GANDALF MORNINGTON @ CAFE MUSIQUE 18/6/21

Maine has had an infestation of "brown tail moths" these last few weeks which makes going outside not very inviting as the little buggers shed these hairs that are highly infectious to us humans. You can't imagine the itch! Went to the store last week to get some anti itch cream for it...shelves empty! Sooo here I am on a beautiful Friday morning, breakfast done - check, laundry started - check, kitchen cleaned up - check, and still some time on my hands before lunch. Now I can do one of two things, sit here scratching the itch or find something to do, and since Trish has to be out and about in the RL world today, I figured sitting here and feeling sorry for myself while I scratched wasn't going to be very productive. So, the cure for not being out in the sunshine is find out what's going on in the world of music. With that in mind, I hit up the events and saw that Cafe Musique, owned and operated by Laya Sugarplum, had Gandalf Mornington just about to take the stage.

Since I am a fellow "Lord of the Rings" fan, I knew with a handle like Gandalf I'd be in great company, so I grabbed a cup of hot tea and a piece of strawberry rhubarb pie and headed over to check it out. Let me tell you right now, it was a great set!

Gandalf brought his own particular "magic" to the stage, and it was a great treat. The fluid way that he shifted styles of songs, beginning with "What's Up" by 4 non blondes, and then doing Jimmy Buffet's "Margaritaville" was making me feel like I wanted to run to the kitchen and whip up a tropical drink! Well instead I decided to "sit my ass in the sand" which is perfect at Cafe Musique, and I requested he do "Toes" by the Zack Brown Band.

Gandalf's version of Snow Patrol's "Chasing Cars was soooo good particularly because that is not an easy song to play with the cord changes etc. However, he rocked it! I couldn't let him get away, however, without doing a song by my long time favorite artist, Neil Diamond, so he did "Holly Holy" and I was very impressed. Oh and before I forget, this whole set was strictly him on his guitar, no piped in music at all.

The hour just flew by and his last two songs came around way too quickly. His "When You Say Nothing At All" was covered by three different artists, Keith Whitley, Alison Krauss, and Ronan Keating, but I have to say, Gandalf made it all his! Rapping things up was "Wagon Wheel" by Darius Rucker. Gandalf certainly "cast his own spell" on the set and I'll be looking him up again! You might want to also!

Bio: Gandalf started playing guitar as a teenager after bouts with the piano and cello. He played through high school and then RL induced a long hiatus in his playing. He picked the guitar back up in December 2008 and found SL for playing in January 2009. He started playing shows in April 2009 and has been a regular in SL since then.