Vinnie and The Montage Rock GuadalaHARRY's in Conroe

CONROE, TX -- Some say he roams the judicial halls of the Montgomery County Courthouse with a gavel in one hand and a guitar in the other. Still others claim to hear faint harmonica sounds emanating from his chambers, but for Judge Vince Santini of the 457th District Court in Conroe, he loves The Law, with his love of music not far behind. Some say Santini’s band ‘Vinnie and The Montage,’ might be a bit judgemental, and you could argue either way, seeing as a second MC Judge, Echo Hutson of the County Court at Law 4 in Conroe, is also a member, along with their spouses, and when the whole gang gets together, they really are a blast. My pet name for the band is ‘Vinnie and The Judgements,’ I told Judge Vince when he spoke to a lady’s group last year, about the need for new court facilities, along with his colleague, Judge Kristin Bays of the 284th District Court; with them making an imposing team presenting their case. If they did a judicial comedy show, I for sure would attend. Both Bays and Hutson couldn’t make the concert last Friday at Harry Keyser’s GuadalaHARRY’s in Conroe across from Santini’s courtroom. Yep, the Judge had ditched his judicial robe just hours before, in favor of jeans, t-shirt, cap, channeling Corey Hart’s signature look by wearing sunglasses at night, and standing tall with a confidence that told the audience, ‘I got this.’ Besides Judge Vince’s Italian and judicial families in attendance, there were many well wishers, and a few groupies on hand at GH’s in anticipation of greatness, and they got what they came for.

Vinnie and The Montage is another one of those aspects of Montgomery County that sets us apart from Texas, and even Our Nation. The only other judicial band that I know of is Minnesota’s the ‘Reasonable Doubts,’ and none of those 10,000 Lakers can project the air of coolness that Vinnie and his bandmates can pull off with no sweat. Not to mention Judge Vince’s gavel has more judicial weight to it than all those northern lightweights combined.

As the Sun started its nightly downward trend last Friday, I arrived early for the concert at my reserved table for highly important Arts & Entertainments columnists, seated by the bar & grill owner Harry Keyser himself in his orange blast attention getting outfit, genuflecting to me as he slowly backed away in praise. lol. I’m kidding! I like to arrive early to get a feel for the place, and write some initial comments for descriptors should I need fillers when I’m putting the column together. I really did sit at a reserved table, and ordered a half & half tea, celebrating the fact that the previous Friday I was in hospital still barely able to walk after fighting diabetic ketoacidosis. My party arrived about 45 minutes later, and hugged me, shocked at the sight of my pin-cushion arms, and grateful I was still alive despite losing twenty pounds.

Vince’s band has a long set of 28 songs, taking a short break after 14, playing a montage of different genres and decades, hence the name. As they began, the bar’s attention cast their eyes and ears to the stage where Vince, an imposing figure not only in the courtroom, symbolically gaveled the concert into session. V&M really hit their stride after some electrical adjustments with Ben Harper’s ‘Brown Eyed Blues,’ a 2003 song, which I have to say I was impressed, which for me doesn’t happen often. I enjoyed the 1970s feel of the Commodore’s ‘Machine Gun,’ with the funk guitar that brought back memories. BEB is one of those songs I can enjoy without a drink, driving down the highway at my usual autobahn speeds in my RX 350, with a big military medal on my license plate, believing I can self-actualize to the music, which has happened to me before. It’s a fleeting ecstasy, not amorously involved, but it’s possible to achieve if you have a brain that has been trained for it, being able to see shapes on walls in different lights, or hear sounds in different time periods and genres being able to fit the pieces together like a puzzle. BEB is a song for your playlist, and I will have it on mine as I travel to DFW to receive a state level award this week. One of the two I received for last year’s work.

