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By Maria BAINER |
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Photos by Rebecca LeMesnager and Maria Bainer
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Summertime brings out the heart of the blues festivals, and California has its fair share. Some of these festivals will be discussed in this column. In addition, there is some catching up to do, since I vacationed in Australia instead of writing this column in March. So there will be special events, news items, and new CDs to read about.
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FESTIVAL WEBSITES
I could list the performers in several festivals, like the Santa Cruz and Russian River Fests, but I think you would be more interested in reading the details of ones you want to. A very up-to-date website for California festivals is: www.sonomatunes.com/blues_festivals.htm . It lists details of upcoming fests as well as some past ones. There are musings and ramblings about individuals as well as a few fests. In case you are particularly interested in the San Francisco Blues Festival, it will be September 23-25, 2005 and the lineup is posted on: www.sfblues.com. Check out www.jazzinternet.com for California, national, and international fests. Unlike its free magazine, “The Original Blues Festival Guide 2005,” their website: www.bluesfestivalguide.com just spotlights a few festivals. Get a copy of this magazine if you can. It lists national festivals as well as ones in Canada and Mexico chronologically. It has an extensive list of blues societies and their websites, as well as some interesting articles.
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A GIANT OF A FESTIVAL
The Monterey Bay Blues Festival (MBBF) celebrated their twentieth anniversary this year with a line-up of 64 acts. Twenty-one of these acts were Main Arena ones, while twenty-three acts were on the smaller Garden Stage and twenty acts were on the President’s Stage. Obviously, there are too many acts to cover, so I will concentrate on the main stage and a few highlights of the smaller stages. Friday’s Main Stage featured a 70s Soul Jam with The Persuaders, The Delphonics, Peaches & Herb, Heatwave, The Chi-Lites, and The Stylistics. The Stylistics sounded particularly good and had a good dance routine. The funky, R&B group, Touch & Go, were popular on the Garden Stage.
The afternoon show on the Saturday Main Stage started off with the 7-piece big band of Big Mo and the Full Moon Band with their R&B and rock sound. Big Mo was the winner of the MBBF’s “Battle of the Bands” contest in November. He had a notable gentle quality to his vocals. His childhood friend, Volker Strifler, played a commanding guitar. Deb Callahan was up next with her powerful, but underdeveloped vocals. Vocalist and guitarist, Tommy Castro, played a good set with pleasing arrangements and blended a country feeling to some of his blues. Keyboardist and vocalist, Billy Preston, did an impressisve tribute to his friend, Ray Charles, and also played his own songs.
 Chris Cain opened Saturday Night’s evening show on the Main Stage. He was the recipient of the coveted MOBBAY (Monterey Bay Blues Artist Of The Year) AWARD for his outstanding contributions to the blues. The jazzy-blues artist, Barbara Morrison, shared the stage with Sista Monica, who had the crowd up and dancing. The more mature Shemekia Copeland, with her new look, took control of the stage and sang material that sounded new and fresh. But she didn’t get a lot of audience participation. Buddy Guy gave one of his better shows and was a crowd pleaser.
Sunday’s Main Stage show opened with the beautiful harmony of the gospel group, Endurance. The legendary Ruth Brown sang a lot of classic songs in the old school style. She had a lot of good energy and related some of her emotional life story. She was one of the festival highlights. The high energy of Kenny Neal was contagious. He started his set with several die hard true blues. He even brought his talented, 24-year-old daughter, Syreeta Neal, to the stage. She sang a few of her original songs from her debut CD. Harpist, Billy Branch, joined Kenny and they played several songs from their duo album which won a W.C. Handy Award for best acoustic recording. This time Trudy Lynn was a red head. She sang a good show. The Neville Brothers headlined. Aaron’s fantastic vocals with his high falsetto style are always great to hear.
 The smaller stages had a diversity of good music and many repeat performers.J.C. Smith played a very danceable R&B and soul show. He has strong vocals and plays an imaginative guitar. He also continues to do his blues radio show, for 33 years now, under the name of Johnnie Cosmik. Michael Hill’s Blues Mob hail from New York City and state that they play “blues with a fuse.” Michael plays a powerful, singing guitar and sings so one can hear all the words. Even though Michael’s talking was a little distracting, they played a good set.
Seeing The Dave Workman Band was like old home week, since the group is from the Bay Area. Workman plays guitar and his wife, Wendy DeWitt, plays a fancy keyboard. John “Broadway” Tucker sang a lot of well-known R&B cover songs and still sounds good and soulful. Kaye Bohler was in dramatic constant motion as she belted out cover songs and some of her originals. Lydia Pense was also a shouter as she did the funky, rocky side of the blues. Much more music was enjoyed in the lovely setting. Kudos to all the people involved with the show!!!
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THREE MORE PEOPLE IN BLUES COMMUNITY PASS ON
It was sad to hear that vocalist, Beverly Watson, had passed on. Evidently she was told she had only six months to live after her surgery for a brain tumor. She was happy and smiling, and even singing to audiences, until the end. The ‘Brown-Eyed Alligator’ of blues, a.k.a. Patrick Charles Robertson, passed away from cancer on June 6 at the age of 69. He played harmonica and guitar for five decades in San Francisco blues clubs. His long-time friend, Kenny Neal, helped him record a debut CD, “The Brown-Eyes Alligator Wants His Supper,” but it was never distributed formally. Doug Smith, whose passion for blues and knowledge about its roots touched a generation of North Bay radio listeners and concert -goers, died on June 19, 2005. He was 46- years- old and died from a fatal motorcycle accident on the way home from the Russian River Blues Festival. Smith had about 20 years of experience in the music business. He was a former tour manager for John Lee Hooker, and head of the management team at the Rosebud Agency. He owned and operated the Smith & Bowker Productions for 14 years. He was also a popular blues disc jockey for a Sonoma County radio station, KRSH-FM.
