I’m so glad I finally got to see them again! Also got to hang out with friends and sample some award winning snacks by Tara Sheaffer! Then after a visit at home, I scooped up Cynthia York Rogers and headed to Tequila Willies for Katz 22 trio! Dancing started when we walked in the door! Love those guys!! Then we ended the night at HORN PUB for Matt Jameson Live! It was great to see people already dancing and having a great time at Matt’s show, and Cindy and I were able to join the party and have a blast all night long!!!!
Thanksgiving Eve once again didn’t disappoint! Cindy and I had a blast singing and dancing at Copper Pub and Grille with Megan and Dave. Happy Birthday to Joanie!!! They even had a bar crawl bus come in and Megan and Dave had them singing and dancing and Joanie and Robin got them all a drink sooo quickly! It was impressive to witness!! Then we headed to The DogHouse for Louder Than Yesterday. These guys are playing all of your 2000s alternative hits! Such great song choices! I’m sure we will be seeing a lot more of them jamming out through the area! So thankful to all the musicians I get to see every time I am Out & About!
The day after Thanksgiving was a quieter type of night. I first went with Matt Jameson Live up to Stoney Creek Inn for his show. It was awesome to see the room fill up with friends. We all had a blast rockin’ out with Matt. Then we ran over to Flinchy’s for the tail end of Megan and Dave. Flinchy’s was packed! It was cool to see such a great turnout. It was also cool surprising our friends!
The final night out was Matt Jameson’s debut show at The Wharf. It was cool to see so many people show up for his debut show, and bonus for all the musicians, he had Crash Acoustic, Megan from Megan and Dave, John and Joreen Kelly from Dovetail, and Derek Avalon all show up. After his show we found out from John and Kristen that they do karaoke down at the Pour House, so we all headed down there and quite a few of us sang songs and had a great night! Big John and Matt even had a moment on the dance floor during Matt’s Wicked Game song that had us all cracking up! Sometimes it’s good to just hang out with friends and have a good time!
That’s a rap for this month’s musical adventures, but I can’t end my December article without saying a big NIFTY Happy Birthday to my big bro Josh Noll, also the Editor of this magazine, so this might not even stay in here…HE IS THE BIG 5-0!!!! On December 19th. Wow.. 50… Hard to believe! Also a very nice and sweet Happy Birthday to my amazing BABY BOY Mason Boob, who is turning 20 on December 5th!!! How is my BABY 20! He’s the reason I’m out here supporting all of you.. Then of course there’s the matriarch of the magazine, Mom, aka Robin Noll. Her special day is December 18th. So many family birthdays this month!
I really must get going, it’s starting to snow, and Zack says we are going fishing this afternoon! HA! We shall see. I gotta spend every second I can with my Army man before he heads off to this Duty Station. Thank you all to those who have served and continue to serve our country. I always appreciated and respected our troops, but I never quite understood what it meant to be a military family until now.
Merry Christmas to all and to all a musical month!! Get out there and Support Live Music!!!
