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Packing the house, showing the love
Fredericksburg's own blues band plays its final show in front of an appreciative hometown crowd
Date published: 11/8/2009
By CATHY DYSON More than 1,250 people stood up and cheered the moment that Saffire--The Uppity Blues Women--took the stage for their final concert last night, and the applause continued throughout the 2-hour show. After 25 years of performing throughout the world, the Fredericksburg-based group gave its final performance in front of a packed house at Dodd Auditorium at the University of Mary Washington. The crowd was as diverse as the many topics that Gaye Adegbalola, Ann Rabson and Andra Faye sing about and the instruments they've mastered. It included record producers and songwriters, as well as people like Mary Wil-liams, who went to school with Adegbalola when classes were segregated, then later taught with her at Walker-Grant Middle School. "So, we go way back," said Williams, the nurse at James Monroe High School. The auditorium also contained people from practically every state in the nation. When Adegbalola asked how many traveled more than 200 miles to get there, a good portion of the audience roared. "We're like Deadheads, only for Saffire," said Dorothy Johnson of Connecticut, whose group included relatives from Kansas and central Texas. Next to them in line before the show was a woman from Wisconsin. When Adegbalola asked about people from faraway places, members of the audience shouted out their home states: Louisiana, California, Florida, Illinois. Saffire members weren't surprised to see so many faithful fans. "People from Fredericksburg have shown up everywhere we've played, except maybe in Australia," Rabson said. Then Adegbalola remembered seeing a student she'd taught at a show in Australia, so that exception wasn't even valid. Cookie Boyd, a Norfolk resident who has probably been to 10 Saffire concerts since she first saw them in 1984, said the band always draws a crowd. "They have a good following everywhere," she said. "It's just the energy of their music, it's so empowering." As Saffire took the audience on a walk down memory lane, many in the crowd sang along to lyrics about big ovaries and thunder thighs, too much butt and "struttin' my stuff." Likewise, the audience laughed and cheered to the video "Bald-Headed Blues," which featured local men and women singing and dancing along as Saffire sang about battling cancer--and the side effects of chemotherapy.
Date published: 11/8/2009
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