Awendaw Green - Wednesday July 7th / Plane Jane this Friday at the Point 7-9-2011

Cover bands don't usually impress me, actually, I passionately hate cover bands. Songs like "Dust in the Wind" "Barracuda" and "Tom Sawyer" take more time off a person's life than; smoking a pack and a half a day and injecting pure lard into your heart while texting drunk on the interstate going opposite the flow of traffic. But I caught the tail end of Plane Jane's set at the Best of Charleston Party, put on by the City Paper, and it proves there can be exceptions to my extremist mental music mindset.

One of the last cold fronts of the winter, blew in as a March lion, with the wind whistling through the upper and lower decks of the Riverdogs' Stadium. Any space where the wind couldn't grab you by the collar and shake you was at a premium. I spent an hour in the bathroom eluding the chill, doing shots with a stockbroker from New York, a conservative columnist from a local newspaper, a proto punk photographer from a roller derby team and a bunch of people who looked more like Bill Murray than Bill Murray ever did.

I'd seen the stage upstairs earlier and it looked liked a giant Jeopardy board disco from a bad carpet commercial. I figured a DJ, some canned music - so there wasn't much interest on my part. I heard faint music later on, fighting to be heard above the din of voices and the wind. I imagined CD's or turntables spinning and some crusty, beautifully botoxed, tanned folks dancing. But the music was sounding pretty good, pretty durn good, and calling me in its direction; a little funk with a sprinkle of soul power - it would keep the blood moving.

I reluctantly pulled myself away from Cru Caterings' magic macaroni and cheese with spicy meatballs (best food offering of the night) and wound my way up the stairs. Gotta move from the lower wind tunnel to the upper wind vortex, ... gotta keep moving, got - to - keep - moving, keep moving whatever you do. Don't lie down and go ... to ... sleep or hypothermia will set in and you'll wake up and find yourself dead.

Cresting the top of the stairs, hidden behind a wall of shivering flesh was a seven piece band stretched across the stage. The crowd, which seemed to be alternating between shivering and dancing, appeared to be having what my mother would have called "a conniption fit". The band was tight and the energy infectious. I turned to a friend - "this is what we've been missing, huddled in the hallway eating meatballs?"

The band rocked the number out and then those dreaded words "This is our final number, we appreciate you coming out tonight, we're Plane Jane". With that they launched into their last song, which I don't even recall. I was kicking myself, why didn't we come up here sooner? There were more people up top who looked like Bill Murray than folks down below who looked like Bill Murray (The Best of Party was a "Bill" themed event, in honor of Murray being voted Charleston's best actor. Many of the select crowd dressed as characters from their favorite Murray film).

So to make a short story long, Plane Jane is playing on Patriot's Point at the Charleston Harbor Resort and Marina, this Friday July the 8th from 5:30 to 9:30. Haven't seen them since that cold March night blew through, but I plan on catching a set or two Friday. If you don't mind a great cover band and rocking a bit, you should check them out. The cover charge is seven dollars. And of course, someone from Ghostbusters will probably be there to greet you with open arms.

Some of this article is not based on factual evidence, but what is not written with veracity, could have conceivably happened in a parallel universe. That Plane Jane is a fantastic cover band is beyond dispute.