Another Successful I-Fest

First, on Saturday I saw the Low Rider Band, formerly known as War!
Bonus: while there I ran into my long-time and long-lost friend, Albert. I hadn't seen him in something like 3 years or so. It was great to see him and catch up a little and enjoy the Low Rider Band together, though I got mad when he said he had forgotten about the time we got so drunk on White Zinfandel we almost got thrown out of Billy Blues when we went to see A.J. Croce there! That was such a hilarious event in our history.

Closing the night was the Neville Brothers, who I have never before seen and it was well worth the wait. I was right up front, natch. My jaw dropped when Aaron Neville sang "Tell It Like It Is" and reminded us that it had been a hit in 1966. I couldn't believe I was watching Aaron Neville sing a song that was 42 years old and he was doing it right in front of me and he looked like a million bucks! I mean, look at him!!! God, nobody sounds like the Neville's when they harmonize and I guarantee it.

Sunday was the day that reunited me with my love, Taj Mahal!

I pulled my little "2:10 Train" trick again. [And I may have told this story on the blog before but I don't care!] About 6 or 7 years ago I was at Gruene Hall where Taj was playing and I was, uh, right up front, you think? Anyway, I yelled out at one point for him to play "2:10 Train", which is my favorite song off the Rising Sons album (the short-lived 1960's-era band he once had with Ry Cooder, et al, when they were just kids) and he stopped dead in his tracks and said, "Who said that?!?" I raised my hand and he looked at me, looked away, looked back, took off his glasses and, wide-eyed, said, "Nobody's asked me to play that song in 30 years." He was flabbergasted! He started to pick the first few notes of it, looked at me, and we both laughed. The audience was like, WTF? It was great!!!

So I did it again last night. He did the same thing, stopped and said, "Who said that?" and I waved my hand and blew him a kiss. He laughed again and seemed to have a momentary flashback from when I did that before! He told the audience, "Man, every now and then someone calls out for something from way back in the DAY!" He picked out the first few notes again for me and I just laughed. And again the audience was like, ok, she's hardcore. At the end of Taj's set I had to squeeze out a few tears, not knowing when I'd see him again! Damn, I've only seen him in concert like 7-8 times!
Taj ended his set with an African jam session with the African/Belizian musicians that had played the stage before him. God, how I love that man. Taj will cure whatever ails me, every time!