#magic dick

Reader’s also black w locs cause this is lowkey self-indulgent

2.4k words

Entering the church as a parochial student was less devilish intent than it was a last ditch effort to sate the boredom threatening your early grave. There was absolutely nothing to do in this dreadfully plain village. In truth, your expectations of the chapel weren’t much higher but anything would beat corralling drunkards for the fourth week in a row.

For this purpose, the chapel was the most obvious choice; a sex demon unknowingly being welcomed onto holy grounds? The irony alone charmed you into pledging your vows to the coven within weeks.

It was simple enough: help conduct morning mass, clean up and use any remaining day hours studying scripture, with the occasional youth program assignment. Still, the monotonous schedule was more interesting than your days prior. One thing that really caught your attention, though, was Father Davis. The rest of the clergy was nice, as was he to everyone else; when confronted with you, however, it was as if he’d rather eat glass than have a proper conversation. Unfortunately for him, this only made him more fun to bother.

He saw through your façade instantly, but you both knew he couldn’t exactly get rid of you. Despite his status as presbyter, no one in such a traditional village would believe an incubus capable of entering God’s home, and without proof, exorcising you would look like straight up murder.

So, he put up with you; let you follow him around in hopes it might give him insight into whatever nefarious affront to God you were planning.

After operating hours and after the staff went home, you could be found sitting on his desk in your true form, tail lazily swishing side to side. As was your nightly routine, he would attempt to do paperwork while you tap-danced on his last nerve; be it ‘accidentally’ curling a tail in front of his work, snatching pens as he was writing, or noisily riffling through drawers. To his credit, he almost never lost composure; annoyance only evidenced through slight eye twitches and white-knuckle grips.

On this particular night, you might’ve teased him a bit too much.

Interspersed candles flicker and blink, casting the otherwise dark office in soft light. The oval vitrage window shone overhead and bathed stone walls crimson with moonlight.

He leaned back onto his desk, an imposing figure above your place on the floor. Chains and rosary beads bound your wrists, ankles, and torso as you knelt on both knees. Silver stung your skin pink where metal dug into soft, naked flesh.

He tilted his head, silently regarding your form wriggling against the bindings. Then, with cold eyes still locked on you, he reached behind his desk, fiddling around in a drawer as he spoke.

“Tell me, imp: what do you gain from testing my patience day in and day out?” He hummed upon finding what he was looking for, an ornate little bottle of…oil? Perfume? With how things were going now, you wanted to say lube but you wholly doubted the prudish brunet would have any.

“Well,” you start; reveling in his upset despite your predicament, “If you must know, father, it is rather fu-”

With a flick of his wrist, drops of liquid splashed you and it burned.

Holy water; the bottle contained holy water.

Steam rose from your skin where water vaporized upon contact and he scoffed at the pained hiss you let out.

“It’s fun, is it?” Each pause punctuated with another assault of the liquid. “That’s the only reason you came to the church? To antagonize its good clergymen?”

His eyes narrowed at the jaunty swish of your tail, betraying a devious response before you even spoke : “Not the good ones; just you.”

Nodding, he moved to pour the remaining holy water onto you before catching the shiver wracking your body beneath your wide-eyed gaze. Whether in fear or expectancy, he wasn’t sure but the masochistic implications made him laugh enough to set the half-empty bottle onto the desk behind him.

Once his maniacal fit of laughter died down, he slowly regained his composure. You took the opportunity to poke once more.

“Since you’re having so much fun up there, could you at least spare me a rug? I fear my knees are beginning to bruise..” you drawled, saccharine pout barely suppressing the smirk threatening to curl your full lips.

He was smiling now; a kind of sadistic expression that gently tugged at his face, as if he were gleefully planning how best to dispatch his newly-caught prey; in a way, you supposed he was.

His large hand made its way behind your head, intertwining itself in thick locs before YANKing, snapping your vision to the ceiling.

You opened your mouth to protest, pretty face contorted into a wince before unzipping pants cut through your thoughts.

“Silence.” Without warning, he shoved his cock in your mouth, using the rough grip on your hair as leverage. You gagged as his tip hit the back of your throat and he groaned, pushing you onto him even further.

He pushed and pulled your head up and down at a brutal pace, fucking your mouth without sympathy.

“Is this- haa… what it takes to finally- shut you up?” He huffed. All you could do was squirm and claw as you took it, throat bulging with each shove of his hand.

