“There’s so much joy in what we do up here…” Craig Finn of The Hold Steady exclaimed to fans near the end of their set at The Ritz on July 2, 2009, “…we are all the Hold Steady!“
The joy rang loud and proud throughout their set. Fans of The Hold Steady don’t just come and watch the band — they participate and follow along with the band antics.
Kinobe and Soul Beat Africa
Camera in hand, I gently elbowed my way to the front of the crowd as Kinobe and Soul Beat Africa were setting up in the Cuban Club Cantina. If it wasn’t for the camera I probably would not have made it that close to the stage ’cause so many had already staked out that prime real estate, for what one woman informed me was, “the most cultural,” band at this year’s Tropical Heatwave.
I will spare you dictonary.com’s definition of the word cultural. But the comment made me smile, after a few songs I headed upstairs to the ballroom to check out Blair Carman and the Bellview Boys. In less than two minutes, three flights of stairs, I had gone from the rapt attention of beautiful laid back African jams to piano pounding swing dancing rockabilly. That variety is why I love Heatwave, and why it cracks me up when one person will tell me that one band is more, “cultural,” than another.
More pics after the jump:
Last night, Photographer Phil and I played Heatwave Hopscotch, skipping from stage to stage, pausing longer at some than at others though never staying long enough to get comfortable in any one place, and 
having a grand old time all along the way.
We cruised into Heatwave around 9 p.m., missing the monsoon and arriving just in time to catch a snatch of blues guitarist Michael Burks at the Bandshell before we landed in the Cantina for Kinobe and Soul Beat Africa. (Kinobe pictured, photo by Phil Bardi.)
We were in our spot two seconds and one sip into our drinks before we were befriended by a pair of jolly 40ish Bradenton gals (I nicknamed them Angel and Curly), who immediately pushed a few Ace’s Lounge cards on us, then admitted to being friends with the owner. Angel went on to extol all Ace’s virtues (she called it the “Skipper’s Smokehouse of Bradenton”) and about the hotel conveniently located right across the street, the Jimmy Buffett-themed Parrot Inn. You could virtually make a night of it – see a show at the famed Ace’s, stumble over to the Parrot and get a room, hit Bradenton Beach the next day if your head’s still attached. (Angel admitted she’d already booked a room for Red Elvises in October.) Then she and Phil started chatting about photography and her husband’s new hobby of taking pics of the sky through his mega-high tech telescope, and how Saturn was so clear right now that you could see its moons. When Phil ducked away to take pics, Angel latched onto me, and told me about how excited she was to see some world music, the greatness of what we were seeing while we were seeing it, the lady who scooted into the huge spot in front of us and whether she was a temporary or permanent stopper. I ran into Van, spotted a dude who was a deadringer for Donald Sutherland, enjoyed a few songs worth of the warm and buoyant Ugandan music, then snagged Phil and dragged him to the Ballroom. (Many more pics and tidbits after the jump.) Read the rest of this entry »
