Roadside Blues

Since neither of us is a member of Philly's WXPN radio station, neither Lowender nor I could get a ticket to the station's free noon Bela Fleck and the Flecktones concert today. And it turns out that even if we were members -- we offered to sign up and pay the exorbitant membership fee just to get tickets to the show -- the concert itself was already sold out. We begged the station representative to see if there might be spots available if we waited it out and people failed to show up -- no dice, so we left town.

It's been a while since we've seen the Flecktones, and they always put on a great show. Bela plays the banjo like a guitar, Victor Wooten plays the bass like a banjo, Jeff Coffin plays his wind instruments like pianos, and Futureman plays... well, he provides percussion. The result is a creative and original mix of bluegrass, classical, and jazz. Fortunately, today's show was on the radio, and on the drive to Maryland we heard it until the WXPN signal started to fade. So we did what any normal people would do: we parked at a diner in Perryville, Md., sat in the car, and listened to the last 20 minutes. It was almost as good as being there in person. And if the songs we heard were any indication, the new album (which I should have bought by now but haven't) is a return to the standard they set in Left of Cool, when the Flecktones found the best balance among all their styles and didn't bother with too many boring guests.