It's Rodrigo Y Gabriela Time!

It was a big week for ol' Jaybird. After kid duty Saturday night I did up Primus on Sunday and then my special lady and I hit up the RodGab show on Monday night. We had seen this duo a couple years ago at the Flynn and they are great. They play a classical Spanish guitar type music if it was all banged up and raging to Metallica. I really dig it. Compared to the last show, they seemed much more confident and just rocked it out. The crowd was very much into it and to my surprise, even though the demographic was much older and more genteel than the Primus show... the crowd was much more raucous and interactive. The group reciprocated by taking requests and running through a tight set of new and old favorites.

They had an opener who was some tall blond Norwegian hippy that mentioned he was from Norway 694 times. That said he was fine and when they brought him out for an encore of Spirit's song Nature's Way, it was really good. 2 thumbs up, if they come around again check out RodGab.

For a quick bite we hit up the new wine bar next to the Trat... I don't remember the name and it does not show up on Google maps so they f*d up. No mention of it on the Trat website either even though same owners. Anyway, it may be hard to find but the vibe is pretty cool in the little hole in the wall. They serve up an App menu with a few large dishes and solid cocktails. As with every other Italian joint in town they featured an aged Negroni. It was good. For chow we had nicely seasoned beef carpachio, tasty fire roasted artichoke hearts, and the always excellent grilled mozzarella wrapped in Prosciutto. There is not much in the way of veggies on the menu but if you are down w/ slightly oily meat and cheese (which I usually am) it is worth a look. There was only one full time staffer who got a little overwhelmed by the pre-concert crush but he was nice and did his best. 1 1/4 thumbs up. It is worth a run if you have some time and want a drink and some conversation.

Happy Halloween.