Home

Where’s Aubrey at the Barns of Rose Hill 11/11

6 Comments

Thanks to you, the Where’s Aubrey show Saturday 11/11 was a smashing success.  We played to an enthusiastic full house, missing a sell out of the venue by only four tickets.  JOBIE’s opening set was excellent.  An all around evening of great music performed for a good cause.

Speaking of which, together we raised $3305 on Saturday evening with $1983 going to the Shenandoah Riverkeeper to protect our local river.

We also released our ninth record, Hole, which is now available on most streaming services including spotify.  If you would like to join the 18 people who bought a physical copy of the CD for old time’s sake, just get in touch.

Where’s Aubrey before the show: Rhine Singleton, Charles Arthur, Gary McGraw, and Nick Schrenk.

Here are some pictures and videos of the show in approximate chronological order arranged by set lists.  What a night!

The band on stage: Nick on Drums, McGraw on fiddle, Rhine on Guitar, and Charles on everything else.

BORH 11/11: Set One

Your Lies Are Gone

 

Ghosts on the Farm

 

The Miles Roll By

Snippet only

 

Dirty Blond Haired Girl

 

Brown Like Your Cinnamon

*** (stage lighting changed as we performed the entire new record)

All songs linked below to spotify tracks from the record.

 

Ever Enough

 

Holes in My Pride

 

Drawing Back Your Blade

 

Restless Water

 

These Ain’t my Pearls

 

Forty Crows

 

Snippet only

 

BORH 11/11: Set Two

Take it Away

Eli’s Song

Full Up

Far too Empty

It Ain’t that Far to Fall

 

Snippet only

Ham Bone (during a broken string changing exercise)

 

One More Roadhouse

*** (record over, we ended the concert with full band)

Irish Goodbye (JOBIE cover)

Full video

 

Full video (different angle)

 

Devlish Situation

 

Into a Cloud

Snippet only

 

Has it Ever Been this Good

 

JOBIE opening set

Special thanks to Jen Lee for photographs and show publicity.  April Claggett also provided photos and videos.  Romey Michael provided video of Irish Goodbye.  Some images above are Copyrighted.

Regina Spektor plays circles around Aimee Mann at Wolf Trap

Leave a comment

I mean, Aimee Mann was really good.  But Regina Spektor is in a completely different league.

Still, Aimee Mann played some greats.

Like “Save Me”

But Regina was better and she played some favorites too.

Like “Fidelity”

And “Samson”

But above all, this magical “Becoming All Alone”

We had a great evening with Donnie and Geri, sneaking bourbon mint fizz cocktails into Wolf Trap.

 

Summer Solstice 2023

1 Comment

What you gonna do?  It rained.  It was July 4th weekend.  People are bone tired.

Have a party!  It was a good one.

Thank goodness for Alec and Eli and Markus and Aubrey.   Many hands makes slightly less work.  Romey and I can use all the help we can get.

Don’t let his easy smile fool you, this man is serious about his parties!

The list.

Aubrey brought the Messerhead Memorial Salmon Dinner.

And then the time arrived.

Where’s Maybe?

Last minute instrument shells added to the bonfire.  Makes art.  This has become a really fun tradition.

Even Maybeline got into the act, chewing up her own personal frog.

The culprit.

We knew what to expect from the weather this year so we set up the tables near the barn.  That was very helpful when the deluge came.

We retired to the barn for about an hour before the second and third waves of people showed up.

Old men make muscles.

Richie gets wild.

After the rain delay it was back to the tables.

And then the lighting (around 8:15).

It was just a smidge humid.

 

 

There was music in the barn.

This year we wound things up around 2am.  Getting old I guess.  LOL.

We will do it again.  Thanks to all who came to the 2023 summer solstice.

Yo Turns 65

2 Comments

Nothing quite like staying with dear friends in Leuven.  Yo and Caroline are excellent hosts.  This visit was made even more fun by including a 65th birthday party for Yo.

Here are some pictures from my visit.

I even managed to sneak into the circus on Friday evening.  An incredible show focused on lighting matches, making pizzas, and spinning plates.

