Last night, Jennifer & I went to a fundraiser/concert by presidential candidate Mike Huckabee and his band Capitol Offense play the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake. It was a lot of fun. Those guys know how to rock. They played a lot of old classics - Freebird, Takin’ Care of Business, Joy to the World (Three Dog Night), and a bunch of others (I don’t remember them all).

Huckabee himself is a solid bassist. He didn’t seem to be doing anything particularly flashy or stellar to set himself apart as a stupendous bass player, but you don’t need that for your bassist in a rock’n’roll band. You need a bassist who can lay down a good line, stay in time, contribute well to the solidity of the sound, and look like a bass player. Governor Huckabee qualifies.

They had a couple guest musicians with them — the lead guitarist of Boston (Barry Goudreau), and the lead vocalist & guitarist for a New Hampshire band called Mama Kicks. I was rather impressed with Barry. There’s a lot of room for the guitarist of a famous band to have a lot of ego, but from what I could tell of him on stage, he had none. He was just enjoying playing some good rock’n’roll, with a big grin on his face. And playing "More Than A Feeling" twice.

The Mama Kicks gal (Lisa) had an amazing chick-rock voice. She sang for More Than A Feeling, doing a quite respectable job, and several other songs. Including an Aretha Franklin number. I was slightly disappointed though — she would have been able to do a quite good cover of Joan Jett (I Love Rock and Roll, anyone?), but they didn’t do that (or at least not any songs I recognized as Jett). Oh well. It was still a blast.

When they played Sweet Home Alabama, it was fun. Their rendition of the 2nd verse went about like this:

In the Surf Ballrom we love the governor We all did what we could do Whitewater bothers me Does your conscience bother you?

Yup, they like having fun.