Mike Younger Set Opener “Ragtime Angel” 9/17/22 Byron’s Bar
Category: Rainy Day Music Archive
Thoughts about the former brick & mortar, 1987-2002 RIP
Deeper Dive: Rod Picott “Your Father’s Tattoo” 7/31/22 Byron’s Bar
Our upload to Archive.org doesn’t include this interesting introduction to this powerful song:
Triumph / Thunder Seven LP vg+ 1984
Chad Elliott, 8/6/22, Mural Reveal And Concert, Spencer, Ia Public Library
Chad Elliott was commissioned by Spencer Public Library to produce this five panel mural, made possible by The American Rescue Plan: Humanities Grants for Libraries. Here’s video of the reveal and audio of the concert.
A House / On Our Big Fat Merry-Go-Round (promo) LP vg+ 1988
Amanda Fish Band 7/9/22 Byron’s Bar 10 Minute Snack Fill “Voodoo Chile”
So this happened. The Amanda Fish Band played at the annual street dance that Byron’s sponsors for Pomeroy homecoming. Pomeroy should be grateful (but they’re not). Late in the band’s second set, Amanda took a ten minute break to feed her eight week old son and Glen James started into a ten minute drum solo requested by the audience, when Bob Pace joined him with this little Hendrix ditty:
Rhead Brothers / Dedicate (c/o) LP m- 1977
Dave Zollo & The Body Electric, Okoboji Store, Okoboji, IA 6/30/22
Well, that was odd. Earlier in the week, David Zollo posted on his Facebook page “we will be at the Okoboji Store Thursday”. So we went. It seemed like nobody else did.
Apparently, the Okoboji Store is primarily a restaurant with a lower level bar and near the bar there’s a stage with a couple of tables nearby.
The Hyper-Capable Staff virtually insisted that we make reservations at either the restaurant or the bar, so we did that, but subsequently discovered that if you were ONLY going to listen to the band, you didn’t need a reservation, and you could just sit at one of the tables, which we did. They cancelled the reservation.
It seemed as if nobody ever goes there just to listen to the band.
But the table next to us filled up with some talkers right about the time things got underway, and it took our Intrepid Taper about five songs to decide to relocate his mics to the conduit running up the side of a tree, and that pretty much took care of those guys, who moved as soon as Intrepid Taper took the trouble to make that tricky relocation in the middle of a song.
So we got the sound the way we like it at the sixth track “New Man Blues”.
At the end of the songs there was some scattered applause from the diners and the bar patrons, but it was sparse enough that Zollo could thank individual tables.
People strolled by on a nearby sidewalk and occasionally bobbed their heads like they’d heard something catchy. And kept walking; nobody came up close around the stage.
We virtually had one of the best bands in Iowa to ourselves.
Okoboji is a funny place-they’ll pay $50 to see Night Ranger but negative nothing for a really hot band that probably spent the entire night hoping for some synergy with crowd.
The Okoboji Store has valet parking for big boats though. Really big boats.
“Small Photograph”, Mark Stuart, Byron’s Bar, 6/24/22
From the album “Songs From A Corner Stage”
Mark Stuart of Nashville, TN (not the Christian singer by the same name) turned in a great night at Byron’s Bar, Pomeroy, Ia on 6/24/22. We’ll have the full performance up at Archive in due time, but one song in particular caught my attention because it sounded very much like the Amazing Rhythm Aces. Mark confirmed to me that he was a Russell Smith fan, and I think that’s pretty obvious to anyone else who listens to the Aces (such as myself).
Poster by Mark Gerking, thanks to Tom Brandt for the photo (not the guitar the artist used in this number).
