[Scott F.]

Hiya Guys,

Not to hijack our next meeting thread but I just ran across this. Looks Like we've got a new Jazz venue here in town. It's called Finale Music and Dining. Steve Shanckman (sp) of Riverport plus Bob Saur have created a 140 seat venue at the corner of Bonhomme and Brentwood in Clayton.

Heres the propaganda from the Ticketmaster website.
========================
Music in the air, delicacies on the menu, and luxury just a key’s-turn away; an evening at Finale is a complete experience for all of the senses. This newly designed 6,000 square-foot destination is a non-smoking establishment which will house two unique spaces: a 75-seat fine dining restaurant and a 140-seat live entertainment club. Soon to be Clayton’s newest hotspot, this club/restaurant combination will serve as the area’s ultimate intimate venue to see top national performers while enjoying an electric atmosphere with a smooth vibe.

Finale is the realization of a dream for three prominent St. Louis business leaders; Bob Saur (Conrad Properties), Steve Schankman (Contemporary Productions) and Ted Geiger (J. Buck’s and Fuzio.) This one-of-a-kind venue will target the lifestyle needs of St. Louis’ central corridor as well as time-starved young professionals, hip singles and dual-income couples.

Jeff Constance: Mr. Constance has been the Executive Chef at J. Buck’s restaurant since August of 2000. A native of Belleville, Illinois, he studied
culinary arts at Johnson and Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island. Upon graduation, Constance moved to New York where he worked in some of the country’s best kitchens including, Aureole and Gramercy Tavern. While in New York, Constance not only learned his craft, but realized the philosophy of outstanding hospitality and how that translates to each guest. He then moved to Chicago where he was the Executive Chef of Spruce, a nationally renowned urban American restaurant. Ultimately, Constance returned to St. Louis and brought his passion for food and bold hearty flavors to J. Buck’s where he oversees the kitchens in both Clayton and West County.
========================

Here's the first of the concert offerings these guys have.

Angela Bofill
Fri, 03/25/05   more dates
On Sale Mon, 02/21/05

 Maynard Ferguson
Wed, 03/16/05   more dates
On Sale Mon, 02/21/05
 
Stanley Jordan
Thu, 05/19/05   more dates
On Sale Mon, 02/21/05

 "Tribute To Motown" the Fabulous Motown Review
Wed, 04/27/05
On Sale Mon, 02/21/05
 
Karrin Allyson
Thu, 04/21/05   more dates
On Sale Mon, 02/21/05

 Tito Puente Jr
Fri, 04/01/05   more dates
On Sale Mon, 02/21/05
 
They don't have a website (that I can find) yet but the venue looks pretty promising.

[sturgus]

Sounds like a winner to me. Good music and good food go hand in hand.
Sure would like to see Maynard blow a few notes.  
Sturgus

[Scott F.]

They finally got their website up and going. Heres the link;

http://www.finale-stl.com/

[Blackmore]

Hey Guys!

Thanks for the info on the new club.  I'll be at Maynard's show on Saturday, March 19th.  Anybody else going to be there?

[Scott F.]

Hey Guys!

Thanks for the info on the new club.  I'll be at Maynard's show on Saturday, March 19th.  Anybody else going to be there?

Won't be able to make it to Maynard but I was thinking seriously about going to see Erin Bode. She's got a great voice. Wanna go?

[Scott F.]

Hey Guys,

Just found out that the old American Theatre has been renovated and reopened under it's original name The Roberts Orpheum Theatre. They are now booking a variety of different artists from comedy to whomever. Heres the concert list so far....

Sunday, April 10 Backstreet Boys
Sunday, April 17 Hydra, featuring Mickey Hart & Particle
Friday, April 22 Rob Thomas with Beth Hart  

[on sale March 15]
Sunday, April 24 The Doors [on sale March 19]
Tuesday, April 26 Mary Chapin Carpenter with special guest Mindy Smith
Sunday, May 1 An Evening with Tesla 5 Man Accoustic Jam 2005  [on sale March 26]
Saturday, May 07 Joe Jackson & Todd Rundgren
Friday, May 20 Bill Maher
Thursday, June 09 Spyro Gyro
Wed., June 22 Jazz Attack Rick Braun, Jonathan Butler, Richard Elliot, and Peter White
Friday, July 22 Dave Koz and Friends
Friday, July 29 Rick Springfield
Saturday, Aug. 06 Chris Issak
Wed., Aug. 24 Brian Wilson - SMiLE
[/list:u]
Not too shabbie. Pretty wide choices in styles.
Joe Jackson and Todd Rundgren might be fun to go see.

Heres the link .....
http://www.robertsorpheum.com/

[DeadFish]

Wow Scott!

Thanks for the tip on the new venue!
I didn't know Mickey Hart had teamed with Particle as a jam band called Hydra, and that calls to me... (love dem rythms!!)

There is some other great *unusual* stuff catchin' my eye there.
Bill Maher without censors would definitely be a treat.

Well, I *do* go on...

God, I think it has been almost 30 years (feels that way) since catching Spyro Gyra...

