“First the doctor told me the good news: I was going to have a disease named after me.”
- Steve Martin
Before we get to today's topic, I had to share this. In response to yesterday's discussion about names that come and go in popularity, friend Chris sent this. It's a 500 foot home run. Thanks, Chris!
Steve and Edie…No, not that Steve and (Eydie). Most of you probably know that legendary comedian/actor, Steve Martin, has always been a banjo player. In his earliest days appearing on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour on TV, the banjo was usually part of his act. He's made music throughout his multifaceted career. In 2009, he hooked up with an outfit called The Steep Canyon Rangers and has been playing with them off and on ever since. Then in 2013 he collaborated with Edie Brickell on a couple of fine albums.
Most would remember Edie Brickell as the pretty and beguiling hippie-esque chick in the video and song What I Am from the late 80s. She left her band, The New Bohemians, in 1990 after two albums and married Paul Simon (the singer not the politician).
We saw Martin and The Steep Canyon Rangers a few years back. They were at an amphitheater in Southaven, MS. Edie Brickell was there too. Steve and the Rangers came out first and played five or six numbers. Then he introduced Edie. She glided out and joined that stage full of dudes. It was amazing how a beautiful woman in a red dress completely changed the dynamics of the proceedings. The show was good to begin with but it was a whole lot better when she appeared.
They played some songs from their recently released album Love Has Come For You. It was the first I'd heard anything from it. They had me.