Ekoostik Hookah at The Vogue in Indy

Last Friday after getting back from Ohio for the Phil show, I went to see Ekoostik Hookah at The Vogue in Broad Ripple. I have been waiting for this show for months. It has been several years since Hookah has played at The Vogue. We were really hoping to bring in a huge crowd so they would come back, but we were hurting a little on numbers because of other events going on that night. Jack Johnson was playing at Deer Creek, Bonaroo was going on, and the Indy Jazz Fest was happening with Buddy Guy, Madeski, Martin and Wood, and a couple other artists who pull in big crowds. The promoters for Hookah were aware of everything else going on that night, so I'm hoping that they will schedule another show there soon even though the crowd wasn't what we had hoped it would be.I was afraid that Ryan would miss part of the show because he had to work that night. Normally, he doesn't get off of work until 10:30, but he got lucky Friday and was able to leave a little early. He walked in not more than ten minutes after I got there. It was perfect timing. The opening band, called Hip-O, had just ended their set. They were actually pretty good. I only heard a couple songs, but really enjoyed what I heard. These are our friends Matt, Liz and Carolina, or Carrie. I was so happy to see Matt and Liz. It has been a long time since we have all seen eachother, so it was kind of like a family reunion of sorts. Of course, a lot of the Hookah shows are kind of a reunion for a lot of us.
Matt and Ryan love eachother....and have obviously missed eachother. Aren't they sweet?!?!?
This is my first ever picture on my own camera of me and Steve Sweney. The few times I have talked to him, I have been too star struck to ask for a picture. I think the only other picture that exists of us is on Kelly Ann's camera. It's definitely NOT a good picture of Sweney, but it's better than nothing!!! They closed the show by doing "Comfortably Numb" for their encore. Steve broke a string at the beginning of the song and tore our faces off with five strings. I thought it was amazing. Apparently, Steve didn't think it was quite so amazing though. We talked about it after the show.





It was kind of a crazy night for the guys. They seemed to be having a great time on stage. sometimes I think they have even more fun when they have a smaller crowd to cater to. Dave broke a string during the song Old Montana Red Dog. I don't think I've EVER seen him break a string. The funny thing was......he broke a string the next night too. Ryan and I decided they bought this batch of strings at a discount store :-)

It's always so frustrating for me when I'm trying to get pictures of Eric. It's just hard in general to get good pictures of the drummer, I think. They're always toward the back of the stage and people are always moving around in front of them. So, I didn't get many good pictures of him, but I did call dibs on the next drumstick he broke. I got it Saturday night ;-)
This is our friend Julie Balvich. We have known her for years from following the band, but we have just recently started trying to go to shows together. I think a lot of people are doing that since gas prices suck so bad right now. Plus, carpooling is fun....the more the merrier, right?
Matt and TeShannah were there, and Ashley came after the Jack Johnson show. It was awesome that some people went to both of those shows that night. Hookah played until almost 2:30, which surprised me. The Vogue usually seems to end their shows earlier than that. But, I'm definitely not complaining!!! I think everyone I talked to who went to both the Jack Johnson show and the Hookah show enjoyed the Hookah show a lot more. I was glad to hear that. Not that I have anything against Jack Johnson. In fact, I love his music, but I just want to see big things happening for my small town boys.
Here's a picture of Dave right after he broke his string. If you look really close, you can see it hanging off the right side of his guitar. This was right before he handed it off to be fixed and jumped over to the keys to keep playing. I bet if you heard a recording of this song, you would never even know anything happened. It was such a smooth transition from the acoustic guitar to the keys that it sounded nearly flawless. But for those of us who were there.....we know what really happened. :-)

The crowd was so much fun. Even though there were only a couple hundred of us, we partied like there was no tomorrow. The front of the stage was covered by a whole bunch of our friends. It was almost like it was our personal show. It's fun to be completely surrounded by people you know up front at a show like that. Clint and his cousin Matt even showed up for a little while. It's always fun to have Clint around. He's always so lively and animated in everything he does....never a dull moment!!!