Santini’s wife Mary, on vocals with Judge Echo when she is in session, really knocked it out of the park. I didn’t even have to look as I wrote stream of consciousness to her enchanting voice, and someone had to tell me she pointed to moi in the midst of song, which if I had noticed, would have froze me in my tracks, throwing me off my game. Mary had a great ‘Proud Mary’ voice, again, another homerun. Judge Vince certainly married up when he bagged her, and I’d love to be in their next Christmas card standing next to her, having family call up the Santini’s asking them, ‘Who is that funny looking columnist standing next to Mary?’ A Blind Side reference.

Ryan Hutson, Judge Echo’s husband, being a real estate professional, has a good set of pipes and acoustic play about him. With Billy Strings’ ‘Meet Me at the Creek,’ Ryan embraced the bluegrass ladened song from Strings 2017 debut album ‘Turmoil & Tinfoil,’ capturing its essence, and had me almost wishing the fiddle, bass, banjo, and mandolin could make live appearances themselves. I was stationed at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, for a short period before my European and Desert adventures, and having been to The Grand Ole Opry, and clubs in KY, I found the song very authentic and memorable.

Judge Vince set down the law on Kenny Wayne Shepherd’s ‘Blue on Back,’ kinda reminding of Brent Cobb’s ‘Let the Rain Come Down,’ with similar tinges in places to Cream’s ‘White Room,’ from the 1960s. The Judge’s proficient expertise in tickling the strings, and the band’s vocals did vital justice to the song, and reminded me of Judge Echo’s mission of stamping out domestic violence in her courtroom and bringing awareness to the sad topic in Montgomery County.

V&M have been going about building their own song inventory. Their original ‘Brown Water,’ has some cool lyrics and has a catchy tune. BW is a reference to whiskey culture at GuadalaHARRY’s. ‘Bluebonnets,’ a V&M western themed song, was also enjoyable, and reminded me of ‘Riders in The Sky,’ in places. ‘Honey Do,’ Mary Santini’s song to her hubby, was the band’s first single, and caught my attention late in the set. One or two of the V&M songs are streaming on all platforms, so be sure and check it out.

Please allow me a little housekeeping, before I conclude. I’d like to thank The Bartholet Family who run Bartholet Home Furnishings in Conroe, for inviting me to their table for The Vinnie and The Montage concert. As far as Montgomery County families are concerned, I’m highly impressed (again, rare for me) with the Bartholet’s and their attitude for their humanity in sending supplies to help hurricane victims in North Carolina, where most of their orders for furniture are made, and their willingness to go to the mat in protecting their family, business, and even the City of Conroe, even when Mayor Duke Coon and the city’s council failed to protect them. The Bartholet’s were threatened last year with a clear and present danger, after a gas pipeline company tried to install a transfer boosting facility right next to their business on I-45, and the case landed in Judge Santini’s court. The Judge, being a man of common sense, backed with knowledge of case law and local covenants, ruled in The Bartholet’s favor, fair and square. It was really a no-brainer case, and I might start my own consulting firm telling companies and their multi-degreed idiot decisionmakers to embrace common sense and not be stupid. That is why the Bartholet Family came to support Vinnie and The Montage, to thank Vince for seeing sense and proper judgment, when the Austin corporate gas culture couldn’t, being full of hot air, unable to make a proper decision without costing themselves a lot of money in bad corporate judgement and incompetent legal counsel in losing their case. Thanks for your patience.

And lastly, I’d like to mention drummer Jon Ray, and bassist Scott Elias, who did bailiffs work throughout the evening. Without their support the evening wouldn’t have been as successful as it was. In future outings, I would like to see solos from each of them, and if possible a larger venue perhaps in one of the local theaters to come see musical justice in action. And guys, next time bring the band together front and center, and take a bow so columnists can get a proper picture. You guys deserve rightful praise for your work. You can go wrong in checking Vinnie and The Montage, and they should be on your Bucket List of things to do. God Bless V&M. Excellent work. Truly excellent.

Ruben can be reached at: ruben@montgomerycountynews.net