BETTYSOO at Central Market 12-3-09

First show back in Austin since she left mid-October for a European and East Coast tour.
Central Market is just what it sounds like. A grocery store. But this is Austin so you have not only live music but good live music everywhere. Including your local grocer. On Thursday nights this store has live music for free during the dinner hour, 6:30 to 8:30 or so. A little stage is set up in the dining area.
It's a different deal. You can't go expecting to sit through a real show. People are coming and going, eating dinner, shopping, etc...it's a low key affair. The music is quieter, kind of background to the surroundings, I'd guess you would say.
We hadn't seen BettySoo in 2 months so it didn't matter to us. We just needed our fix : )
She had the trio version on this night, Will Sexton on lead guitar and the Mail Man on drums. It was a very laid back first set. The second set picked up a bit. A few highlights for me were #1 she did a nice cover of "Morning Song for Sally" which I hadn't heard her do before and I would love to hear again in a real listening room #2 she did a Jimmy LaFave cover as he happened to be sitting a few tables back from us, eating dinner and listening to her #3 she played that Ralston Bowles cover "What Do You Want From Me Now?" which she completely kills, every time.
So, it was a fun way to spend a couple of hours on a cold, for Austin, Thursday night.
Kind of another cool thing. Just makes me appreciate how music, ok, and the internet, really brings people together. This whole "friends" on Facebook thing, right? I have all of these "friends" who I don't know and many I'll never meet but we share a common interest: passionate music fans. So, I'm sitting at a table in a grocery store in Austin when a guy walks by, stops and says "Debbie, right?" and I say "yeah, Shuichi?" and he says "yes." Kind of like 2 people who have set up a meeting but not exactly sure who they're looking for. Except we hadn't, he lives in Japan, we've never met, never talked, except on Facebook and here we are, meeting up in a grocery store in Austin, recognizing each other and it all seems so normal! Turns out he is in Austin for a couple of weeks to take in as much live music as he can, is also making a film about music in Austin and is doing some additional filming.
Really, how cool is all of that?