Current mood:	excited
Current music:	Even more golf

Kevin Montgomery Should be a Star!
We were invited to a "house performance" by a friend of ours last night. The idea behind it is that you get eighty people to pay a minimum of $20 a piece and an artist will play for you. OK ... but really now, how good could they be? I got my answer last night.

Kevin Montgomery showed up at the Hartford Seminary after driving straight through from Nashville. Moments after screeching to a halt in the parking lot, he took the stage at 9 pm and played his ass off until midnight. With his first-time guitarist partner Sean, a Nutmegger in exile in Nashville, he rocked the house (which is odd, since he's classified as a country artist). The man has talent with a guitar, a haunting voice when needed, and a gifted songwriter (he authored a song on Martina McBride's latest album). Among the highlights:

- A slower, expressive version of AC/DC's "You Shook Me All Night Long."
- A reverent version of "Heartbeat," made famous by Buddy Holly and covered by a variety artists, including The Knack. By the way, the reason I called it "reverent" is that Mr. Montgomery's father wrote it for his good friend Buddy Holly! and
- A bit of foolin' around with a version of "Friday, I'm in Love" by The Cure, for which yours truly supplied the singing!

During the intermission, I went up to him and asked him about his dad and Buddy Holly. He told me that earlier this year, he played the Surf Ballroom and got a chance to see the dressing room -- unchanged from when the "Day The Music Died" -- the day the plane crashed taking the lives of Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper, and Richie Vallens. He showed me clips on his picture phone; the chairs where they sat, the two sinks where they washed their clothes, and the spot where Waylon Jennings and Buddy Holly flipped a coin for the last seat on that "last plane to the coast." He showed me the last door Buddy Holly walked through. Kevin told the guy who gave him tour to go to hell when he invited Montgomery to open the fateful door and walk on through.

More great road stories, including a funny one about meeting Peter Jenkins, author of "A Walk Across America," great music and a standing ovation for the final number. I held one of the aromatherapy candles up like a lighter, just like in the big concert arenas, while yelling and screaming, to get him to do an encore. And he did.

Great music, great stories, great night that I won't soon forget.