Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Final Mojo Lounge Jam Report of 2006

Last night at the Mojo Lounge was the final Tuesday night celebration of the World Famous Tuesday Night Blues Jam for 2006. RJ was still in absentia. Steve Freund with his fabulous trio was in the packed house to ensure high quality entertainment for everyone's drinking and dancing pleasure. The state of the art dance floor was full for much of the evening as Steve, Marcus Carino and Robi Bean provided nothing but the low down Blues from Chicago and all points South.

The number of guests were small, but the quality of entertainment was high. People gracing the stage during the course of the evening were Don Yonders, Barrelhouse Solly, Scott Miller, Mark Irwin, John Graham, E-Rock, East Bay Wes, Junior Morrow and me.

It was an enjoyable experience and a fabulous way to end 2006. Just before the Mojo Lounge started featuring Blues music in 2004, I ran into RJ who was living in Fremont at the time. RJ and I had met several years earlier, when I was shooting photos for the fine folks at Mountain Top Productions. He mentioned that he was going to start up a Blues jam at the Mojo Lounge. He was hoping to move some of the Bay Area Blues scene to Fremont. In almost three years, RJ and the Mojo Lounge has created a fantastic jam which has spread via word of mouth around the globe. People have dropped in from all over the world. The only thing they have in common is love for the music. I think that RJ, his substitute hosts and the Mojo Lounge have been in achieving that goal.

This year I had the opportunity to play music with some fabulous artists and performers down at the Mojo Lounge during the Tuesday night jam including:

Kid Anderson, Amy Lou, Eddie B, Barrelhouse Solly, Robi Bean, Phil Berkowitz, Randy Bermudes, Birdlegg, Hans Bosse, Chris Brown, Marcus Carino, Johnny Cat, Artie Chavez, June Core, Little Junior Crudup, JB Davis, Norm Decarlo, Wendy Dewitt, Marty Dodson, Dennis Dove, Double G, East Bay Wes, Ray Figueroa, Steve Freund, John Graham, Jon Lawton, RJ Mischo, Scott Miller, Junior Morrow, John Nemeth, Mike Phillips, Pork Pie Phillips, Kenny Blue Ray, James Reed, Freddie Roulette, Kedar Roy, Mike Schermer, Bob Welsh and Don Yonders. I know there are a bunch of people that I've forgotten to add to the list. I am sorry if I forgot anyone.

When you add this list to the people from 2004 and 2005, it's pretty impressive. No matter how good or bad the results may have been, most of the people have been extremely cool and very supportive. It's made me really glad that I got suckered into playing again after a really long hiatus.

It's positively unique and it's been a great deal of fun.