Heat vs. Toots---Arts Garage vs. AA Arena (Toots Lorraine and The Traffic Starts Arts Garage Summer Season Moving in the Right Direction)

Submitted by Al Kanovsky 6/2/13

The Heat played at American Airlines Arena last night. Tyra 'Toots' Lorraine played at Arts Garage. Both venues sold out. The crowd at AAA saw a team lose(sadly and badly). The audience at Arts Garage (paying a lot less per seat) saw a band win. Toots Lorraine and The Traffic won the hearts of their audience. Comments after the show ran the gamut from "Wonderful" to "Amazing".  Trying to avoid superlatives I will simply say "Great show".

The Traffic, Chad Dant aka Chadmo(guitar), Steve Miller(bass),Brian Menendez(drums) and Dave Franks at the keyboard playing a Roland VK7, opened with a Louis Jordan inspired shuffle. Toots came on stage in a slinky black satin dress and crimson red heels. Every woman in the audience had something to say about the footwear. The BLUES are fairly simple and easy to understand for the listener. Basically 3 chords in a 12 bar structure. But my oh my, what talented musicians and vocalists can do with the formula. Original tunes, Blues standards, boogie-woogie, shuffle and honky-tonk. Toots and The Traffic covered all the bases. Most of all it was fun for the listeners and players. The audience appreciated the bands efforts and the band appreciated the audience response. Steve Miller's sang "Sell My Bucket" making the crowd chuckle. Toots sang her way through several originals including "Worried Mind".  Chad sang his original tune written for Toots(they're married to each other), "When You Comin' Home Baby". During a jump number Toots came down into the audience to get a couple of guys up to dance with her. One of them was a tablemates, Brian Polstra. He shaked it and shook it and had a good time. His wife Judy, said she enjoyed watching her husbands 'moves'. Another couple at my table were Alan Burgess and Sharon Blake. They were tappin' and clappin'. The play list included "Wade In The Water" and a tune pilfered from the Insomniacs, "Shake The Chandelier".  There were no chandeliers but the whole room rocked. Toots' rendition of "Blind Girl" brought us all to our feet. In the middle of the first set I realized I had seen and heard the band before. It was last year at a famous old school 'jook joint' near Gainesville. The Bradfordvile BLUES Club is the oldest club dedicated to BLUES in Florida. Hard to find and harder to get to but well worth the effort because of the music you get to hear. My thanks to Toots, Chadmo, Brian, Steve, and Dave. All of the solos played were inspired but I have to say, Dave was 'hot' this particular night. Toots' favorite BLUES lyric line---B.B. Kings " I bought her a $10 dinner and she said it was a snack". That has happened to lots of guys I know.
BEFORE & AFTER:

THE BEFORE: Prior to arriving at Arts Garage, I met friend Bette at an Irish Pub called Finnegans in Boca Raton. There was an afternoon JAZZ session. Two young musicians were on stage. Jason Faust(trumpet) and Kyle Smith(tenor sax). Both are recent graduates of Olympic Heights High School and are continuing on to two great Florida Colleges. Kyle to FAU and Jason to FSU. Good luck to both of these young JAZZ players. Unfortunately they had to play from tracks. I don't generally review musicians that play that way. In this case I do it for two reasons. #1. Young players need to be listened to and play to live audiences. #2. Most of the tracks were from the Ellington songbook and you can't argue with that.

When  Jason and Kyle had finished their set a somewhat more mature gent took the stage. Ivan Skinner, a troubadour, told musical stories including "Things Were Different Then", "Jolie, Jolie", "Pennies From Heaven" and "Route 66". I was off to Arts Garage, taking Route 1.

THE AFTER: Leaving Arts Garage I noticed the clock. It was a little after 11PM. Way too early for me to maintain my reputation. I headed for BJB's in Fort Lauderdale the Ike & Val Woods show. Part of my reasoning was Ricky Williams on keys. Willy Seay on bass and Gary Berman on drums ain't chopped liver either. Ike's patter and Val's vocals please audiences all over the Southland. Ike's brothers, Sherman and Verne are renowned Gospel singers and came on stage to sing "Change Is Gonna Come".  Ike removed his 'stingy brim' to wipe the perspiration from his head. He said "When I was 17 I had an afro. Now I have a nofro". They played a jump tune and I danced with my favorite server, Nancy. Bret scowled, Marty smiled. (the managers). Outside, as the club was shutting down I ran into (in The Bronx we said 'bunked') a guy named Patrick Ross. A most interesting fella and JAZZ historian who really has thoughtful tales to tell. Willy Seay was packing his stuff up in his car and we were saying "goodnight" when he told me his mother had 14 children. 8 boys, 6 girls. All are musical and play with bands and shows all over the country and world. His mom is =_  years old and still plays keyboard. G-d bless that woman. Tonight is still undecided so----------

You can all join in singing----Nite 'n day, Nite 'n day, Nite 'n day…. 

    

     

Al's Disclaimer:

A short note: The reason I write this is because I love music and words. I do not book acts. I do not promote acts. I do not accept invitations to review artists. I go to venues of my own choice. When and where is not influenced by anything other than who I would like to hear that night or day. If I don't like what I hear, I won't write about it. When I like it I let you all know. I never mention a name without asking permission. "Pardon me, Miss. Would you like to dance?"       

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