The cast of two and the poor “volunteers” who were pulled from the audience.

Leuven.

There was dancing in the kitchen.

And there were homemade cakes.

We even got to try out some mixology for the party.

Rosemary grappa lemonade…let’s call it the “yo-yo 65.”

The birthday king presides.

The actual power behind the throne is slightly capricious.

The site of the party is the back garden with lots of veggie plants.  Delicious food was about as “locally sourced” as you can get.  There were fresh snap peas and strawberries.  So healthy and so delicious.

This gorgeous cake was my favorite.  Banana cheesecake.  Yum.

There was some dancing in wooden clogs yo some truly bad fiddle sawing.

We walked several miles together all using the house as a base of operations.

And we visited the English books at FNAC to compare notes.

All in all about as much fun as you can have in Leuven!

May Day The National at the Anthem DC

Leave a comment

The National is excellent in concert.  Fun show with Romey, Emily, and Lisa.  One of these years we’ll figure out how to get seats.

Soccer Mommy opened in a muddy opener.

But then…

Once Upon a Poolside

 

The band played the entirety of the new album which has lots more energy live.

 

New Order Tee Shirt

 

Your Mind is Not Your Friend

And there were some excellent deep cuts from the past.

Bloodbuzz Ohio

This song was a new one on me played for the Resners’ mom.

 

Light Years

Fake Empire for the win.  Pretend I wasn’t singing.  Video in video.

Yes please more.

Nick Schrenk Quartet: Jazz in Winchester

Leave a comment

Nick Schrenk leads a new jazz quartet in Winchester, Virginia.  Excellent all around.  Here are some bits from the May 4th debut gig.

 

 

More cowbell is pretty much all you can say!

Andrew Bird in RVA

Leave a comment

The Andrew Bird show in Richmond was excellent.  Go see the Inside Problems tour if you get the chance.

 

Bluebells Peak April 2, 2023

1 Comment

It’s early for the peak.  But the peak it is along the banks of the Shenandoah.

Romey looks like a bluebell too.

Moonshine does not look like a bluebell.  Nor does he smell like one.

There are also other flowers available.

Furnace Mountain at Home: Berryville, Virginia

Leave a comment

One of the great bands from this area, Furnace Mountain counts the Barns of Rose Hill as its home venue.  They consistently sell out their shows at the barns, and for good reason.  Here are some pictures and videos from the Dave’s Birthday Bash show.

 

A superb song like Suzanne showcases the band’s high level of talent.

 

Of course there is classic old timey music to play as well.

 

 

There were some non-standard parts of this show, it being a birthday bash and all.

 

Doritos were served, but only to select teenagers.

 

As the show happened on the Lunar New Year’s Day (welcome to the year of the rabbit), a Chinese folk song or two were offered from the stage.  Normally, the band sticks to Americana.

 

 

Danny plays a mean mando.  Of course he plays everything else too.

 

The medley.

 

A crowd favorite and one of the band’s best songs, Bluebell.

 

So next time Furnace Mountain plays, get your tickets early.

 

 

Storied Strings (or rather Guitars) at VMFA

Leave a comment

The Strings exhibit at VMFA is devoted to the guitar.  If you like guitars, guitar history, and historical curation you need to see this.  We’ll ignore the fact that the most important strings are usually on a violin for now (LOL).

Romey and I learned about this exhibit by watching a video shot to promote and expand on the show with some live music featuring my friend Charles.  Both Stephen and Charles are way better guitar players than I will ever be!  Check out their session here.

Here are some pictures and commentary about the exhibit.

Charles as guitar.

In one of the rooms, there were a couple of guitars.  So we just had to play them. They were squishy and hard to play.

The master goofs off.

Proof that I should stick to the violin.

Bill got into the act too.

Guitar versus violin.  What turns you into a geezer faster?  Guitar of course!

The dog is named Fay Ray.  We knew another one of those once.

 

\

Fond memories of a session?  Charles in front of the recording studio.

The world’s smallest guitar.

 

Older Entries