Hey, btw, enjoy Metheny tonite, and don't forget to give us a review!
I'm non-committal on the new album, like some, don't like some, but I think that is more my mood than anything.
Nonetheless, I hope its a great concert for ya!

Regards,
DF

[Scott F.]

....Hey, btw, enjoy Metheny tonite, and don't forget to give us a review!
I'm non-committal on the new album, like some, don't like some, but I think that is more my mood than anything.
Nonetheless, I hope its a great concert for ya! ...

Hiya DF,

Well, you missed a good one.

Pat started by playing his latest album The Way Up in it's entirety, all 68+ (continuous) minutes of it. If you couldn't wrap youe mind around it on the CD, the live version would have brought it into complete focus. To give you an idea how good it was, after the song, the applause lasted 2 maybe 3 minutes. Pat and the guys looked like they didn't quite know what to do with all the adoration.

It's kinda strange, although as I watched PMG perform TWU I really got into the music but I couldn't help but notice that these guys were working their ass off on stage. When you listen to the CD there is layer upon layer of instruments. Imagine reproducing that on stage and that will give you some idea how busy these guys were trying to keep up with the composition, Pat included. In the end, they pulled it off extremely well.

After TWU, Pat reached back and played some stuff we haven't heard in years. He dipped back to Bright Sized Life, the (so-called) White Album, Still Life Talking, Secret Story, and loads more.

During the show there were tons of mini-solo's (all of which were great BTW). This time they seemed to shorten the time the musician had to solo.   In the SON tour Cuong Vu did (what seemed like) a 10 minute trumpet solo which wore after a while. In fact I went out for a smoke and when I came back he was still solo'ing. This time the solo's were only about 2-3 minutes. Much more manageable, mentally and musically. It gave you just enough time to really appreciate the musicians talent without them loosing you (like the old 20 minute drum solos).

Speaking of solo's and performers, Antonio Sanches is THE BEST drummer in the industry. He could be the best drummer ever (bar none). Until you see him live you really can't appreciate just how good he really is. I'm not talking just about his speed, I'm talking about his sense of rythm and timing. This is the fourth time we've seen him and he continues to amaze me.

As for the sound, Kirch would be the better one to comment on it as he and his wife were pretty close to center stage. Laura and I were on the right side of the stage in the balcony. The sound there was OK but it would have been much better if I was able to get tickets in the center.

All in all, Pat and the band played for almost 3 hours. He finished the show with a guest appearence from his brother Mike Metheny (a decent  trumpet player in his own right). They played a tune that I didn't recognize but it was darned fine none the less.

We had a great time. The food was great (we had the Menonite chicken special), the company was even better and the show was the icing on top. As I said before, you missed a good one.

[DeadFish]

Wow, Scott!

Sounds like you are right about what I missed, solely based on the energy you brought to the 'review', so early the morning after!  Hell, my ears would still be ringing..
Thanks for that.
I was afraid that after 8 hours of stomping around looking at hot tubs and whirlpools at the homeshow, that I would be less-than for the show, to listen to music I couldn't fully 'understand' yet.
Yeah, I do know what you mean about the live version pulling things into focus on the new album.  Have had that happen with Metheny's stuff particularly before.   Heck, it took 3 years for my buddy's hammering to listen to PMG to get me to GO to a concert, and I realized that it had been like he was trying to *explain* to me about acid without dropping any...
Glad you liked the show, and I can only hope for 'next time'.  Thanks again for taking the time to post.

Regards,
DF

[kirch]

Adding to Scott's review -

I thoroughly enjoyed the opening 68 minutes of This Way Up.  Scott's right, they really were working hard on this one -

My initial impressions of the CD weren't that great, but after giving it 7-10 listens, it really grew on me, and by the last time I listened Wednesday, I decided I really liked the album.  My wife on the other hand, as someone else had said, couldn't quite wrap here mind around it.  And in fact, didn't really care for the show as a whole, and she's always liked him in the past.

The rest of the show had a few ups and downs for me.  Pat took a ton of creative license on a number of his tunes, that for me, took away some of the enjoyment.  His rendition of a couple of his tunes that were initially, standard "melodic" PMG fare, (sorry, but I have a hard time remembering song titles without lyrics) turned into somewhat of an avant-garde guitar noodling, often hard to follow.  You sort of recognized the songs, then it was like "what the . . . ".   But for the most part, the show was top notch, and I'm pretty sure I've seen every Pat appearance in STL since Song X with Ornette Coleman, so I have a pretty good idea of what to expect from the band.

I was sometimes disappointed with the sound at the Pageant, sitting almost dead center in the third row of the balcony, Lyle's piano should have been much more audible, but was often almost lost.  Plus there were a number of feedback issues I've never experienced with PMG before.  Not sure it it was the sound guy or the venue's fault.  Either way, I do wish Joe Edwards would do something about the overall acoustics of the place.

[Blackmore]

Just got back from Maynard's 7:30 set.  Man, what a cool place to see and hear your favorite jazz performers.  We were 20 feet from the stage, got to hear a 75 minute set.  There just isn't a bad seat in the house.  The house PA was pretty canned sounding, but man, you could feel Maynard's high notes in the back of your skull   Boys, get your piggybanks out and get down to this club and have a great time.