Night 24 of The Rock and Roll Highway at the Jazz and Rib Fest | Columbus, OH | Covington Rock

7/18/14

After the show the night before, Angela Perley told me of the towns Jazz & Rib Festival that was happening that weekend.  A whole weekend devoted to music and good eating!!  She convinced me that it was a time that I could not miss, so I opted to stay in Columbus for another night.  Angela said that I must not miss Forest & The Evergreens so after a somewhat lazy day….I was tired…This journey down the rock and roll highway had been both incredibly exhilarating and incredibly exhausting.  It will happen again, though perhaps with a kindred spirit to share the exhilarating exhaustion!

The dreary day quickly faded away as soon as I got within earshot of the North Bank Stage,  some sweet funky tunes peppered with joyful horn blasts picked up my pace and I hurried over.  When I walked up to the stage the drummer was jumping up and down as he ecstatically beat on his drums.  It was a pure badass ANIMAL moment.  This was funk pumped up on the joy of life!  YES!  THANK YOU ANGELA for stressing the importance of getting to experience Forest and The Evergreens.  These guys are not to be missed.  The jam hard and come to make a party.  The singer, Parker Muntz, has the perfect vocal quality to match the groove of the band.  He has that bluesy voice without the roughness.  He sings the funky blues pretty and with passion.

sorry for the shaky camera work.  I had the wrong lens on for video but didn’t want to miss the exuberant drumming.

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The rain didn’t keep the crowds of hungry people away and the lines to the best of the best, best, best rib joints were in full display.  I must give a shout out to the city of Columbus for their trash system.  I never found myself looking for a trashcan nor did I ever see an overflowing trash can.  This city is prepared, I’ve never seen trashcans that large.
I had an uber delicious corn dog.  Yeah, yeah, I know I was at a Rib Festival but I love Corn Dogs.  I love them.  A Corn Dog once saved me from being trapped on the L train underneath the East River during the blackout.  Corn Dogs rule.

and I had some of the best ice cream ever from a local place called Jeni’s.  I had the Salted Caramel and The Milkiest Chocolate in The World and I know I will be back to this town for this ice cream (and the amazing music scene).

Walking back to see Jeff Lorber, a man yelled out ‘Angela Perley’ with a huge grin on his face.  I was rocking the t-shirt she had given me at the show the night before!  He was Angela’s high school counselor and couldn’t have been prouder of her!

Came back and found Jeff Lorber tearing up his keys with his jazz buddies.  His fingers flew around the keys and with a badass on trumpet bringing that smooth sexy jazz, this foursome made me feel like I was in a dark intimate club with their practiced and perfected passion.  The dummer’s grin was as infectious as their grooves!

Headed over to try and find the Jazz Cafe Stage and some funky jams lead the way and I found The Dubfunk Quartet.  Woo Hoo!  The singer, again Woo Hoo, made me pick up my pace as I rounded the top of the hill.  Funky and bluesy, she has that big voice, rich and layered and with a full on belt that will blow you away.   She commanded that stage.  A fellow in the crowd pointed to my Angela Perley shirt and came over to chat (This makes about 8 times of someone coming up to me to tell me how much they love Angela Perkly & The Howlin’ Moons at the festival).  He also told me that most of the peeps onstage are in another band call MoJoFlo and recommended I check them out.  I have and they are some badasses of funk.  Hope to catch a show sometime.

The Jazz & Rib festival was not slowing down and the crowd watching Organ Monk featuring Reggie Woods was reveling in the funky jazz as I strolled over to The American Electric Power Stage.  The sky kept spouting little bits of rain but you could hardly notice for all the spontaneous dancing that I was witnessing (& partaking in) as I strolled around.  Organ Monk is jazzing up the best with spontaneous improve on the master of improve, Thelonious Monk.  The show was energy and you could see the players were enjoying the show just as much as the crowd.  Maybe even a little more!  Greg Lewis played those keys hard, he played those keys with soul and he played those keys with a giant grin on his face.  His smile was matched in intensity by drummer Jeremy “Bean” Clemons.   It was beautiful to watch them enjoying Reggie Woods take center stage and blow that beautiful tenor sax.