Live on the Green, Nashville

Thursday night, the kid and I ran downtown to see the last of the Live on the Green series.  It was a free, six-week concert series; and it just so happened that JJ Grey and Mofro was closing out the season.  Of course I was going!

The first band playing was Jonathan Tyler & the Northern Lights out of Texas.  They were great!  They are touring with JJ, so I get to see them again next Wednesday when Beth and I drive over to Knoxville, University of Tennessee territory, and see them all again.  The teenager is going to meet us there!  How fun is that going to be?  I cannot wait!

The next band up was Dumpstaphunk.  They were absolutely fantastic.  Reminded me of way back in the day of funk; and I was groovin'!  I had moved up close to the stage by this time to get better photos.  Still, they're not great, but I was having so much fun.  (The kid stayed back as he didn't want to get in the crowd and bump and grind, lol.)  The band is from New Orleans and the head honcho, Ivan Neville playing keyboard, is non-other than the son of Aaron Neville. 

Before their last song, they said "this is how we do it in New Orleans!" and invited all the ladies (Vanderbilt girls!) to come up and dance on the stage. I was quite embarrassed when the bass player looked me dead in the eye and said "Don't be shy, come on up!"  I'm sure I turned red as fire!  Hahaha. I just hid behind my camera and  stayed right where I was, of course, and enjoyed all the dancing from my viewpoint.  Oh-me-garsh!  Heck, you wouldn't have found me up there when I was young!  How hilarious is that!

And then, dun dun dun, it was time for my man, JJ.  Wooooot!  Of course, I called my brother Jim and let him listen on the phone as long as he wanted.  He started out singing Country Ghetto.

These guys play so well together.  And I do mean play.  They laughed and smiled throughout the entire show.  I guess there was no pressure since it was a smallish crowd.  I loved it!  It was hard to get a clear pic of JJ as he was dancing all night long.  It was great!  (I think it was the boots.)

It's just a joy to watch a band have so much fun on stage.

Not the Blue Man Group by any means!  I love watching the horn section dance!  And the bass player never stopped smiling the entire night, I swear!  He so reminded me of someone.  Who, I couldn't put my finger on.

I can't wait to do it all again next week!  Yeaya!

I'll leave you with his latest video, Sweetest Thing.  Now, this is so Riverside!  Sniffle.  

Oh, and PS, JJ looks oh-so-much better in person!  Just a little FYI.