Steve Richko, Vino 100, Shawn’s South
Posted By Scott on March 26, 2010
The Degage Jazz Cafe had Steve Richko playing on a Thursday evening (a no cover evening) so I dropped by to hear a couple songs. Steve was playing with his bass player and was making that Yamaha piano sound oh so good. Jazz is cool and Steve was cranking it out, I’m just amazed how good so many people are at it. The only downside was I think everyone was home watching the NCAA basketball games as there wasn’t much of a turnout to hear piano that night. Even so, I enjoyed watching some fast fingers rip across the keys and still made it home in time to watch a double OT time game.
A couple miles from me on Briarfield Blvd. is a newer place called Vino 100 I had never been to. I saw in the Blade’s Club line up an acoustic guitarist Calen Savage was playing there so I checked it out on on my way home from Degage. Vino 100 is a wine shop and bar combination and appears to me to be a yuppie hangout which isn’t quite my glass of wine. From the street you just see a wine shop but once inside right behind the wine displays is the bar area. It’s not a large place by any means however there was a noisy crowd there for a Thursday evening filling most of the seats around the bar and tables in the room. The music was ok but unfortunely the area they had the entertainment at wasn’t on a raise stage and was tucked back in a corner not viewable from much of the main room. I listened for a bit and left, maybe someday they’ll get a piano player.
A few weeks back I finally made it over to check out the new Shawn’s in Waterville. This place is basically Shawn’s Backdoor South and even looks the same inside and has plenty of big screen TV’s. What’s nice is there is a ton of standing area around the bar and people seem to really enjoy hanging out there. When I was there Johnny Rodriguez was playing for a packed house on a Saturday evening. I went back a few weeks later and got my Jigg’s dinner on St. Patty’s day there.
Of the three of the places I mentioned above I definitely like Shawn’s the best. It has a home town friendly atmosphere to it.
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