Dave and Kelly Ann ended up leaving early because of Dave's whiny brother. I felt bad for all of them. His wife was having a great time up front with all us girls and he got pissy about it. i guess he thought she was flirting or something. But while that load of crap was floating around in his head, it blinded him from the other twnety females surrounding his wife.....maybe he was just jealous :-) So, it sucked that they weren't there for the second set. We made up for it Saturday night though.

After the show Ryan, our nieghbor Marcus, and I all headed back to West Middleton. We stopped for some delicious White Castle on the way home and talked about what the next night would hold. It was a great night. I managed to get home in enough time to catch a few hours of sleep before we had to get up and get ready for the rest of the weekend.

I hope Ekoostik Hookah comes back to Indy sometime soon. I want another show at The Vogue. I know all the guys really liked playing that venue. That's probably a good sign. Hopefully they will pursue another trip back our way before too long.

The Black Keys

Ryan and I went to see a show at The Vogue for FREE this past weekend!!!! Clint got some free tickets, probably promo tickets, for The Black Keys last Sunday. I love having Clint as my insider for fun stuff in Indy. He knows so many people, and is such a social butterfly, that he gets all kinds of perks everywhere!!!

Anyway, The Black Keys are a band consisting of only two members. A guitarist and a drummer. Every once in awhile, the guitarist will play the organ, but they didn't have it up at this show.

Their style is somewhat bluesy, but definitely rockin'!! They've been around for about five years, but have just been noticed recently after their latest release received great reviews from several music magazines and musicians. It's hard to believe by just listening to them that there's only two people playing instruments. There's a lot of sound pouring out of both of them.




The show was very energetic. It was a lot shorter than I would have liked, but I have to admit, I was exhausted by the time it was all over. I guess I have been spoiled by the Hookah boys playing for four and five hours at a time for me :-)






We met up with Clint ( he lives in Broad Ripple now) and a couple friends of his and found a spot where we could all see. While we were standing there just chit chatting away, our friend Eric comes strolling by. I'm always so happy to see him. The funny thing is, he lives in Kokomo, and I NEVER see him here in town. It's almost a given that we will see him if we go to any show nearby. We also got to hang out with a couple friends, Will and Amy who just moved to Indy not too long ago. We had no idea they would be there, so that was a great surprise. It's amazing to me how many faces have become familiar at concerts these last few years. There are plenty of people out there doing exactly what Ryan and I do......we see live music as often as possible. It's a life source to us.
This is Will and Amy
This is our buddy Eric Springer
Ryan and Will being goofy as we go into The Alley Cat.............



Clint ended up meeting some "hot Betty," as he would say, and went down to a bar called The Alley Cat where they talked and could actually hear one another. We walked down there after the show and hung out with them for a little while. Clint's brother, Gauvin, was there too. He looks like Brad Pitt.....anyone know someone looking for a hot and NICE boyfriend???? It's always good to see Gauvin. I love Clint's family. So, not only did we get a great show under our belts for FREE, we also got to see some old friends and catch up a little.


This is the creepy alley we walked through to get to the Alley Cat. I would never walk down there alone, that's for sure!!!!!



Of course, Ryan and I had to do as much as we could to try to get back stage to get a picture, or at least talk to the guys. It's hard to get backstage at The Vogue. You have to know someone with more strings to pull than Clint has, but it's pretty easy to catch people from the bands outside in the back parking lot. So, that's what we did. We did end up getting to chat with them for a few minutes, but as you can imagine, everyone else wanted to talk to them too. So, after a few brief words, we snapped one picture a piece, and got out of their way. Unfortunately, my picture with the gutarist, Dan Auerbach, didn't turn out very well....surely you see what I mean :-). The picture of Ryan and Patrick Carney, the drummer, was taken just after Ryan stepped off of the curb they're standing near and almost wiped out. It was a good laugh for everyone. Maybe that's how they'll remember us.......

Ryan and Patrick Carney, the drummer...................

Me and Dan Auerbach........too bad he looks like he's sleeping....................

Yet another fun-filled weekend busting at the seams with great music and great people!!!!