Charlie Louvin/Mike Stinson

I get to reply to myself, after a night of Bendryl and NyQuil combo fueled non-sleep. As I said last night, Club Spaceland was kind enough to let us stand in the rain until the doors opened late. The whole night happened later than I thought it would. The first performer was Frank Fairfield, a guy I never heard of. I doubt that I will ever see the likes of him again. He was young and played songs that must have been over 100 years old. He seemed to enter a trance when he played, alone with his banjo, fiddle, or guitar. It was like he was channeling a Civil War soldier in the way he played and sang. Perhaps this was the kind of music Robert Johnson listened to as a lad. Go to his Myspace page, http://www.myspace.com/frankfairfield, and see what I mean.

Mike Stinson and band followed and were great as always. Dave Gleason on guitar was tremendous. Mike was all dressed up in jacket and tie for the occasion. Around 11:15 or so Charlie Louvin made it to the stage and the packed crowd was digging it. He was in his usual good humor, telling jokes and such, although a very long and weird joke about Obama had some of us wondering. About 4 songs into his show, the power went out, no lights, no sound, no air, no nothing. Dark. A couple minutes later someone figured out the power to the amps and monitors on stage were back on so the show resumed with the monitors turned around to face the crowd, and 2 guys standing on stage with flashlights illuminating the band. Eventually some of the stage lights came on and flickered on and off for the rest of the night.

Lucinda makes her appearance about halfway thru and did Get Right With God with Charlie. They they did a Louvin Brothers song that I think was called When I Stop Dreaming. Lucinda sang a pretty duet on this one. Charlie also brought 2 other women out of the audience to accompany him on one song each.

The flashlight lit specatcle continued until about halfway thru The Christian Life, when the power went out totally and permanently. Charlie and Mike had to finish the song with acoustic guitar and voice only while the crowd stood totally silent. Then the show was over.

I had the pleasure of drinking a beer in total darkness while the crowd filed out into the street. I also had the never before thrill of entering a pitch black mens room filled with men trying to find the urinals and hoping they were hitting it. I do not wish to ever do this again.

When I left the bands and Lucinda and Tom were chatting with friends out on the sidewalk in the totally dark neighborhood at 1:30 am but I was too tired to say hello so I went home. I forgot to mention The Chet played guitar on Get Right With God so I knew then that he was still in the fold since I had not yet read Tom O’s news blurb about this.

Thx Tom, just an fyi, Spaceland is not a theater but a club, about the size of The Troubadour, and I was squeezed into a corner where the stage met the left wall.
😀