This past monday night, musicians from all over Connecticut gathered at the Horseshoe Cafe in Southport, site of the longest running open mic in the state to celebrate the life of a very special man, Mr. Wilhelm Foster.
Bill Nollman kicked things off with a great set, unfortunately I missed a fair amount of it searching for a parking spot outside! Bill & Billy were friends for decades. For final song of his set, Bill treated the crowd to a exquisitely delivered rendition of Border Song/Holy Moses by Elton John and Bernie Taupin. Dang I must say that performance opened up a gate straight to heaven above at the Horseshoe monday night at 745pm!!
I saw it. Heck I felt it. We all felt it. BILLY was with us, in a good place, celebrating life thru music, friendship and love. The sign up list was a mile long by sign up time so I made my way thru the crowd and found a spot close to sound board with my sprite, thanks Sean! Beautiful words and feelings and stories of how Billy impacted their lives were vast, inspiring and beautiful,
Dave(Rauh) was there and Marshall, his son, a world class Trombone player. Christine Cook,a great singer and spirit, Todd Boak, a great bass player who I never ran into all night… The great guitarist and singer Matt Spalding was in the house with Lynn Ellen, a longtime open mic supporter and longtime friend of Billy.
Some of the members of North County Band (Brad was MC) did a few tunes and these cats are for real, sounds like they've been playing together since birth.
Artist upon artist, covers to originals, each an offering upon high, some pun intended, as gratitude to Billy for his friendship and respect, and support, and belief, for believing in you. Billy to me, appeared as one possessing a savant like quality in human nature, an ability to see or hear or sense just what was eating at you, or just what little nugget of magic would do you good. I think that's it in its purist form. He was a benevolent, musical shaman that we will all carry a piece of moving forward in our musical endeavors and lives.
Bradley Clark, MC of the weekly open mic at the Shoe, kept the artists comin and making sure that all the performers were heard great above the electricity of the crowd. Brad is there every single week, year after year, man that takes a commitment!! I am in awe of his sustained effort to give songwriters and performers a friendly space to step into the light and perform. The world is a better place because of dudes like this.
I met this guy AJ at the Shoe back 9 months ago and we sparked up a conversation regarding performance. This cat is the real deal. He knows how to front a band. Well last night was no exception as he was friggin' spot on! What I did not know until last night was that BILLY AND AJ are soul brothers back for 40 years when they both were on the road.
Recently I was editing video from a performance Dave and I did back a year ago at the Shoe and I kept hearing and feeling the energy of the performance felt “enhanced” more in “stereo” more “energetic” more “percussive” the chorus's lifting and my confidence shifting into a higher register where weirdly enough, singing felt effortless , not more strained as I might have expected, and then it hits me and I cant unhear it. Its BILLY!! The rings on his hands playing the tall tabletop in front of the stage, and those pipes, holy gracious. a true master.
I was so sad when I heard about his passing. My wife met him once. She was sad when I told her. I didn't know him very long but I must say he got me in an instant. I always felt more grounded and supported when I showed up after confirming BILLY was in the house.. So gifted as a singer and showman. I believe he understood how precious life is. I pray I can be as good a man as Billy Foster one day. It starts today as I prep for next monday night at the Shoe.
Thank you Billy.
Jeremiah
