The Sidepony Express Music Festival started a day early for us on Thursday, November 7. Our friends Paula and Ro came to hang out with us. I had some work to do, so Paula, Ro, and Karla went out to explore. Late in the afternoon, Karla called me and said they were going to check out a band at St. Elmo. I was about done so I finished work and walked down there. It was a little crowded but they had a table in the back. The band was Tonky Honk and did mostly country covers. It was enjoyable.

After a break at the rental, we walked down to the Bisbee Table, and had some tasty food. From there we planned on checking out the Whiskey Lickers at the Room 4 Bar but on the way we stopped at Gene’s Place to listen to the Celtic Jam for a bit. They has some interesting instruments and I drank a $3 Hamm’s as we listened. We continued to Room 4, but nothing was happening yet. We kept wandering around and ended up in front of the Bisbee Grand and we heard some music. We went in and A Couple of Wanderers were performing. There was a man playing guitar and singing and a woman playing drums. We were not too impressed. The woman left the drums and played washboard. She was dancing and making suggestive moves that was off-putting. The man left to go drinking and the woman played guitar and keyboards. She sang and danced but was not very talented. We left and walked to the Copper Queen. Sweet N’ Juicy were playing and there was a good crowd there. We got some drinks and hung out. Paula and Ro danced a little.

We decided to check Room 4 Bar again. The Whiskey Lickers were there playing on the landing. We went in the bar and got some drinks and went out to the landing and listened to the band. They were a lot of fun. There were eight people in the band. 2 trumpet/horn players, washboard (very good), mandolin, mini banjo, banjo, guitar, and what looked like a homemade bass. There were seven people in the audience. We stayed for a few songs and then headed back to our place for the night.

That was just the pre-party. Another post for Friday coming soon.