I asked someone at MTO to point me in the direction of The Bell House and talked out strategy. I didn't know if there would be an opening band or not. Adam said it would be unusual to have only one band at that venue and I got the impression there are often many in a night. It turns out there were 3 acts.
I also had my trusty All About Jazz with me and it had the address and train info in the venue listings. So, it wasn't hard to find even though I don't know the area at all.
I got there around 9ish. It's a large warehouse in a warehouse area. But, it is fixed up nice inside and I definitely like the bar area when you walk in. The bartender was very good and attentive and it had a nice feel to it. I walked toward the end and found the box office, which is right by the door to the performance space. You get an invisible handstamp that allows you to come and go in the somewhat large performance area. There's another bar off to the left and a few, very few, tables and chairs in the back on each side of the sound booth.
Sean Bones was on when I got there, so I went in to check it out. I enjoyed it enough to stay until the end of the set. At first it was kind of reggae sounding and then it melded more toward rock. I was surprised it was their first show. They have the drummer from Rana. Now that I'm looking around I see Sean is from Sam Champion. I have to check that out sometime. I wonder why he didn't ask Joe Russo to sit in, since he was there that whole time. I see they are booked at Pianos tonight and Brooklyn Masonic tomorrow. I think I saw they will be at SXSW as well. So, it's not your typical first show when you have several gigs following already.
It seemed kind of long before Brad Barr came on to do his solo. He said he had some problems getting in that day. It was his Mom's birthday, so he was excited about that. I enjoyed it at first. I was very intrigued by how he was pulling this string and interesting sounds were happening. It wasn't a guitar string, but it was somehow attached to his guitar. I really don't know what was going on. He also had a harmonica and sang at times. I enjoyed it, but it was too much for that time at night. I think it would have been better if he was first and then Sean Bones. It got old for me after a while and I got bored and even had to step out for a bit.
Marco was good, but it wasn't quite doing it for me. The best part of what I saw was when Joe Russo sat in. I loved it then. I'm not sure what was up, but I think it was too hard to go from the stellar sound at LPR to this venue. I'm getting very spoiled with these new venues and everything is on a different standard.
I do think it was me. I also didn't stay to see what else happened. At around 12:30, I just realized it was time to leave. Interesting that there was a yellow cab sitting out front and it just felt like it was meant to be. I did read about it on jambands.com and it sounds like it was more enjoyable than how I felt, so it must have been me.
Anyway, I'm glad I checked out the venue and I'm looking forward to when Marco comes back to this burrough.
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