Free. What a great word. What great music! (Aug 15, 2011)

Where else can you find great live music like West Palm?  I just spent some time looking up live music venues (preferably free) at some different cities I’m familiar with around the country.  There’s not a lot of places that have a lineup like West Palm does this weekend:  Free Reggae music Thursday (Clematis by Night); Free jazz Friday night on the Palm (Clematis again); R&B Friday and a Billy Joel tribute Saturday (at CityPlace); and a national act — Edwin McCain — at Sunday at the Waterfront.

Where else can you find great entertainment support like West Palm? Wells Fargo, The Gater (and other Clear Channel radio stations, Coke, Heineken, Marriott, the PB Post and other local businesses sponsor events like Clematis by Night and other venues….

Where else can you find great technical support like West Palm?  For years Warner with Squire Sound and Light has done a fantastic job running sound for Clematis by Night… (and your DoWestPalm guys don’t allocate praise for sound techs easily or lightly; we have over 50 years of audio experience between us, and have seen plenty of bad work).  Kudos to Warner, who’s been up to every challenge CBN (and the other events) present.  (The video of the three acts last week at CBN are a a typical example of great audio at a challenging — three bands back to back — event.)

In addition, the City of West Palm has provided a great waterfront, but has also maintained it as a safe, clean, and overall well managed destination.  And their selection of acts has been well balanced and well thought out.

This last week was no exception. Opening up for Big Sky at CBN on Thursday  was the “Baby Grands,” a “children’s rock” band that gets a bit of airplay on Sirius radio, and did a great job entertaining both young and old. Hang on past the alphabet song to some of their other material…

http://www.youtube.com/embed/7ejJKSig0G4

Then Chuck Nash and his band came up for the second act. Listen to their great cover of Pink Floyd (filmed from in front of the “NewsStand”) … and then take a look at the makeup of the band.

http://www.youtube.com/embed/RUbjptwjKMI

Yep. Two guys. Pretty amazing.

But, though it would seem that would be hard to top, Big Sky, a Gainesville favorite (with a significant West Palm following) was everything you could want, connecting with the crowd, doing a great mix of original and cover songs, bringing the intensity up as the sun went down.

http://www.youtube.com/embed/tFK-EvceZLw

http://www.youtube.com/embed/RvGFWr1TD-M

And that was just the start to a great weekend of music…