Looking up through teary eyes, you saw his head align with the window like something of a callous halo; how fitting, you thought, to be undone beneath such a seraphic sight.

The grip on your hair grew tighter as his thrusts faltered and stuttered. You could tell he was close and, perhaps in spite of your position, you didn’t intend on letting him off easy.

In the haze of your hot mouth, he felt a long, serpentine tongue wrap around his dick; pumping and swirling to match his pace. A string of curses unbefitting a saint flew past his lips and your nose smushed against his pelvis with one final push.

Hot, creamy cum gushed down your throat and you swallowed it all dutifully, not letting a single drop go to waste. Since stepping foot in the village, you hadn’t had a proper ‘meal’ in what felt like ages; to say you were starved was a gross understatement.

You coughed and gasped a bit when he tugged you off his cock, “Fuck, who knew a priest would taste so-”

“Stand up.” Without giving you time to comprehend, you were pulled to your feet by a firm grip on your rosary. He had the courtesy to untie you, but he did so wordlessly with a stare that made even your brattiest parts quiet.

Little did you know that under his stoic glare held a silent adoration of your body. You hadn’t worn shirt when you entered his office, but he’d ignored you in the hopes of getting work done. Right in front of him, however, now sat the perfect opportunity to ogle.

Your shoulders flexed effortlessly as he released your wrists, each movement catching his ‘passing’ glance. You looked ethereal from where he stood; dark skin practically glowing under the moonlight.

A long, jagged scar stretched down your breastbone and split under your pecs, forming a large upside-down cross across your chiseled torso; you were nothing if not a comedian, he supposed.

Discreet knuckles dragged over impossibly soft skin, nearly betraying his motive. The final chain hit the ground with a resounding clank and you sighed, finally free.

“If I didn’t know any better, Davis, I’d think you rather enjoyed handling me so.” He looked you in the eye again, annoyance back full force; you bit back a snicker.

“So it has eyes,” with your chaplet necklace firm in his hand, he pulled you towards him, “then you should find no surprise in what happens next.”

You fumbled with your buckle as he walked backwards, tugging you along till his back met the desk.

You were planning on making a show of yourself, but he was having none of it; ripping both your pants and undergarments down in one go - until he paused.

In front of him was neither phallus nor yoni, but a completely blank surface of smooth skin. Watching the gears turn in his pretty little head was adorable, but you decided to be kind for once; leaning closer into him.

“What exactly were you hoping to see, Father?” Whispered so close he felt your breath on his ear. Hungry lips found his as you caged him between the desk.

Taking advantage of his shock, you led the kiss; swaying back and forth. No sooner could he catch his breath than you were cupping his face and curling a long tongue around his; groping and prodding his body as you kissed him senseless. He was a sighing mess by the time you pulled away, and he looked down to see he was sporting another hard on; only this time, you had one too.

You pushed a clawed finger to his lips before he could question, already explaining. “It would be bothersome to assign different summoning seals to incubi, succubi, and other imps based on human preference; so, we adapt,” you shot him a glance, “which I could’ve done sooner, had you not been so impatient as to skip the foreplay..”

Despite being flushed red, he rolled his eyes; looking done on you with every word. “Well, you’ve done it now, so what are you waiting for - or must I show you how to use it, too?”

Grinning, you hoisted him atop the table. You gave your dick a few lazy strokes to spread the precum dripping down your shaft.

“Sigh, so demanding~” He almost screamed as you spread his ass and bottomed out with little warning; a perk of self-lubricating genitals.

One leg sat bent on the desk, the other draped around your waist as you fucked into him. Slow at first, nearly pulling all the way out before being sucked back in by his greedy hole; setting an agonizing pace.

He yanked your necklace once more, as if pulling a leash, a silent command to go faster; a thinly veiled grasp for control. When you didn’t comply, he moved to speak, being cut off by another heated kiss.

You took his bottom lip with you a bit longer when pulling away, blood welling under sharp canines. All he could do was pant breathless against your mouth as you licked the bite.

With the contact, you saw even his deepest desires: kinks, preferences, how he likes having his cock toyed with. You slithered a hand down in favor of touching him; alternating from teasing your hand around his tip and palming his dick entirely.

Between your quickening hips and soft hands pumping him with matching speed, he was seeing stars.

