Sunday, May 16, 2010

Jimmie Vaughan At the Boulton Center

Yep. It's that time of year again. Once there is hardly any NY Islanders news to be gathered and discussed, it's time for me to start hitting the concert venues. Oh, just bear with me. You may learn something here and there.

With a Saturday night concert at the Boulton Center on Main Street in Bay Shore, NY, it was back to our favorite Chinese/Japanese restaurant for some Sushi and cocktails before the 8 pm show at Peninsula. How this gem of a NY City restaurant ended up in (of all places) downtown Bay Shore, I'll never know. But it's worth the trip and the check.
Its sushi time!!! on Twitpic

It's also just a few (staggering) steps away from the theater so it's a perfect spot. There are so many places in Bay Shore to eat, I really should try one of the other ones out too, but I'm such a creature of habit.

Now, perhaps I wouldn't have chosen this particular concert to go to from the line up at the Boulton Center, but I did like The Fabulous Thunderbirds years ago and I do like blues.

But the bolton center is the best on Twitpic

But this Jimmie Vaughan wasn't exactly the stout beret wearing raspy voiced Jimmie Vaughan who belted out "Wrap It Up!" This was an old, thin, silver tipped cowboy boot wearing Texan fronting a band that sounded like it was straight out of the 50s.

The program they handed out last night begins with the misleading paragraph:

Jimmie Vaughan is far more than just one of the greatest and most respected guitarists in the world of popular music. As Guitar Player Magazine notes, "He is a virtual deity -- a living legend."


Um, not quite. His brother was the deity. But there is no mention of his brother, the great Stevie Ray Vaughn, anywhere in the program or anywhere in Jimmie's show. I suppose he wants to distance himself from the legacy of his brother and stand on his own. The trouble is, he shouldn't.

While clearly talented, he falls short of the flamboyance genius of his taken from us too soon brother. The only time I THINK Jimmie made a reference to his late brother was in a solo he did that mentioned something about God needing a guitarist. Truth be told, there were plenty of songs that got by on the rhythm alone because the lyrics were indiscernible.
So missing.stevie ray on Twitpic

The later part of the show included a female singer named Lou Ann something or other who was quite good in that twangy, high pitched, country way. She's a trouper too as she was obviously sick as a dog; coughing between lyrics and sneaking cough drops from out of her bra. It was charming.

They played for a full two hours so it was certainly worth the price of admission. But in all honesty, it only made me miss Stevie Ray more.

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