The drive up Interstate 81 North toward Wytheville, VA is a gorgeous stretch of highway. We’ve traveled this path a lot in the past year with the Reagan Boggs Band, but this time, we were taking a right at Wytheville and headed south into North Carolina for a gig with Special Ed and The Short Bus at ‘The Garage’ and a tour of some of the Carolina mountains legendary roots-music venues.
We had just played four gigs in Knoxville a couple of days earlier, but instead of wearing down our senses, I think we were even more excited about the miles ahead.
Reagan and I were riding together because Tony couldn’t get away from work and we were excited about the weekend. We had just performed four performances a couple of days before and we had plenty of time to talk about the band, our family memories and why we love playing music.
The weather reports were abuzz about a Nor’easter headed up the eastern seaboard and we weren’t sure what to expect, but the threat of a snowstorm seemed all the more appropriate in the hill country.
It’s thrilling to head out into new territory and as the Winston-Salem skyline came into view over the see-saw hills in this part of the country, we both commented how we had never played North Carolina. Tonight we were playing at ‘The Garage.’
When we turned off on Martin Luther King Boulevard, the club was easy to find, but when we got there, the parking lot and the surrounding buildings were desolate. At first, we weren’t sure what Jeff had gotten us into. The city was ghostly on this side of town and the only thing that confirmed this was the place was a funky sign on the outside that said ‘The Garage’and Reagan’s poster on the outside door.
It wasn’t long before the other guys pulled into the parking lot and the club manager (Kathy) arrived in a late-model car and opened the bar by herself.
We unpacked our gear and made our way into a back exit that was clearly marked in blood red matte on the concrete – ‘BAND ENTRANCE.’ It was pretty cool too because just inside the door was an old Victorian piano covered in a pearl dust layer and a small dressing room and the stage immediately to our left.
The place was covered in posters and hip art that included a purple monster with a gaping mouth of teeth behind the stage and a abstract city scene on black walls behind the paraphernalia.
What this bar lacked on the outside was overwhelming from the inside. Not that there was anything valuable here, but the style was completely original. They had some old video editing machine in the back near the rest rooms and one of my favorite finds was the ArtoMat.
At first, I thought it was an old cigarette vending machine. A real antique from the past too – elementary school green with silver handles and glass windows to view the fags. When I came back, I noticed there weren’t any cigarettes at all in the machine, instead each bin was filled with original art.
I was completely surprised and when after reading the signs on the machine, it said -“Artists in Cellophane” and as obsessed as I am with things like this, I had to buy a piece of art to compliment this story. I fed my $5 dollar bill into the machinery and pulled the knob on a ‘Virgin of Guadeloupe’ hanging ornament- The caption on the box told the story of the mexican icon and I knew it would look great hanging from my office window in downtown Kingsport.
It must have been my lucky night too. Not only did I get a piece of window art, I got two pieces and we’ll just call the lucky prize woodcut – Hugo. It’s a cartoon head on a piece of wood. Not much glamor to that, but the ArtoMatic was cool. According to Kathy, someone in Winston Salem started this company and has 80 vending machines all over the region and works with artists to stock the machines. So look out for the Artomatic.
There were some neat beers here too. I’m not the affection-ado that Greg and Keith are, but I enjoyed a few Stella Artois which evidently has a 600 year old brand and a couple of other new “high-gravity,” North Carolina beers while I was setting up.
When my new gear was on the stage, I had to play that old piano too. After moving all the boxes and bottles off the seat and the keyboard, I vibed into a couple of old Ellington and Jelly Roll Morton. Unfortunately, the old piano was way out of tune, but that didn’t stop me. This old girl needed a workout and I had a good time playing out-of-tune ragtime in the back of the room. Kathy mentioned that that piano has been dying for someone to play it.
As the rest of the guys were setting up, I made my way back to the bar and discovered a wonderful thought by Dr. Martin Luther King scrawled on a playful purple paper. I was surprised to see something like this at The Garage, but the waitress and bouncer seemed to have a love of poetry and perhaps this is what they were discussing for most of the night.
