Sleepy LaBeef and the Hubcaps
Johnny D's
Davis Square, Somerville, Mass.
Jan. 30, 2016

Recorded on an Edirol R09-HR
Edited in Amadeus Pro
Tagged in xAct

Personal note:

Johnny D's, one of the best clubs you could ever decide to let your
life revolve around, is closing. I saw folks like Maynard Ferguson,
Rosanne Cash, Hugh Masakela, Peter Rowan, and Bobby Blue Bland there,
and I saw Kris McKay, the Bad Livers, the Vidalias, the Daring Angels,
and the Darlings there. As a bar staffed by people who loved music,
it put itself out there to use the money it made bringing in big names
to support up-and-coming bands as best it could.

The first time I went there was to see Sleepy LaBeef back New Year's
Eve of '88, and my girlfriend and I weren't sure we'd see her car in
its spot when we got back. The neighborhood was so rough that the Store
24 there in those days was the only one in the country that closed
overnight. But I'm proud to say my history with the club goes back
nearly three decades and begins and ends with Sleepy Goddamn LaBeef.
By '93 I'd moved to the neighborhood so I could get there with a
10-minute walk. In '97 Utne Reader ruined Davis Square by proclaiming
it the best neighborhood in America.

The bar is closing; owner Carla wants to be able to raise her daughters,
and the club takes 12 hours on her days off. She owns the property it's
on, and she plans to tear down the club and build a home for the family.
It's a mixed-use strip, so she'll need something commercial on the first
floor, and she hasn't ruled out a venue, but it's not on her mind at all.
The community has responded with so much love and respect, musicians and
bands have been calling begging to play the place one last time; and
there's been kind of a retrospective going on. Sleepy played there pretty
regularly, and I always loved the crowd, pierced punks and shiny rhinestone
cowboys all shaking it out together on the dance floor.

As soon as I heard he was playing there one last time, I booked a flight
and a room at the B&B nearby. Sleepy turned 80 last year, and doesn't play
like he used to. Still, seeing him there one last time? There could be no
better way to say farewell to the best club I ever hung out in, met
girlfriends in, danced my ass off in, and made lifelong friends in than by
seeing a band who was always there for the place.

Show notes:

Sleepy's voice isn't what it used to be, and he's a lot chattier than he
used to be; he starts out a little rough but really hits his stride
once his voice opens up after a few songs. Sleepy doesn't use set lists
(I've easily seen him hundreds of times since the first time I saw him at
Jonathan Swift's in '77, and I guarantee I never saw the same show twice),
and the Hubcaps, a freewheeling roots rock band who have been around since
forever, sometimes couldn't read him. You can't see their expressions as
they try to decide whether Sleepy's going to change keys, do the next verse
of the song, or just start a medley and keep them guessing the whole way
through. You'll hear Sleepy chide them as they pause to see what he's going
to do next. Pretty funny stuff.

Tracking and tagging a Sleepy LaBeef show is like trying to catch and paint
a tornado. I did what I could as best I could and have no regrets. The tags
on medleys will just include the first song and an ellipsis.

Aside from the covers, there's a folder with a few photos, including a
360-degree panorama of the club.


01 Intro
02 Banter #1
03 Good Rockin' Tonight (Gonna Boogie Tonight)
04 Milk Cow Blues
05 Hello Josephine
06 Faded Love
07 Band intros & banter
08 Barefootin'
09 Lost Highway
10 Apartment #9 > Boogie Woogie Country Girl
11 Am I That Easy to Forget > Help Me Make It Through the Night
12 Banter #2
13 Flip, Flop, and Fly > Hi-Yo Silver > Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On > Shake, Rattle, & Roll > Long Tall Texan > Elvira
14 Ring of Fire
15 Tore Up
16 Banter #3
17 All You'll Ever Do
18 Rollin' in my Sweet Baby's Arms > Ashes of Love
19 Cajun waltz > Big Mamou
20 Amazing Grace
21 I'll Fly Away
22 Banter #4
23 Six Days on the Road
24 Send Me Some Lovin'
25 What Am I Living For
26 Banter #5
27 Waltz Across Texas
28 Life Turned Her That Way
29 Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone
30 That's All Right Mama > Blue Moon of Kentucky
31 Not Fade Away > Stay All Night (Stay a Little Longer) > Chantilly Lace
32 Banter #6
33 Green, Green Grass of Home
34 Tonight, the Bottle Let me Down
35 Banter #7
36 One After 909 (Hubcaps sans Sleepy)


Images for all shows as well as full size images for this show.

Images for this show:











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SleepyLaBeef2016-01-30JohnnyDsSomervilleMA (9).jpg