The Boxx Elders - Porters Yellowtail Sports Bar, Crystal Lake 5.8.09

After checking out Kevin Spica at Wool Street, I headed over to Porters Oyster Bar on Rt 14 in Crystal Lake to see what was happening. There was a good band there but I'm telling you, this place kind of freaks me out a little. First, the band.

The Boxx Elders (http://www.myspace.com/theboxxelders) is apparently a St Charles area band out there making the rounds. I had never heard of them before. It's the normal bass/guitar/guitar/drums lineup with some good (not great ... just good) vocals some almost-audible backing vocals. The guitar solos were OK and the band sounded well-rehearsed and fairly tight for the most part. They do a mix of material and while I was there, I heard some Foo Fighters, Matchbox 20, Gin Blossoms and Green Day.

I also heard Tainted Love which was not bad. I also heard their version of Time After Time .. which was not all that good. The "not all that good" part was that they did one of those things that bands should never do. If the vocalist can't hit all the notes in the key you are playing the song in .... drop the key or just don't do the song. Now, being a musician myself, I know I listen to all music very differently from non-musicians. We musicians are mentally tearing the song apart, listening to the individual parts and listening for how they inter-relate and listening to how proficient each player is. We all know we do this . However, it took me a long to to realize that non-musicians can actually hear a lot we don't give them them credit for. One of the big ones is singing in tune. If you have the song in too high a key for the lead vocalist to sound comfortable in, either change the key downward or just don't do the song. By the way, the same kind of thing goes for Keep Your Hands To Yourself. Just an observation. That's all.

Over all, I liked the Boxx Elders. They were good enough to be playing in clubs but they're not yet at the next plateau they need to break through to. Keep it up!

Now ..... Porters, and the reason I was a little freaked out. Here we had a good band playing modern music (for the most part) and most of the male patrons were either outright bald or had heavily receding hair lines. I'm telling you, this was an older crowd. Most people there appeared to be 40s to 60s in age. Yes. There were a few 20-somethings in the crowd and possibly a few 30-somethings but man oh man, it was a little odd to see that many older people there. And many of them were townies who maybe felt that John Evans was not happening so they walked down to Porters. My deduction .... the clientele has not changed all that much since Peter's time. Don't get me wrong ... this is not a bad thing. Old people buy more expensive drinks for the most part which is good for the bar. This is just an observation on my part.

Don't Tell Mama - Porters Yellowtail, Crystal Lake 3.27.09

I stopped at Porters Oyster bar (Yellowtail) and checked out Don't Tell Mama and was very pleasantly surprised. They are a four-piece band and apparently from Crystal Lake! It's GREAT to see some area bands that play some great music!

Don't Tell Mama was technically proficient and played some good, driving blues-rock and rockin' blues. I did not know some of the songs but they certainly kept me interested. There were also some good interpretations of some classic rock standards. There was some good soloing and some good solid vocals. The rhythm section was tight and paid attention to each other and although I suspect a lot of friends and neighbors were there to help fill in the place, the crowd reaction was great! I suspect the powers that be over at Porters should have been happy with the alcohol sales.

Get out and see these guys! We all need to support McHenry County's own. If you like some good, well-performed blues, check them out the next time they are in the area. http://www.myspace.com/donttellmamaband

Pianoman - Porters Oyster Bar/Yellowtails Sports Bar, Crystal Lake 1.3.09

I dropped in at Porter's Oyster Bar/Yellowtails Sports Bar to check out a band I've heard of but never heard anything about; Pianoman.

Pianoman consists of a pianist/lead vocalist, a guitarist, a basist, a saxophonist, and a drummer. I'll just make a quick comment that the drums were way too low in the mix. It would have been better to have a solid bass drum there to drive the dancers.

Good band! Pianoman does basically Billy Joel and Elton John music so I don't see this as a band that would be huge with the 20-something crowd but you never know. I would have to say that Billy Joel and Elton had a lot of great songs but they also had some dogs (in my opinion only). I heard these guys do some great songs by both Joel and John and they did them very well. I was almost privately aroused to hear Grey Seal by Elton. I love that song! However, a tribute of three hours of Billy Joel and Elton John can go a long way ... but so can a lot of tribute acts.

Everyone were good players and the vocals were good. It's great to hear a sax in a band these days. The crowd seemed to like what they were offered although it wasn't a packed house. Good crowd. Just not packed.

If you're looking for something different, check these guys out. I'm glad I had a chance to hear them. Also, if you have not had a chance to check out Yellowtails yet, do so. They're local and they are providing live music! They deserve your patronage!

Check out Pianoman at http://pianomanusa.20megsfree.com/