Just as he was about to let go, however, a jarringly harsh grip at the base of his shaft ripped him away from the edge.

“You’re cumming already? Isn’t that a bit whorish, priest?” You clicked your tongue at him, tightening your grip even more.

After a few beats, your hand loosened and you began thrusting again; a sigh of relief catching in his throat… until he realized your plan.

The closer he got, the faster you went before inevitably denying him; trapping him in a vicious cycle of give and take, pain and pleasure, sin and restraint.

Both men of pride and uncouth stubbornness, this went on much longer than either of you expected , until he, watery eyed and shaking, finally broke.

“Whatever- mmh-! game you’re playing, devil…” he choked out, sharp gasps cutting through every word, “End it. You’ve made your point.”

“Oh? Is that how we ask for things, Father?” You were hardly in better condition, but being cheeky was second nature; even if your incessant whining made him strain to understand you.

You half expected him to glare daggers through your skull or pull your chaplet once more; though the necklace had long since left his trembling hands. What you weren’t expecting was the small, utterly helpless ‘please—’ breathed through swollen lips.

And who were you to deny such a lachrymose plea, even if surprising?

Rather than resuming a jackhammering pace, you opted for something slower, deeper. Instead of bullying your cock inside, it kissed the deepest parts of him; lingering a bit before slowly dragging out, forcing him to feel every single vein angrily bulging out.

You released your grip on his dick, now focusing on twirling a hand around his tip while the other reached down to massage his balls, gently rolling them in your palm.

Between the deliberate grinding against his prostate, your hands, and the absolutely abhorrent sounds of skin hitting skin; he was a goner.

Orgasm took him without warning as he came hard and fast, letting out a groan that bordered on screaming. White, hot electricity shot through him in devastating waves; rushing, and dulling, and sparking until all he could make out was blinding pleasure and his own pulse thrumming rapid in his ears.

He sat stiff for a while as the aftershocks played out before slumping backwards on his hands.

Upon regaining his sense, two that stood out were 1.) a tail curled lazily around his ankle and 2.) your wet tongue trailing his body. You were on your knees before him once again, this time busying yourself with leisurely licking up the mess he’d made across his stomach and torso.

Despite overstimulation creeping up, he let you continue; tangling his hand in your locs in a way both warning and…affectionate?

You settled your arms around his waist when you finished, head in his lap. The silence held something between oddity and calm as you both sat with each other, basking in the afterglow before inevitably having to walk back to your rooms.

Though, you never could stay quiet for long.

“Y’know, I thought this was supposed to be a punishm- OW!”

.

-

—

-

.

The next morning, Sister Jolene commented on his wobbly legs, fearing sickness. “Father Davis, are you quite alright? Your stride seems unsteady.”

“Ah- she’s right, Father! Perhaps I should see you to your quarters?” Concern etched across your face as you made your way over to him, making a show of supporting his weight.

He pushed you off the second the sister left the room, wanting nothing more than to smack your toothy smirk away.

“Do not test me, imp.” You chose not to acknowledge the blush dusting his cheeks and ears.

For now…

The Best of Live Music 2018

Another year is coming to a close and with it, another year of wonderful - and a few not-so-wonderful - live-music experiences.

In an effort to accentuate the positive, Sound Bites is devoting this space - and many column inches of copy - to review excerpts from his favorite concerts of 2018. They’re grouped is as good an order as he could come up with in categories of A+, A and A-; shows of B+ and below didn’t make the, uh, grade.

The numbers in parentheses indicate the number of times Sound Bites has been privileged to see the artist in question.

A+

I’m With Her (3) at Southern Theatre, Columbus, Ohio, Nov. 5: Though I'm With Her are incomparable, the closest thing might be Crosby, Stills and Nash, if that group ditched the rock 'n' roll and managed to stay on key always. Their version of John Hiatt's "Crossing Muddy Waters" is to Hiatt as CSN's "Blackbrid is to the Beatles - an improvement on what’s already essentially perfect. There really are no words to describe the intensity of their performances, which have been on a steady uphill climb on their three Ohio appearances in the past 15 months, even though their first of those, in Cincinnati, seemed impossible to improve upon.

