It was a really cool night at the Mojo Lounge. Jon Lawton was the master of ceremonies. He sounded great. He doesn't get around as much as he used to, so it was good to see him.
There were some faces in attendance that we don't normally see on a Tuesday night. Ron Thompson played a few tunes and sounded great.
A fantastic singer from Fresno named Baby Bee sang a few tunes with Ron. She is also a very good drummer. She runs a Sunday evening blues jam at a club in Fresno called Crossroads.
Linda Martinez dropped in a sang a couple of songs. She sounded really good, too.
Other guests included: Gino Baronelli (gtr), Don (harp), Double G (harp/vocals), Scott Duncan (gtr/vocals), E-Rock (drums), East Bay Wes (gtr), Manabu (gtr/vocals), Mike (gtr), Jim (bass) and a few others.
I didn't get a couple of names.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Sunday, October 21, 2007
An Evening @ Bobby G's Pizzeria
I made the trek up to Berkeley to catch the inaugural performance at Bobby Gs Pizzeria.
Originally, I wasn't planning on making it that show. It was my daughter's homecoming dance and I was expecting to play chauffeur for the evening. I got a last minute reprieve at about 7:45pm, so I decided to high tail it up to Bobby G's.
I arrived at the tail end of the first set. The food is great. The vibe is really nice. There were a lot of familiar and friendly faces that I hadn't seen in a long time.
The musical entertsinment was excellent. Steve Freund and Tim Wagar sounded great. It was an evening filled with some really nice and deep Blues in an old school style demonstrating the raw emotional power of this genre of music.
In addition to Robert and his curteous staff, there were several fine folks in attendance including: BJ, John Graham, Jeannie, Don Yonders and his lovely spouse, Double G and his lovely spouse, Dave Workman, Robin Oveton and Jerry Haussler.
There were a few guests. Mz Dee got up during the second set. She sounded excellent! Bad Bobby G joined Steve and Tim for a couple of tunes. He blew some very nice harp. He said he hadn't played in months, but it didn't show. He sounded strong. Steve invited me to sit in for a couple of songs.
Formerly from Oakland, but now one of the leading blues men in Amsterdam, Lamar Chase played a couple of very cool tunes.
Overall, it was a fine evening.
Originally, I wasn't planning on making it that show. It was my daughter's homecoming dance and I was expecting to play chauffeur for the evening. I got a last minute reprieve at about 7:45pm, so I decided to high tail it up to Bobby G's.
I arrived at the tail end of the first set. The food is great. The vibe is really nice. There were a lot of familiar and friendly faces that I hadn't seen in a long time.
The musical entertsinment was excellent. Steve Freund and Tim Wagar sounded great. It was an evening filled with some really nice and deep Blues in an old school style demonstrating the raw emotional power of this genre of music.
In addition to Robert and his curteous staff, there were several fine folks in attendance including: BJ, John Graham, Jeannie, Don Yonders and his lovely spouse, Double G and his lovely spouse, Dave Workman, Robin Oveton and Jerry Haussler.
There were a few guests. Mz Dee got up during the second set. She sounded excellent! Bad Bobby G joined Steve and Tim for a couple of tunes. He blew some very nice harp. He said he hadn't played in months, but it didn't show. He sounded strong. Steve invited me to sit in for a couple of songs.
Formerly from Oakland, but now one of the leading blues men in Amsterdam, Lamar Chase played a couple of very cool tunes.
Overall, it was a fine evening.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Mojo Lounge Jam Last Night
Great music. It started promptly at 8:30pm.
House band was: Steve Freund, Marc Carino and June Core.
People who dropped in included: the fabulous Birdlegg, Russell Barber, Gino Baronelli, Johnny Cat, Scott Duncan, E-Rock, East Bay Wes, Double G, Robert Leroy Jones, Manabu, James "Loose" Reed, Don Yonders, Nick, Mike, Jim and a few other new faces.
Birdlegg joined the house band during the opening set and tore it up in his own inimitable style. It was good to see him again. The Shotgun Shack boys sounded really good. The last set with Steve, Johnny Cat, Marc and June was great.
It was a lot of fun.
House band was: Steve Freund, Marc Carino and June Core.
People who dropped in included: the fabulous Birdlegg, Russell Barber, Gino Baronelli, Johnny Cat, Scott Duncan, E-Rock, East Bay Wes, Double G, Robert Leroy Jones, Manabu, James "Loose" Reed, Don Yonders, Nick, Mike, Jim and a few other new faces.
Birdlegg joined the house band during the opening set and tore it up in his own inimitable style. It was good to see him again. The Shotgun Shack boys sounded really good. The last set with Steve, Johnny Cat, Marc and June was great.
It was a lot of fun.
Monday, October 15, 2007
Last Week's Report
Last week was action packed.
