All Stars bring the usual great music

BY BOB SHRALUKA

WZBD.com

The Sweetwater All Stars came to Decatur Thursday night with the same songs, the same sound, the same style they brought the year before … and the year before that … and the year before that …

And that was more than okay with several hundred people on the Madison St,. Plaza who came out to hear what they knew the All Stars would provide … rhythm and blues done extremely well, providing pleasure and a fun time.

One of the Fort Wayne band’s chief assets is lead singer Lisa McDavid, whose range is is incomparable.

Another chief asset is the Sweetwater Horns, three guys who can blast it, including trumpeter Brett Kelsey, who has a large number of relatives in the Decatur area, many of whom turned out on a warm, pleasant night.

This year marks the 10th for the band which was formed by Sweetwater Music founder and Fort Wayne-area entrepreneur Chuck Surack. He is one of the nine members of the band and plays a sweet sax.

The All Stars, by the way, will return to Adams County for a performance on Saturday, July 26, as part of Swiss Days in Berne.

BACKUP: Before the three-hour concert began, a major problem near the plaza was averted thanks to the presence of Decatur Mayor Dan Rickord.

The company “crack sealing” city streets as part of the ongoing Community Crossings project apparently was unaware of the work on another project, the installation of a roundabout, which has turned First St. – as part of a detour– into a major artery.

So with concert-goers arriving amid other heavy traffic, crack sealing was being done on First St. in the area of the plaza – and traffic was stopped, backed up in both directions.

The mayor saw what as going on and told the sealers they needed to wait for another time, which they willingly obliged.

ADAMS TIES: Although he was born and raised in Fort Wane, Kelsey’s mother was the late Thelma Noll Kelsey Alexander, who was born in Pleasant Mills. She had 15 siblings!