7.11.2009
[Retrospective: Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears]
"Bitch, I love you!"

If there was anything that propelled me to watch Spoon on Thursday rather than the other two nights, it was the appearance of Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears. Catering to my need to jive and gravy train, Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears is a very rambunctious octet. With a full-time brass crew to back up the wails of a Wurlitzer and the bluesy vocals of Lewis shouting Lord knows what at times, it's hard not to get down. Pulling the crowd in almost immediately, Lewis and crew set us up and knocked us down with their deep, soulful sound. And the showmanship! Nothing stopped the sound for them that night - broken strings, out of tune guitar, even their bassist kept it coming despite a bad back and rocked it from a wheelchair. The brass would trumpet from the back while guitars picked their glory; the keys couldn't be any fuzzier if they tried while Lewis, behind a dark set of eyes, bellowed his soul. The stage was anything but stagnant, and neither was the crowd. In a finale that more than entertained us, Lewis set aside his guitar and opted to hold a pair of snakes instead. Doing the voodoo that he doo(es), Lewis interrupted song to approach his handicapped brother. "Do you want to walk!?," he would scream. "I say do you want to walk!?" Scaring the devil right out of him, his backbroken bassist rose miraculously rose out of his wheelchair to shimmy and shake with the rocking power of Jesus playing his puppet strings. Ladies and gentlemen, Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears know how to work a crowd...

Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears @ Stubb's

Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears @ Stubb's
The man knows his voodoo...

Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears @ Stubb's
Why yes, that's how you rock a keytar.

Various Songs From Black Joe Lewis (all songs are right click - save as):
Sugarfoot
Gunpowder

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2 Comments:
Blogger Felicia_Ceballos said...
Hahaha scaring the devil right out of him...I loved the whole article but that line and everything after it was my favorite part

Blogger Ian Varley said...
That is some sweet chinese spam you've got there ...