The Rock Boat XVIII was music to my ears… (part 3 of 3)

...continued from Part 2.

Saturday, February 3

• Yoga with Barenaked Ladies, Sports Court

  

  The title, Yoga with bare naked ladies, is not as provocative as it might sound. Sheryl and Marie took a yoga class led by Barenaked Ladies' bassist, Jim Creeggan.

• Wild Adriatic, Pool Deck

  

• Larkin Poe, Atrium

  

  This is what happens when two sisters form a blues band. Perhaps they will follow in the footsteps of Heart?

• Kick the Robot, Spinnaker Lounge

  

  Unfortunately, this performance turned out to be pretty average, as in, nothing memorable.

• Christian Lopez, Bar City

  

  We watched from the floor above. We could hear just fine but only admire his shoes.

• Songwriters in the Round, Stardust Theater

  
  photo courtesy of Tim Barrios

  This year's artists included:

  • Will Hoge
  • Rebecca Lovell and Megan Lovell of Larkin Poe
  • Tim Warren of The Alternate Routes
  • Brad Rhodes of Melodime

  Some of the banter included:

  "We are fortunate to be able to tell our stories through music and have people pay to come see us and hear them. Any artist who says that he does not like performing his songs for an audience is an asshole. [Audience laughter] That's an industry term — feel free to use it. We enjoy what we do, but the money part, that's about keeping the lights on back home. What is unfortunate about our business is that we have to leave behind our families to do what we do."
  — Will Hoge

  "A common question that we get is "Which one are you? Are you Larkin or are you Poe?" Our grandfather's name was Larkin Poe, and our band's name is an homage to him."
  — Rebecca Lovell

  "Our band is working with a producer who is really taking me to task. After listening to a collection of demos of possible songs for our next album, he asked me, 'Why are you so angry?' Listening to your breakup songs, one would think you were over 50 and on your third marriage."
  — Brad Rhodes

  "Modernity has been wiping away many of our southern traditions, some good, some bad, but southern people are fine, salt and earth people. We try to capture our southern heritage in our songs."
  — Rebecca Lovell

  As a respite from the usual road travel, Will had his wife and sons accompany him on this trip. Tim met Will’s sons at the soft serve ice cream dispenser:

  "When someone’s sons [ages 6 and 8] look you in the eye, shake your hand, and say ‘sir,’ it makes you realize that all things are possible."
  — Tim Warren

  In addition to the banter, it was great to hear the inspiration for and meanings behind the songs.

• Barenaked Ladies, Pool Deck

  

  

• Oak & Ash, Spinnaker Lounge

  

  I was passing by and heard the band performing a sound check, so I popped in.

• Tom Petty Tribute, Atrium

  Various artists covered Tom Perry songs

  • Will Hoge

    

  • NEEDTOBREATHE

    

  • The Alternate Routes

    

  • Larkin Poe

    

  • Welshly Arms

    

  • The New Respects

    

  • Drew Holcomb & The Neighbors

    

  • Sister Hazel

    

  All of these covers were spot on.

• Choir! Choir! Choir!, Stardust Theater

  

  Two instructors taught the audience the background vocals to Sister Hazel's song entitled "Champagne High." Our parts included: Oooh-Oooh-Oooh, Ahhh-Ahhh-Ahhh, Turn and go, Champagne high, High!, and Bam-bam-ba-oooh. After learning our parts, Sister Hazel took the stage and performed the song with the crowd accompanying them. This was fun, but the instructional part was too long.

• Sister Hazel, Stardust Theater

  

  Sister Hazel performed a rocking set and capped it off with an encore featuring Aerosmith's "Love in an Elevator" and "Dream On." The other Rock Boat artists joined then for the encore.

  

Based on our experience this year, it appears that an eighth Rock Boat is in our future. Alas, it departs from Tampa instead of New Orleans, but the enjoyment is the journey, not the origin nor the destination.

Music on the water is alive in the lab.