A Triad of Like Minds Unite for NC Music Lovers

 

New Bern, NC ~ April 19, 2025 ~ Sitting on the backline of the local music scene, I am always seeking resources that can fuel the mission of establishing a place for people to find live music so they can support it. The best way to develop such lofty goals is by creating such a “place” online. Websites allow the world to connect to your mission. I am not sure I realized all of the possibilities when I started this blogging adventure, but today I can tell you the options are endless, but it will cost you.

Free music is not free, and free music promotions are not either. It takes time to create platforms that become resourceful tools for a community to use for the same purpose—to seek and find live music. My story mirrors LT’s. As I started going out more in 2014, I noted all of the music and created the blog a year later to share the pics and stories of the players on the scene to create a buzz about the music. It caught on like wildfire, and the music scene around New Bern ignited.

Since the beginning, I have searched and considered teaming up with other publications and have done so over the years. In the past, I have written entertainment bits for other publications. That was always a fine way to market the blog. In 2017, I teamed up with rockstar and friend, Josie Mullins. The shake, rattle, and roll guitar girl with Salty Bones Band published The Newport Voice,  a paper that covered Carteret County, and in its final months leading up to Florence, I wrote the entertainment piece for her publication. After Florence, I was left without a business to run, after successfully running two companies, before the flood, for years. Josie was left without a home or a business after the rising waters returned to the sea. By the end of 2018, I teamed up with Wendy Card of New Bern Now. I stayed there for nearly a year and enjoyed our time and all we did together.

By the end of 2019, I had to accept that I was out of business and start over again. The cleaning business was always my bread and butter, so I focused on building the Professional Clean Team while the blog sat on the back burner for a couple of years,  mainly because of the costs involved in producing it. None of this is free—unless you rely on Facebook for all your free promotional needs, which is bad advice. After securing funds to revive the site, I spent most of the last year learning calendar plug-ins and how to bring everything together on one site. I use Google, Facebook, and WordPress to make it fly. What takes my readers 20 minutes to read takes me 20 or more hours and 30 revisions to write.

Recently, I was invited to attend a show at The Blue Note Grill, and while I was out that way, I met up with the couple that keeps the beats for local live music around the Triangle. Lawrence Tibbetts started Bands and Clubs of the Triangle 15 years ago, and his wife, Tracy, joined him in 2017 on the journey of supporting live, local music. The duo is best known to their fans as LT and TL. Their alignment has created a force for the music makers and clubs that support them. It started around 2010 when LT began to get out more and noted all the great bands and clubs around his area, several years before meeting his current wife. Since banding together, their efforts have grown, and their reach has increased, and after doing it for years, suddenly things came together almost overnight. Keeping thousands of followers in the know.

These two are motivators. They are on a mission to inspire everyone to turn off their TVs, get off the couch, and go out to support live music. They promote the clubs and bands equally by telling their followers who plays where each week. They compile a spreadsheet and publish it each Thursday so folks can plan their weekends with live music. It’s a valuable service that takes plenty of time to coordinate. If anyone knows this, I have a testimony. It costs money and a lot of time to dedicate to such a mission. Band and Clubs of the Triangle is hosting its first fundraising event to offset operational costs. They will have a 50/50 and a merch table, asking for a suggested donation of $5.00 from attendees. There will be a $10 cover for the show inside. Supporting live music and the Tibbetts in their missions will be a great day. We hope to see you out there.

The Cover Society kicks things off at 5 PM. Angie from Stray Volts performs an acoustic solo set, and Against the Odds wraps up the outdoor performance. Closing out the night inside will be North Tower Band. This will go down next Saturday, April 26, 2025, from 5:00 PM until 12:30 AM, Sunday, April 27, 2025.

If you love supporting live music and would like to join a team that thrives on doing the same, I encourage you to come out next week and join the team of volunteers helping grow the NC Bands & Clubs brand. Like mine, their goal is to cover the state, so I am excited to work alongside a powerful couple. For those who can’t make it but would love to be a part of such a movement, they have a GoFundMe campaign.

 

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Deputy Dan with Special Guest Bernard Purdie

Durham, NC ~ Saturday, April 5, 2025 ~As mentioned above, my friend, Jim Barbee, invited me to The Blue Note Grill to enjoy a show he organized with Deputy Dan and special guest Bernard Purdie. I have to tell you it was quite an incredible experience. I never knew I greatly appreciated Steely Dan, but Deputy Dan changed my perspective about the band with their astonishing performance. They offered two sets of powerful jams made popular by the ’70s band formed in NY by two college friends, Walter Becker and Dan Fagen.

Deputy Dan is a Steely Dan Tribute Band based out of Richmond, VA, and for the show I caught in the Triangle, it included a sextet of sensational talent. On stage was meet David Lennon offers lead vocals/guitar, Ron Sada play the lead parts on guitar offers supporting vocals, Tod Ellsworth bass guitar, Gerald Hemphill is behind the kit offering drums, percussion and vocal support, Allen Burris (played the sax, the flute and percussion, and John Holmes plays the keyboards. During the show, they mention that Ellsworth was filling in for their bassman, Steve Wetzler. They invited the legendary drummer, Bernard “Pretty” Purdie, to join them for the second set, and before they closed out the evening, they offered a Pretty Purdie original. Check out their performance of “Testify,” a song off his latest release.

