It’s Friday night and I find myself motoring up 75 towards McKinney, I managed to not get killed by the two crazed sports car drivers doing at least 100, whilst weaving thru fairly heavy traffic. So,,,, that’s a good thing because once again I am headed for the Guitar Sanctuary to immerse myself in blues and blues rock music, oh happy day! Tonight we have the Maylee Thomas Band opening for the highly anticipated Albert Castiglia! I’ve never seen Albert before, but I have certainly dug the stuff I’ve heard from him, so this was a no-brainer to cop for a $20 balcony ticket and head north. I made it to the Sanctuary with no problems at all, which came as a shock to both myself and that certain female who puts up with me. In the past, I have driven into Frisco, driven up and down Virginia Ave, only to break down and call Mrs Dave to guide me in. It’s not a hard place to find, nor does it randomly move, for some bizarre reason I seem to have issues getting here. But Not Tonight! Ha!
Well okay it’s 8Pm lets fire up the Maylee Thomas Band! I’ve seen Ms Thomas several times and she never disappoints. Scathing vocals, emotion aplenty, excellent stage presence, Maylee and the boys bring it everytime. A 6 piece band; vocals, keys, drums, bass, sax, and a guitar brandished by none other than the Mayor of McKinney George Fuller, and let me tell you da mayor can play! They proceeded to blast thru a good hour set including “Texas Home”, “Tell Me”, “Chills Me to the Bone”, Crazy’s What I Need” (which included a couple choruses of “Feeling Alright”) and a blistering version of “Going Down”. That one tune was worth the price of admission. Alright time to catch your breath, hit the restroom, maybe take a quick trip outside, and get settled in for the main event.
At 9:10 pm Mr Castiglia hits the stage, with no glam, no pretense, just hard driving blues rock with lots of raunchy crunch and dirt. It was refreshing to see a trio, just as basic a rock band as you can get. Another refreshing site was Albert plays a Gibson Les Paul, which just thrills the heart of an old Gibson guy like myself. Running what looked like 2 4×12 cabs under a Friedman head thru a modest pedalboard, Albert grabbed us early and held on for a good 2 ½ hours of greatness. Songs included, “Let the Big Dog Eat”, “I Gotta Love”, “Depression Blues”, ”Masterpiece”, “The Mighty Dollar Done Failed”, “Celebration”, “Get Your Ass in the Van”, and Johnny Winters’ “Too Much Seconal”. Albert has impeccable tone, and I can say as a guitar player myself, Albert has the most impressive tremolo picking I have ever seen, my hand hurt just watching him! He almost has a stand-up comic feel about him when he’s on stage. Yes, he has a sense of humor (a bit dry I might add), but it’s like he is talking to a couple of people instead a room full of folks. Complete comfort and ease on stage. While on that stage he lets the guitar sing heartfelt, guttural songs of pain, woe and joy. For 2 ½ hours he flat out wailed on that ‘Paul, and I never once noticed him re-tune and it never sounded out of tune, that takes effort.
But you say, “Dave was it as perfect as you say?”, of course not, musicians are human and they make mistakes, sometimes a lot of them. The real pros don’t give it away when they make one though, plus they know that 99% of the crowd wouldn’t notice anyway. Yes I notice mistakes, but unless you freak out, throw your instrument to the ground and storm off the stage I’m not going to bring it up. There is simply no point in it. I got to enjoy 3 ½ hrs of excellent music and isn’t that what you wanted to hear.
Make a Joyful Noise,
Mr Dave
here have an extra on me…..