My plans for Saturday night to venture down to the South Side Lamar area had a double purpose. First of all I needed a live music fix, and it has been way too long since I visited South Side Lamar and Ms. Pascal’s lovely Opening Bell Coffee live music venue. Second, I wanted to go checkout Mr. Blake and Mrs. Keni’s new casa that is under construction a mile or so away from Southside Lamar.
First up for the evenings festivities was Jen Lee Phillips and her gargantuan keyboard. There is just something cool about seeing someone play an instrument that is significantly larger than they are, what can I say? Jen had a bass player and a drummer who added very nicely to her jazzy sound. On first impression I would say that Jen reminded me somewhat of Emily Elbert. She doesn’t remind me of her sound/style, but I think Jen will move along a similar porgression that Emily moved down. The first time I saw Emily she was 17 or so, and impressed the hell out of me with her sound and songwriting ability. Moreover, the second time I saw her play she had improved her performance significantly and taken her talent to the next level. She was more comfortable on stage, her voice and musical ability more refined. Jen is also young (high school age I wold guess) and also pretty impressive with her craft. Her style is pretty jazzy and smooth, and her voice light and with just a hint of raspy overtones. She did well in her performance, but I think the next time around she will be even more refined. What probably makes me most confident of this was the few times in her performance that she opened up her voice a little you could tell there was a lion hidden in there. Her song choice and style didn’t at all showcase that part of her voice or range…. but it’s in there….and I’m sure she’ll let it out at some point. It was a fun performance, and I look forward to hearing her again sometime soon.
And second up to bat we had The Campaign, a 3 man band also sporting a keyboard, drummer and bass player. The campaign in a word: Energy. Their music, for the most part is light rock/soul, but their performance was packed full of power and energy. The performance was high impact and their vibe proved to be infectious to the packed house at Opening Bell. They did, however, upset Pascal a little bit, and it’s never good form to upset the owner of the venue. You see, Pascal is an expert and helping to sell T-shirts, CD’s and other merchandise for the bands that play at her place. To her dismay, The Campaign had no CD’s to sell (but there were a few T-shirts 
). As usual, I digress. Their show was a lot of fun to listen to and probably even more fun to watch. I’d recommend checking these guys out if they are in your neck of the woods.
What about Blake’s place? Well, I did drive by but I wasn’t able to stop or check it out. I didn’t realize that the neighborhood (key word, hood) has a bullet proof vest and BYOW (bring your own wepon) policy that is strictly enforced after 11 PM M-F and after midnight on weekends. So I did a fly by at about 30mph and got a basic idea of where my good buddy and his fair bride are making their new home. Speaking of: Keni, would you mind putting the Jeep in the will with my name on it? I’m not sure how many more years the Ranger has left in it, and I’ve always wanted a car with heated seats.
Comment deleter. You’re getting to be a Digital Fuddy Duddy in your old age.
The only comments that are deleted are those that are spam, or have bogus information (like people who claim to be “john smith”. If you are afraid to say who you are, or are going to spam the board…. yes you will probably be deleted.