On Friday night Stompy Jones had a fill in drummer who just happened to be Jonathan Stout (he heads up his own great band, the Campus Five, but you knew of course
). Then the band did a full set and a half of just instrumentals because Pops wasn't there. He finally showed up midway through the second set, apparently he'd been lost in Hollywood or something. Anyway that was a relief for us and the band since they were running out of instrumentals. The rest of the band just does some backup vocals. It was a good show. The crowd was pretty small until later in the evening and there was some great dancing.
They play recorded music there during the band breaks and usually it's this Frank Sinatra-ish stuff, good music but kind of boring. But on Friday they were playing a lot of Louis Jordan and bluesy rock and roll type stuff (Boogie in the Barnyard, Kansas City). Some of the (older) regulars were grumbling that it was too loud but it fit in perfectly with the kind of jump blues that Stompy Jones plays and I loved it.
I also got to dance with a man in a wheelchair for the first time. I don't know if anyone has ever noticed him there, he comes quite a bit. And yes, he dances in the chair, it's great.