A great evening

We stopped last night to one of our favorite hangouts in the area, The What Not Inn (http://www.whatnotinn.com/), just north of South Haven on the Blue Star Highway near Fennville.  An unpretentious little place that serves good food and real live music.  The place was packed, not unusual for a summer weekend, but we patiently waited for a table.  As we stood in line at the door, the entertainment for the evening Tony Reynolds (http://www.ynotsing.com) started another set and I was immediately hooked.

Accompanied by a talented local keyboardist, he covered the musical gamut from Al Jarreau to Micheal Jackson, Sinatra to Marvin Gay.  A vocal range of some four octaves with the smoothness of grandma's gravy.  But singing ability alone does not necessarily make the entertainer. 

What does make an entertainer, in my opinion, is what he can do with his audience.  Can he win today's short attention span listeners over with his personality.  Well let me tell you that Tony Reynolds has really got this part figured out.  At times calling out for requests from the fully engaged patrons, he didn't disappoint a one.  Even if he didn't always know the all words, he would improvise; and in perfect pitch.  No sour notes in this guy's song book. 

He's not new to the music scene by any means having been a backup singer for Tom Jones for many years plus he has performed on all the day and night time TV talk shows.  It was a fun evening and we'll make a point to see him again when he's in the area.

Another little surprise awaited us as we were listening to Tony perform as a beautiful voice arose from the depths of the back kitchen and followed along like a phantom background singer.  Tony acknowledged the girl behind the grill as Patty.   Patty cooks, waits tables, pours drinks and maybe even owns the place and ... can really sing.  Tony invited her to take the mic so she shed her slightly soiled apron and made her way to the stage.  Sultry, yet powerful, this gal can belt out a tune.  She, in her own right, has quite a following in the area and I can see why.  Jazzy, bluesy and pop standards are what's she's made of and the crowd loved her and her music.  Tony was the consumate gentleman in sharing the stage.

A great evening was had by all so ... if you're in the area sometime, check out the WNI. (check out both websites above)

Still livin' the dream,

Phil