Chris Shepard & Exiled

So...you know when you're taking pics in a dark club and you're looking at each one of them thinking, "Man, these are great!" only to wake up the next morning, download them, and realize "Man, these are pretty crappy!" Yeah, well, that's what happened to me. I got a couple of decent photos of some of the musicians from last night at The Coffee Pot, but not what I had hoped. What wasn't crappy was this guy...Chris Shepard.

 

Not only were his covers excellent -- c'mon, how many local guys have you heard play "Alcohol" by Gogol Bordello recently? -- but I really got a kick out of his originals. One of my favorites was "Mean People Suck." Love his lyrics..."All my girlfriend's causes become bumper stickers..."  Ha! I have to say I was really impressed with him, and if you know me and my taste in music, you know that's a pretty big deal. You can check out his sounds here ,and I understand he will be performing at the Parkway Brewing Company this Friday.

No, there was only one of him but it sounded at least like two...

Chris was the opening act for a local Rolling Stones cover band, Exiled, that's been getting some good press and making the rounds.

The Stones are one of my favorite bands, and I'm familiar with one of Exiled's musicians, guitarist Will Henson (that's him on the right) who've I've seen solo, as well as leading a Pink Floyd cover band, so I thought I'd give them a shot. Even though there seemed to be some "technical difficulties" with Henson's guitar, I thought they were all excellent musicians.

Ralph on bass

My only suggestion would be to boost those vocals more!

All in all it was a good evening and the best $5 I've spent in Roanoke lately. Too bad it was a holiday weekend and they didn't get a nice-sized crowd.

 By the end of the night I felt like I was seeing double and my brain started to feel like this...

Red, red, cheap wine will do that to you, and those youthful CBGB days are long gone. The bounce-back is not what it used to be, but the "bright side" is red wine has joined the "never again" ranks of tequila, blackberry brandy & peach schnapps. Let's see how long this lasts. As soon as I got home I had to throw my clothes downstairs because they reeked of cigarette smoke and I fear I may never get the nicotine yellow out of the white part of my hair. It was about ten years since I'd been to The Coffee Pot and it hasn't changed one bit.