A special night of music for music friends

NOTE: This blog was published on the date shown at www.TriadLiveMusic.com and is reposted here for archival purposes.  

Mon-Jan17-2011

Still 3 - (L-R) Troy Jordan, Brian Smith,
Wayne Arrington

    I heard a rumor a couple of weeks ago that my friend Wayne Arrington and his project band Still 3 with Troy Jordan and Brian Smith were going to be playing a gig so I set my mind to making sure I went to hear them. What I didn't understand at the time I heard about it was that it was a birthday party. So when I called Wayne's girlfriend Staci at the last minute to find out where it was they were playing I was disheartened to discover it was a private party. "Let me call and see if it's okay," she texted me. About ten minutes later she did in fact texted me back that I was welcome and she emailed the directions to me.
  Now I'm not one to go crashing parties but I really wanted to hear Still 3 play again. So I headed to the party to indulge my apetite for live music. Turns out the party was at the house of an acquaintance I had made at Plum Krazy's last year and the birthday party was for him and also for Brian Smith, the drummer for both Still 3 and the ever popular Sok Monkee.
  As I walked in I immediately realized that this wasn't going to be just any birthday party. I spied a number of musicians in addition to the guys of Still 3. Staci McBeth (formerly of Kitty Hawk), George Owens (Native Soul, Big Daddy Diesel, Magazyne), Toy Stewart, and Dylan Setzer (Sok Monkee) just to name a few.
Still 3 took the stage (actually just the floor space in the living room) and laid into some jammin' covers, played a few songs and took a break then came back after a bit and did it again. The third time up they invited some of the guest to come jam with them. Staci stepped up and did several songs including Heart's "Barracuda." Dylan took the mike and performed Alice In Chains' "Check My Brain" and lastly George stepped up and took over guitar from Wayne for a few songs.
  But what made this night extra special was that this was performers performing for the simple love of performing, not for an audience per se but for their peers - relaxed and comfortable in an intimate setting.
  As for Still 3, this trio of long-time friends who have jammed together for over twenty years, is a powerful ensemble of talent. Brian's drum work is ever impressive and was put to the test on the last song of the evening - Van Halen's "Hot For Teacher," a song the trio had not performed before. Brian's flying sticks were a blur as he powered through the song in magnificent fashion. Troy on bass is a wonder to behold. You may recall that I had written about him in one of my first blogs (click here to read that blog) and he is still in my opinion one of the finest bass players I have ever seen. As I said then and I say again - just watching him perform always puts a smile on my face. Every note on his bass is delivered with an excitement and joy of playing to a degree which I have never witnessed before in any other musician. Pure magic. As for Wayne... well Wayne takes guitar to another level entirely. I have many friends who are expert guitar players who I love to see and hear perform, but Wayne's playing is in a stratsphere of it's own. The quality, timing, notes, everything he does on the guitar is the manifestation of perfection.
  Troy (who was most recently with Magazyne) told me he was excited about the coming year musically, saying that the trio have designs on playing together a little more this year after only doing a handfull of gigs last year. Still 3 is truly a brotherhood of musicians, a brotherhood of friends and equals, a brotherhood thriving on the love of music for no purpose other than the joy and love that music gives them.

Photo Courtesy of Susan Kiser McBride