Anyway, Guitar Squid has this little YouTube link (audio only) to him talking about a rare opportunity to explore original Beatle’s master tapes. A great story, and it closes with the great sound that reminds us why the Beatles are where they are in music history.

Duck Tron on Vimeo on Vimeo

via Duck Tron on Vimeo.

This show is starting to be a seasonal regular for us.  It seems like Aaron has appeared at the Birchmere in December the last few years, last year’s event being canceled due to a huge snowstorm.  Formal title on the marque included “featuring Charles Neville”.

It’s really a great show to see.  They performed a long set, more than two hours on stage without a break.  Part of the fun is a sprinkling of Christmas tunes throughout the night, although Louisiana Christmas Day was skipped (and one of our favorites).  The set included a wide number of types of songs, some of the more familiar Neville Bros. type arrangements, a medley or two, and great covers for Aaron to do like Under the Boardwalk.  It would be a great job to be the person who says “hey Aaron, play this song now.”  Of course, he does a great job of this on his own; we’ve seen him or the Neville Bros. more than 4 times over the last few years, and its always feels fresh because the set list is always different.

Charles is great, too.  We have heard his cover of Besame Mucho a few times and it doesn’t get stale.

Sent to me by someone busting on the Redskins.  In reality, a site run by Redskins fans.  And, a nice collection of links concerning the one position that should be traded, but can’t be.

Bulk Cable, Network Cables, Audio Video Cables, Cat5E, HDMI Cables, Computer Cables, Networking Cables and Structured Wiring, Fiber Optic and more!.

Their version of Iko Iko was fun as always.

Other obvious gripe: the little manual is printed in a font so small that a magnifying glass is needed to read it. I thought this document might just be the legal stuff which no one ever reads. But, it was the real instructions.

Looking forward to a more extended exploration, once the hordes of teenagers are back in school.

We had great seats, 10th row, and its always very cool to see someone as recognizable as Wynton Marsalis be right on the stage in front of you.

Two sets, first one was mostly Basie tunes. I expected museum pieces, but they were lively and spontaneous. The second set was an original suite inspired by artists (a Monet movement, a Van Gogh movement, etc.). Some were a little too experimental for me, but others were great composition and performance.

The big surprise was how much an ensemble experience it was.  Wynton was the MC for the performance and took a few solos.  But, he was a member of the band and not the star of the show and I think all the players had a chance to solo throughout the night.  It was very cool to see him in this role and we enjoyed the performance very much.

Other perk; the audience was much better behaved than most DC area performances.  Very little moving in and out during the performance and the common distractions of public events.