The Serious Dudes Play at the Red and White Cafe

To begin with, they aren’t a bit serious by nature. They are serious musicians however. Talented musicians, too. We know one of them, Marc Ryan, in a round-about way. I’ve actually known him since he was an infant as I took over the job his mother left to give birth to him. Marc later became an acquaintance of my son’s and was hired by my son to play drums in the band that played for hubby’s 59 ½ birthday party last summer. Marc does it all: plays guitar, plays drums, writes music, manages. He also plays in a variety of cover bands. I swear, he can do it all.

Hubby and I are drawn to off the wall spots and the Red and White Café in DeRuyter is one of these. It used to be a Big M grocery store near our camper….where you could find whiskey sour mix stuck up on shelves in almost every aisle, something that used to puzzle and delight us at the same time. It has been lovingly renovated into the most delightful café. We’ve made friends with the owner, enjoy eating there at least once on weekends, and are thrilled that Christine has added live music on weekend nights. When we saw that Marc was playing, it was even more exciting!

The Serious Dudes played covers of Dylan and Allman Brothers and others…..and very well. They opened with “She Belongs to Me”, not your typical Dylan song, and I loved their version of it. It’s one of my favorites. And then they sang an old John Sebastian song I hadn’t heard in ages and ages, “Darling Be Home Soon”. It was wonderful to hear this again…..I couldn’t help but wonder why Marc loves this song and my own son hates it (he’s a very talented musician, preferring heavy metal) as I listened to Marc singing.

We loved listening to Marc, Sonny and Captain Andy …..these dudes who had fun playing to folks who should have listened more, because they missed three talented musicians playing extremely well.