A Word from Josh: Click for Photos via Facebook   After finishing up their work in Poynette last night at about 3:00 am our production crew reported to today's venue at 7:00 am in order to provide sound and lights for a long day of live music starting at noon. Such is the glamorous life of Rock n'Roll often fueled by coffee, Mountain Dew and Red Bull. In sharp contrast to last night's large, open-air setting; tonight's show would take place on a stage made of two flat-bed trailers hobbled together on the far end of a beer tent with a low sloping top which restricted our space greatly. The result was a large portion of our stage show being left in the truck. As always, we made the best of the situation which was made a lot easier by the positive vibe created by the festival staff and attendees as well as the other musical acts on the agenda. Actually, the live music started at 10:00 am in another part of the park where local musician Andy Yaun AKA "The Rockabilly Kid" did a solo act consisting of 50s & 60s Rockabilly classics. As his nickname implies, this guy is very young (I would guess about 18) and yet he totally commits to this nostalgic genre 100%, right down to his hair-do. He sang and played a big, white, hollow-body Gretsch guitar with amazing skill along with some backing tracks. I was very impressed. The first band in the beer tent was another act from right here in Monticello... award-winning R&B horn band The Jimmys. These seasoned professionals put on a great show. Following them was another fun band made up of four freshman girls from nearby Monroe high school. Yes, I said high school freshmen! These girls weren't even born yet when Cherry Pie got started! Their band is aptly called Precocious as they showed musical skills beyond their years in their performances of a wide variety of classic rock. Amazingly enough, they've already been playing together for several years and it showed in their tight musical arrangements and vocal harmonies. They, and their parents, stuck around after their show and graciously hung out with us old farts. We do like to encourage young musicians; heck, look at my three-piece band. So, finally the Cherry Pie show got underway shortly after 8:00 and it turned out to be a barn-burner. That beer tent was no match for the hordes of people that descended upon it. I suppose I should mention that Kase was not with us tonight. Filling in for him on bass and vocals was a very familiar face... Charles Thomas. Yes, the same Charles Thomas that filled in for me on guitar a couple years ago AND the same Charles Thomas that filled in for John on lead vocals 17 times last year. Yes, he has filled in for three of the five members of this band! What a versatile guy; and, yes, he's still as dreamy as ever. Naturally he did a great job. I don't think anybody had any reason to suspect that anything was amiss despite the fact that we did not rehearse with him at all and many of the vocal harmony arrangements were completely improvised on the spot... he's THAT good!! As I mentioned, the crowd was great, the kind of crowd we can really feed off of despite the fatigue and close quarters. This was our first time playing in Monticello and we're so glad that we could represent the way we did. Perhaps we'll all do it again next year. By then, some of the members of Precocious may have their driver's licenses.    --Josh VOICES FROM THE CROWD: Were you at this show? Would you like to comment on it? Leslie Lobeck Brugger (Spring Fling Orgainizer): "Thank You! EVERYONE only had positive things to say about the bands & event. Than you everyone for making 2016 Monticello Spring Fling a HUGE SUCCESS!!!" Angie: "Amazing band."

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