Another visit to the delightful Fraze Pavillion in leafy Kettering, Ohio. Almost a carbon copy of our last visit in terms of the weather, yes I know I keep on about the weather but that's just me. I would guess it was in the high 80's maybe even 90 when we went onstage in the sunlight but as the sun set, it couldn't really have been more perfect. It was nice to have the big circle back in the lighting rig as the Fraze is a very accommodating venue. There's a real 'homely' feel about these venues, they're very well run and the staff are extremely courteous.

Ben and Kerry's ice cream parlour

Another day of many miles traveled. Nashville - Dayton - Kettering - Dayton - Toronto

An irresistible pristine Gulfstream G4 sitting in a hanger at Toronto airport, even though we absolutely love our little Embraer Legacy, I can't deny there's the occasional pang for the Gulf.

 

The wright brothers' fundamental breakthrough was their invention of "3-axis control", which enabled the pilot to steer the aircraft effectively and to maintain its equilibrium. This method became standard and remains standard on fixed wing aircraft of all kinds.

REVIEW
Former Dire Straits singer plumbs his folk traditions
Songwriter and guitarist returns to the Fraze with a six-man band for a two-hour performance.
By Carol Simmons, Staff Writer
Review reprinted from the Dayton Daily News (7/17/08)
KETTERING -- Songwriter and guitarist Mark Knopfler's stylistic tastes have always leaned toward the atmospheric, story-telling folk traditions.
Even as the front man of the 1980s rock band Dire Straits, his songs struck melancholy chords of dreams derailed and loves deferred.
If not for his acuity on the electric guitar, we'd probably have been calling him a folk singer a long time ago. But what do you call a musician who blends a Leonard Cohen-like poetic sense of a lyric with a killer guitar lick?
Maybe the only thing to call him is simply Mark Knopfler.
Knopfler returned to Kettering's Fraze Pavilion on Wednesday night, July 16, sounding even more like a folk troubadour - and more vocally like Leonard Cohen - than he did on his last appearance here in 2005.
Contributing to the traditionalist ambience was a six-man band of multi-instrumentalists variously playing the accordion, the ukulele, the mandolin, a Celtic flute and the upright bass, along with keyboards, drums, electric bass and acoustic guitars.
They expertly blended with Knopfler, whose playing was always purposeful and precise, even in exploratory passages that extended and expanded the melodic themes of a given song.
The nearly two-hour set mostly featured songs from Knopfler's solo career, though the Dire Straits'-era "Romeo and Juliet" and "The Sultans of Swing" made a midset appearance. A highlight from the newer material was the achingly lovely "True Love Will Never Fade," from his most recent album, Kill to Get Crimson.

Jesca Hoop