Hugh’s Room had its final show for 2024. This was a big year for them as they asked for financial help from everybody to support live music. I went to a couple of touch and go shows, but in the last couple of months they seem to create a steady stream of people coming out to their shows. 2025 looks like it could be a great year for live music.

Dr Draw truly is a draw. I usually see him at the Beaches Jazzfest when he is performing on the street. It is difficult to get a good shot of him for the wall of women who love to block my view because dancing is more important.

I was lucky enough to grab a side view of the stage while the sold out show even packed the rafters of the building. This was the second time he played the new and improved Hugh’s room. The first time it was at half capacity. This time it was solid with fans. He told us he was tearing up with gratitude with a roomful of people who came out on a cold and miserable night to see him play.

With that said, he slowly began finger picking his gold violin with heartfelt notes. You could feel the audience settle in because soon he would begin to present his defibrillator style of playing to get your soul started again. This is a performer who can transform you into a teenager again.

He can make you feel like you are on a roller coaster again or maybe experiencing your first kiss. Heck, I can see fireworks going off while I am driving well over the speed limit. Dr Draw and the Strange Parade create musical ecstasy. They allow you to produce wings to fly high.

The Dr pulled out a song from 20 years ago called “Alexandria” and dedicated to his friend Don. Don was a dedicated fan over the years. This is another characteristic I love about this artist. He really tries to connect with his fans and make them feel important.

Like any great artist, when you are on stage you sweat for your supper. Draw jokingly told us he would go through about four shirts this evening. Well, he wasn’t kidding. Cher has nothing on this guy!

One of the highlights of the show is when he got close and personal and walked through the crowd playing for them. Moments like that never grow old. After a show he will stay and talk with anyone who wants to have a moment with him.

By the second half of the show we began to see a different side to him. He let us know he is recording a new album of all cover songs with the band on the cover wearing white frocks and mangled instruments strewn about. He would like to call this one Dr Draw butchers the classics! This should be interesting, because we got a sample of what he is working on. Where can you go and see a mad violinist wildly playing to the heavy metal sounds of Celine Dion’s “My heart will go on”?

Right after that beautiful moment he went into a song called, “Disco Monkey”. Yeaaah! It was a bit funky and a whole lot of bananas. Yeaaah!

The Doctor was excited because he promised he would bring a friend on stage. Well that friend is Scott Jackson who is famous for his Beat Boxing talent. I wasn’t sure if this was the right crowd to bring on such an artist. Within seconds this guy proved me wrong.

 It was funny to see this guy walk out in a lumberjack jacket. Was he going to be dropping trees or beats? Well the beats came out like a well oiled machine gun. It was fast and furious and hugely improvised. Remembered that guy in the Police Academy movies who had hundreds of different sound effects? Well picture that guy while dropping beats a mile a minute. It was at a level I never heard before. It was simply incredible. Scott later told me he has played sports arenas dropping his crazy beats, I can see why he is getting gigs like that.

Dr Draw came back on and the two of them worked as one unit playing his violin to beat box. What a preposterous duo of original musical moments. It was like they were creating live mental paintings that flowed like lava lamps tripping out on their own space. It was truly mesmerizing.

They finished the evening with “Hallelujah”… Yeaaah praise Dr Draw and his Strange Parade with Scott Jackson for finishing off 2024 with style and finesse.