chuckography

Marching Bands and The Doobies...oh my!

Yes, The Doobie Brothers on Daniel Island.

What a nice outdoor venue!

And, during the day, they play tennis there.

But Sunday night was a musical evening.

Patrick Simmons, guitar; Marc Russo on sax, Tom Johnson, guitar and John McFee on guitar, fiddle and Steel Pedal.

There was even a full moon when they got into playing Carolina Moon.

I had a good seat right down front but got up and roamed around to take in the entire spectacle.

Glad I did.

There's a whole different view - and feeling - when you step back from sitting in the 5th row.

There's really no bad seats in the place.

It was designed to give unobstructed views from all angles.

Charleston received an appreciative "tip o' the hat" by Patrick Simmons.

And, for a change of pace, there were no outcries of play this or play that.

Didn't have to ...because they played ALL the hits.

Even I knew lyrics of most of the songs.

The weather could not have been better.

The sound system was spot on as I walked around the arena.

The beer lines were quick and efficient.

(It's late so I have to continue this later.)

OK, now it's tomorrow.

So, the night before the Doobies entertained on a clay tennis court, it was the 18/20-person group called March Fourth, taking the stage - all of it - at the downtown Music Farm.

It was a cross between a halftime band, a drum & Bugle Corps, circus acrobats, hula hoop dancers and a peppy parade troupe.

Did I mention the four people towering above the rest, wearing heightened skinny pole legs.

Sure, as they say about ballet dancers up on their toes,  they could have just hired taller people.

But these high-rise pole-dancers did more than just stand tall.

They lifted each other up, swirled around the stage and looked down on the rest of us.

There was a multiple horn section, fancy outfitted snare drummers and one bare-chested big bass drum guy.

The eye - and my camera - darted back and forth, up and down, side-to-side as we watched the unusually-garbed performers from Portland, Oregon

We were told this was the final night, the last city on their nationwide tour.

And their tour bus had broken down in Savannah that morning.

Thinking quickly, two 15-passenger vans were rented and used to cram in all the instruments, costumes and 18 or so humans for the drive up to Ann Street.

The show started almost on time.

Standing outside the Farm, we watched a horde of people rushing past, carrying props and instruments and wearing outlandish outfits.


"Must be the band, " someone said aloud. "Where's the tour bus? I just see some large church vans."

They kept piling out of the vehicles like from a clown car at the circus, running inside and back out to grab more stuff.

People had heard in advance what to expect so, not surprisingly, there were children in the crowd in front of the stage.

I was careful when shooting some video not to join in the merry jumping up and down that the music inspired. 

The playback of such a bouncing video is not too enjoyable.

Sure enough, the children - about 5 or 6 - were brought up on stage for a fast-paced number that included more jumping to the beat.

I had noticed the bugle blowing, tattooed lady in the pink tutu as they came in and she held her own with trombones, bugles and the rat-a-tat-tat cadence of snare drums.

What a nice LOUD performance!

Labels: clay court, Doobie Brothers, high rise pole dancers, huge Music Hall stage, John McFee, Marc Russo, March Fourth Band from Portland Oregon, Patrick Simmons, stilted dancers, Tom Johnson, two church vans

posted by chuckography @ 12:52 AM