**I judged an open mic contest at the Lizard Lounge in Cambridge, MA last weekend. It’s hard to believe some of these talented artists aren’t being recognized by a larger audience. So, I’m compelled to share them with you…
When I can’t hear the lyrics of a song it almost always bothers me, in fact it usually ruins the performance for me. But not with Dan Blakeslee. There’s so much emotion, so much MOOD surrounding his music that you almost don’t even need the words, you just know exactly what he’s talking about. With every tune, I kept being baffled by this unassuming guy who was just sitting up there with his guitar, totally enthralling me with his sound. “INTOXICATING” was my only note for Dan Blakeslee… I couldn’t write much else because I was so pulled in.
Blakeslee is a killer visual artist too. I had no idea (until I checked out his site) that I had seen his artwork before, on the cover of the latest Slaid Cleaves album:
