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Arts & Entertainment

For the Love of Mic: Wood 'n' Lips Newsletter

Once a week local musicians of all ages meet at Friendly Grounds Coffeehouse to play music and enjoy the night.

Hidey Ho Neighbor,

First off, given the unseasonably warm weather, let me remind you that the has —and they aren’t afraid to use it.  So if you’re sitting at home stifling, jump in the car and drop on by.

Last week we had a good slate of performers who augmented the audience, which included nine friends and relatives in my party alone. If you are looking for a fun thing to do when out-of-town company arrives, remember our open mic; most of my friends or family who come to visit make a special point of scheduling a visit to our .

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6:30 Wood ‘n’ Lips (, Greg Gross & Bari Zwirn): Our first song was a dedication to a visiting friend’s husband who absolutely loves his fried chicken, appropriately we did The Zack Brown Band’s “Chicken Fried”; followed by Ray Charles’ “Hit the Road Jack”; Neil Sedaka’s “Breaking Up is Hard to Do”; The Statler Brothers’ “Counting Flowers on the Wall”; and Perry Como’s “Catch a Falling Star”.

6:45 Mary McGerald: (One third of the Pony Tales), Dedicated her set to the memory of Tanya Rose; she did Johnny Cash’s “Wayfaring Stranger”; “Amazing Grace”; and  “Oh Mary Don’t You Weep”; Bob Arsenault and Doreen Harlow joined her for “I’ll Fly Away”;  “

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7:00 Doreen Harlow: Another third of the Pony Tales, was next, so she had Bob and Mary stay with her for “Rock My Soul”; a version of the Kingston Trio’s “Worried Man Blues”;  and her tribute to Tanya Rose, “A Border Affair” (aka “Spanish is a Loving Tongue”).

7:15 Walt Lipski: (Formerly of Wood ‘n’ Lips) did a very nice set of Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues”; Elvis Presley’s “Suspicion”; Simon & Garfunkle’s “I am a Rock”; The Eagles’ “Tequila Sunrise”; and Willie Nelson’s “On the Road Again”.

7:30 John Movius—Eschewed his electric axe for an acoustic set of Jimmy Rodgers’s “Miss the Mississippi and You”; The Hollies’ “Very Last Day” (Judgment Day); Buddy Holly’s “Maybe Baby”; and  “Let Me Take You to the Show”.

7:45 Greg Gross: Played local songwriter, Ken Graydon’s, “Three Quarter Time”; the Carter Family’s “Will the Circle Be Unbroken”; his own “Trolley Car”; and John Denver’s “Country Road’s”.

8:00 Bob Cool: Exercised his picking fingers, he did instrumental versions of Nat King Cole’s “Misty” and Tony Bennet’s signature tune, “I Left My Heart in San Francisco”; then, complete with fun lyrics, Aaron Wilburn & Mike Snider’s “If My Was Running Money”; and Louie Armstrong’s “The Sunny Side of the Street”.

8:15   Big Al Deininger:  Brought us a nice Bob Seger tune I had never heard, called “Beautiful Loser”; Neil Young’s “Losing End”; a very cool Electric Light Orchestra number, “Telephone Line”; and The Rolling Stone’s “Send Me Dead Flowers”.

8:30  Bob Cool and Bob Arsenault: Showed us a bit of Flat-picking with an all instrumental set of traditional tunes: “Big Sandy River”; “Red Haired Boy” (aka Beggar Man); “The Arizona Waltz”; “Grandfather’s Clock”; and “The Beer Barrel Polka”.

8:50 Bill Liscomb: Drives all the way from San Marcos to play at our open mic, and we’re appreciative because he is one fine performer and songwriter.  He did Kathy Mattea’s “Goin’ Gone”; his own “Road to Nowhere”; Tish Hinojosa’s “The Real West”; another original, “Colorado”; and Harry Reed’s “Too Old to Ride”.

9:10  Tom Barbarie, with Mary McGerald, and John Movius on mandolin, did a set of Bob Wills’ “Redwing”; Bill Monroe’s “Cripple Creek”; the Everly Brothers’ “Bye Bye Love”; Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues”; and George Jones’ “Tennessee Whiskey”.

Greg Gross led us all in Dale Evan’s “Happy Trails” to close out the evening.

It was another home-run at the Friendly Grounds. Be sure to put us on your entertainment calendar—your friends miss you. 

God Bless and have a good week.

-Tim Woods, Greg Gross, and the Wood ‘n’ Lips Open Mic Crew

Thursday nights sign-ups start at 5:30, drawing for time slots at 6:15, music from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m.

Photos by Greg Gross and Tim Woods

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