The Neutral Ground

I mentioned this place before, the coffeehouse with the open mic night.
After an evening in the French Quarter, I concluded the night with a trip to The Neutral Ground where Craig Paddock was performing. Another friend from church, Craig is an amazing musician. He plays a style of music he sometimes refers to as sock (soul and rock). He has a voice that doesn’t match his appearance, his sound is soulful and at times raspy. He is a great performer; he really knows how to talk to the crowd. His performances aren’t such that he just goes through the music, he stops and talks to the audience, shares some jokes or stories. He plays a variety of songs, some he has written and some covers of more famous musicians. I am told he was once in a Beatles cover band, although they never made it to their first show. This does explain why he performed Beatles’ songs both times I have seen him. This night he even threw in some Sufjan, I appreciated this because not to long ago I was talking about him to someone I met in New Orleans and they had no idea who he was. For a minute, while Craig was singing Chicago I went back to Zellerbach Auditorium with Stephers, Molly, Caleb, Donna, Anna….I don’t in anyway want to compare Craig to Sufjan, because they are not same—Craig is one man playing guitar and Sufjan is an entire band and orchestra—I’m just beginning to appreciate more how powerful music can be at triggering memories.
Craig is awesome, check him out on Facebook or Myspace.