AFTERMATH: Sterling Moniker and the Music in Park Series

Last Thursday, I had the pleasure of attending Sterling Moniker’s performance at the Rather Park as a part of the City of Huntsville's Music in the Park Series. It was a nice night for outside music. The air was cool and breezy instead of the normal hot and humid weather we have in Texas 72% of the time throughout the year.

As stated in a previous article, Sterling Moniker consists of five members. You can mostly see them all in the picture below: 

(Miranda Hightower, Charles Herron, DeKeenan Bell, Kevin Lotts (Drums), John Clark) 

(Kevin Lotts--It's hard to take good pictures of drummers, because

 they are usually too cool for the camera and busy ROCKIN' OUT)

I really enjoyed their performance and so did the crowd. Some were even dancing!

Like they informed us before their show, the band played both covers and original songs.  The covers included music by The Beatles, The White Stripes, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Queens of the Stone Age, Franz Ferdinand, and The Cranberries. The original song that they played was called the "Man With No Name." This song was written by Charles Herron and was inspired by Clint Eastwood. I definitely enjoyed it, and would like a follow up song written inspired by Toshiro Mifune.

Miranda was nervous, but she shouldn't have been because she sang beautifully.

(Miranda Hightower and Charles Herron )

DeKeenan was confident on stage and in the crowd. He was nice enough to smile for the camera.

(Nice shirt, DeKeenan!)

Oh, and there WAS a surprise performance by John Clark of a Hootie and the Blowfish song, which we reported as possibly happening in our previous article.

(John Clark singing some Hootie)

I am looking forward to seeing future performances from this band and attending future Music in the Park Thursdays. I am no musical expert, but my ears definitely liked what they heard from the entire band.

One thing I did notice, though, was that the band ran out of songs towards the end of the set and began doing repeats. Nobody minded because it was a chance to hear favorite songs again, but I hope as these Music in the Park Thursdays continue, that the City of Huntsville might consider is having two bands perform, or even just an acoustic opening act for the headlining band. It is hard for any band to handle a two hour set by themselves.

I talked briefly with Kimm Thomas, The Director of Tourism and Cultural Services. She said that that while Music in the Park is going to end for this year in November, it will be back again next February and run throughout the spring. This series will hopefully be a regular event each year.

One of the goals that the City of Huntsville has with the Music in the Park Series is to promote the 2^nd Annual Town Creek Music Festival. We wrote about this year’s Town Creek Festival HERE.

This year’s Town Creek Music Festival was a learning experience for the City of Huntsville. Next year’s festival will most likely be in a smaller venue. The location they are currently thinking of is the Town Creek Park behind the City Hall building, because there is already a stage, lighting, etc.  built into that location. All of those things had to be built or set-up at the Eastham-Thomason Park (the location they held the festival at this year).

 

It will also be easier for them to select bands for the festival next year, because they are now working with multiple bands thanks to the Music in the Park Series.  The biggest problem they have is getting the word out that the Music in the Park even exists.
We will do our best to spread the word for both the Music in the Park series and the Town Creek Music Festival, because we love seeing more music venues for local artists. Huntsville has a lot of talented artists, and so it is exciting when there are new venues for them to perform.

Hopefully, Sterling Moniker will perform at the Town Creek Festival next year with even more original songs or even again for the Music in the Park Series. They are definitely a crowd favorite.
Visit our Facebook page HERE to see more pictures from this event.