Tuesday night, I hit the jam at the Mojo Lounge. Steve Freund put on a really cool show during the first set, which started promptly @ 8:30pm. The second set which featured Chris Brown and James Reed was also very nice.
Wednesday night, I went down to the Little Fox to wish Wendy Dewitt a very happy birthday. She sounded great. I had seen Rene Solis several times in the past with Nitecry, but his performance with Wendy impressed me. I jammed with John Boutell, Steve Ahola and the Artie Chavez.
I caught a great set by Don Yonders, East Bay Wes, Robert Leroy Jones, Ray Figueroa and James Reed.
Friday night, I went down to the Mojo Lounge and caught a fantastic show by Terry Hanck.
Saturday night, I went to JJ's to catch Steve Freund in action for three killer sets in a very Chicago-like setting. The lovely Suzy Tyler did a couple of very cool tunes. The not-quite-as-lovely, but still good looking Barrelhouse Solly also contributed a couple of nice old school tunes. Solly is one of the few singers that can do justice to the pre-war sounds and Steve does an awesome job of providing perfect and sympathetic backing.
I learned a couple of things this week. First and most important, I don't bounce back as well as I did when I was younger.
Tuesday night, I hit the jam at the Mojo Lounge. Steve Freund put on a really cool show during the first set, which started promptly @ 8:30pm. The second set which featured Chris Brown and James Reed was also very nice.
Wednesday night, I went down to the Little Fox to wish Wendy Dewitt a very happy birthday. She sounded great. I had seen Rene Solis several times in the past with Nitecry, but his performance with Wendy impressed me. I jammed with John Boutell, Steve Ahola and the Artie Chavez.
I caught a great set by Don Yonders, East Bay Wes, Robert Leroy Jones, Ray Figueroa and James Reed.
Friday night, I went down to the Mojo Lounge and caught a fantastic show by Terry Hanck.
Saturday night, I went to JJ's to catch Steve Freund in action for three killer sets in a very Chicago-like setting. The lovely Suzy Tyler did a couple of very cool tunes. The not-quite-as-lovely, but still good looking Barrelhouse Solly also contributed a couple of nice old school tunes. Solly is one of the few singers that can do justice to the pre-war sounds and Steve does an awesome job of providing perfect and sympathetic backing.
I learned a couple of things this week. First and most important, I don't bounce back as well as I did when I was younger.
Monday, October 1, 2007
Saturday Night @ the Saloon
Saturday night at the Saloon with Steve Freund was an absolute blast. The stars were lining up to be a good night when I found a parking spot less than a half a block away.
The joint was jumping and people were having fun. Steve, Robi and Burt sounded great! They starting off the evening with a couple of nice, mellow instrumentals before launching into some really deep stuff.
Steve Kaufman sat in during the first set. Ron Hacker was milling around the place, as was Stan Erhart, who had performed earlier in the evening.
Kid Andersen joined Steve on the second set. John Nemeth did a couple of tunes with them. The highlight of the night was an absolutely intense and jaw dropping version of the BB King classic, "Sweet Sixteen." Steve was on fire from the first note and played some absolutely amazing stuff. I thought Steve was going to spontaneously combust and the Kid delivered some really nice Earl Hooker influenced guitar work, too.
Apparently, it was also a Girl's Night Out, as I saw Shauna, the Nuclear Blonde and members of her female entourage in attendance. Shauna also got up and sang a couple of tunes.
It was really fun night.
The joint was jumping and people were having fun. Steve, Robi and Burt sounded great! They starting off the evening with a couple of nice, mellow instrumentals before launching into some really deep stuff.
Steve Kaufman sat in during the first set. Ron Hacker was milling around the place, as was Stan Erhart, who had performed earlier in the evening.
Kid Andersen joined Steve on the second set. John Nemeth did a couple of tunes with them. The highlight of the night was an absolutely intense and jaw dropping version of the BB King classic, "Sweet Sixteen." Steve was on fire from the first note and played some absolutely amazing stuff. I thought Steve was going to spontaneously combust and the Kid delivered some really nice Earl Hooker influenced guitar work, too.
Apparently, it was also a Girl's Night Out, as I saw Shauna, the Nuclear Blonde and members of her female entourage in attendance. Shauna also got up and sang a couple of tunes.
It was really fun night.
Thursday, August 30, 2007
The Good Ole Days
Tonight, I spent some time trolling youtube and found some cool videos that took me back to the good old days of Chicago Blues in the mid 1980's.
This video captures the great Lefty Dizz in action with members of the Rolling Stones and the Muddy Waters Blues Band.
The next video I had never seen before. It has the fabulous Valerie Wellington and Billy Branch. Valerie was a monstrously talented vocalist that was taken way too early. One can only imagine the degree of success she would have achieved.
This video captures the great Lefty Dizz in action with members of the Rolling Stones and the Muddy Waters Blues Band.
