There are few fashion venues in the Tri-Cities that attract large weekend crowds and The Stir Fry Cafe in Johnson City is at the top of my list of trendy night spots. Over the past few years, Raffeale and his staff continue to manage one of the best Thai restaurants around and they top it off every Thursday, Friday and Saturday with terrific live music.
It’s a special place with an outdoor patio in the summer and it’s hard not to drive by and feel like you’re missing a party on the weekend. Part of their extraordinary success is the total package offered by this strip center on State of Franklin Road anchored by Barnes and Noble, Cheddars, Marble Slab and Chili’s. On Friday and Saturday night, you’ll have a hard time finding a parking spot, so if you arrive late…you gotta bring some patience.
My friends, Steve and Gretchen were entertaining Johnny Todd this weekend. He’s an old friend from Sullivan Central High School who is moving back to Kingsport – returning from Nashville where he has been a singer/performer and jingle vocalist for the past several years. The last time I saw him, we performed together at J. Fred Johnson on July 4th around 1991 with the legendary country radio star, Ralph Emery . Johnny was the one who told me the joke about how to find a musician in Nashville. He looks off into the distance – as if looking for a server and yells…”Waiter!”
It was good timing too. Last week, Greg Smith told me Blue Rapture was performing perhaps their last gig and they always draw a good crowd. Greg still performs regularly with Reagan and over the past few months, I’ve especially enjoyed working with him on the new Clear project. His versatility and distinctive style has really impressed me lately in this new genre and I’m even more enchanted by his ideas as a musician. Greg has been playing with Blue Rapture longer than anyone and collectively they have a legacy that stretches for more than a decade and I seriously doubt these guys will totally break it off.
Like the girlfriend that still gets your attention, Blue Rapture has great chemistry and I’m sure we’ll hear performances well in the future. As people move in and out, they seem to have a good combination of key players who keep the act moving forward.
One of the founding members, Dr. Ronald Baisden is a multi-talented instrumentalist. He began the band several years ago with a blonde vixen named Vanessa Peerson. Ron is a terrific player too picking up one instrument and then another during a Blue Rapture set. He’s great on piano, organ, harmonica, flute, tenor sax and the accordion. Before the set, he was explaining to me, “My parents started my lessons with an accordion teacher and he used to rap my hands for playing the wrong notes.”
We talked alot about the accordion because a few weeks ago Chubby Carrier had shared with me the art of the button accordion. It’s an accordion much like a harmonica in the sense that when you press the bellows in, you get a different tone than what’s sounded when you pull them back out. He said it was a hard instrument to learn.
While Greg plays guitar and runs sound for the band, bassist Sam Burke holds down the bottom end and background vocals. Sam plays with lots of great artists in the area including the Bill Perkins trio. He had performed the night before at the Ujoma festival in Johnson City with Bill and Jose Castillo. He mentioned attendence was a bit off early-on because of the rain, but they still had good crowds. Sam is one of those players who can play his instrument in the dark, under water, hanging from a spinning ceiling fan or rolling off the side of the mountain. He’s all over the fretboard and note-for-note he’s the Bass Buddha for the Tri-Cities and together with Jason Roller, they make an amazing rhythm section.
Jason Roller is among the young elitists of local drummers. A shining star from the ETSU percussion program with Rande Sanderbeck, he’s got a jazz background that is deliberate and persuasive regardless of the pulse. I always enjoy listening to him play, but one of the reasons for the rumor the band is breaking up is that Jason is moving to Knoxville and even though that may be bad for the band now, he’s a talented alumni from the Tri-Cities and I can’t wait to see what he comes up with next.
Richard Housewright is the lead singer for Blue Rapture, officially. He’s been singing with the band for the past couple of years and even though he’s got a punchy blues voice likened to Van Morrison and Joe Cocker, his real strength is the memorable effect of his original songs. I’ve had the opportunity to work with Richard and Greg on a few occasions and we’ve even performed some of his songs with Clear. These are memorable too and sound great whomever’s playing them.
Early in the night, Richard was happy with spoons that Raffaele gave him before the set. It wasn’t long into their first few songs that people were dancing on the floor and his washboard around his next was around the neck of a sexy brunette who seemed happy to take over the role while dancing with Richard from the stage.
A highlight of the show came after the first set. Blue Rapture’s history began with a rich horn backup line including Jimmy on trumpet and Mike McConnell on trombone. A horn section is a rarity among local bands and it was good to see Mike. We met each other in the ETSU Jazz Band back in the early eighties and he was always a fanatic about music. It was cool to hear his intensity over the years and it was even better to see the guys show up tonight and play an absolutely perfect horn-riffed set with his old band mates.
Blue Rapture has great chemistry and terrific seasoned players. Even though some say this will be the last show, I’m still convinced we’ll see this lineup show up off and on the music scene well into the future. Who’s playing may be a mystery, but it will always be something to look forward too, even if they say it’s their last…again.