Joanna and I saw Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings Monday evening at Showbox SoDo, an ornate old ballroom south of Safeco Field. It was our first visit to the venue, a really nice place to see a show.
The Heavy opened and did a nice job. They closed with their number "How Do You Like Me Now", the one you are probably familiar with from the car ad.
Sharon Jones was great. She worked her butt off. The band started off a little rocky, but once they started hitting on all cylinders they rocked hard. As you can imagine, it was an old school R & B Revue type show. Oddly enough, the entire horn section looked like degenerates. No one saw that coming!
The bass player, Bosco Mann, was the musical director and gave all the cues, although it was obvious Sharon was the Keeper of the Keys and was running the show. The energy she put out, her dancing and singing were reminiscent of a James Brown show.
She got a number of audience members on the stage and had them dancing in a line and then had them dance themselves individually off the stage. Have Mercy! For the age of some of these gals, they were moving it pretty good. The guys didn't do too badly either.
Her guitar player, Binky Griptite, acted as the MC. He was from the classic mold. He knew how to shamelessly work the crowd, and did it to death. He made the crowd beg for an encore, which was of course "100 Days and 100 Nights."
If you want a feel for how the band looked and sounded like, you might want to check out some Wilson Pickett or Otis Redding live clips on You Tube.
We got home a little after 1:00 a.m.
A week from Friday we take off for the four day Waterfront Blues Festival in Portland.
suggested links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ouI5KcyHfE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOJR11cSvHY&feature=fvst
http://www.waterfrontbluesfest.com/
http://www.showboxonline.com/
Carpe Diem..............all day long.