I’m With Her (2) at Memorial Hall OTR, Cincinnati, Ohio, March 5: Even if it’s 100 degrees, sweaters or jackets should be required at any I’m With Her concert, because Sara Watkins, Sarah Jarosz and Aoife O’Donovan’ll send shivers up and down concertgoers’ spines. Take any superlative modified by any adverb, and you still couldn’t adequately describe the quality of this concert.

Rhiannon Giddens (2) at Memorial Hall OTR, Cincinnati, Ohio, May 20: Barefooted in a yellow, floor-length skirt and a black blazer, with playful splashes of red dye in her black hair, Giddens sawed her fiddle and clawed at her banjo for about half the evening and spent the reminder of her time onstage using her greatest instrument - her expressive voice. Jumping, punching the air to accentuate notes, losing herself in the music with her eyes up in her thrown-back head, Giddens was entranced by the music and cast the same spell on the audience. Part opera singer, part jazzy chanteuse, part Southern wailer, part preacher, Giddens is a nearly supernatural force - like a once-in-a-century storm of music - the rare vocalist who spends entire concerts spitting out notes most singers would be happy to hit once a night.

Magic Dick and Shun Ng with Acoustic Hot Tuna (8) at Jorma Kaukonen's Fur Peace Ranch, Pomeroy, Ohio, Nov. 10: It's too bad Fur Peace Ranch doesn't have a marquee because seeing the billing of Magic Dick and Hot Tuna in lights would've been priceless. As it went, hearing the former J. Giles Bard harp player paired with virtuosic, wonder-kid guitarist Shun Ng headlining over Acoustic Hot Tuna was also priceless, as the top of the bill put on one of those impossible-to-believe concerts and Hot Tuna were their typically terrific selves during their warm-up slot on a cold, frost-filled Nov. 10 concert in Pomeroy.

An Exclusive Evening with Jorma Kaukonen (5) at Gramercy Books, Bexley, Ohio, Nov. 15: Jorma Kaukonen answered questions, read from his new memoir and played a few tunes when he held court in front of 60 devotees inside Bexley's Gramercy Books. The guitarist's only bookstore stop on his tour to promote "Been So Long: My Life and Music" was billed as “An Exclusive Evening with Jorma Kaukonen” and found the Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna co-founder perched on a barstool taking questions from former Rock and Roll Hall of Fame chair and Zeppelin Productions founder Alec Wightman and the audience; reading from the book; and showing off his unique picking style on chestnuts such as the Airplane's "Embryonic Journey" and the "trad." "How Long Blues."

A

Outlaw Music Festival feat. Willie Nelson (12) and Family, Van Morrison (4), Tedeschi Trucks Band (8), Sturgill Simpson, Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real (2) and Particle Kid (2) at Hersheypark Stadium, Hershey, Penn., Sept. 8: Though he's absolutely earned the right, Willie Nelson probably shouldn't follow Van Morrison and the Tedeschi Trucks Band. He followed an uncharacteristically jovial Morrison, who, dressed in his trademark dark suit, fedora and shades visited many corners of his storied songbook in a generous, 90-minute set. Meanwhile, the 12-piece Tedeschi Trucks band slayed the smallish audience in the cavernous stadium. And Sturgill Simpson played a jaw-dropping, 80-minute concert that was boiling stew of blues-based rock with the faintest hint of outlaw spice.

John Prine (2) at Ohio Theatre, Columbus, Ohio, Sept. 28: John Prine and his four-piece band played a career-spanning, genre-bending, tear-jerking, joke-telling show that found them running through all of this year's The Tree of Forgiveness - but not in sequence - along with many of the best tracks from Prine's songbook.

The Del McCoury Band (3) at Sugarloaf Mountain Amphitheatre, Chillicothe, Ohio, July 8: Despite fronting and giving ample spotlight time to his band, Del McCoury was the obvious star of this show, his acoustic guitar cutting through the music every time such a riff was necessary, and his voice hitting high notes most men can’t reach in their 30s let alone on the cusp of their 80s. He was in a playful mood and granted so many requests, he good-naturedly stumbled over lyrics to long-dormant tracks such as “40 Acres and a Fool” and “Blackjack County Chains.”

Huffamoose (2) at Ardmore Music Hall, Ardmore, Pa., Nov. 24: At the Ardmore, the Philadelphia-based Huffamoose played a triumphant, 17-song, 105-minute set just outside its hometown that featured cuts culled from its four LPs - its long-out-of-print, self-titled debut (on the local 7 label) and ’97’s We’ve Been Had Again along with the two most recent ones - and demonstrated that although much has changed, much has remained the same. This was the rare comeback concert where the words “we’re gonna do a new one” weren’t bad news.

