THURSDAY APRIL TWENTY-THIRD, 1999		EVENING EDITION * 25¢

"He is too old to put on a show!"... "His arthritis will keep his fingers down to a snail's pace!"... "His liver will liquify and ooze down his leg half way through the show!"... The deafining cry of the "Nay-sayers". There have been many predictions on how Paco's body would hold up after celebrating his 64 B-Day. No of them positive. But Paco rolled (not in a wheelchair) into Richmond last night with Witchazel to prove all the doubters wrong.

Ugly Tree warmed up the capacity crowd with a solid set of songs. They are on the road in support of their recently finished self-entitled CD. At $10 a disc it's a deal no one should pass up!! After a couple of hard hitting patented Ugly Tree riffs, I quickly realized that Witchazel was not the only three peice that came out to rock last night.

Ugly Tree finished off their set as the crowd grew into a virtual frenzy. The lights dimmed...and the PA faded... The moment of truth was at hand. Would the aging bassist be able to hang onto the furious groove set forth by the rest of Witchazel?

The curtain fell as a monsterous crunch of guitar shook the foundations of Richmond. In a blaze of hair and sparks Paco ignited into a relentless attack of bass. The crowd formed into a full fledged riot. Another Witchazel show was underway.

By the end of the night, toothpick like shards of wood and metal was all that remained of the Firehouse's stage. The emergency crews worked well into the morning hours sifting through the rubble in search of survivors.

~WFP~