Holy crap January went by fast! Between work, house shopping, dealing with insurance stuff; Wendy and I still managed to find time to get out and enjoy our local music scene a handful of times at places that we love to hit each month, as well as a new (to me) venue. I have to say…it was a good month overall.
Starting off the month, we headed to Shermans Creek Inn to catch Brandon Barnhart’s band: Modern Outlaws. Now, I’ve known Brandon for a while as The Piano Man and have caught his solo keyboard act a few times. I honestly thought that was his only instrument…I should know better by now LOL. Brandon plays keys AND guitar for the band, as well a second guitar player and drummer playing with him. The Trio covers a wide range of great tunes like American Band, Two Tickets To Paradise, Good Thing, Moving On, and a ton more which made for a great night.
A lil while later, I made the trek up to Sunbury to Iron Vines Winery. I hadn’t been there in a while and I was kind of jonesing for their Chateau de Francois…and they had a solo acoustic musician playing so it was a win-win. Ted Rivers came down from Bloomsburg and played a great mix of rock/pop/southern-rock/country tunes like Small Town, Hollywood Nights, Truckin’, a slightly disco-ish version of Riders On The Storm, and a bunch more. It was great getting to spend some time talking to Ted and his wife prior to his set, as well as watching him play.
The following night, we actually managed to wrangle some of our kids together to head down to The Doyle Hotel in Duncannon for dinner and Hank The Buffalo. It was great seeing Stephen and Chris again. They had a great crowd there to see them, dancing and singing along that evening while the guys cranked out a ton of great tunes including one of my favs: Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay.
A week later, Wendy and I headed down to HMAC. It’s been a while since we’d been down for a show so we were really looking forward to it. Opening up the evening on Stage On Herr was Cumberland Honey. I think it’s been 2 years or maybe more since I’ve seen them and I was just floored at the amount of growth since then. With their beautiful mix of folk, soul, bluegrass sound combined with the incredible harmonies they produce, we both just truly enjoyed hearing them. Headlining the evening was a band that I’ve heard about quite a bit, but this was a first time getting to see them: Berks county based Steal Your Face. The guys are a high energy paying tribute to the amazing music of The Grateful Dead. Now I’ve covered a number of Grateful Dead tributes, so I was perhaps a little skeptical seeing only four members on stage to recreate the sound that Jerry and the boys produced so many years ago…but that skepticism died a quick death as the boys lit in to Alabama Getaway. The sound these guys create on that stage was amazing. I can definitely recommend checking them out next time they come through if you’re even a little bit of a Grateful Dead fan, you surely won’t be disappointed.
My last trip out for the month was at the invite of my buddy Alex Lee Warner, and it was to a venue that I hadn’t been to yet: The Village Nightclub in The Lizard Lounge. I have to say, this place is cool! Lots of room for music fans, a spacious and well lit stage are all things that I love as a music fan and photographer. This afternoon was the return of the All Age Shows. I was informed by Rich that he had done these years ago and had a lot of musicians come through there that over the years have done quite well for themselves. Add to that, all the bands this day were youth bands, and I was really looking forward to this event. Kicking off the event was Philly based Butter Cake – a five piece band cranking out classic hits from Green Day, Van Halen, The Killers, and a bunch more. The vocals and musicianship were very impressive and I look forward to hearing more from them in the future. Next up was Adrenaline Crash, a Lancaster based group with a more mellow and soulful vibe to their song selection that I enjoyed. Headlining the evening was Alex Lee Warner and his band that included Liam Galiano on bass and Ethan Valentine on drums. Alex started off his set with my favorite song (so far LOL) that he covers: Steve Vai’s “For The Love Of God”. If you aren’t familiar with this song, just stop reading and go listen to it. I’m not a guitar player, but I know a tough song to play when I hear it…and Alex does such a great job of playing this song. Following that with a few more songs and even bringing his buddy Bobby Gentilo up to join the guys for a song or two. I love the idea of this show and look forward to Rich and The Village continuing this series!
So there it is, my month of music through my eyes and ears. I want to once again thank all the bands, venues, and everyone else involved in our incredible local music scene for everything they do. Just a reminder: if you’ve got a show coming up that I should see; make sure to send me an invite, shoot me an email or a message, let me know about it. Venues: please don’t hesitate to reach out to me as well. The majority of the shows that I go and shoot I find out about through invites from all of you or your friends. Hit me up on facebook: @chrisriderphotography or email: chrisriderphotography@gmail.com, stop me if you see me out & around and say hi. Until next month…go find some live music and give them and the venue your support, they truly need it more now than they ever did. Happy New Year!
