John Evans, The Mighty Orq, and Hell City Kings

3 shows in one on a friday night. Hell City Kings started off the evening with a LOUD set. Reminded me that the Meridian's new speaker stacks can really crank. The Mighty Orq were up next and they were a bit quieter but overall more my style of music. The lead singer can really sing, and proved it with a slow soul/funk tune or two.. I know soul funk may not be an apt description, but it's the only one I could think of at the time. The night finished off with John Evans Band who are now fully on the rock side of things. J was with me and was in culture shock, he hadn't seen them since Blancos where John was still on the fiddle side of country. I'm not sure who's behind JEB right now but they have some clout, I saw at least 6 pro level camera guys and almost as many video cams on tripods recording this one. You'd have thought this was a music video shoot, almost. The poor Houston Chronicle guy was screwed though, he was trying to shoot the show with a F4 long lens.. Which for you non camera geeks means he was shooting a slow lens in a dark club.. tends to not work well.. blurry shots from longer exposures. There was also this Nikon guy who must be friends of John cause he basically started walking around the stage like he was a member of the band, even talking to John in the middle of a song..

Aside from photographers as thick as fleas at the show, the only complaint I had is that when you get a solid lineup of good music like this that you still can't get the Houston audiences to get off their collective butts and put down the remote and go see LIVE entertainment. The place wasn't empty but there should have been 3 times the people there easily. When I can stand back a few feet from the stage and take pictures the crowd is too thin and too laid back.
satyr
3/3/2006
satyr@satyrgraphs.com