Posted 10:21 AM

Another reason to love the Bay Area

We lived in Austin, TX for 10 years before moving to California. Austin, the so-called "Live Music Capital of the World." But we see more live music in the Bay Area in ONE year than we saw in 10 years in central Texas!

Just last night, we went to the Montalvo Arts Center in nearby Saratoga to see the "Blues Guitar Experience." a floating group of blues musicians (guitars, keyboards, drums, tenor & harmonica) that gave us, in turn, New Orleans blues, west Texas blues, Memphis blues, Chicago blues and - oh yeah, I'd almost forgotten it - Carolina Beach music.

"Beach music" is, essentially, 50's R&B that never went away. It remained popular in the beach resorts of Virginia & North Carolina right up to the present. But until we lived in Richmond ('86 - '91) I'd never heard of it as a genre. But last night we listened as Mighty Mike Schermer regaled us with his current Beach music hit "My Big Sister's Radio"! Montalvo's Carriage House (all 300 of us - it was a sellout) rocked.

This was the same venue where last week we enjoyed Acoustic Africa, and next week will find us listening to the Celtic Fiddle Festival. And that's only one venue!

Austin was funky, but the Bay Area defines eclectic. My only regret is that we waited so long to get here....