Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It, In Danville
As any working musician will tell you, a dancing crowd is a good crowd. There’s something about seeing a gyrating human in front of the stage that gives the members of any bar band a boost. But what causes an otherwise sane person to jump up and shake a groove thing, in front of God, one’s fellow townspeople and the bartender? Certain songs just seem to possess that quality. This evening Mitzi and I drove out to Danville to catch our friend Rich Flynn and his trio at a small joint called The Vine. All three of them can play and sing and it was quite entertaining. But the crowd sat on its hands. Until, that is, Rich played the opening sequence to “Sweet Home Alabama.” Duh-duh, da-dah, da-duh-duh, da-da. And so on, we all know the riff. Suddenly the small dance floor was flooded. One little miss in a short print dress seemed to think that deep knee bends was the way to go. Another preferred the “hands in the air, like you just don’t care” motif. Over in the corner, a young fellow appeared to be doing the Twist, which earned him points for originality, if nothing else. By the time the band swung into “With You or Without You,” I was ready to bust a move my own self, and in fact, probably should have. Instead, we made a quick exit and on the way home contented ourselves with cranking the radio, drumming on the steering wheel and playing air guitar. Jiggy’s where you find it, I suppose.
