Osler's Razor

Last night, my friends Blaine and Sarah McCormick had a house concert in their living room. Now that I think about it, I remember my parents having house concerts-- there would be some people with guitars and other instruments (ie, washboard, saxophone, spoons) in our living room or out on the porch. Sometimes, my Mom would sing-- we remember her belting out "Me and Bobby McGee" (even if she doesn't and now denies knowing the words). For a while, a bunch of people in the art biz owned an old ferryboat, the Major Wilcox, and we would cruise around on the Major while a jug band played. Among other misadventures, the Major Wilcox slammed into the Belle Isle Bridge and ran aground during an ill-fated detour up the Clinton River, but mostly it was just good times. Legend has it that on one of those trips Momma Cass sang, but I was too young to remember.

The band last night was Jill Phillips and Andy Gullahorn. They were down from Nashville, and they were great. I knew it would be good music when I saw Bob and Mary Darden there, and I was right. Between them, Phillips and Gullahorn have sold over 200,000 cd's-- it must say something about the music business these days that you can do that and still get booked into a living room.

Actually, it says something very specific about the music business these days: That moderately successful artists like Phillips and Gullahorn are getting killed by illegal downloads. So buy one of their songs off of itunes. They get paid for that.

And, think about having a house concert. Blaine and Sarah are now officially Heroes of Social Life in my book.