Jeff Healey: Blues In the Dark

June 9, 1998

The Jeff Healey Band rolled into the House Of Blues for a short one hour and twenty five minute set. The crowd really got into the show, however, and it was an excellent show - even if it was short. Canadian Jeff Healey, who is blind, plays the guitar in a very unusual way. It sits on his lap most of the time, and he plays it much as a piano player would. Fingering the notes and chords from the top, this guy plays better than most guitarists who can see, and he is definitely not handicapped when it comes to playing. He opened a blistering set with "My Little Girl" from his first CD and "See The Light", and continued to play selections from his four CD's, finishing up with "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" for the encore.

Healey was joined by long time bandmates Joe Rockman (Bass) and Tom Stephen (Drums) and another guitar player who's name I didn't get but who also smoked. Jeff seemed to be in good spirits, cracking jokes about the smoke, "the smoke is so thick in here, I can't see a thing". (It was pretty smoky in the HOB that night as there were some pretty heavy smokers at the front of the stage.)

One of the highlights of the evening was his version of "Roadhouse Blues", where the audience joined in with the song. The only thing I did not like about Jeff Healey's set was when he smashed a guitar at the end of his set. It was a cheap Fender, but it WAS a playable guitar. I strongly believe in that song that came out a few years back by John Hyatt called, "Perfectly Good Guitar" with the line "There oughta be a law with no bail, smash a guitar and you go to jail". Smashing the guitar was not done for any reason except to entertain the crowd, and to me that's a pretty poor reason.

Photos from the evening are not available thanks to our local Gay Pride and Operation Rescue activities [these photos provided by Sheryl Pelto]. To quote "The Orlando Sentinel" from June 6, 1998: "Fearing an ugly incident, Disney is banning journalists from the Magic Kingdom today and has threatened to escort them out of they're caught sneaking in, especially those with TV cameras. Among the networks denied access were CNN and ABC, which is owned by Disney." No photo passes were given out the whole weekend.

Opening act Von Ra is solidly in the current alternative, radio-friendly mode - in fact they have a single currently being played on WSHE. They are what I call "Heavy Folk" music, which is a mix of acoustic guitar and electric "grunge" with the emphasis on the lyrics rather than the music. (Replace the electric guitars with acoustics and the music would work perfectly in a folk music situation.) They have a considerable local following if the number of Von Ra T-shirts in the audience is any indication. It was interesting that there were lots of Von Ra shirts and no Jeff Healey shirts to be seen. The singer/guitar player and bass player, who are brothers, have been playing music together for about seven years, and the current lineup has been together about two years. Their music is danceable and many of the women in the crowd took that opportunity. My wife really liked them and enjoyed their whole show. None of the four members of the band is a singular standout, either musically or vocally, but when taken together, the sum is more than the parts, and they put on a pretty good show. The mix for Von Ra varied from excellent to fair. The acoustic guitar could have been higher in the mix and the electric guitar varied from muddy to clear and clean and could have had more presence.

Overall I give Jeff Healey a 10, and Von Ra gets a 7. My wife gives Jeff Healey a 10 and Von Ra an 8 and the screaming woman next to her a -10.

Murf Murphy
Murf is a registered professional engineer....(i.e. haircut and a real job) who loves to play guitar. Vist Murf's home page. He lives with (1) wife who wishes he would grow up, (1) teenager who wonders how his parents got to this point in their lives without his help, (2) dogs who sleep a lot, (1) ferret who attacks when not looking and (1) cat who is basically useless.