David Byrne at Rose Music Center at the Heights, Huber Heights, Ohio, Aug. 11: Whether David Byrne is a simpleton masquerading as a genius, or - more likely - an intellectual hiding behind inane lyrics, the former Talking Heads frontman is nevertheless quite impossible to figure out even after 40 years of pouring himself out with his music. And Byrne is perhaps the only musician who can sing about donkey dicks (“Every Day is a Miracle”) and “Toe Jam” and somehow not come off as a cretinous moron.

Taj Mahal (5) Trio at Thirty One West, Newark, Ohio, Sept. 22: Playing a resonator guitar and with his solidly in-the-pocket rhythm section - the Taj Mahal Trio, ladies and gentlemen - right with him, Mahal got things going with a double greeting of sorts, playing rock-infused versions of "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl" and "Good Morning Miss Brown" back to back. These set the tone for an uproarious evening of song in which Mahal played the blues on his banjo and hollow-bodied electric guitar, played reggae on his ukulele, played folk on his resonator, played boogie-woogie on his piano and played rock 'n' roll on his acoustic guitar.

James Taylor (12) & His All-Star Band with Bonnie Raitt (2) at Schottenstein Center, Columbus, Ohio, June 30: It’s not only Taylor’s catalog, but his presentation, that keeps fans coming back decade after decade. Not only does he switch up songs from tour to tour, he also tinkers with arrangements to keep things fresh. Raitt’s show would’ve been disappointing as a stand-alone concert. But as an entree to Taylor’s portion, it fit nicely.

Toubab Krewe (2) at Thirty One West, Newark, Ohio, Nov. 26: The five-man rhythm section known as Toubab Krewe took concertgoers on an aural journey that lifted off from Newark and went 'round the world during a stupendous, all-instrumental concert inside Thirty One West. It takes serious chops and exceptional song craft to hold an audience's attention for two solid hours while never singing a word. Toubab Krewe have both and both were in full flight Nov. 26 in Newark.

Dead & Company (7) at Blossom Music Center, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, June 20: If Dead & Company wanted to prove something with their 100th show, they did. They proved that they are finally & truly a band - a band capable of putting together complete, knockout shows, rather than throwing a few solid punches surrounded by the musical equivalent of rope-a-dope.

Alison Krauss (4) at Fraze Pavilion, Kettering, Ohio, June 15: If the term Americana means anything, Alison Krauss is defining it on her solo tour in support of Windy City, on which she and her seven-piece band touch on virtually every type of music a group could possibly cram in to 90 minutes of stage time. Throughout the evening, Krauss accentuated the music with clipped chords and short runs on her fiddle. Though she was clearly the star, she happily allowed her bandmates to shine just as brightly as she did and seemed genuinely flattered to have each of them along for the ride.

Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives at Memorial Hall OTR, Cincinnati, Ohio, March 30: Stuart and the Fab Supers were terrific. Ostensibly a country band, they’re equally adept at playing rock ‘n’ roll, rockabilly, surf music, honky tonk, folk and bluegrass and did all that and more exceedingly well for a near-sell-out crowd that was as energized as the music itself.

Steep Canyon Rangers (7) at Midland Theatre, Newark, Ohio, Feb. 2: The Rangers spent two generous hours running through tracks new and old in a concert that ended with an enthusiastic standing ovation that caused guitarist Woody Platt to suggest we all follow them to the next gig in Chicago.

The Avett Brothers (2) at Fraze Pavilion, Kettering, Ohio, Aug. 14: The Avetts made Sound Bites cry as band donned at least 10 musical guises over the course of its staggering, two-hour, 10-minute show. From the first note in daylight at 8 p.m. sharp to the final bows in darkness, shortly after 10, the audience was on its collective feet, singing along to nearly every word, as the band held them rapt with its eclectic mix of county, folk, classical, rock and even a bit of prog that featured cello solos, bowed bass, rhythm banjo, piano-cello duets, screeching guitars and lengthy pieces that featured piano and organ a la the Band.

