If you were to ask that question to Cliff Homesley, one of the partners in the law firm of Homesley, Goodman, & Wingo, PLLC, he’d probably tell you why not?

After all, Homesley and his law firm host an event they call ‘Blues & Burritos’ each year on the front lawn of their office on South Main Street in Downtown Mooresville. The event, now in its 10^th year, is known for bringing many of the area’s top blues performers.  And this year is no different, as they plan on featuring the music of The Part-Time Blues Band with special appearances from Bob Margolin, Robin Rogers, Max Drake, Shelia Carlisle and Pat “Mother Blues” Cohen.

The event, which started out initially as a client appreciation celebration has quickly transformed into a community-wide event.  It’s a way for Homesley and his partners to give back to many of the charities in the area.

A night of blues music, dinner, and drinks could be an expensive night out.  However, the firm underwrites the cost of the entire event, and instead encourages those in attendance to make a donation to a selected charity.

This year, the event will take place on Friday, Sept. 17.  All donations collected will go to support two local charities that are in major need due to the current economic recession – The Healthreach Community Clinic in Mooresville, and the Mooresville Soup Kitchen.

Homesley is a big believer in supporting the local economy.  The burritos are made fresh by Pueblo Grande, which is right across the street from the law firm.  Beverages are also locally made by the popular Mooresville brewer Carolina Beer & Beverage Company, makers of Carolina Blonde.

But even better than that, all of the musicians are local.  Homesley and his partners could bring in any national blues act they wanted for this event.  But Homesley says why bring in others, when you have such great talent in your back yard.

Only this time, the music will be performed in the front yard, for everyone to enjoy.

The 10^th annual Blues & Burritos will be held on Friday, Sept. 17 on the front lawn of Homesley, Goodman, & Wingo, PLLC, located on 330 South Main Street in Mooresville.  Shows begins at 6:00 p.m.  More information is available online at www.lakenormanlaw.com/comingevents.

Everyone may not enjoy sports, but there’s no question that everyone enjoys being entertained.  And no one does it better on a grand scale than the National Football League.

Take a look at the Super Bowl.  It’s more than just a football game.  The game just happens to be the focal point. What makes the Super Bowl what it has become today is the extras and excess that goes along with it including the two-weeks of hype, the over-the-top commercials, and the juiced-up halftime show.

If the Super Bowl were solely about football, it would only have a fraction of the viewers.  Instead, the NFL glosses and glams up its annual signature event in an effort to garner additional viewers and spectators.  And it’s worked – for over 44 years.

That’s why I like what Jesse Cole is doing. He is the general manager of the Gastonia Grizzlies – a wooden-bat baseball league offering collegiate players a chance to showcase their talents and skills during the summer months.

Cole’s thinking bigger than just baseball.  And as a result, he’s seen a dramatic increase in attendance in Grizzlies home games since adding more pomp and circumstance to the games.

Sims Legion Park, the home of the Gastonia Grizzlies, is more than just a baseball park. In Cole’s eyes, it’s an entertainment venue. His goal is to make sure there is something for everybody. Even for music lovers.

So when Cole told me about his plan to have bands to play during the entire game, it caught me off guard. Having a band play during the entire baseball game is a new concept.  Not just between innings – but during the entire game.

Every Saturday night home game this season will feature a band.  They set up near the beer garden and will play to the crowd hanging out in that particular area.

According to Cole, the first Saturday night baseball game had 2700 in the park.  Of that, approximately 450 folks were hanging out in the beer garden listening to the sounds of the Caleb Davis Band.

More Saturday night concerts are scheduled through the remaining season.

The Grizzlies have decided to get into the entertainment business.  So if you enjoy baseball, or live music, or perhaps both, then a Saturday night at a Gastonia Grizzlies game is just for you.

Which gives a whole new meaning to the old saying that you can’t beat fun at the old ballpark!

* * For more information on the Gastonia Grizzlies, visit them online at www.gastoniagrizzlies.com.

Remaining Schedule

7/3 – Below The Belt

7/17 – Coldshot

7/24 – Matt Stratford Duo

7/31 – 74 Southbound

Abe is no stranger to Blues Out Back. He played the inaugural series back in 1999. And he’s been invited back every year since.

Abe likes to mix his original songs with some of the familiar standards. It’s what makes him a crowd favorite among concert goers. He even likes to throw in a few kids songs along the way.

