John Nemeth
Last night, it was time for another installment of RJ Mischo's World Famous Blues Jam. RJ Mischo was absent on an evening's hiatus. Replacing him for the evening was the captivating John Nemeth.
I arrived early at the Mojo Lounge. It was sort of a weird vibe. There were a lot of new faces in the audience. Most of them were musician. Many of them appeared to 1980 rocker-type guys.
Joining John on stage for the first set of the evening was the powerhouse rhythm section of Marc Carino and Hans Bosse'. Noticably absent was the Norwegian Heartthrob, Chris "Kid" Andersen. Don Yonder displayed some excellent guitar work in his absence. After about six or seven great postwar Chicago-stlye blues made famous by Junior Wells, Jimmy Rogers, and Otis Rush, John called a pair of saxophone players to the stage named Chip (or Skip) and Ray for a couple of songs.
The band took a short break.
After the break, John began calling guests to the stage and the evening's festivities were in full swing. First up, were a fine guitarist and vocalist named Tre', guitarist Ryan Eric, bass player Wild Bill Pruitt and harp player Aki. I can't remember the drummer. It wouldn't be the first thing from the evening that I would forget. These guys played about four or five songs. The highlight of their set was a fine version of the Eddie Boyd classic, "Five Long Years."
The band took a short break.
The next set took a while to pull together. When he started calling names, it had super loud rock and roll written all over it. John called up legendary Bay Area rock jam hosts, Art and Rhonda, drummer E-Rock and a bass player that I had never seen before. I was getting ready to take a hearing break, when I heard John call my name. My expectations were really low, since I knew that these guys have been hosting rock jams for years. Let's just say that I had a really good time playing with these guys. Rhonda covered "You Can Have My Husband" and the Freddy King classic, "Goin' Down." Art sang the often done Jimi Hendrix hit, "Red House". Based on the audience reaction, it was very well received. It was a lot of fun.
John switched things around for the next band. He called up Kid Andersen, harp blower Greg Greenspan, bass player Carl Green and drummer Artie Chavez. John sang a couple of tunes with this band before calling up a female blues singer from Australia named Armelle. She sang a few tunes including Little Walter's "Mellow Down Easy" and "The Work Song".
The next band up consisted of guitar players Scott Duncan, Don Yonder, Carl Green and Artie Chavez. South Bay harp player Dick Smith joined the band for a couple of classic tunes.
Vocalist CC Cole sang a couple of very nice songs. Oakland Toby replaced Scott and Don on guitar. Freddie Roulette contributed some nice lap steel. James Reed came in a blew some harp demonstrating excellent tone. He stayed on to sing one with Kid Andersen joining for one final song.
This concluded another evening of mayhem and fun at World Famous Tuesday Night Blues Jam at the Mojo Lounge.
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