| Hanging Out at The Bluebird Cafe
Saturday, October 22nd Nashville, TN Plans are wonderful things. I depend on them and use them as a mental and emotional crutch. I find them incredibly comforting! A lot of thought and effort goes into them, and I wash them down with cup after cup of coffee. The smallest decisions can take the most effort. When a plan has finally been made, it’s a thing of incredible power and beauty – a roadmap to life. I look at it in awe: hundreds of related and consequential decisions, each brilliantly made, an exquisite pyramid that is a testimony to a mind that can only be compared to Alexander The Great, and I say that in all modesty. (snort!) I look at it with pride, gain my touring strength from it, glory in its perfection and insight and then I change it right and left. The trick in making tour plans is to always remember YOU are the boss, not The Plan. Never let the plan become your master because the most fun in life is when you stray off the path to pick some berries. The Nashville weekend involves a group of 6 of my nearest and dearest. These people are not only the finest the Earth has to offer, they’re congenial, easygoing, flexible and good-looking. Having said that, it must also be noted that two of my group are Men. Real Men with Opinions that they aren’t in the least hesitant to express. I always attempt to include them in the making of The Plan and that’s always a mistake. Why? Because they have Opinions! I fall into this trap repeatedly. I do not understand how any world treaties have ever been successfully signed. In my experience, Men possess no concept of negotiation and compromise. Women innately understand these concepts and employ them from birth. My vast experience? I’ve been married to a Real Man for 29 years. I cordially (and foolishly) presented my two masters, Darling Hubby and My Favorite Scot, here for a fortnight’s visit, with Saturday night’s possibilities and both argued that musical evenings three nights in a row might be too much for them and they both preferred BBQ and Beer to The Bluebird Cafe. I could see their logic and didn’t try for tickets with my usual vigor. Ah, but that attitude completely changed after a chance encounter with The Blonde Guitar God Saturday afternoon. Justin let it slip that he was *doing* a little something later that evening at The Bluebird Cafe. “I thought you didn’t want to GO!”, I said accusingly. “Oh, but that was before we knew that JUSTIN was going to be there!” they replied in unison. Sigh Despite general belief, I don’t get my tickets through magic. The flames of desire had been ignited and the hunt was on. Calls, trips, begging and pleading got SueC and I tickets (our grateful thanks to a dear friend) and Lady Luck took care of our other three. We were IN! A bright star shines over the reknowned Bluebird Cafe. This tiny, unpreposessing store-front in a Hillsboro strip mall doesn’t even have its own street number, but shares 4104 with the hair salon next to it.  The small room is packed with tables and
chairs, seating limited to about 125; a bar stands to the left of the single
room. People began lining up at 8pm for the 9:30 performance (the
6:30 crowd had been shooed out); folks with reservations were lined up
to the left, the hopefuls without lined up to the right.
The pleasant fellow from Atlanta in front of us was celebrating his 50th
birthday; the guys behind us were just as friendly and the wait went quickly.
Our names were checked and we were ushered to our table. This is
one of the very few venues of which I can honestly say there *isn’t* a
bad seat in the house. The evening’s cost? A modest $15 with
a $7 food/beverage charge.
A circle of chairs held the very center of the room, and as we entered we saw Justin casually chatting with various people. Our table was against the back wall of the room and Sue and took 2 of the chairs against the wall. Still, my seat was only 8 feet from our favorite Moody Blue, behind him but to his right. A nice angled view! I didn’t feel even the slightest complaint; I simply felt thrilled to BE there. "In The Round" at The Bluebird Cafe has featured many an illustrious songwriter; in fact, a plaque over the front door states: “Through this door passes the greatest songwriters in the world”. (JH came in through the back door – LOL)  This
is a powerhouse music town and many if not most of the powerhouses have
found their way to The Bluebird, whose walls are covered with promo photos
of past honored guests. The featured songwriter/performers of the
evening were Jonelle Mosser, Harley Allen and Special Guest. This
must have been one of the best, if not THE best, kept secrets in Moody
History, a secret broken only by the Special Guest himself, God bless him!
Drinks were quickly and efficiently brought by a waitress expert at sliding
through the mass of closely packed chairs and tables, and soon the lights
were dimmed to an annoying near darkness. Randey Faulkner, Moody
Blues fan and a fine native Hoosier and executive producer of Moody Bluegrass
welcomed the packed house (SRO fans were admitted after the show began)
and introduced the three main performers.
Jonelle Mosser began the performance with a song, her guitarist/accompaniest occupying the fourth seat in the group. The evening continued round and round the circle with many songs given little introductions (the storytellers part of the evening). Often the other performers would chime in with harmony, and there was a good deal of good-natured ribbing, with both Jonelle and Justin suffering at the expert hands of Harley Allen. Justin sang an interesting variety with one surprising addition – It’s Cold Outside of Your Heart from The Present. Justin’s songs at The Bluebird Cafe (not necessarily in this order) Your Wildest Dreams Driftwood It’s Cold Outside of Your Heart Who Are You Now Never Comes The Day Forever Autumn The Voice Nights in White Satin Justin started with Your Wildest Dreams and finished with Nights - the other songs listed, while memorable, simply can’t be recalled in any certain order. The highlight wasn’t any particular song he sang – it was The Big Guy’s jammin’. His guitar work is one of the things I truly love about that artist and this gave those of us with a clear view of his guitar a huge once in a lifetime THRILL. You Da Man! Jonelle sang a Howling Wolf song that I recently heard performed in London by Cream (and hope to hear it againat Madison Square Garden Monday): Spoonful.  Quite
different from the Cream version, but very nice. She prefaced the
song by telling a Howling Wolf story, enhanced by an entertaining imitation
of Howling Wolf’s distinctively gravelly voice. A young fellow (apparently
famous within Jonelle’s musical genre, which I *think* is country) bribed
his way in to a club to catch Howling Wolf’s pre-gig sound check.