But Abe has cut back on his touring as of late. When you have been playing music professionally for as long as he has, it can wear you down. He now splits his time between his music and his new role as a stay-at-home dad. And as a father to two young girls, you know he has plenty to keep him busy.

Abe doesn’t miss the long nights playing in the bars and clubs. However, he still enjoys playing shows for families and kids. That’s what makes his Blues Out Back performances so special.

In the eleven years that Blues Out Back has been going on, only two shows have been affected by the weather. One show had to be canceled, and the other time it was moved inside. That time involved Abe Reid.

Abe had already begun playing outside when the rain began to fall. At that point, Abe and the crowd all piled into the Gathering Room at the Museum, where the performance resumed. Only this time, it was unplugged.

For the ones who stuck around, they were treated to an intimate performance by Abe. Between the acoustics of the room, and the sound of Abe’s foot stomping on the hardwood floor, it’s a performance that Jeff Pruett, Programs Coordinator for the Museum, will never forget.

Abe even played a special rendition of Sesame Street on his harmonica for all of the kids in the room. Now that’s Abe at his best.

And if it were up to him, he’d prefer to play his music for kids. He grew up with music all around him, and he loves to share it with others.

So when Abe Reid takes the stage out on the back lawn of the Museum for the twelfth time, you can count on a great night of music. But don’t forget to bring the kids. Even they may recognize a tune or two.

For more information on Abe Reid, visit him online at www.abereid.com

Enter the Overmountain Men – the latest musical project from David Childers which features Bob Crawford (Avett Brothers), Robert Childers, Randy Saxon, Geoffrey White, Scott Daley and Bill Noonan. The band takes their name from the group of men who banded together to fight the British during the American Revolutionary War. They are best known for their role in the American victory at the Battle of Kings Mountain in 1780.

After years of playing with his band, The Modern Don Juans, Childers decided he was calling it quits. They played their final show as a band in December of 2007.

What Childers ultimately quit was the road – the constant touring and playing out that eventually sucked the fun out of what he was doing. However, he never stopped writing songs.

That’s where the Overmountain Men collaboration began. It all started with Childers and Bob Crawford going back and forth on some new songs. These new songs apparently sparked something in Childers. Eventually this collaboration morphed into the project that gave rise to The Overmountain Men.

The music on the Overmountain Men’s debut record, ‘Glorious Day’ is top-notch – just what you‘d expect from a David Childers record. And though this new record may not carry his name, it surely captures the essence of what David Childers is all about.

The music of David Childers has always been hard to pinpoint. Is he Americana? Is he rock n’ roll? I get the sense that these guys went to the studio with the intent on not trying to make a record with a certain sound. They just wanted to have fun and make music that doesn’t have any strings attached.

No major touring plans are in the works with the launching of this record. They will play out when they want to. And if they don’t want to – then they won’t.

A project like this sounds like the perfect way to bring David Childers back out in front of audiences again. I for one am glad too see it. His appearances with The Overmountain Men may be few and far between. But that’s the beauty of it.
It will make their performances even more special when they do decide to get together.

—

For more information on The Overmountain Men, visit them online at http://www.overmountainmen.com

Gastonia resident Carla Lane has a passion for music. In fact, she loves it so much, she doesn’t watch TV anymore.

Carla is a fan of the live music variety, too. So it made sense that she decided to host her first ever house concert. Last December, Carla invited local musician Ang Medlin along with some friends and family over to her house for an evening of live music.

Carla is one of many music lovers across the country that is opening his/her home up to performing musicians. These intimate gatherings make it possible for music lovers to connect with the performers in an upfront and personal way. Not only do the folks in attendance benefit from this experience, but the performers do as well. Often times when a restaurant or bar books a performer in their establishment, they get relegated to a corner only to serve as background music.

Talk to any musician and they’ll tell you how they love to play in front of people. However, playing music and being heard are two different things. Restaurants and bars rarely make good listening rooms when it comes to music. Enter the house concert – a place where the audience is fully engaged in every lyric and note played by the performer. And due to the size of most living rooms, it is often times a smaller audience. Musicians prefer an attentive audience any day. And that’s what these house concerts offer – like-minded people gathered together to celebrate their love of music.

Hosting a house concert requires three things – a passion for the music, a desire to open your home up, and a space large enough to hold the musician and your friends. For some hosts, it may be a living room. Others may have used their back deck or patio for the performance.