The Garage is located off Martin Luther King Boulevard and perhaps it was appropriate that it was Black History Month. I just know that everytime I read anything by Martin Luther King, it’s like there’s a little orator in the back of my mind and can hear him singing these immortal lines.
Hatred and Bitterness can never cure the disease of fear; only love can do that. Hatreds paralyzes life, love releases it. Hatred confuses life; Love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it..
As long as there is poverty in the world, I can never be rich, even if I have a billion dollars. As long as diseases are rampant and millions of people in this world cannot expect to live more than 28 or 30 years, I can never be totally healthy, even if I just got a good check up at The Mayo Clinic. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is the way our world is made. No individual or nation can stand out boasting of being independent. We are interdependent.
After our gear was set, the sound guy came in and had us wired and audible within minutes. The room has an excellent PA and after the first set, we were convinced that his work was some of the best engineering we had experienced so far. His compliments were even more gratifying as said, “It’s nice to work with real musicians who know how to play and perform as a band. You made my job easy.” He seemed to really enjoy the band too, so by the time we ended our set, we were feeling great. The audience and their applause seemed to desire an encore too, but we were polite to get out of the way for Special Ed.
A lot of folks showed up that night who had talked with Reagan on her MySpace account. It was obvious too that many of those fans were there to see her too because after our set, the room cleared out a bit.
Before I left for the show, I stopped by Tobacco Road in Kingsport and bought a handful of cigars and after the set, I gave one to Jeff Malone, Kevin Light and that crazy bouncer and we all shared a big stogie in the artsy ‘Garage.’ Walking out to the street from the main entrance is like a little tunnel that runs the length of the room and just on the outside, I ran into several people in Special Ed and The Short Bus.
Reagan and I played with Special Ed and Goose Creek Symphony last year, so these guys were familiar and as they were whisking in their equipment through the band door, I bought one of their new CDs – ‘Down Hill From Here.’ It’s got a total of 16 songs on it and believe me, you’ll never hear anything quite like it.
Special Ed and the Short Bus are a big band with seven members from Richmond, Virginia (maybe that’s something new – Big Band Bluegrass). They play a legion of crude acoustic instruments and take turns playing bass, mandolin, banjo and guitar through the night. They play a hyped up – high energy – hippie bluegrass and although sometimes you can hear a little Earl Scruggs, you’ll also likely to hear a Frank Zappa song too.
They are truly in a league on their own and after you listen to the lyrics, you’ll find that as the Bluegrass goes by at a high rate of speed, their lyrics are a bit racy for prime time radio. Their liner notes are on the CD are amusing and they site their musical inspiration as “Porno, Whiskey and Satan.”
I was especially impressed by the showmanship of Special Ed Brogan. He’s a nice guy and the centerpiece of the band, but he’s also shadowed by an incredible fiddle player. Aaron Lewis has one of those dark shadowing beards that extends from his ears to his breast, but when he nestles that fiddle beneath his chin, you can’t help but hear a classical influence. One of the guys mentioned there was recent press that indicated Aaron had been a finalist in the Galax Fiddler’s Convention and he was delight to watch and listen too.
Special Ed is a guaranteed hippy/hilbilly good time and we always enjoy playing with those guys. We especially enjoying watching their full two sets at The Garage too. They are lots of fun!
After Special Ed’s set was over, we all gathered our gear and left The Garage looking for a hotel. The snowflakes had just started falling too and I think Jason was feeling pretty good too when he reenacted a Chinese fire drill in downtown Winston Salem. We were driving around a few minutes before we booked into a Holiday Inn Express and headed to the Waffle House to close out the night.
The Garage is a great room. It’s not a big room and when you first drive up, it’s a natural reaction to scratch your head and think – “what the?” Nevertheless, it’s a wonderfully eclectic room that has hosted some great talent over the years. It would be nice to venture back on to this stage soon.
Click here to see all of the photos taken from this evening.