After the Wolf finished, he reverently approached the music legend in a
supplicant manner (Jonelle’s word choice) saying, “Mr Wolf, I don’t want
an autograph, I, I just want you to *touch* my guitar”. Mr Wolf’s
sensitive reply? "Fuck Off, Kid!"
Another song sung by Jonelle was by Betty Crutcher, What You Did to Me Last Night (or something like that). Jonelle gave some background on Ms Crutcher as a successful songwriter in the Memphis music scene. I can only describe the song (which I was completely unfamiliar with) as being, um “amazing”, since, as Jonelle rapturously pointed out is about Sex (with a capital S). Whoever this guy was, (in the song) well...he most definitely knew how to satisfy a woman and put a smile on her face! Jonelle is an animated performer and seemed to have a hard time keeping in her seat for this song and prefaced the song with saying “I might have to stand up to sing this”. At the end, Justin said to Jonelle, “I don’t see how you did that song without standing up!” Her reply was muffled, to which Justin replied: “Parts of ME were almost standing up!” I’m going to have to rethink my view of Justin Hayward as a prude! Harley Allen followed Justin’s comment up with (to Jonelle) “I guess you’re going home with HIM tonight” and after reflection, a little gig of “He said ALMOST”. However, Harley had a better view of Justin than I did and Harley’s final say on the matter (and I trust Harley completely) was an observation “It was so hard a cat couldn’t scratch it!”. I’ll take his word for that! Justin definitely had *scored* the line of the night. ; ) Harley Allen was the shining star of the evening! SueC and I have completely fallen in love with him. His eastern Kentucky drawl completely belies his witty repartee, making it all that much more effective. His humorous outlook on life and his stance as a more or less reformed drunk and benign hell-raiser (featured in his song, Another Good Reason) is totally endearing. He made me CRY! And laugh! He’s a performer I will want to see again and as soon as possible. Harley sang 7 songs, giving one to Russell Smith so that he could go out and have a smoke, returning with a glass of red wine in hand. Justin and Jonelle did 8 songs each. Harley’s songs included the following, the titles are a guess except for The Hunch: Another Good Reason (Not to Drink) Little Girl The Hunch When Somebody Knows You That Well The Baby Harley sang 2 songs that Blake Shelton (Country singer) made #1 and in fact Harley has been awarded Songwriter of the Year by somebody, I assume by the Country music people. Sorry, Country isn’t my game, though Harley Allen could make it so! The Hunch was a huge crowd favorite – Harley introduced it by saying that Alan Jackson was considering recording it. Harley continued “if he has the balls”. I was starting to wonder what the hell the song was about! He said he tried it out in a club one night and the women loved it. It didn’t take too long to realize that the song was about a poor husband suffering through his wife’s time of the month. I have to admit the song is right-on. I might try a song like that myself! Honey, my uterus is sitting in a pail under the surgeon’s table, So it’s safe to come home, I’ve put all the guns back away! Another highlight was Harley’s reference to in-breeding in eastern Kentucky, that there wasn’t as much of it as people think, but that still, he had a thumb growing out of his back and it made it hell to buy gloves. Harley’s wife, Debbie, pulled up a chair and beautifully sang backing vocals for a couple of Harley’s songs, prompting Justin to comment that “it must be nice to have a wife that could sing backing vocals for you!” The performance, though feeling short went a full two hours plus and was the most intimate and enjoyable music evening I’ve ever experienced. My only complaint? It was TOO dark! From my advantage, Jonelle seemed to be the only performer spotlighted, her lovely face glowing in the light. While I knew of Harley Allen through his performance on Moody Bluegrass, Jonelle was a complete unknown to me, though obviously known and supported by many throughout the room. She gave a good performance, but mentioned once that what I assumed was coffee in her mug was Maker’s Mark. She should stick to coffee next time.  Justin
started out well by suggesting to Harley (with regard to his Songwriter
of the Year award) that people must have thought that he (Harley) had written
Your Wildest Dreams. Harley’s reply? “Yeah, I TOLD them
I did!” Justin seemed to become even more relaxed as the evening went on.
My favorite moment of confusion occurred when Justin was asked about his
musical influences. He just couldn’t recall the name of the fellow
he wanted to mention and if he had played Garden Party I could have
helped him, but instead he talked about his death in a car crash.
People kept shouting out Buddy Holly and God knows how we as a communal
group finally came up with Ricky Nelson.
Quite a long bit involved “Catharsis” but I won’t go into it! Suffice it to say that Harley was convinced the word involved sex and asked if he could be on top. I was a little surprised and very interested when Harley asked Justin about his life, if the whole music thing had been a ball. Justin replied that it had been 90% boredom and 10% a ball. Wow, I thought he was having more fun than that. Justin turned the tables on Harley, asking him the same question. Harley replied “No, my life’s been hell!” He went on to say that it was great to have enough money to last the rest of his life, as long as he died by Thursday. Harley DID say that he was going to get Justin drunk. I hope he did, and I hope he taped it. You could do few better things in life than to tie one on with Harley Allen. I know I’d like to! MaggieMay Everyone can't sit at the right hand of God, So I hope there's someplace else for the rest of us, Someplace like, maybe, East Heaven - Harley Allen |
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