Dan Roark

Cyndy and I drove to Houston last Saturday, the 29th, to see Corey Feldman and the Angels at White Oak Music Hall. We had seen them in San Antonio at the first of the summer tour. Granted Feldman’s music is not what we usually listen to. With the exception of cover songs like Rock On. Then again, we weren’t there because we thought Corey Feldman had a lot of talent.

We were there to see the band – in particular, the 21 year old guitarist, Jimena Fosado. The other

members are Margot Lane (keyboard, acoustic guitar, and violin), Jackie Von Rueden (bass), and Marisa Testa on drums. Courtney Feldman is DJ and vocalist – I use both terms very loosely. The girls are trying to prove wrong the perception that they are just pretty, sexy women dancing around behind Corey.

Marisa and Jackie provide a steady rhythm section. They both have decent voices for their solo songs, but it’s hard to distinguish when Courtney sings with them. Jackie played bass when Corey played drums. Which is a good thing because someone had to keep the beat. Margot played acoustic guitar on her solo song. She also played violin when not playing keyboard. She plays all three well.

The guitarist, however, simply kicks ass. Jimena Fosado is one of the best young guitarists I have

heard in a while. I’m a little biased because her boyfriend is our oldest son, Conner. Fortunately, you don’t have to take my word for it, although you should. She has played with Steve Vai and if he says she’s good, you can take it to the bank, as it were. Check out her YouTube channel. I’ll be posting a video of her solo from Saturday soon on my YouTube channel after this post is published. If Jimena is still with the band when they play in Dallas in October, you should go see them just to see and hear her play.

The perception of the women would be better if the costumes weren’t so god awful. Corey goes through costume changes more than Stevie Nicks at the old Fleetwood Mac shows. Mostly just jackets and hoods, all of them ugly. The hoods didn’t make sense when he would just throw them off after a verse and chorus.

The sound man mercifully had Corey’s mic turned down – although he could probably hear his voice louder in the monitors.  And the bass was up, so you could hear the words some of the time, but you couldn’t hear the missed notes as well. Not hearing the words had nothing to do with the sound being adjusted. They just all ran together.

By the time the show ended a little after midnight, the crowd had dwindled down to a smattering of groups spaced around the room among the garbage on the floor. There had been about 200 when they started playing. Some of them were there for the opening acts and stayed for a while. We waited while Jimena changed clothes and came out to visit with us. The cloudiness of the picture of the three of us is due to the humidity, not the camera.

It was good to see Jimena again. We introduced her to Schlotzskys between the sound check and the show. Hopefully, we’ll see her in October.

Keep writing the songs that are in your heart.

Peace be with you.