Part Two: The Good Before the Bad

Searching through all the pictures from Part One, made me realize there was still more live music fun to be had in 2018. Jeff and I had tickets to see three concerts at the Charleston Music Hall. I don't remember the exact dates, but they spanned from February through the first of May, 2018.

First on deck was Eric Johnson. If you know anything about me at all, you'll know that Eric Johnson is one of my all-time favorite guitarists. His music has helped me through more than one rough patch and I've seen him in concert close to thirty times. But this time it was his acoustic show. This time included a piano onstage. My hope that he would play "Song for Lynette" off his Venus Isle album ran high. Unfortunately, those hopes were dashed, but as usual, everything he did play was exceptional.

The band formerly known as The Dixie Dregs came next. Now known simply as The Dregs, Jeff turned me on to them when we first met and I dug them right away. Jazzy fusion that rocks. Steve Morse, the original driver behind the band brings his joy of performance and love of guitar into any venue he plays. While living in the Orlando area during the 1990's, we frequented the House of Blues and nearly all the major bands made a tour stop there. We saw EJ there several times, as well as Joe Satriani, both solo tours and with Steve Via plus various special guests on their G3 tours. I have to assume Steve Morse has a home nearby, because at every one of those shows, he would join the other artists at the very end and just have a ball. It got to be that we expected him to show up and add to the fun.

The last show we saw was Brian Culbertson in May. I found him via the smooth jazz radio station, WLOQ in Orlando. Especially back then, his music was upbeat and easy to dance to while doing housework, painting, or whatever else I may have been doing. Now, you may be thinking, "This is a lot of jazz she's talking about for someone who professes to rock so much." Well, it's true, I love me some rock, but even within that genre, I dig the instrumental stuff sometimes more than I like the poetry of lyrics. They each have their time and place in my heart and my life. We had seen Brian Culbertson in concert a couple of times before and were blown away each time. He did not disappoint at the show that May. It was just a shame Charleston didn't show up for it. I feel sad to think he may never come back here. But that night he put on a show like he was in front of ten thousand people! The show was split into thirds. The first part consisted of his popular hits and crowd pleasers. The second part, he and his band devoted to FUNK and those of us who witnessed it had one of the best times ever. SO MUCH FUN! To bring down everyone's heart rate, from dancing for thirty minutes, he played his latest album (at that point) Color of Love. He dedicated this section to his lovely wife and played a slide show of them and their lives together in California. His specific instruments are keyboards/piano and trombone and if I ever get a chance to see him again, I certainly will.