 

 

Purdie made a career as a steady and available beat keeper who logged 20,000 recording sessions for some of the most famed singers of R&B and Soul music. If you drop a name, he will tell a story. He recorded a few sessions with Steely Dan during his working days, so hearing him fill out Deputy Dan’s final set was a thrill.

Seeing so many familiar faces, many miles from home, was also a thrill. I was pleasantly greeted by Doc & Roll’s drummer, Rich Dimetre, and his lovely bride, Vivan, at the show. Diemetre has assisted Mr. Purdie since they became friends in New Bern early last year, not long after Purdie settled in New Bern with his wife, Celia. I was also happy to see Hot Buttered Grits guitarist, John Jondrow, and his beautiful wife, Marsha, at the show. When we spoke, Jondrow explained he grew up with the band’s drummer.

When I contacted Hemphill after the show, he told me the band has been together since 2022. This was their second show of four with Bernard Purdie, and they hope for more to come after that.  He also mentioned wanting to bring the show to his old stomping grounds of  New Bern. I told him they’d be a great candidate for Footloose on the Neuse since they focus on Tribute Bands for the series. These guys are right on the money; there is no static at all… They truly nail the head, paying tribute to the music they cover. Very impressive.  I hope we do get such talent here soon. Until then, you can follow their page and catch them on the road. They will perform tonight at Twin Hickory Tavern in Parham, VA.

It was an honor to be invited to such a great experience. I must thank Jim Barbee for his work in setting up the show and inviting me to tag along. I met Barbee back in the early days of the blog. He was jamming his blues with the band High Cotton at Backwater Jacks in the Summer of 2016. He has always supported my efforts on the scene, and it’s support like his that keeps me pushing through the difficult seasons. After meeting Purdie, he bonded with the hit maker, forming a close kinship with Purdie and his lovely wife. They met early last year, when Big Jim Kohler was jamming at The Brown Pelican. Not long after that, Barbee started setting up a show with Jim and Bernard. That show was hosted at The Old Theater in Oriental last Summer.

Since meeting the couple, he said, “They have become close friends. It has taken a lot of effort to determine what would best help them. I love music (you know how it is), so we just got together to talk and start making plans. His long history and many contacts pop up regularly, all over the world. So what I concentrate on is the gaps in between. They trust me and I trust them. It’s a match made in heaven. I kid him that I feel so inadequate because whenever I mention a world-famous artist in casual musical talk, and off the cuff, he says, ‘Oh yeah, I know them. I was on their first album, etc.’  We laugh.” When I mentioned that Purdie recently retired to New Bern, Barbee said, “One of my pet peeves is how people don’t appreciate this moment. We have Bernard and Celia in our midst. Think about how fantastic that is. We must treat it with the reverence it deserves, while we have this moment.”

As for Barbee and his music projects, his most active band is the Stone Cold Blues Band, based out of Ocean Isle, NC. In fact, for those around that area, you can catch them tonight at Inlet View in Shallotte, NC. They will also be a part of Sowder Fest VI on Saturday, May 3, 2025.

 

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Raleigh’s Rock Royalty Turn Up for The Wannabees in Garner, NC

Garner, NC ~

Saturday, April 5, 2025 ~The Wannabees were rocking Locked and Loaded, so while I was out that way, I stopped in to see how their show was shaping up. What a great time. They had a lot of local rock royalty in their midst. I was happy to see Wade Durham of The Soul Psychedelique Orchestra, Tommy Redd from Nantucket, some girls from Shoot To Thrill, and Jolynn Harris, who also had to celebrate a birthday. Durham joined in for the Aerosmith classic, “Walk This Way”; the Shoot to Thrill girls gave up some AC/DC with the band. Running sound for the band was legendary, Joe Tronto.

Of course, when your local band has members from Nantucket, PKM, and Cry of Love, you can expect other rock stars to turn out and join in the fun. For those looking to catch the band live, they will be bringing the party to the deck at Blackbeard’s Triple Play in New Bern tonight, April 19, 2025. Music starts at 7:30 and they rock til 11 PM. To keep up with the band, follow them on Facebook (The Wannabees) and enjoy a live show soon.

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A Note From the Creator

 

With music season in full swing, now is a perfect time to remind everyone that free music is not free. We have a lot of entertainers out there working hard to make ends meet. Many of them do this for a living. They share their souls and mend ours with their music. Let’s be sure to make their road a little easier to travel. Drop some cash in their tip jar or use Venmo or cash apps to send support. If the bands have merchandise, stop by and pick something up. Hats, T-shirts, koozies, and CDs are good investments in supporting live music. Streaming their music also adds up, so don’t hesitate. What I don’t support is buying the band shots and drinks instead. It is fun, but a terrible way to tip a working band. Next time you wish to purchase the band a drink, ask yourself, “Would my boss be happy if my friends bought me drinks at work?”  I’m sure your boss would not support you doing shots at your desk while on the clock, so I caution against doing it at their place of work. I only mention it because often people don’t think about the consequences of such gestures. Having spent my life around musicians, I know many in recovery who don’t need the temptations of their addictions interfering with their performance. So please show them the money!

 

Thank you for reading. Please sign up, subscribe, and share this site with friends and favorite bands. We will be bluesing it up the next time as we bounce around and cover Bear City.

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