Line Drive is all funked up.

The  Jersey Shore Jazz and Blues Foundation has been sponsoring some excellent weekend jazz concerts taking place at on the boardwalk in Long  Branch on the corner of Ocean Avenue and Laird Street. On Sunday, July 9, I caught the foundation's latest find, Line Drive, at one of these concerts, playing to a packed parking lot that was just simply in the mood for a relaxed evening.

Formed over eighteen years ago, Line Drive is a unit with a mission to keep the light R&B/gospel/fusion sound alive. As a result, they are a welcome alternative to the rap-metal or brooding singer-songwriter scene on the NJ Coast.

Complemented by a full horn section, Line Drive showered the crowd with its pleasing melodies and funktified rhythms.  They performed several of their originals, including bass player Chris Plunkett's "Time to Say" and Panamanian vocalist Jose Loo's  uplifitng ballad "Always and Forever", the latter given an almost country feel thanks to the Fender guitar of Mike Hogan.  The group also dove into the the 70s R&B catalog, covering Stevie Wonder's "Don't You Worry about a Thing" with
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Blues at the Fat Cat Cafe
(continued from page 1) the Fat Cat - with its Mahogany bar, 18-bottle beer selection, humidified cigar cabinet and cognac and whiskey selection - is pulling off its feigning first class. The venue had an patronage that  weekend of all ages and classes, though its prospective audience could be classified as "mature."

The Fat Cat's food had all the bar-munchy classics,                     as well as grilled sandwiches, hamburgers, pulled pork sandwiches, and the "anywayyouwantitatall" salad and sandwich. In chosing the Jerk Chicken Nachos, I was looking for a big bowl of shovel-size chips, gooey cheese and, of course, Jerk chicken. Instead, the                   chips were broken and the nachos came out cold after a                     half hour. In addition, the chicken was more barbecue                    than jerk. I guess the appetizer's name means you'd have to be a jerk to order it. But, it was a big bowl, so that's one out of four...

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