Mike's Tastes of Chicago on Price Road, A Surprisingly Good Live Music Venue

Mike McCreary in front of Mike's

A live music venue is really nothing without good acoustics.  The old Crescent Moon, located at the rear of the Hide Building on 11th street had it with gentle Gulf winds on a summer night, an area rug on the floor and quite possibly, luck.  Several establishments downtown, despite renovation, simply do not have good sound.  Words and notes bounce off hard surfaces with misplaced speakers canceling each other out.

Mike's Tastes of Chicago, located at 2100 E. Price Rd., has some of the comfiness of the Crescent Moon, but also great sound.  The business consists essentially of two garage doors in a metal building with one door being a drive-through cold beer outlet and the other a hot dog/pizza place with tables and a bar.   The venue has the same climate control as my '59 VW bug had; flow-through ventilation with the garage doors up.

Louie Villarreal & The Goodtime Band

We were there on a Saturday night to hear Louie Villarreal & The Goodtime Band, but also ran into Henry "Hawk" Hernandez, noted Brownsville harmonica player, Joe Hugonette, bass player for Lords of D'Nile and Earthmen, and dancer Eva Mar.

While familiar with Villarreal's great vocals and guitar, his bandmates are also strong.  Saxophonist Kyle Posie moved effortless into country, rock, reggae and blues, sounding like Charles Neville in the group's rendition of Yellow Moon.  Patrick Lee Garza's bass was also prominent with Dennis Lester featured on a couple of drum solos.

The band stood just outside the raised door giving us fantastic sound inside.  Yes, it's about the sound.

Louie Villarreal, Eva Mar

Joe Hugonette, Jim Barton