The next video I had never seen before. It has the fabulous Valerie Wellington and Billy Branch. Valerie was a monstrously talented vocalist that was taken way too early. One can only imagine the degree of success she would have achieved.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Society for the Advancement and Preservation of the Harmonica
Recently, I read a blog entry written by a Chicago-based harp player named Mr G. (His fine blog can be found here.)
Mr G recently attended the convention hosted by the Socoety fro the Preservation and Advancement of the Harmonica (SPAH). He mused,
"The one really strange aspect of the SPAH convention was the lack of African American harmonica players. Some of the best players around are black, particularly blues players like James Cotton, Billy Branch, Sugar Blue and the rest of the "real deal" guys. It would be great if they would join the geeky world of SPAH - we need them."
In the past several years, some of my harmonica playing friends have asked me why I am not a member of SPAH. They answer is quite simple.
The organization only promotes the music they consider worthy of promotion and blues isn't really a part of what they are about.
I'm not really surprised by the lack of black players that are invited to perform and speak at SPAH. A good portion of SPAH's membership isn't really interested in blues, I wouldn't expect much blues content.
However, Billy Branch is also a premier blues educator. He has introduced and taught thousands of children to play the harmonica in the past 25 years. SPAH could learn a lot from Billy about how he reaches youngsters. If it's truly about preservation and advancement of the harmonica, education and exposure should be a significant part of the task. Teaming up with an educator with hands-on experience for over two decades might be a worthwhile endeavor.
Additionally, most of the SPAH attendees that I meet that are blues players only scratch the surface of education about blues. They know about players like Kim Wilson, Rick Estrin and Charlie Musselwhite. They may be aware of people like Cotton, Branch, Billy Boy Arnold and Sugar Blue, but there is no first hand exposure to these artists. They don't listen to these artists. They don't go to see them perform. They form their opinion on what they read from the other members of the group that have little influence on blues music made on a harmonica.
There is no effort to go out, book these guys and expose them. We are losing that generation of players everyday. The focus to introduce these influential players to a new audience isn't there.
In the past several years, we've lost harmonica players with a rich musical history like Snooky Pryor, Junior Wells, Carey Bell and several others. These influential artists have not been recognized or honored by the organization, although they have been highly influential. The population of harmonica players that were directly and personally influenced by John Lee Williamson, Rice Miller and Little Walter Jacobs are dwindling each day.
SPAH does very little to recognize these artists that have been very influential to modern American music. This is why I am not a member of SPAH, nor will I attend their conferences. The genre of music I enjoy and play is almost completely ignored. It's history is also completely whitewashed.
Mr G recently attended the convention hosted by the Socoety fro the Preservation and Advancement of the Harmonica (SPAH). He mused,
"The one really strange aspect of the SPAH convention was the lack of African American harmonica players. Some of the best players around are black, particularly blues players like James Cotton, Billy Branch, Sugar Blue and the rest of the "real deal" guys. It would be great if they would join the geeky world of SPAH - we need them."
In the past several years, some of my harmonica playing friends have asked me why I am not a member of SPAH. They answer is quite simple.
The organization only promotes the music they consider worthy of promotion and blues isn't really a part of what they are about.
I'm not really surprised by the lack of black players that are invited to perform and speak at SPAH. A good portion of SPAH's membership isn't really interested in blues, I wouldn't expect much blues content.
However, Billy Branch is also a premier blues educator. He has introduced and taught thousands of children to play the harmonica in the past 25 years. SPAH could learn a lot from Billy about how he reaches youngsters. If it's truly about preservation and advancement of the harmonica, education and exposure should be a significant part of the task. Teaming up with an educator with hands-on experience for over two decades might be a worthwhile endeavor.
Additionally, most of the SPAH attendees that I meet that are blues players only scratch the surface of education about blues. They know about players like Kim Wilson, Rick Estrin and Charlie Musselwhite. They may be aware of people like Cotton, Branch, Billy Boy Arnold and Sugar Blue, but there is no first hand exposure to these artists. They don't listen to these artists. They don't go to see them perform. They form their opinion on what they read from the other members of the group that have little influence on blues music made on a harmonica.
There is no effort to go out, book these guys and expose them. We are losing that generation of players everyday. The focus to introduce these influential players to a new audience isn't there.
In the past several years, we've lost harmonica players with a rich musical history like Snooky Pryor, Junior Wells, Carey Bell and several others. These influential artists have not been recognized or honored by the organization, although they have been highly influential. The population of harmonica players that were directly and personally influenced by John Lee Williamson, Rice Miller and Little Walter Jacobs are dwindling each day.
SPAH does very little to recognize these artists that have been very influential to modern American music. This is why I am not a member of SPAH, nor will I attend their conferences. The genre of music I enjoy and play is almost completely ignored. It's history is also completely whitewashed.
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