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BAND B BA ND REVIEW
BRIAN “KRASH” KRUGER’S
Gate Crashing ON DECK FOR REVIEW: SHAWN MANLEY
BRIAN KRUGER IS A WRITER, MUSICIAN AND A GRADUATE OF THE UF COLLEGE OF LAW. HE HAS PLAYED IN SOME 17 OR SO LOCAL BANDS, PLAYING MOST EVERY GAINESVILLE VENUE FRIENDLY TO ORIGINAL MUSIC (AND SOME NOT SO FRIENDLY). bkrashpad@yahoo.com
DATE: SATURDAY, MARCH 16, 2017 VENUE: LOOSEY’S MARKET SQUARE
G
reetings, live music aficionados! This installment finds us at Loosey’s Bar & Table, Market Square. This is a second branch of the popular downtown Gainesville bar and venue, but located on the western fringes of town, in the extreme northwest corner of Haile Plantation (the only part of Haile that is more north and west is the Haile tennis courts across the street). Market Square is the small shopping center where the Haile Publix is located. Loosey’s is at the northern end of the main building, in which that anchor tenant is located. The parking entrances and traffic flow are oriented somewhat to “steer” traffic towards the much more visible Publix, so it is possible to miss if you’re not paying attention. But of course you wouldn’t want to miss it, any more than you would the original location. Both places, typically abbreviated to “Loosey’s Downtown” and “Loosey’s Haile,” feature a good beer selection, food, wooden floors and old-timey bars, some outdoor seating and live music. Given that we were experiencing the last bit of a winter’s end cold snap, outdoors was not a viable option on this particular Thursday night. Perhaps the biggest difference in the two Loosey’s is the available space, the downtown version being considerably larger than Haile. As a result, Loosey’s Downtown is able to have a dedicated, raised stage and P.A. for full band performances (I have played there a few times), but Loosey’s Haile does not. Thus Loosey’s Haile is pretty much limited to numerically smaller musical acts of solo performers, duos and maybe the occasional trio. But any band with drums beyond a compact cocktail kit would be too large to fit into the Haile Plantation location, which does not feature a dedicated stage. Instead, acts must simply clear some floor space.
On this chilly evening, there were unsurprisingly no patrons at any of the outdoor tables on our arrival at a little past 8 p.m. Inside, without the outside tables being available, the “bar side” of the establishment was particularly packed, to the extent that the only open seating was a 2-seat table literally within a few feet of the performer, Shawn Manley. Here’s where my usual disclaimer about myself and the subject comes in. Shawn has been in town for quite a while and in fact qualifies as a genuine local, having graduated from Buchholz High School. He has run a number of open mic nights over the years in Gainesville, and has performed at many venues in both Alachua and Marion counties. So I have run into him quite a few times over the years, going all the way back to the Backstage Lounge (subsequently The Doris) where he hosted an open mic and where my main band frequently gigged (although not as part of those open mics), and including us even demo’ing some new live material at his subsequent open mic night at the Library. Shawn also had a weekly radio show on GROW Radio. Now a podcast-only internet resource, for quite a while GROW Radio broadcast live from the downtown former offices of Satellite Magazine (disclaimer to the disclaimer: I also used to write for Satellite), and at one point I was interviewed on “4-D Meltdown.” Upshot: we kinda know each other. At any rate, at this solo gig, Shawn’s main instrument was his left-handed acoustic-electric guitar, a Taylor I think (I’m no expert when it comes to acoustics), but can’t conclusively confirm that, as he had a clip-on tuner on the headstock partially obscuring the brand name logo. Shawn played a broad variety of well-known rock songs from the ‘60s on. First we heard the Kinks’ “Victoria,” followed by Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs’ “Little Red Riding Hood” and Bowie’s “Changes.” He then fired up a looper to do Sam Cooke’s “Twistin’ The Night Away.” In this case, Shawn started by using the soundboard of the guitar as a drum and then putting more tracks over that.
Shawn has been in town for quite a while and in fact qualifies as a genuine local, having graduated from Buchholz High School.
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OUR TOWN MAGAZINE
MAY/JUNE 2017