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Another scorcher in the Big Apple. Temperature was well into the 90s and humid as a sauna. Down in the main room in B B King's it was cool-ish. The crowd that packed the club brought the heat in with them. Lots of bikers & biker wannabees. A pleasantly surprising amount of younger folks and very pretty women. As my friend Irwin said: "I'm very comfortable with this crowd." Couldn't have put it better. We were all eager to see Frank Marino and Mahogany Rush. No one left disappointed.

Every now and then you see someone who is truly a master. That's Marino. Between his mind and his fingers, there seemed to be nothing he could not do with his guitar. Lightning runs, soaring emotional swoops, sounds unthought of - it was all there. Land Of A 1000 Nights started the set off forcefully, with Marino's Gibson SG just blazing away. It was just breathtaking. I sat there feeling like a time machine took me back to the days of genuine guitar heroes. Yet it was here and now - a very satisfying emotion. He's Callin' brought us to the land of Middle Eastern tinged psychedelia with a nice violin spotlight by Avi Ludmer well complimented by the liquid light show accompanying the band. Drummer Dave Goode gets a nod here for absolutely stunning rhythms. Marino tore the joint apart with a radioactive take of the blues classic Red House with guitar playing to make your jaw hang in disbelief. My brain had difficulty processing all the information being given!

Something's Coming Our Way kept the energy going, anchored firmly by the bassist - someone told me his name was Mark Weber, but I could swear it was Remi-Jean LeBlanc. In either case, a monster player. Next up was a loooong instrumental with lots of room for improv, with Marino's guitar quoting Light My Fire and She's Not There, and the violin throwing in a piece of Summertime before it all built to a hot version of Crossroads with growling vocals from Marino. Strange Universe and Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame followed with the latter breaking down to just guitar and drums with Marino throwing a million ideas through his fingers and quoting riffs from Cat Scratch Fever and Smoke On The Water. The rest of the evening saw Marino take us from Blue Jay Way to Somewhere Over The Rainbow to Amazing Grace in the midst of solos so far out on the edge that I was actually shocked. I was listening to creation and the apocalypse and tragedy and triumph all at once. So rarely has one man's work dazzled me as Frank Marino's playing did. No disrespect to the rest of the band - they were superb! It's just that Marino exists on this other plane of playing that is difficult to put into words. 2 1/2 hours of rock and roll heaven. Just unreal!