Written by James Killen

DSC03560For those of you that have been following Marina Rocks’ progress after her accident, I’m happy to say that she is recovering very nicely. She is still piecing together some of her memories after the concussion, but she is back to playing full scale gigs. On this fine Friday evening she was joined by local singer/ songwriter/ guitarist/ all-around-good-guy, Brian Kalinec at the Hops House on Highway 6. Brian had been a big participant in Marina’s fund raising events and seemed eager to join Marina for the show. He even brought his Telecaster.

The crowd at the Hops House is never shoulder to shoulder, but it was a fairly full house for this show and full of local music personalities like TC Smythe of Smythe and Taylor (also instrumental in the fund raising for Marina), folk duo, The Hanshaws, and Jen Grove, gracious hostess of the House in the Heights concert series. The evening started out with Brian and Marina taking the stage acoustic, leading with Marina’s “Stuck in the Mud” and swapping back and forth between Brian and Marina presenting a lot of their favorite original folk style songs.

DSC03597During the intermission while the rest of the electric band was taking the stage, Brian Kalinec paused as he passed my table and whispered behind his hand that when he had first picked up his guitar, he had actually been an Alvin Lee fan. Well, I’m certain that we are now more than ten years after those aspirations first came to be, but Brian and Marina really seemed to come to life as they plugged in their electrics.

It became the most fun classic rock cover night that I can remember, maybe because the artists lived through that era and experienced those great songs at the same time that I did. We got Led Zeppelin (Ramble On), CSNY (Ohio), Thin Lizzy (The Cowboy Song), Bob Dylan (My Back Pages), Cream (Crossroads), Jimi Hendrix/ Bob Dylan (All Along the Watchtower), Credence Clearwater Revival (Have You Ever Seen the Rain) and Humble Pie (C’mon Everybody). I can’t remember having such a great time watching two wonderful guitarists playing other folks’ music.

The fun was obviously contagious because it was just exuding from Brian and Marina throughout the evening. I may have seen a dozen more popular shows in the weeks before this evening and I may see a dozen more in the weeks to come, but I wouldn’t give up the experience of this show at the Hops House for any of them. Get out for live music as often as you can. If you don’t you might be missing the evening of your life. Welcome back to the circuit, Marina. It’s good to see you back!