Topic: Coco Montoya-Shank Hall 8/20/08
The night began with a meeting of the “Three Amigos” at the Potawatomi Casino not far from my work location. Jacque and Ken had attended a Milwaukee Brewers baseball game at Miller Park and the end of the game pretty much coincided with the end of my work day. We met at the casino for two reasons. One, to return and get a refund of our Bonnie Raitt/Jonny Lang tickets, because that show had been cancelled. However, I did buy another pair of Jonny Lang tickets for September 17th when he’ll perform just with his band. The other reason we met there was we decided to have dinner. The casino has a number of restaurants, but we’ve eaten a number of times in their sports bar and the food there is quite good. Jacque had fish, Ken had a cheese and mushroom hamburger and I had a Rueben sandwich complete with cheese and sauerkraut. It also included onion rings whereas Jacque and Ken had French fries. It was all good!
After dinner we went over to Shank Hall which is right off downtown Milwaukee. We stood in line and bought our tickets as we entered. The crowd was made up of people more our age and some even older, although there were some younger men and women in the crowd too. I figure somewhere between 50 and 60 people showed up. I did get to meet a fellow that Jacque and Ken knew and his name was “Big Jerry”. Picture Santa Claus in a Harley Davidson outfit and you’d have a good idea what Big Jerry looks like. Very personable and sweet guy!
Coca Montoya and his Band took the stage promptly at 8:00 PM. I wish I could tell you his Band member’s names, but I didn’t write them down. However, he had a drummer, bass player and a guy on keyboards; all 3 musicians were fantastic and matched Coco’s playing as well as anyone I’ve ever heard. Coco began by saying they would play a slow smooth set. However, let me tell you, the first set was a picture of outstanding guitar riffs and some quiet moments that just made the whole audience stop and think. Coco played a song called “Nothing But Love” and it’s very hard to describe the emotion that was contained in Coco’s and his Band’s playing. He dedicated it to the people that had passed away this past year mentioning several people including Bernie Mac, Bo Didley and his “very good friend”, Jeff Healey. I’ve never heard and probably will never hear again, Shank Hall get as quiet as it got during this song. Coco knows how to hold an audience’s attention even while ever so lightly picking strings on his Strat. When the song ended, Jacque at I looked at one another and said in unison, “That’s the most beautiful song I’ve ever heard.”
There was another song that I don’t know the name of during the first set, which was a slow burning Blues song. A song of lost love and again, true emotion. At the very end of the song Coco played a few very quiet notes, the song then stopped. For about five to ten seconds he stood there looking down at his guitar and the crowd remained silent. He looked up, smiled and nodded and the crowd erupted with applause. I have never seen this happen at Shank Hall or anywhere else before. After about an hour and 30 minutes, Coco said he would take a break and then came out to visit with people. I told him how great the first set was, especially the two songs I described. He was very cordial and patient as we tried to take a picture with him. First my batteries went dead, so I got new ones. Then Jacque, as she normally does, went to take the picture and shut my camera off instead. Finally, she took the picture and so, I was going to take one of her and Coco with her camera. Well, her flash would not work. Can you believe this happens when you want to take that type of picture? Oh well… 
The second set began and it was a little more upbeat and faster paced than the first set. Again, this band is so tight and plays so easily together, that you can see the joy in all four of their faces. Coco said that this is his life and that he’s blessed to be doing something he so truly loves to do. He said there’s no other place he’d rather have been than with us this night at Shank Hall. You sensed by his smile and kindness on his face, that he really meant what he said. Again the second set had a variety of music in it and Coco always likes to say a few words before the next song. I really liked that touch, because it gave you some insight not only into his music, but into the man himself.
As the evening moved toward the conclusion, Jacque and Ken decided to hit the road before the encore was played. They had about 90 miles to drive home and so I remained there alone to listen to the one encore after the band came back out. Both Jacque and Ken said this was one of the best shows they had seen and I would have to agree. As I sat there alone listening and watching to the last song, I thought how fortunate we are to have clubs like Shank Hall that bring such great talent to Milwaukee for a price of $20 or less. After all of the shows that I’ve seen at Shank Hall, that number alone just makes me shake my head. Here are the pictures:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8384830@N0 … 874880068/
Also, you might notice that Coco, like a number of other great left handed guitarists, plays with his strings upside down. Actually, the head stock/neck is upside down and the bottom string is the thick one with the top one being thin, just opposite most players. I’m assuming he probably learned to play that way by just turning over a right handed guitar, but I never did get to ask him that question.
Roy
P.S. A little shorter review, right Tripsy? 
......Oh, almost forgot......Joe, Coco said to say Hi!
