Hey Music Fans!! You missed the BOMB of the show. Toots and the Maytals played at the House of Blues last night, and let me tell you: Mr. Hibbert is as awe-inspiring as ever.

When I grow up, I want to be just like Toots. I am continually amazed by the fact that Toots either is 60 or damn close to it and he is able to jump continually for two hours, and does so while singing without missing a beat. I kept a meticulous set list (I wrote down every damn song--plus notes--people were giving me their email addresses so I could mail them it, as I was being so diligent at writing them all down) but, unfortunately,I lost it somewhere between the club and home. Dammit!

At any rate, I can tell you some of the songs he played--I couldn't have asked for a better concert if I had been directing it myself. Toots came out in a bright blue suit, and had 2 Fly Girls as his back-up singers, a drummer and a guitarist and they proceeded to immediately rock the house. You couldn't help but to grin from ear to ear. He sang Pressure Drop, Funky Kingston, Time Tough, Louie, Louie (a real treat--I hadn't heard him sing that live before), Country Roads, 54-46, ahh...that's as much as I can remember off the top of my head.

Toots did his typical thing of getting the audience to sing the chorus of different songs--like with Pressure Drop, he would sing "Is it youuuu..." and then would extend the mike to the audience to sing "Oh Yeahhhh". And, he pulled up a bunch of women on stage to dance with him during one song (they could barely keep up with the mighty Toots). Then, my delightful lagniappe to the evening was that I managed to slip backstage (get me drunk enough and I assume that the world is my oyster) and we got to chat with the musicians and toss back Red Stripes!

I MET the wonderful Toots! I chatted with the fly girls who were singing back-up for him and it turns out that one of them is his daughter (she's quite striking). I talked with Toots about the blues and funk in New Orleans and what he thought of it (unfortunately, details start to get fuzzy at 3 in the morning, so I don't remember everything he said). I was surprised by how strong of a Jamaican accent he has (don't hear it as much in his songs).

Then, another cool bonus was that one of the fans had given the guitarist a great black and white picture taken in the 80s around the time the "Toots in Memphis" album was released, and the guitarist gave it to me and my friend. Yay! So, I know have a great, groovy picture of Toots on my fridge. I wish all three of you could have been there--Toots never disappoints and I know that you would have loved it as much as I did.

When I awoke this morning, I did have somewhat of a raging headache, but as I stepped into the shower, Toots was still singing in my head and I was boogeying down under the hot water ---eight hours later and the music still making me dance. The only way life could possibly get any better would be if I heard him sing that on the beaches of Jamaica.