In all my years of playing Lowell clubs and bars I never played Cobblestone’s. It was always just a bit more classy, a little bit nicer than the dives I inhabited.
I mean, the first place I ever played in Lowell was The Last Safe and Deposit which was in the basement of an old bank where the actual safe used to be. We would hang crawl on the rafters and be a sweaty mess in that un-air conditioned room. I once flung my head back to get hair out of my eyes and cracked my head on the brick wall on my side of the stage and semi lost consciousness and as I was spinning backwards off the stage I was caught and pushed back upright and regained my composure and only missed the second verse and was back in time for the chorus.
Or Brian’s Ivy Hall with it’s ridiculous three floors of entertainment and enormous staircase for it’s drunk patrons to navigate and the beautiful coffee shop on the first floor where Bob* and I accidentally crashed a very mob meeting going on. One of those, elevator doors open, everyone shuts up and looks at us, two big dudes guarding the door step to us with their hands telling us to leave and Bob and I, seeing the situation and recognizing it from EVERY mob movie ever, frantically start pushing buttons on the elevator to go to ANY other floor.
And Smithwicks where we and so many other local bands found a home with it’s big stage and upstairs “Cashman’s Bar”, named after the bartender Cashman who was the smoothest of all bartenders - when it was closing time, he didn’t yell or scream about last call, he just gradually kept turning up Ethel Merman on the stereo and people would leave of their own volition.
Had some legendary shows here with Melvern Taylor or Mudfoot or Reverend Nik and the Pompous Lovejoys or The Madcap Laughs (everyone’s favorite), or Frank Morey or Jen Kearney with bands sometimes sharing members between them. The first shows I ever booked as a solo act were here as well. It was here at the open mic that I first heard Melvern Taylor play the song “Devil in Me.” I only ever heard him play it once but he had recorded it with Bob Nash at Wonka Sound (which was on the third floor of Smithwicks) and I was recording my first solo album with Bob and he gave me a cassette copy of a couple of Mel’s new tunes and I still have that cassette even though it was given to me in 1997.
Tonight though, Cobblestone’s is a fancy bar and it’s filling up nicely. I have some family and family friends here and even some fans. It is a loud chatty bar though so I am fighting that a bit. I didn’t have to fight the tv over my head because I needed the plug, so the tv got unplugged. This is ideal when dealing with a television overhead.
The first set I mix in a bunch of things including a brand new song that I wrote today. It goes over ok, it’s still a little rough but it feels good to write a song and then perform it less than 8 hours later.
Melvern Taylor shows up with his daughter and it’s right back to old times only this time I perform his song “Devil in Me” for him. It’s only slightly nerve wracking to sing a song back to the dude that wrote it.
“It’s midnight in Lowell, and I’m drowning my sorrows.
I walk to the diner and wait for tomorrow…”
Such a great song.
Did I mention that there’s a benefit happening for Melvern Taylor on Sunday June 25 at Zorba’s in Lowell? I will be there and so will everyone else.
Anyway - it’s a good show. Full room of folks. I get shout out requests of MY songs - which is just the best.** And I try to make it around to talk to everyone and nearly succeed.
Those two hours went fast.
Thank you Lowell, until next time. Look for me at the diner.
xo
~Bobbo
*Gypsy Mechanics guitar tech Bob Rioux.
**Thank you Stephanie for all three of your requests!