Dave Mason Streetsboro 7/31/09

I was a bit confused and startled when I heard that Dave Mason of Traffic was going to play a free concert at the Streetsboro Home Days. A great guitarist, songwriter and vocalist coming to little Streetsboro for a free concert? Wow! I notified some friends and we agreed to meet there for hopefully a night of good music and fun. I must say that the night turned out to be most enjoyable.

I arrived at the venue just as Dave Mason and his band began to play "Empty Pages" the first song of the night. Pooch called me and I found him and Caserock under the basketball hoop stage left. The sound was a bit muddled for this first song but became better actually fantastic in a few tunes. For being outdoors and having a small sound system the mixer actually got it right. Every voice and instrument was heard crisp and clear. Clear as the starry 70 degree night that embraced us along with the music.

The star of the evening was Shar's 5 and a half year old daughter and the prettiest little rock and roller in the crowd, Lauren. Dressed in her peasant dress and sandals she danced the night away to the delight of the crowd. She shook and shaked to hits such as "Feelin Alright", "Forty Thousand Headmen", "We Just Disagree", Dear Mr. Fantasy", "All Along The Watchtower" and others. This little girl did not stop for the entire hour and a half that the band played.

The band consisted of Dave Mason on guitar and vocals, Gerald Johnson on bass, Johnne Sambataro on guitar and vocals, Alvino Bennett playing drums and Anthony Patler on keyboards. A very capable band that played the music so true that I could have sworn at times they were "Milli Vanilliing" it. They also showed that they were accomplished musicians on some of their extended jams. Short jams compared to some of the Jam Bands that I go to see but a jam none the less.

Hoss and Basha danced on top of a picnic table to the expertly played music enjoying the music and thanking me repeatedly for turning them onto such a good time. At 260 pounds I did not trust the picnic table so I just danced in the grass, safer, less risk. I even tried to teach Lauren some moth catcher moves and she just stared at me like I was crazy.

Good music, excellent sound quality, fun friends, beautiful night and FREE. Kind of like a soup line for music listeners in these tough economic times. Yeah, I will have to rate it a four twirl evening with some moth catcher hand moves thrown in.

I feel bad that some of my friends missed this show but they have a bad taste in their mouths from being stood up by Dave Mason on a few other occasions. Dave has a tendency not to show up to events at times. He showed up last night and made it a memorable evening.