Last night was the "last night" for Jamie and me to fill in with Mighty Fine at the Ashland Eagles Club. It was quite an interesting night indeed.

Sadly, Mighty Fine keyboardist Rod Mullins was unable to be there, so Jamie, Danny Ratcliff, and I were playing 3-piece. Making the songs sound full and complete without the keyboard was quite a challenge. At the start, Danny Ratcliff gave me some advice which served me well: "Turn Up!"
He didn't have to tell me twice. ;-)

Part of the way into our first set, who should walk in but NBT bassist/vocalist Howlin' Alan Reed and wife Angie. We wasted no time in pressing him into service. Alan commandeered Danny's bass and Danny moved to the vacant keyboard station.

The next 2 sets turned into a Next Best Thing gig (minus Chris Lute, plus Danny Ratcliff). We played quite a few tunes that might have been rarely (if ever) heard in this particular club. It turned out to be a lot of fun.

The crowd was very receptive and encouraging.

Hopefully, NBT will be able to book some dates here in the future.

Jamie Martin (drummer extraordinaire) and I were kindly asked to fill in with Mighty Fine on Thursdays during April. It’s a 3-day-per-week gig at the Ashland Eagles, and Mighty Fine’s guitarist (Brian Edwards) and drummer (Dave Holt) are unable to make it on Thursdays.

Last night was our first night in this club, and what a night it was. It had been years since Jamie and I had played some of this material, so there was a slight re-learning curve. I had more than my share of musical bloopers, but Jamie was ruling the roost. Once we all got synched up, it was a blast.

It’s fun to be gigging with Rodney Mullins and Dan Ratcliff again. The 4 of us had played together previously in the group Flashback, so we have some history together.

And the club! Ashland Eagles is quite the happening place. Unlike a lot of clubs that are lucky to be half full on Saturdays, this club was packed on Thursday night and the people were revved up and ready to dance. Word has it that Fridays and Saturdays are just as good.

In short, Jamie and I are already working to book Next Best Thing in this club. It’s looking good.

Stay tuned!