Last Saturday we hit the road to Winston Salem to catch a one-off concert by Mitch Easter at a local venue to commemorate the fact that one can now hear Let’s Active’s music online in streaming and downloads. For decades, it’s been records or CDs mostly, and the CDs have been in and out of print with prices spiking in periods of scarcity. But that never threw me. I always had the latest Let’s Active released first on record and then on the silver disc. When their CDs were reissued on the Collector’s Choice label 20+ years ago I was happily able to ignore it. But that was the last time that happened, and kids today don’t have CD players so any excuse for this show was a great one for me.

The trip from Asheville to Winston Salem was a mild 2:15 and that was just enough time to listen to the compleat Let’s Active collection on the silver disc. Trundling down Interstate 40 east-bound while the early fall vistas made for an evocative backdrop to hear the sometimes jangly, sometimes Southern Gothic tunes that Easter had recorded in the eighties.

The show was intended for the Gas Hill Drinking Lounge, the smaller room at The Ramkat; a Big Kahuna club in Winston-Salem but the speed and health of ticket sales was such that the club moved the show to the main, thousand capacity room. Which is well and as it should be in the artist’s home town! After all, the tickets were merely $20 after fees [!] so the show was being performed for the best of reasons.

After a superb Indian meal we drove the six or seven blocks to The Ramkat around 6:30. We would have preferred to walk it, but freezing temperatures on the way back to the hotel would have been less than enjoyable. As it was, we arrived early enough to obtain parking in the venue’s lot. We entered the club and were impressed by the cut of its jib. The locals are fortunate to have such a top flight club at their disposal.

The club had a large stage proscenium with a fairly deep lighting rig contingent. Tables on the floor at the back were plentiful, as were the tables along the railing on the second level. That early there were about 150 in the club as the gates had opened at 7:00 p.m. The merch table was at the front left of the room and as usual, I made a bee-line there. I had seen Let’s Active twice in the 80s, but those were the t-shirt free years. I went the entire decade without wearing t-shirts until something snapped in 1990, but that was a year after I had last seen the group!

There were t-shirts at $25 each, as well as shirts from Mitch Easter’s solo album tour for “Dynamico” at closeout prices. There were a series of five eye-catching posters for the evening’s show, and I would have loved to have bought at least one but I can’t fool myself. Every music poster I’ve owned has been sold off by this point. There has never been wall space for any of that kind of decor in our small home of twenty one years. And there were plenty of badges which always makes me happy. Some large, some small. Some were even vintage badges that I already had as well as one design that I didn’t, so I popped for the t-shirt and the old badge, which was new to me.

The opening act this evening were Bass Battery, a Durham bass/drums duo consisting of Norwood Cheek on the former [with lead vocals] and Rob Ladd on the latter [with BVs]. Cheek had been bouncing around for years in various bands, all new to me. Ladd was more of a known quantity, with time behind the stool in The Connells as well as playing on Don Dixon and Let’s Active albums. They had just recorded their album in The Fidelitorium; Mitch Easter’s studio in nearby Kernersville.

In spite of bypassing lead guitar, theirs was a program of pop rock informed by the decades of playing these two obviously had under their belts. The mix this evening was superb! Though I had attenuating plugs inserted, every element of the band’s sound, from the clear, tenor vocals of Mr. Cheek to the exciting drums by Mr. Ladd were delivered strongly at the mixing board. If I can hear a band’s music for the first time and be able to discern every word, that’s s real statement!

The band breezed through six or seven songs in their allotted space, and I was very impressed by the fact that Mr. Cheek introduced one song toward the end of their set as being a cover of a Dexter Romweber song! They actually had the brass to cover “You Don’t Love Me Anymore” from the Flat Duo Jets’ “White Trees” album! While cover versions were a significant part of the Flat Duo Jets sound, I can’t say I’ve ever heard anyone with the nerve to attempt performing one of their songs! Dex was a singularly powerful guitarist with his mighty vocals being their equal. Bass Battery made certain to pull the clay of the song into a very different shape. Fascinating!

I enjoyed Bass Battery. They were a well-chosen opening act and the fact that they had ties to Mitch Easter’s studio made all the sense in the world to give them the stage for their allotment. And if the opening act had been mixed this professionally, then Mitch Easter was going to sound heavenly. Now that I think about it, why wouldn‘t an artist/producer like Mr. Easter have anything but the finest concert mix possible? Top audio quality is what his reputation is staked upon and when I mentioned this to my wife she cited the Chic concert we saw with Nile Rogers as being another example of top quality sound. The set ended and we prepared for the main event to come.

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