Larry Campbell & Teresa Williams (3) at Woodlands Tavern, Columbus, Ohio, Feb. 28: The couple set the standard early, opening with the Carter Family’s “You’ve Got to Righten that Wrong” before moving into their own “Surrender to Love.” Historical and contemporary. Universal and personal. It was a pattern that would continue all evening as Campbell on guitar, mandolin and fiddle, laid down a bed for the pair’s luxurious harmonies and Williams’ occasional rhythm guitar and shakers and made Sound Bites wonder yet again why Larry Campbell & Teresa Williams are playing bars to scores of fans instead of playing arenas to thousands.

Phil Lesh & Friends (14), Hawaii Theatre, Honolulu, Hawaii, Dec, 31, 2017: This show counts because one-third of it took place on Jan. 1, 2018, and because it was the best Dead-related concert Mr. and Mrs. Sound Bites had seen in ages as Lesh covered not only his former band, but Funkadelic, the Band, Velvet Underground and others.

Los Lobos (17) at Rose Music Center at the Heights, Huber Heights, Ohio, Aug. 7: Los Lobos are so hot, they can parlay a short-handed opening set into a standing ovation from a half-full house of George Thorogood partisans, who found themselves cheering the band from East L.A. as if they were the second coming of the Destroyers.

Richie Furay at Natalie’s Coal Fired Pizza and Live Music, Worthington, Ohio, Aug. 12: Richie Furay - best known as the Buffalo Springfield vocalist/guitarist not named Stephen Stills or Neil Young - plumbed the Springfield, Poco and Souther-Hillman-Furay Band songbooks during an acoustic set that followed an afternoon show earlier in the day. Daughter Jesse Lynch joined Dad on vocals and tambourine on all but the opening salvo of Poco’s “Pickin’ up the Pieces” and Springfield’s “Sad Memory.” At 74, Furay looks and sounds 20 years younger with a full head of salt-and-pepper hair, a life of clean living on his face and a voice that still shows why producers tapped him to sing Young’s songs with Springfield.

Todd Rundgren’s (37) Utopia (3) at Taft Theatre, Cincinnati, Ohio, May 10: Just as Utopia was essentially two bands, this was essentially two shows. Billed as Todd Rundgren’s Utopia, but featuring a four-piece reminiscent of the group that emerged after Rundgren’s proggy big band dissolved, the quartet of Rundgren, bassist/guitarist Kasim Sulton, drummer Willie Wilcox and last-minute replacement keyboardist Gil Assayas (who stepped in for the ailing Ralph Schuckett, who stepped in for the ailing Roger Powell), powered through a nostalgic - material ranged from 1972 to 1985 - 130-minute concert that served as a musical way-back machine for the Utopians in the two-thirds filled house. The arc of the band’s diverse songbook was on full display and as amazing as ever.

Todd Snider (10) at Stuart’s Opera House, Nelsonville, Ohio, June 22: An 80-minute, solo-acoustic performance that was both musically and comedically pleasing, as Snider combined his insightful numbers - and a few choice covers - with split-your-sides-open stories that often appeared mid-song but somehow didn’t interrupt the flow.

Elizabeth Cook (3) at Thirty One West, Newark, Ohio, May 16: Over the 80-minute solo set, Cook - who popped cough drops because of a cold but sounded healthy - mostly eschewed heartrending numbers like “I’m Not Lisa” and instead sung of an ex-husband who preferred beer cans to her can on “Yes to Booty;” the alcohol-fueled atmosphere she grew up around on “Stanley By God Terry;” recovery on “Methadone Blues;” and resilience on “Sometimes It Takes Balls to be a Woman.”

Cheryl Wheeler at King Arts Complex, Columbus, Ohio, March 24: Cheryl Wheeler was at turns funny, tender and socially conscious - but mostly funny - always folksy and 100-percent entertaining. We laughed - so hard we cried. And we looked forward to the next Cheryl Wheeler concert and the opportunity to hear the things we missed while doubled over in hysterics.

Los Lobos (16), Memorial Hall OTR, Cincinnati, Ohio, Jan. 25: Missing bassist Conrad Lozano, who was replaced, and multi-instrumentalist Steve Berlin, who was not, Los Lobos played an aggressive, one-set show that immediately erased any disappointment the absences might have caused.

Bettye LaVette at Jorma Kaukonen's Fur Peace Ranch, Pomeroy, Ohio, Oct. 13: Bettye LaVette was backed by guitar, bass, drums and keys/piano as she explored 12 back pages from all eras of Bob Dylan's songbook, from protest anthems to Christian declarations of faith, from well-known numbers to obscurities written between the 1960s and the 21st century. Indeed, the only person who might have rearranged these songs more radically than LaVette is Dylan himself.

