Kazeedigs

The e-mail of encouragement came from a very good friend, Sammy, who was putting his hard-earned musical reputation on the line. He was asking his friends to head down to West 24th Street, off Sixth Avenue to Chris Noth's "Cutting Room" to see a band headlined by Jeff Kazee.

My decision to attend was made in about one second, as I wanted to support my buddy Sammy. Period. He could have asked me to go see Milli Vanilli sing Barry Manilow's worst hits and I would jump a taxi.

But, let the truth be told, when I saw that Rich Pagano, my favorite drummer this side of Zach Starkey, was in for the gig along with his Prisoner's of 2nd Avenue (PO2A) sidekick and bass player John Conte, I was sold.

The Kazeedigs also featured G.E. Smith of Saturday Night Live fame and appearances by Southside Johnny and the Southside horns, playing "Greats of the 88s," a collection of terrific cover songs. Also appearing were: Saxophonist Craig Dreyer and Trombonist Neil "The Dude" Pawley.

The highlight of the night was walking up to the short line forming in The Cutting Room and seeing an ole college buddy, Paul and his date, in line. We chatted up a storm and I thanked him for a special gift CD he had mailed to me a month or so ago (sound-board CD of Jimmy Vivino's birthday bash at BB King).

On the social scene, there were tons of people, including another good friend, Dan, who recently celebrated the birth of his first child. (Mazel-blankin-tov, they say, right?)

And, it was fun to watch my bud, Sammy, nervously working the PR gig and hoping the crowd would fill in. To his credit, the room WAS PACKED to capacity and actually a bit crowded and hot due to the crowd.

The musical highlight came quickly, as the band opened with a full slate of tremendous cover songs. The best being a Steve Winwood tribute as Winwood and Clapton are playing three nights at The Garden this week. Jeff Kazee's "Low Spark" was as good as it gets, trust me. He also brought down the house with some terrific "Dr John" and "Billy Joel," among dozens of other great tunes, played to perfection.

I can't wait to work with Sammy to get the band up to Boston where they are sure to play to a full house at "Johnnie's on the Side" or "House of Blues."

The "Cutting Room" is a really great place, the kind of bar that is fun to hang in, even when there is no music act in the back room. It has that "West Village" cool feel, with a great crowd of 20-30-40-50-somethings.

Sammy deserves a serious "High 5" for his efforts in filling the joint, and I was happy to mention that to Jeff and Rich after the performance.

Rich will be striking up the "Fab Faux" at Bowery Ballroom this March 13 and 14, and another great item on the music calendar is "Hothouse Flowers" with Liam O Maonlaí, the most under-rated musician on the face of the earth. He is Top 5, all-time.

Since, I don't have the Kazeedigs' video, I'll give you a preview of the March 17th Hothouse show in NYC, straight from Ireland: