Live! In Katie’s Back Yard

a review of the concert by Dave Martin

The air was balmy and the atmosphere convivial as 30 or so family and friends gathered in Katie Perkins’ back yard in southeast Portland August 27 to hear our own Johnny B. Johnny had been hard at work the past week in his Mississippi home laying down tracks and burning discs so that attendees could take home their very own “Live in My Bedroom” CD.

As darkness fell and JB skillfully worked his way through a set of his own compositions, ranging in theme from Hurricane Katrina to religious hypocrisy to the pain of love betrayed, wife Emily glided among the guests making sure that liquid and solid refreshments did not fall to dangerously low levels.

East Asia was well represented at the concert as several English language students sat on blankets in the front row, basking in the headliner’s aura. Though many of us were strangers to begin with, we experienced the unique sense of community that a shared appreciation of good live music can engender.

The appreciative audience was not about to let Johnny close the show without a struggle, and he obliged with a Bob Dylan tune, an unfinished composition, and (at the special insistence of Em’s folks and Aunt Carole) a beautiful song he wrote a few years back about his girl when they were in the first blush of true love. Not to say they’re not still in love…not at all.

(If you have any photos from the show, email them to me and i'll post them on the blog. thanks to all who came or wanted to come. It was a fun evening)