Friends,

I’ll have to admit that I broke my own rules.  Last week, I told you about a super-bitchin’ show of the week featuring The Brought Low and The Suede Brothers, playing at Nemeth’s in Painesville.  And then when Saturday night rolled around, I missed it.

“Friends don’t let friends miss The Suede Brothers.”

Unless of course the powerful tractor beam of the couch at home sucks you in and decrees that you shall sitteth on the coucheth for the duration of the evening.

Such was the case in my world, and instead of inflicting further hearing damage on my fragile eardrums, instead I had a hot date with Whip It, the recent Ellen Page roller girl flick; also notably the directorial debut for one Drew Barrymore.  And as the girlfriend pointed out later, there are lots of girls on skates.  Sorry, Suede Bros and Brought Low dudes – I’ll make it up to you next time.

This week’s show of the week has virtually nothing to do with girls on skates, although certainly there are many that hit the rinks in the ’80s fueled with a heavy Hall & Oates soundtrack.  Even your beloved ATV friend (that’s me) was known to enjoy skating to H&O numbers like “Private Eyes,” “Out of Touch,” and many others.

I’m a big fan.  And about five years ago (or perhaps more), I missed the opportunity of a lifetime – the chance to BBQ backstage at Tower City Amphitheater with Hall & Oates prior to their show with Todd Rundgren.  My pal Chris Akin had interviewed John Oates in the weeks leading up to the gig, and had a personal invite from John to come back and hang.  As a fellow H&O nut, Chris was in heaven, and called me to offer up his plus-one so that I could experience this dream event as well.  The only problem was, I was heading out of town for work.

Rats.

Being the good friend that he is, Chris made sure to call me from backstage on the day of the show, to let me know what a cool experience it was.  Chalk that one way up on my list of missed show regrets.  But it’s all good, really.

This week, John Oates will be back in town, playing an acoustic show on Thursday night at The Kent Stage, with Pete Huttlinger adding additional instrumentation.

Here’s some more information about the gig from a recent interview:

“When I decided to start doing solo gigs and albums, I figured, I’m going to do something solo; it should be different than what I’ve been doing with my established band — the stuff that people already know me for,” says Oates. “I’m really proud of the work I’ve done with Daryl all these years, and we have an amazing band.

“But I did have a history before I met Daryl, and back then, I was definitely interested in the traditional Americana stuff. That’s what I brought to the blend initially, but as we became more popular, some of the fans didn’t really know what to make of that aspect, so that sort of faded from the mix,” explains Oates by phone from his home in Aspen.

“But as I began playing around with the idea of doing solo shows and albums, I began exploring those styles again, and I rediscovered that those really were the roots of my musical life.”

For those that are curious – Oates regrew his famous mustache for last year’s ‘Stache Bash in St. Louis, but it was a short-lived return for his famous facial hair – Oates shaved it at the conclusion of the event. (And if you look at the picture, can we really call that a mustache?)

The Kent Stage gig will be a mix of solo, Hall & Oates favorites and very likely, a warm story or two remembering longtime H&O bassist Tom “T-Bone” Wolk who passed away recently.   H&O fans can look forward to additional Oates solo dates later this week in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Evanston, IL.

Check out more details on upcoming solo dates via John’s Myspace page.

And on a related note, The Bird and The Bee are about to release a totally worthy Hall & Oates tribute , Interpreting the Masters, Vol. 1: A Tribute to Daryl Hall & John Oates.  As it happens, this Oates fellow that we’ve been talking about, made an appearance at the record release show in Los Angeles, an event that also was webcast.  If you missed the webcast, they’re promising a replay will be available shortly.