So, after talking to Carla, I had to know. Would she host another one in the future? She gave me an emphatic yes. She is already planning the next one in her mind. I have no doubt that Carla will open her home in the future for another concert. However, it’s not an open invite. In order to get invited, you’ve got to have one thing – a love for music.

Don’t worry, though. I have a feeling Carla won’t make you give up your TV.

So what was the reason behind yet another Bob Marley compilation? This one was for the kids. On the back cover, their was a note from Ziggy himself. It read, “My father’s music spans generations and with B is for Bob we give the youngest their very own Bob Marley record.” Then it hit me. Bob Marley didn’t write just reggae music. Bob Marley’s music, at it’s core, was written for people of all ages – including kids. For the first time, I began looking at his music in a whole new light.

So you can imagine my reaction when a musical friend of mine, Mike Strauss, told me that he and some of his friends were releasing a children’s record. After discovering B is For Bob, I realized children’s music doesn’t have to be cheesy. Bob Marley wasn’t cheesy, and neither is Mike Strauss. Mike is just one of many members that make up the Plaza Family Band. This collaborative project was born out of a group of parents that have children enrolled at Plaza Presbyterian Weekday School.

The idea came about when a group of these parents were brainstorming a way to raise funds for the school. They could have sold chocolates, wrapping paper, flower bulbs, or even coupon books. But that would be too easy, and too cliche. This artsy neighborhood in Charlotte prefers to do things just a little bit differently.

So, they decided to pool their passions and talents together and come up with a children’s CD that they could offer as a fundraiser for the school. The project was given the green light last September by the school’s director Patti Schigoda. And after three short months, the Plaza Family Band released Playground Hootenany. Playground Hootenany features such classic children’s favorites like “This Old Man, “La Bamba”, “If You’re Happy and You Know It”, and more. Mike Strauss and the many members of the Plaza Family Band have proven again that children’s music doesn’t have to be cheesy. It just needs to musically accessible to all ages.

For more information on the purchasing of Playground Hootenany, visit them online at http://songsfromthesky.com. All proceeds from the sale of the CD will benefit Plaza Presbyterian Weekday School and it’s mission to provide a learning environment for children that allows them to enjoy the wonders of early childhood without academic pressure.

Sometimes in life, things just happen to fall into place. Some call it luck, others call it good timing. For Caleb Davis and his wife Jaclyn, they call it faith.
After obtaining a music degree from the Berklee College of Music in Boston, he and Jaclyn decided they needed to move to an area that would support his music career.

With a college degree in tow; they decided to make their new home in Nashville, Tennessee. After all, if you are going to make a living playing music, you might as well start with one of the largest music cities in the USA.

And that’s what they did. It didn’t take long for Davis to penetrate the music scene in Nashville. Before long he was making a decent living, but something wasn’t right. You know that nagging feeling. We’ve all felt it. For Davis, the music he was performing may have been feeding his family; however, it wasn’t feeding his soul.
After two years of playing with some of the best musicians Nashville had to offer, Davis and his wife knew it was time to make a change. Doors opened and doors closed. Opportunities were available for both he and his wife to be able to make a change and return home to Gaston County.
Now it’s no secret that Gaston County and the greater Charlotte area is not the first place you pick when you want to make a living in the music industry. But that didn’t stop Davis. Not long after returning home, he quickly formed his very own band.
This time, instead of playing back-up to someone else’s project, Davis would partner with long-time friend Justin Morehead to form the Caleb Davis Band. In their short tenure, they have already played at high-profile local venues including The Double Door Inn and The Fillmore in Charlotte, as well as The Orange Peel in Asheville.
After two years of making others sound and look good in Nashville, Caleb and Morehead are working hard to put together their own signature sound and groove. And this time, instead of playing music that just pays well, the Caleb Davis Band is playing music that makes you and them feel good.
For Davis, life is better and more rewarding today than it was a year ago. That’s progress, but life is not perfect. There still remain challenges to overcome. He and Morehead hope to add some permanent members to their band and they continue to work hard at raising their profile within the area’s music scene.
But like most things in life, they don’t happen over night. But a little faith and a strong work ethic will take Davis and his band where they want to go in 2010.

—

For more information on the Caleb Davis Band, including upcoming tour dates and music samples, visit them online at http://www.myspace.com/calebdavisband.