Never On Sunday

With the work-week looming, I nevertheless decided to stay up late Sunday night for some live music at The Dakota Tavern. Dwayne Gretzky hasn't performed since January, but they were gearing up for several appearances in the next few weeks including at NXNE. Tonight, they return to The Dakota where they did a 3-month stay all through last summer.

As always, their professionalism (3 sets) is coupled with an enthusiasm for live performance. Their enjoyment of each other and for the crowd was evident: laughter, smiles, funny asides. Some members of the audience even joined in the fun, notably a bearded guy on the cowbell that almost descended into embarrassing mood-killer but at the last minute transformed into a fun extended jam. It was interesting to guess people's ages based on their response. For every classic song such as The Beatles' "Something" or CCR's "Proud Mary", there was Springsteen's "Thunder Road" or even Bryan Adams' "Run To You" that is not part of some younger person's experience.

In fact, Dwayne Gretzky's repertoire is heavy on songs 20 years old or even older (60s, 70s, 80s). This might confirm an old fogey's smug assertion that "music was better back in the day". But  there are lots of great new songs, even within the past decade. It'd be great to see Allie Hughes (one of the Dwayne Gretzky-ers) take on Amy Winehouse or Adele or have them throw in a Sweet Thing song. After all, a couple of them belong to that band. Tiny nitpick aside, a few drowsy nods at work the next day was worth it for some great music. I guess summer's officially here. Shake your thang.