Eclipse: 2007-11-24 at Little Hoolie's

On Thanksgiving week I received an email from Jim Cribb - lead guitarist for Eclipse - asking us to check them out, that they are playing Friday at Bayside and Saturday at Little Hoolie's. Ana and I were undecided about Saturday, so we thought, "why not?" It's really no trouble, as Little Hoolie's is pretty close.

Above, from left to right, there's Rod Burn on keyboard, guitar and vocals, Mico Welch on lead vocals, Kevin Alfinez on drums and vocals, Lou Sommella on bass guitar and vocals, and Jim Cribb on lead guitar and vocals.

Note that each and every member can and does sing not just backup, but lead, and does it well. Not to overlook their very fine instrumental skills, but it's good that everyone sings, not just for the sake of the music, but so that one member with laryngitis doesn't force the band to cancel a gig. So, let's get to lead vocalists. Drummer Kevin Alfinez's brother Chris was the Eclipse lead singer. However, recently Chris decided to go on tour with a major act. That brings up their current lead vocalist - Michael "Mico" Welch. I cannot compare Mico to Chris, as I never had the good fortune to hear Chris, but - Mico Welch is on a rare high level. Mico's singing is sublime and he works a crowd with charming ease and professionalism. Little surprise that Mico is a full time pro and has worked with the likes of James Brown, and lately, has produced and arranged a CD entitled, "Now and Then."

Eclipse has a new website at http://www.eclipsebandlive.com as well as a MySpace site with sound clips at http://www.myspace.com/bongobashr.
 

Eclipse's lead singer Mico Welch works the crowd with ease and genuine affection. I stood on a subwoofer to shoot this.
 

Above left: Awesome Michael 'Mico' Welch sings lead for Eclipse. Above right: Drummer Kevin Alfinez also sings great backup and lead.
 

Rob Burn switched seamlessly between keyboard and guitar. Like the others, he was super on both backup and lead vocals.
 

Bassist Lou Sommella's rhythmic bass lines and Jim Cribb's soaring guitar elevated Eclipse. Both were great on backup and lead vocals.
 

Eclipse's master entertainer Mico Welch.