June 30, 2005 Lee's Liquor Lounge, Minneapolis, MN

Lee's is definately one of my favorite places. I've really liked the place from the first time I walked into the joint (w/Mark Rogers to check out KNUCKLE DRAGGER -- I wish I would get a chance to see them again!!!!). Tonights first band was THE "expanded" MERCURIES. I think that everybody that knows me realizes I'm not a fan of country music. THE MERCURIES are a country band. That being said I must say that I really enjoyed their performance. I'm not a fan of "modern" country but these guys have an old school country sound. You can definately see the roots of rockabilly within the songs that they play. I did recognize 2 of the songs they played but was unfamiliar with the rest. Musically the band is very solid and plays well together. No instrument overwhelmed the others (they had 7 members on stage -- 38 SPECIAL would have been proud). I find the vocals to be very interesting. I would not categorize the lead singer as having an amazing voice. What I would say is that he has a solid voice that fits well with the songs. His voice just kind of draws you into the songs and makes them very enjoyable. In my opinion this is a much more important trait that merely sounding incredible. Several very cute girls on hand for the show and lots of dancers. Actually the thought of asking any of these babes to dance is intimidating as it became apparent that many of these people spent hours and hours at dance classes and practicing. Some of the couples were really fun to watch with all the intricate manuevers they were pulling off. A very nice and enjoyable set pulled off by THE MERCURIES.
The headliner for the night was ROSIE FLORES. I had never heard of her before and after a visit to her website found out she plays Honky Tonk which means little to me as I had no idea what that means. As it turns out Honky Tonk must mean rockabilly because that's how I would categorize her. Her set was just great!!!! She had an upbeat country/rock sound. More upbeat than JACK KNIFE & THE SHARPS but definately not up to the speed of pyschobilly such as REVEREND HORTON HEAT. She played some covers and some of her own songs which I guess she has gained some recognition with. I think the highlight was probably 2 nice upbeat JOHNNY CASH songs that I had actually never heard before. She has a nice voice, plays guitar well and just has a real pleasant on stage personality. AND I just love the sight of a stand up bass!!!! Something about them just gives a real nice sound. I would definately go check her out again. Overall another fun night of hanging out and listening to good music and musicians. PLUS Lee's serves Hamm's so I suckered myself into trying one. Not to bad, Hamm's really is the Beer refreshing!!!!
P.S. -- It was really fun to hang out w/Janis and her father but I found it rather odd that on several occasions they brought up the VIKINGS win over the packers in the playoffs (VIKINGS are 1-0 alltime in the playoffs against the pack). I guess they must have been impressed with the giant can of whup ass the VIKES opened that day.