14 Pews is a new venue for HMR and we dug it major. Gracious host Cressandra Thibodeaux arrived in Houston from Los Angeles in 2010, saw the property, fell in love with it and 14 Pews became an organization dedicated to serving the cultural needs of the Houston community. It is a converted church located in East Sunset Heights with yes, 14 comfortable pews, that is acoustically very sound and roomy for a small place playing films and live bands. The curved wood roof helps make it that way and it is a BYOB facility also offering beer, wine and sodas for donations. Thibodeaux’s mama was the bartender and she added to the ambiance in a cool way. Reminded me so much of my sweet mama when after pouring me a full glass of wine said : “Make sure you take a sip because it might spill!” Plus : “Do you want a cookie? They’re free.” Nice indeed.

Rose and I have been on the band wagon of the PMS since we caught them in 2012 at Southwest Regional Folk Alliance in Austin. They are restoring epic music styles from the early twentieth century, both vintage oldies and originals, in a manner that has to be seen live to truly enjoy it. We’ve seen hundreds of gigs in our lifetime, but never have I witnessed blues, jamming solos, high and low musical ranges, and flat out comedic barbs wrapped into one gig!

Elena Antinelli is the lady part of the twosome who can deliver funny ass sounds , Betty Boop vocals, and a damn killer bluesy from the gut growl that is most infectious. Paired with her is hubbie Frank Meyer who plucks just about anything he can get his hands on from ukelele, stand up bass, mandolin, multiple guitars and even a gourd turned into an instument this night! Their chemistry on stage is amazing and quite underated to this reviewer.

The way they play off one another without missing a beat-or busting out laughing- is incredible. Meyer can flat out shred on blues numbers with Elena spillin’ her guts Joplin style I wanna tall ya! “Come In My Kitchen” brought home the bacon major in that regard heavy on the KEM OWN and Meyers relentless jammin’. Other super highlights were “Devil Up There”, mandolin ditty “Git” with hilarious “hit the road Jack” baritone, super tender and touching like off a 78 RPM record “Carolina Moon”, and Meyer’s “Head” song is beyond hilarious with guffaws a plenty from the nice sized crowd !

I swear these two could make a living being cartoon character voices because they display so many sounds like playing trombones and horns with their voices on sing along “Minnie the Moocher” and “Ghost Riders in the Sky”. Belly laughs continued on “Stickerbush”, unreal “Same Thang”, and I think “Dagnabit”.

The thing is you get to laughing so hard that the mastery of their talents gets washed over at times because they are so good at what they do. Just when you thought you could breathe, Meyer broke into the encore of “I Like to Pee” song that says enough in itself!

In summary, I’d like to share a line from my conversation with sweet Elena that hits the nail on the head when both describing Paper Moon Shiners and Houston Music Review. She poked me when she saw I was taking notes from a contractor type notebook and I looked at her and said : “Ya know we’re so old fashioned that we’re now new!” She spat back : “Like us!” We went to different schools together in our minds and God Bless this outlandishley fun duo! 14 Pews and them are in our future for sure and hopefully yours, too………..GO support some live music will ya now?!