Listening Live

It’s been a good few days for live music events. and believe me, we’ve covered the full spectrum of acts.

Last week we paid homage to Sophie’s New Jersey roots and went to see Bon Jovi at the Boston Garden with fellow jersey-girl Suzanne and her son Billy (an aspiring guitarist who’s a big fan of Richie Sambora’s guitar skills).

Then, to optimize the culture shock quotient, the following night we went to see George Clinton and Parliament up at the Hampton Beach Casino with our friends Heather and Joe (on their fifteenth anniversary no less) with brother Terrence and girlfriend Becca. George C. and P-Funk put on a great show with at least a dozen musicians on stage at any given time including Garry "Doo-Wop" Shider. Heather was intrigued to actually see "the diaper guy" in action whom she’d heard about from others who'd seen a show.

As my friend Joe says – it’s a confident 60 year-old man who can play a whole rock show in a diaper. But, Shider has been a potent weapon of P-Funk forever, as a songwriter, singer, guitarist, and Clinton's right-hand man. And that's the way he plays it; coordinating everything, adjusting people's guitar cords and microphones stands, working the crowd, leading the chants, and playing a rockin’ guitar. All while wearing a diaper.

At sixty-plus George doesn’t seem have lost a step as the consummate singer, cheerleader and bandleader either. He kept the show rocking for three and a half hours until the Casino turned up the house lights and chased them off the stage at midnight (pesky noise ordinances and all that).

Last night it was back to sanity with our favorite local entertainer, Jeffie, who played at the top deck in Essex.

Jeff never fails to put everyone in a good mood, playing standards that range from Sweet Caroline to rock anthems like Pour Some Sugar on Me and he does it with style and ease.

Lucas even got to sing some backup vocals while Anika and good buddy Grace worked the conga line.

The great thing about Jeff’s family-friendly shows at the top deck is that he makes a tremendous range of music relevant and fun for absolutely everyone on the audience. He’ll have thirteen year olds and sixty-year olds alike singing Build me up Buttercup at full volume, and then roll right into Sublime’s What I Got without losing anyone – good stuff.