Jorma Kaukonen (3) At Natalie’s Coal Fired Pizza & Live Music, Worthington, Ohio, June 13 (Early Show): There’s something refreshing about the way Jorma Kaukonen refuses to cash in on his legacy as a founder of the famed San Francisco sound with the Airplane. And as he played and sang his grizzled blues like a man walking the Mississippi Delta in the first part of the 20th century, it was again clear that Kaukonen chose the right path.

A-

Elton John (3) at Schottenstein Center, Columbus, Ohio, Nov. 2: If Elton John is really going to quit touring when his current trek ends - in 2021 - he’s going out in top form. From the first, teasing note of “Bennie and the Jets,” to the final, lingering sounds of “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,” the musicians tinkered with arrangements just enough to keep things interesting for people who know these songs as well as they know anything. And if this is really farewell - and if "Yellow Brick Road" is really the last song 18,000 Columbus residents will ever hear John play live - it's a fond one.

Tedeschi Trucks Band (9) at Palace Theatre, Columbus, Ohio, Nov. 9: The 12-piece band begun its "An Evening With" show just after 8 p.m. with a 55-minute opening set that set the table for what came later. Singer Mike Mattison wailed the blues and crooned jazz when he joined Susan Tedeschi on incendiary renditions of "Key to the Highway" and "Right on Time," the front woman got introspective on Bob Dylan's "Going, Going, Gone" and the group wound up powering through yet another spell-binding concert of originals and covers that spanned the past 100 years of music and its myriad styles.

Todd Rundgren (38) at Express Live!, Columbus, Ohio, Sept. 12: Always unpredictable, Todd Rundgren is even more so when he tours as Unpredictable. On these occasions, he and his long-time band - guitarist Jesse Gress; former Tubes drummer Prairie Prince; Utopia bassist Kasim Sulton; and keyboardist Greg Hawkes of the Cars - work off a list of several dozen original and cover songs and play the ones that strike Rundgren's fancy on that particular evening. And on this night, the result was a wildly diverse, two-hour set of songs that bounced around nearly as much as Rundgren’s career itself.

Bruce Hornsby (9) & the Noisemakers at Columbus Commons, Columbus, Ohio, Aug. 24: Hornsby and his current band channeled the pianist's former band, the Grateful Dead, and their taking-the-music-for-a-walk ethos. Stretching it out is a way of life for Hornsby & Noisemakers, who played just 16 songs in 130 minutes.

Roger Daltrey Performs the Who’s Tommy at Fraze Pavilion, Kettering, Ohio, July 2: On a stage packed full of musicians, Daltrey, the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra and members of the Who’s touring band played Tommy front to back. And they played the shit out of it. The Philharmonic was a fully integrated part of the show, kicking off the concert with “Overture” as it’s always been meant to be heard; turning “Tommy Can You Hear Me” into a whimsical pops-concert moment; adding welcome flourishes to “Sally Simpson;” and filling “We’re Not Gonna Take It” with majesty.

Peter Rowan’s (2) Twang an’ Groove at Jorma Kaukonen’s Fur Peace Ranch, Pomeroy, Ohio, June 16: Once one of Bill Monroe’s Bluegrass Boys, a co-founder of Old & In the Way and author of classics including “Midnight Moonlight” and New Riders of the Purple Sage’s signature song, “Panama Red,” both of which were played toward the tail end of Set Two, Peter Rowan has been a part of some of bluegrass’ most-important 20th-century moments. He’ll be 76 on the Fourth of July, but his hands are still supple, his voice still able to climb to high-and-lonesome heights with his yodel intact, as his version of Jimmie Rodgers’ “Blue Yodel No. 3” demonstrated.

Dead & Company (6) at Riverbend Music Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, June 4, 2018: Anyone looking to understand why Dead Heads keep going back to see former Grateful Dead members year after year, decade after decade, needn’t look any farther than Dead & Company’s June 4 performance in Cincinnati. It was - by far, and until June 20 - the best of the half-dozen Dead & Company concerts Sound Bites has attended since the group came together in 2015.

