Ninth Annual Cbus Jimi Hendrix Tribute Show (11/20/2015)/Brothers Drake/Tokyo GoGo Food Truck

This Friday, my spouse and I had the pleasure of a return visit to the annual Cbus Jimi Hendrix Tribute Show, held around the date of this legendary guitarist's birthday (Hendrix would have turned 73 years old on Friday, November 27th.) This gathering, put together by Theo Perry (of Theo's Loose Hinges), brings together a collection of talented local musicians to blaze through a number of both familiar and deeper Hendrix cuts.

Unlike previous years, a scheduling issue brought the show from its usual home at SoHud's Rumba Cafe to the sophisticated digs of Brothers Drake, located where the Weinland Park and Short North neighborhoods intersect. In addition, the show was forced to an earlier than normal time slot (the guitar strumming began in earnest during the meadery's happy hour.) These changes, however, didn't stop a large crowd from showing up to watch locally talented guitarists pay homage to a man who still holds incredible influence in today's music world.

Jeffro Jam of Jam Cave Productions led things off with a version
of Hendrix's "Star Spangled Banner" on his Keytar, and came back
with a Hendrix-styled montage that referenced artists
like Prince and Bob Marley

Veteran jazz guitarist Derek DiCenzo got to let loose some rock chords
on Hendrix favorites like "Manic Depression" and "Purple Haze"

.

Kenny Delicious, aka Kenny Caterer (drummer for Theo's Loose Hinges
and Lead Singer/Guitarist for Doctor Kenny Delicious), cranked out
the well-known "The Wind Cries Mary" as well as deeper
album cuts like "Castles Made of Sand" and "Red House"

Event organizer Theo Perry seemed to channel Jimi himself on his
renditions of "Machine Gun", "Crash Landing" and "Foxy Lady"

David Martinez of The Old Norths and Slight Rebellion finished out
the solo portion of the show with Jimi tunes like "Stone Free",
"Voodoo Chile" and "Bold As Love"

Columbus musical veterans Maxwell Button (drums) and
Nathan Smith (bass) provided solid backing throughout each set

All performers joined each other on stage for some final Hendrix
tunes, including a rocking version of Jimi's "Hey Joe"

For future information about next year's Jimi Hendrix tribute series (next year's tenth annual show, to be held sometime in November, should be a momentous one indeed), please refer to Theo Perry's Facebook feed.

Brothers Drake/Tokyo GoGo: I had previously blogged about Brothers Drake (and their sister meadery on the West Coast, San Francisco Mead Company) on this prior blogpost. We had become intimately familiar with their mead products over the years (and of course, we couldn't not order a mead drink or two on this occasion) but until this visit had no thoughts about exploring the cocktail side of the menu.

Brothers Drake's Meadhattan and Wild Sweet Annie, prepared with
care by one of the meadery's bar staff members

This new outlook on the mixed drink side of the adult beverage world was inspired quite a bit by revelatory experience received this summer. when we had a taste of the world-class cocktails during our fine tasting menu dinner at Delaware's Veritas Tavern. Since then, we've been willing to explore this world a bit more, and the unique mead-based offerings of Brothers Drake provided an intriguing opportunity. Indeed, from their Meadhattan (Wild Ohio mead, mixed with OYO Bourbon, cherry juice and Angostura bitters), the Wild Sweet Annie (my spouse's go-to this night, with Wild Ohio Mead, OYO Whiskey & ginger liqueur) and the Rosemary Fizz (a mix of their Motive Mead, Watershed Gin, lemon juice  and soda water along with a sprig of fresh rosemary) provided tasty accompaniment to the music this night.

Providing the food this night was what can be called Brothers Drake's resident food truck. Tokyo GoGo, operated by chef Miki Ashino, offers a selection of  Japanese-styled bar food items with a rotating selection of daily specials, as well as a special Ramen night on Tuesdays.

Clockwise from top: Karaage (flash-fried chicken thigh pieces), Pork Gyoza
Dumplings, and Korokke (fried potato balls with molten cheese interiors)

  

For just under $20, we picked up four different items that not only paired well with our mead drinks, but also were quite delicious in their own right. Their special of the night, fried tempura fish cakes, were nicely crispy with a pleasantly fresh-tasting, lightly chewy filet, while the Korokke balls and uniquely fried pork Gyoza dumplings (which came attached to each other in what seemed to be crepe form) were gobbled up with equal enthusiasm. However, our favorite dish by just the tiniest of margins so far is the Karaage - this crispy savory dish is a definite reorder again on a future visit.

As equally good as the food items were the variety of multi-profiled sauces that came with each item; we found ourselves enjoying experimenting with how the different sweet, spicy and savory taste profiles each item interacted with each dish. We look forward to another sampling of this food truck's offerings on another future visit to the area.

Brothers Drake Meadery
26 E. 5th Ave (Short North/Weinland Park)
Columbus, OH 43201
(614) 388-8765
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Tokyo GoGo
typically in the parking lot of Brothers Drake
(614) 916-6476 (MISO)
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