Thinks happen: Music Monday

	Saturday Night - 02/06/2010 Eden Brent gave us the impression that we were all just old buddies and she had decided she was going to play and sing for us. And she sat down and did that. The big Baldwin full-sized grand-piano impressed her. She would extend a chord now and then and lean forward just to listen to it, giving a passage an extra beat or two. First came a couple numbers from the Bessie Smith song book and then “Bobbie McGee”, “Trouble” and “Rainy Night in Georgia” and “What’d I Say?” and she played “Pinetop’s Boogie” and a lovely rendition of “After Hours”. She made us all misty eyed with a gritty version of “My Man” then turned us all around with “Caldonia! Caldonia! What makes your big head so hard?” She sang “You Were Never Mine” and recommended listening to a version by her friend Janiva Magness who sang for us at the Center a couple years back. Eden sang a couple of her own songs including “South Africa” and told us the story behind it. After performing for over two hours she bowed and left the stage into the wings. We clapped as long as we could and then as we started to leave, she stomped back on stage in her backless high heel shoes and yelled “Where y’all goin’? I’m gonna sing an encore!” Finally she pushed her microphone away and proclaimed a sing-along. We all sang our version of the Eagles hit: “Take it to the Limit” and she clapped for us. Grabbing her jacket and a drink she had stashed under the piano bench Eden Brent walked off stage into the audience and left the auditorium with the rest of us. Unique to the last to say the very least.
The Next President of the United States said... She was a "Blues Mama," right down to the shiny red dress and the voice with that raw, too-much-of-everything sound! I really had a great time with her, although I wonder if she's not livin' this "blues thing" a little too hard. She'd played in LA on Friday night, flown to Memphis afterward and then caught a red eye to OKC on Saturday morning. She burst out of the car Saturday afternoon at the Simmons Center already "on" and crispy around the edges from having about 2 hours sleep, and stayed that way the remainder of the night. Only nourishment I know she had was from those screwdrivers ("The OJ is just for color!" she said.) and the Happy Meal I bought for her at McDonald's about 11 p.m. But dang, the woman can play some piano - really enjoyed the blues and jazz interplay - and I haven't seen anyone as frenetic with a piano stool since Jerry Lee Lewis! She asked if she could have the Baldwin, in fact. As you can tell, I'm an Eden Brent fan ... and I have a new second-best favorite version of "Midnight Train to Georgia!"
Today in 1969, George Harrison's had his tonsils removed at London's University College Hospital. The tonsils were destroyed so they could not be sold. (I was going to put a picture of some tonsils here but ... eeewwww!) Today in 1972, The official Beatles Fan Club disbanded. How soon we forget.