Foghat

Westbury Music Fair was the recent site of an amazing archeological find of some of our musical relics from the sixties and seventies that were thought long lost. I just hope the audience used caution brushing off some of these guys during the dig ... for there surely must have been a lot of magical dust stirred up in the air left over from the good old days. As a matter of fact, my first impression from the bands being in the round was that some of them probably didn't even notice going around in circles to begin with.

But, all kidding aside, it was a lot better than I thought it was going to be. Four bands for the price of a little over twenty dollars is a great deal and Westbury is one of the finest area theaters to see a concert.

Starting with Black Oak Arkansas, the show got off to an excellent start with their spirited three guitar attack of southern boogie. They only played for twenty-five minutes, but it was plain to see that they really enjoyed it and gave it their all in the process. Jim Dandy is still the front man and retains the honor of being the number one person you wouldn't bring home for a family dinner, although you might give him your dirty laundry to clean with his scrub board.

After a lengthy set change, the first platinum-selling rock group, recorded right here in Hempstead, came on. Iron Butterfly consisted of all original members except for the guitarist, Erik Braunn. While that's not bad for many reunions, he was missed never-the-less. Ron Bushy though, clearly picked up any slack and gave the stand-out performance of the night. He's the Buddy Rich of rock drummers and this was especially evident during his classic soloing of their biggest hit, "IN-A-Gadda-Da Vida." If they come around again, it's worth it to just go and see him.

Mountain followed with original member Leslie West's patented two-finger guitar solos and the always reliable Corky Laing on drums. As you probably already know from his frequent appearances on the Howard Stern show, Leslie has one of those great voices that sounds like it came from gargling with too much Draino. Crowd favorites included "Crossroads," "Nantucket Sleighride," and "Mississippi Queen."

The night concluded with a long set from Foghat. Featuring all founding members, this foursome rocked the house with their English blues and were tighter than a Cher face-lift. Starting with "Fool For The City," it only got better with "Stone Blue," "I Just Want To Make Love To You," and "Slow Ride." They also introduced a new song "Motel Shaker," which could be a big hit if rock radio ever decides to go out on a limb and play it.

Four bands of our musical past got dusted off that first Saturday night in August and proved to everyone that dinosaurs do come to life in more places than a Steven. Speilberg movie.