Gregg's Eggs and Related Serendipity

We were in Seattle on Mother's day, and Mike took me out to dinner and a show. We hadn't planned anything, so I looked on CitySearch and found this:

: "Gregg's Eggs. After a long search, Gregg Anton, drummer of the band Zero, has finally found the right batch of musicians for his side-project Gregg's Eggs. He's enlisted former Grateful Dead keyboardist Vince Welnick, Zero percussionist Lonnie Walter, singer Mari Tamburo, Bassist Chris Wilson, and a phenomenal guitarist from Japan -- Futoshi Morioka. The band is currently touring behind a new release that's full of heavy improvisational rock (what did you expect?) and soaring melodies. In addition, most of the lyrics were written by Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter."

The venue was Tractor Tavern in Seattle's Ballard area. Nice place: good people running it; good layout of bar/seating/dance floor/stage; good beer; good ventilation and no "funny" smoke. (That's important to us -- Mike is seriously allergic to it. I just retch at the smell.)

The band was a major treat. They played everything from '60s cover songs to new music of their own. Their sound ranges from country-gal to the next evolution of Grateful Dead. Their look ... well ... Vince looks like Vince. Mari was dressed as sort of a country voodoo queen, in jeans, granny vest, top hat, and boa: very, er, striking. The rest were in regulation low-key neohippie.

Betina Hershey played between sets. She uses an acoustic guitar and reminds me a little of Ani DiFranco. She played an original song, which I totally loved, about being lost in the woods. It's on her CD.

While I was sitting up front watching Betina and Mike was back at the bar -- Vince wandered back to the bar and perched next to Mike and he got to chat with him! Apparently Vince was coming down with a cold, so he sat out awhile longer and a local friend of the band, Tim Green, played part of the second set. Tim has not as vigorous a playing style as Vince has, but smooth and confident and nice to listen to. I'll be looking for his name on live music announcements, too.

Betina stopped and chatted with us after the break. She's based out of New York and is currently touring with Gregg's Eggs. Her next venture will be as a duo with another gal from New York.

We had driven into the area early so as to have dinner, which we got at Old Town Alehouse. The food was ok; their seasonings are mostly based on a Cajun chili that delivers a pure heat without interfering with other spices. The live music was excellent! Sunday nights they have jazz jam bands and we had already, unfortunately, missed an hour or so of The Uptown Lowdown Jazz Band. Maybe I'm not looking right but it seems really rare to find this good of a traditional jazz band. They have a CD: Hangin' In There, 30 Years ... which tells you how long they've been playing together! Come to think of it, it looked like there were only us and one other couple under 50 years old in the place. Quite a few of the Honored Citizens were dancing, beautifully, in a small space left open for the purpose between the stage and the tables. Mike & I didn't get up and dance, not wanting to be quite that thoroughly shown-up!