Who Is He
Who is he who has long white hair
Who is told it should be hanging down during a set?
Who is he who sometimes wears shades when singing
But, for the brand, never his readers? Oops he has them on!
Who is he who has a special redhead by his side
With the "merch" and calendar,
Who books his gigs, keeps him busy, and takes care of the social media footprint
And who I study to learn how to market my writing?
Who is he who travels the world
With a band waiting in every country
Or at least it seems that way from our usual front-row seats?
Well, tonight we're in the back, thankfully it's a small room.
Who is he who hit a bear in Alaska
Or according to the redhead, the bear hit them,
And I've heard open a set with a description of a
Thousand pounds on stage coming from southern Monroe County?
Who is he who can switch from the blues, to country,
To heartfelt originals in a flash,
And often travels with three pedal steels,
Plus two or more guitars that have names? One is Louise.
We can't put a date on when we met him
But we're sure glad we did,
Our music appreciation has expanded
And our group of music friends continues to grow.
We appreciate you Son Henry or
Karl Henry Mann, whatever your name is on any given day.
We love the boot stompin', chair dancin' singer man
We follow around town to old places new to us and new places to us all.
Thank you for the music that fills our souls.
Happy birthday our special friend.
We love celebrating with you and Carolina.
It’s National Buy a Musical Instrument Day. I’m not going to run out and get one myself, but I sure do appreciate those that do. My husband and I like music. We enjoy watching the old musicals on TV and often go to dinner where there is live music, mainly jazz. In my sewing room I listen to Country because I identify with the stories in the songs.
Recently we spent five days in the French Quarter of New Orleans. Dixieland Jazz is prevalent. We enjoyed it so much we want to go back. One band in particular called the James Rivers Movement, we are still talking about. James, according to Google, is somewhere between the age of 76 and 81. He has been appearing in the New Orleans Jazz festival for the last 40 years. He played all the woodwinds, sang, and then surprised us by turning from the audience and turning back around playing a jazz melody on the bagpipes. We sat with our mouths open. He is not only a good musician, but also a showman. No one left the room until the evening performance was concluded.
When I was a kid, I took piano lessons and in school I played the trumpet and then moved on to the french horn. I got the music appreciation gene, but not the one that likes to practice. I can still read a music staff and tell you how long to hold the notes, but that’s as close to it as I get other than listening.
We have multiple musician friends who we follow from gig to gig in our area. Sometimes they are playing in a church, a club, or at a festival. I guess you could call us groupies. We have even donated money to some of them so they can get a new CD launched. Like I said, we like music and the people who make it happen. An interesting side note; they all seem to have more than one instrument. I’ll leave the buying a new instrument to them and gush over it like it was a new baby the next time I see them.
Sue Spitulnik 