Who Let the Cat Out of the Bag ?

It was Saturday night, it was the Empty Glass, it was intimate and exciting, then the top exploded and the groove was on.

In and e-mail that I sent out earlier in the week, I invited everyone to a night of great music and lots of fun. In the subject area I asked (or stated...), that REM, Hootie and the Blowfish, and The Carpenter Ants all had a commom denominator. That denominator is Don Dixon.
Don, I explained is a producer, bassist, singer and songerwriter extraordinaire. I also explained that he is responsible for getting and giving all of us a kick start in the music industry.
Well I just want you to know, that if you weren't in attendance, that you truly missed out on some great music, and just a wonderful time.
Dixon is one of those musicians that comes along only far too infrequently in our lives...just a wealth of talent.
He started off the evening doing some solo works from his new CD " The Entire Combustible World In One Small Room," and let me tell you, these songs are not for the bubble gum pop crowd, or the metal or jazz heads, this music is for folks who like their music with some serious thought provoking grooves.
First of all, doing his music with a band is challenging enough, Don strings together his songs like the best Swiss watch; even the tiniest piece makes it run smoothly, and when you wear it, it looks good on you. I'm saying all that to say that his music makes for the perfect end of a football Saturday.
To me, at first, it seemed like the evening was sort of lumbering along, but then we (The Carpenter Ants) hit the stage, and Don leans over to me and said " Charlie, get the crowd going, get 'em up," and truthfully, it threw me for just a moment. I then realized that Don deliberately made this evening spectacular, by slowing down the pace of the vibe (follow me here...).
What he did was build up a momentum that was capped off by all of us playing together. It was like standing directly in front of someone and looking at their head, you don't really have an appreciation of their haircut until you step back and look at the fine details...man it was beautiful.
I learned a valuable lesson in music about how to really draw in a crowd, and make them pay attention. I noticed that as the night progressed, there was little talking throughout the room, lots of head shaking, and toe tapping, and swaying with the music.
By the end of the night, we had the crowd fixated on us, and many of them were in the same disbelief that I was, damn, it's over. We did 3 and half hours of music, and I never sweat so much in my life. It was freaking, INCREDIBLE.
On the way home, my Vickie said to me Don is amazing isn't he ? Today, I checked my e-mail, and got 4 e-mails from people who were there, and my friend Amy couldn't stop talking about how great the night was . She said that it was as laid back as you can get and still be on the planet.
One of Don's song asks, who let the cat out of the bag ? I think that I now know the answer:
Ladies and gentlemen, it's Don Dixon.
I'm really sorry if you all couldn't be here with us, because it was a truly amazing night, but just think, WOW, there will be a next time. All you have to remember is...

Support Live music today tomorrow and always.

This post is dedicated to Don Dixon, thank you for always believing in us, and making us believe in ourselves.