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NEWS EVENTS
 Let’s check back a few months to hear about the events you missed hearing about. Going back to February, numerous awards were given by the Bay Area Blues Society at their West Coast Blues Hall of Fame. Here are a few winners, since space doesn’t allow the entire list. Best Female Artist and Best Band Leader Awards went to the deserving E.C. Scott. Jesse James won for Best Male Vocalist, Alvon Johnson for Best Guitar, Bernard Anderson for Best Saxaphone, Larry Vann for Best Drummer, Billy Dunn for Best Keyboards, Big Bones for Best Harmonica Player, and Layce Baker & The Black Diamond Band won for Band Of The Year.
The Sacramento Heritage Festival put on two shows earlier this year. Their February show, entitled “Heart & Soul” featured Howard Tate, Earl Thomas, and Sherman Robertson. Their March show was called “The Father, the Son & the Blues. Performers were James Peterson, Lucky Peterson, and Curtis Salgado. Proceeds from these shows are given to a music education program in a Sacramento area public school.
There were two items re clubs. The former Eli’s Mile High Club is still up for sale or lease, as far as I know. The most recent owners were successful with their varied music, excluding blues. But they were overwhelmed eventually with the pressures of running a club. Maybe it is best just to let bygones be bygones and rename the place. The popular blues club, Biscuits & Blues, has added a full-service restaurant upstairs, so people can eat the southern-style food without having to pay a club cover charge. There will be a smalller menu in the club.
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 PEOPLE TALK
Charlie Musselwhite won the W.C. Handy Award again for best harmonica player. He also won for best contemporary male artist. His “Sanctuary” CD won the award for best contemporary album. John Lee Hooker, Jr. won the award for best new artist. Handy, a bandleader who performed in clubs along the famous Beale Street in Memphis in the early 1900s, is credited with being the first musician to put blues music into written form.
Several Bay Area musicians got articles in two blues magazines. Lady Bianca got a full article in the Amerian “Living Blues,” # 177. Jackie Payne and Ike Cosse both got writeups in Swedish in the Swedish magaazine, “Jefferson,”#144.
Some musicians either traveled to or moved to other lands. Bobbie Webb paid a brief visit to Munich, Germany this spring to play in the Munich Festival with John Lee Hooker, Jr. Hooker played other gigs in Europe. John “Broadway” Tucker went to Poland again in March to record “Hey Jude” with 1200 guitars, mostly acoustic with a few electric ones. Rumors have it that Joe Louis Walker moved to France and that Lazy Lester relocated to Sweden.
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VISITS BY MUSICIANS
The Bay Area is a popular place for artists to perform. Such visitors included: Ronnie Baker Brooks, Jimmy Thackery and the Drivers, Papa Chubby, Albert Cummings, Deborah Coleman, Eric Bibb, Johnny Rawls, Marcia Ball, Roy Gaines, North Mississippi All Stars, Mose Allison, Henry Butler, B.B.King, Magic Slim & the Teardrops, John Hammond, Jonny Lang, Ike Turner, Corby Yates, Chris Smither, Corey Harris, Rory Block, Duke Robillard Band, Kelly Joe Phelps, Tab Benoit, Roomful of Blues, and Mavis Staples.
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OODLES OF CDS
 Quite a few CDs have been released. Blind Pig ‘s latest ones include: Tommy Castro: “Soul Shaker;” Papa Chubby: “Big Man, Big Guitar;” recorded live in France and also on DVD; Harper: “Down To The Rhythm;” and Otis Clay: “Respect Yourself.” Blind Pig also distributes Blue Rock’It Records, the latest one being The Ford Brothers: “ Center Stage.”
Artist releases of Bay Area people include: Little Charlie & The Nightcats,"Nine Lives,” on the Alligator Label; Mike Schermer’s second album: “Next Set”on the Fire Dog label; Carlos Zialcita: “Evolution” on the Senor Blues Productions label; Freddie Hughes: “I Know It’s Hard, But It’s Fair Blues” on the Blues Express label; Lady Bianca: “Let Love Have Its Way,” her fourth release on Magic O Records; Jimmy McCracklin: “Truth & Soul;” Charlie Musselwhite: “Deluxe Edition,” Alligator Records and Johnny Dyer with Mark Hummel: “Rolling Fork Revisited,” Mountain Top label.
 Other CDs issued were: The J.C. Smith Band: “ That’s What I’m Talk’n Bout ,” on the Cozmik Records label; Big Mo & The Full Moon Band: “Mo Love,” Himmel Street Records; and John “Broadway” Tucker with Leszek Cichonski (winner of polls for best Polish Guitar Player) and featuring Wojciech Karolak (best known Hammond organ player in Poland): “Come Together Live!”on the Omerta.art (Polish) label.
Reissues included: Ron Thompson & His Resistors: “Still Resisting, “ Poore Boy label (10 tracks from his second LP, “Resistor Twister” and two sides of a self-released 45); John Lee Hooker: “Black Night Is Falling,” Just a Memory label, (back to his pre-rock roots); Lightnin’ Hopkins: Lightnin’s Boogie, Just a Memory label; and two JSP reissues: Lowell Fulson: “Think Twice Before You Speak,” and “1946 to 1953.”
The photographer for the J.C. CD was Robert Pasenko and the photographer for the Zialcita CD was Ms. Marty Williams.
That’s it for now. Catch some live blues when they come to your area and/or enjoy some fine CDs.
Maria Bainer
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