Steve Kimock (3) & Friends at Ardmore Music Hall, Ardmore, Pa., Nov. 23: “Were gonna sort of front-porch our way in to this,” Steve Kimock said as he and his Friends took the stage and cooked up an ethereal, post-Thanksgiving stew that slowly bubbled into the one-off band’s - which came together for a special Black Friday performance in the City of Brotherly Love - opening number, KIMOCK’s “Careless Love.” It was a show that satisfied like a second helping of turkey.

David Crosby & Friends (2) at Kent Stage, Kent Ohio, Nov. 28: David Crosby, Michael League, Becca Stevens and Michelle Willis came into Kent and over the course of an hour-and-40-minute performance proved themselves a top-tier acoustic/harmony group that, with the right setlist, could be a salve for those still mourning the loss of Crosby, Stills and Nash. But with only a few exceptions - excellent exceptions but too few nonetheless - the quartet stuck with 21st-century material, resulting in a concert that consisted of near-perfect execution of fair to very good songs.

Steve Earle (3) & the Dukes (2) at Newport Music Hall, Columbus, Ohio, June 10: Steve Earle is like an outlaw version of Bruce Springsteen, singing everyman songs with a left-wing political bent that’s sometimes so subtle, people will miss it if they’re not playing close attention. Also like Springsteen, Earle finds himself in the midst of a late-career renaissance, as a triad of fire-breathing tracks from 2017’s So You Wannabe an Outlaw were among the highlights of a career-spanning set that opened with a full performance of 1988’s Copperhead Road.

Hubby Jenkins at Jorma Kaukonen's Fur Peace Ranch, Pomeroy, Ohio, Oct. 20: This was a fascinating concert - musically, spiritually and intellectually. Prior to taking his audience to church in a gospel-heavy second set, Hubby Jenkins took them to school, using his brief, 45-minute first set to educate concertgoers not only about the African origins of the banjo he was playing but the evolution of African-American culture and stereotypes via slavery, the Black Codes and Jim Crow and the minstrel tradition.

An Acoustic Evening with Lyle Lovett (3) & Shawn Colvin (2) at Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium, Athens, Ohio, March 21: It was one-third Lyle Lovett, one-third Shawn Colvin and one-third the Lovett-Colvin comedy hour. Together, the three-thirds equaled an evening of well-rounded entertainment.

J. Giles Dead at 71

J. Giles, the namesake guitarist of the J. Giles Band, was found dead in his Massachusetts home April 11, Billboard magazine reported.

No cause of death was given.

Giles was with the “Love Stinks” band from its 1967 founding until its initial breakup in 1985. He participated in its periodic reunions between 1999 and 2012, at which point the J. Giles Band - most associated with charismatic harmonica player Magic Dick and frontman Peter Wolf - carried on without J. Giles.

“We all thought it was you in the ‘Centerfold’ video,” former MTV personality Martha Quinn tweeted after Giles’ death was reported.

The band issued 11 studio albums between 1970 and 1984. Those records spawned classic-rock radio warhorses like “Give it to Me," "Whammer Jammer" and “Must of Got Lost” in the 1970s and megahits such as the aforementioned “Centerfold” and “Freeze-Frame" in the ‘80s.

Giles was 71.

Still Magic, Dick Turns 80

Magic Dick is not his real name. But 80 is his real age.

Born Richard Salwitz on May 13, 1945, the man known as Magic Dick, aka the Whammer Jammer, aka the Lord of the Lickin’ Stick, enters decade No. 9 today.

He co-founded the J. Giles Band and contributed as much as any group member to its distinctive sound. After the Band dissolved, Dick and Giles formed Bluestime.

Dick later joined with guitarist Shun Ng in an acoustic duo that was as Magic as anything Dick had done before. And he’s still out there dicking around with his stick in his mouth.

May he blow for years to come.

I don't think I ever shared this #ig #live interview with you all. This #shortclip is a part of it. #youtubeshorts

Richard Salwitz, known as Magic Dick, is an American musician, noted for playing the harmonica for the J. Geils Band. In addition to the harmonica, Salwitz play...

BLUES: SONGS OF THE DAY

THE ARTIST IS: MAGIC DICK

THE SONG IS: " (I'M THE) COOLEST CAT IN THIS CAR"

My buddy Ralph Jaccodine represents Magic Dick formerly of the J.Giells Band. This rave-up shows Mr. Dick at his wild best.