Downtown Kingsport’s nightlife was busier than it has been in a long time last Friday night.
It was 8.00 and Main Street was lined with cars along Main Street at Kingsport Grocery Company. Rascals was glistening with cars in the moonlight and it was difficult to find a parking place on Broad Street. For the first time in a long-time, Downtown Kingsport was ground zero for entertainment too.
I haven’t mentioned much about Slow Motion Trio over the past several months as we’ve been working hard on creating a new vibe, but that will change soon. We’ve had several gigs over the past six month and last Friday was our first show in Kingsport at The Stir Fry Cafe.
We had a good time too, but I’ll have to be careful with some constructive criticism. I’m sure things aren’t always this way, but by the end of the night, it was like walking out of an episode of the Twilight Zone and like nothing I’ve experienced as a musician.
Our band has performed several times at the Stir Fry Cafe in Johnson City and we were all excited about this show tonight. They usually have a great level of both food and service and you may recall they were one of my favorites at the March of Dimes event back in October.
Based out of Knoxville, the Johnson City store led to two new locations – one in Kingsport which opened this past Summer and another recently in Asheville, NC. It’s a popular place on the weekends too because they have always supported live music – despite the fact they don’t have a stage at either locale.
Our crowd was great, but this venue hardly respects the entertainers who bring a crowd and they were completely ignorant of patrons who had way to much to drink up to and ignoring the fact that one loaded professional almost started a fight with the band right in front of the sushi bar. Our friends also reported a wait staff with a glacial level of service, but we’ll wait on that.
We arrived around 8.00 and the place was packed – an hour wait for dinner and plenty of people in the bar which included waitresses standing on rails reaching for the top-shelf spirits. At the end of the bar is the sushi bar that was busy throughout the night with brightly colored rolls of fresh fish, wasabi and ginger.
Our first obstacle was one which is a problem for most live venues in the Tri-Cities region. There’s only one venue that offers a true stage for musicians and that’s The Down Home in Johnson City. All of the other places that host live music simply move tables and chairs out of the way when the band is ready to setup.
After loading in our speakers, drums, keyboards, guitars and other gadgets, we were obviously in the way and it was difficult trying to figure out how a five-piece band was going to fit in at the end of the sushi bar.
Thankfully, our vocalist Jared Bentley has a good handle on this type of prep work because it didn’t take long for him to have a plan. Even though we were limited in our movement and worried about the volume in such a small room, we had everything ready by 9.30 and ready to strike up the band.
Despite the difficulties that began the night, one of the most unusual moments was when a tall man in his thirties commented on the Amstel Light I was drinking while talking to Heather McCloud.
Looking at me through the slanted eyes of someone who already had too much to drink, he said, “Is that the best you can drink?”
Amstel Light is one of my favorite ways to settle into an evening of playing and even though he caught me off guard, I explained to him that I would a drink of single malt scotch, but that I was laying off the expensive stuff this evening.
A few moments later, I was explaining to another group of friends about the last time we visited the Stir Fry and the $20 price tag for one drink of single malt called “The Macallan” and pointed it out along the shelf just as a hostess was standing along the rail to grab the bottle.
I watched the bottle to the glass and wanted to see who had placed the order and within a few moments, I watched the glass go to the end of the bar to the man who questioned my beer and he pointed the bartender to deliver it right back into my grasp.
Lora Taylor had just brought me a splash of Patron (we always enjoy a glass together) and I was surprised and thankful offering a couple of the friends of taste of this peaty 18 year old scotch.
Before we started to play, I had a chance to thank the gentleman for his generosity, but still curious why someone would go to that much effort. He also explained to me at the time that he’d like to hear some “Hootie.”
As a musician, one of the most uncomfortable moments is when someone asks to hear a song that you don’t play. They hope and sometimes assume you know every one of their favorites and as a performer, you always like to please, but sometimes, it’s just not a part of the gig.
As usual, I explained we didn’t play that song as a band, but (my mistake), I mentioned that Jared might know it.
We started our set with one of favorite new songs called “Candy Man.” I couldn’t have been more delighted to see all of our friends who came to hear the band including Tammy Rowland who was celebrating her birthday with her husband who flashed plenty of pictures that night.
The Donaldson’s (Jim and Heather) were there too celebrating Pat’s birthday and several people from work and old friends we hadn’t seen in a while seemed to enjoy our music with a handful of people dancing well past midnight.
It wasn’t long into our second set that the “Hootie Man” who was front and center like a zombie mouthing the words…”Hootie, Hootie, Hootie…” while we were beginning our set. I had some trouble with my rig and we were trying our best to settle into the cramped environment and wasn’t sure what to tell this guy in between songs.
It wasn’t much longer till this guy jumps in front of Jared on the microphone just as we started to play ‘I Wish’ one of our favorite new Stevie Wonder songs. That’s where the trouble began too.
As we vamped the introduction, this guy obviously exhausted every ounce of patience from Jared. He’s usually very tolerant with drunks where we play having to bite his tongue a number of times as people want to jump up in front of the band like a karaoke stage or take over the spotlight in one way or another.
“This guy is threatening to kick my ass if we don’t play a Hootie and The Blowfish song!” Jared spoke into the mike before the noisy room.
I know he was kidding, but that didn’t squash the intoxicated persistence. Tom Bettini later reasoned that he felt like he owned us since he was buying drinks, but we simply didn’t know the song (and for that matter – despise Hootie and the Blowfish). Instead, the guy got even closer to Jared’s face while we tried to keep the song going, but even that stopped.
I’ll write more about the band later in the week, but I can tell you this now. Jared and Lance are tall and formidable looking opponents. Lance Williams, our guitar player takes no shit off anyone and when they put their instruments down – there’s need for alarm. Seeing Jared having little success in driving off the maniacal patron, they each put stopped their music and took of their instruments – that was a first.
What’s even more annoying was the fact the managers of the Stir Fry (primarily young 20 something males) did absolutely nothing to tone down this disturbance – even though it was directly in front of everyone. Not a peep – seriously. They may have been ignorant or fearful of the situation, but after several tense moments it died down, as the man’s wife (who evidently is a newcomer who works at the hospital) finally backed off – and we began the music again.
There were a few more times our “Hootie Man” kept trying to start something, but thankfully his wife finally started to suggest (despite the Sitr Fry) that he had caused enough trouble for one night.
We did our best to complete the night out with a set that we felt pretty good about despite the interruptions, the cramped environment and the strange things that kept happening.
Our friends who were kind enough to spend some time with us tonight enjoyed their food, but didn’t have too much to say about the service this evening. Tom Bettini did refer to their service as “glacial” and as always, he’s always a man who knows just the right word.
Don’t misunderstand my review. We enjoyed our first gig in Kingsport and were glad to be a part of this new effort in downtown Kingsport. I know we brought a lot of friends who had never been to this downtown venue and we trust they will come back.
As for Slow Motion Trio, we can’t wait till this weekend in Johnson City where we will be playing at Halo. We love this place and even though they are a bit smaller than the room in Kingsport, they sure know how to treat the band. The last time we played there, we had a whole room of dancing ladies out front and that makes up for excessive testosterone on any day!