Jul 31 2008
Jimmy Adler has been a Pittsburgh blues guitarist for a couple of decades now, and has become one of the city's best. His big notes can be tough or tender, scorching or swinging. He cuts across blues styles
On his new CD, "Swing It Around" (Bonedog Records), he does all of those, but the emphasis, like the title, is on the swing.
Some highlights for me:
I especially enjoyed the bluesy, "Down In Alabama," surrounded by Adler's fat, liquid guitar notes and fill with Perry Salati's harp and Sudden Steve's tough piano.
"Liquor Got Loose," a down-home party song, especially with Eric Spaulding's raunchy honking sax jumping through the track.
"Little Less Blue" is a gentle ode to a long-gone lover, but still swings. Here, as elsewhere, Spaulding lends a sax that eloquently speaks the blues, his horn adding just the right swinging or sexy touches.
"Let's You and I Go Out Out Tonight" is a tougher blues, and Adler shows off his considerable slide skills on the traditionally flavored "Get Outa My Kitchen."
"She Won't Dance" has sweet and rollicking old-timey feel with its honky-tonk piano intro, and its tasty sax work.
"Smoke Signals," which opens with sweet guitar notes followed tough sax counterpoint. Very nice.
Adler says that some of this swinging music was inspired by his live shows at Bobby D's Swing City Dances. And BlueNotes is not ashamed to admit that It's easy to see the bodies moving to any of this
Adler has put together a fine album here that showcases his singing, songwriting and guitar skills through a variety of styles. He makes it sound so smooth and easy. Not to mention very good. Most songs are by Adler, with help from Pittsburgh's Mike Sweeney. The rest of the fine local musicians here are: Kenny Crisafio and Kenny Kellner, drums; Harry McCorkle and Mike Sweeney, bass; John Burgh, piano; Sudden Steve, Hammond organ and/or piano; Stephanie Adler, vocals on "Ooh-Wee-Baby."
Adler will have a CD release party at Natili's in Butler tomorrow night. He says it's his "northern release party, with nothing yet scheduled for down here in the Southland. Look for it.
Jimmy Adler is one of the Burgh's best hard-working blues musicians. Give yourself a break and catch him sometime.
Pittsburgh Blues Festival photos
I had some trouble getting photos out of my camera at the blues festival over the weekend, and didn't illustrate every band like I wanted to. But I've created a photo gallery here with some of those pictures. The only casualty was the photos I took of Nothin' But Trouble, the Delaware band who will represent the Blues Society of Western Pa. at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis next year. My apologies, guys.
Jul 29 2008
Bluesy R&B singer John Nemeth was in DuBois (that's Pa.) yesterday (Tuesday), getting ready to do a show there last night. He'd just come back on Monday from festivals in France and -Switzerland. What a difference a day or two makes.
That's not to say that fans in DuBois, and here at the Thunderbird Cafe in Lawrenceville tomorrow night (Thursday), won't treat him well. It just seems like there are a lot more fans in Europe who will treat him very well. It's always been fascinating that Europeans, and others around the world, have for decades treated the roots of American music better than many Americans.
Since John was nice enough to humor BlueNotes with a phone interview, I thought it might be interesting to ask him about that. Why does basic American music seem to be so popular over there? Ron "Moondog" Esser had told me just week ago that the lure of European venues is making it harder to book many bands in this country.
It's not just that they can pay well, and treat American musicians with a lot of respect -- some of which they don't get here. There seems to be an appreciation of the music that's broader then here. It's been fairly well-known for years that American blues players were much more venerated in Europe then here. But it seems to be broader than that.
Nemeth put it this way: "There's a younger generation of European players way more into the traditional, timeless side of the music that created the buzz in the first place." He says they're even big on the old American folk music scene.
And for a guy like Nemeth, who seems to be channeling the great soulmen of the past, but in his own unique way, that means he can provide a direct link to styles that have few active performers. Otis Redding comes to mind. Wilson Pickett. Nemeth has the vocal sensibilities of these singers, and he throws in some bluesy qualities as well.
Why do people still find this relatively ancient music appealing?
"If you play timeless music that people can feel, you'll find a spot for yourself," Nemeth says. "And some people still have ears left, after years of bubble-gum rock." He was a little too kind to add "and other musical atrocities," but BlueNotes is not.
Nemeth grabbed on to this music while he was growing up in that hotbed of soul, Boise, Idaho. Maybe that's a little unfair, since we did get Nemeth. And he says the Catholic Chucho helped him "learn to sing right."
He started young, and formed a band in high school. On his very first gig, he says he was ready to leave, "dressed like a hooligan." His mother noticed his attire. "No way," she said, or words to that effect. "She pulled out a pair of black pants, and a starched white shirt. Then she called the other mothers of th says, the band members and told them what was happening," Nemeth says, to insure that everybody was appropriately dressed.
"It was a blessing in disguise," he says. "We were a big hit."
So there's a moral here kids. Get some nuns to teach you how to sing right, and listen to your mother. If you can just manage to sound like John Nemeth -- forget it, he's already here.
And as he says, he does seem to have caught that timeless, classic R&B sound that BluesBurghers should certainly appreciate. It's been part of the soundtrack of our lives here for over half a century. Nemeth brings it home with gritty pipes and soulful feeling. Some of it her writes, some of it comes from those dusty discs in the vault.
Nemeth says he's always working in new material, either new old material, or new new material. It almost doesn't matter. He makes them all sound like the timeless music he's bringing us. Look for him tomorrow night (7/31) at the Thunderbird. He'll have his band: Bob Welsh Jr. on guitar, Marty Dodson on drums and Dema Gorodetsky on bass. And Nemeth also plays a mean blues harp.
Do yourself a favor. Go. Listen. Enjoy. It's timeless music.
Jul 29 2008
I thought I'd pass along the follwowing note from Rich Kienzle on Southern Culture on the Skids at the Pittsburgh Blues Festival. Rich always has good thoughts and good information to back them up. BlueNotes barely has thoughts, so he's impressed.
Glad to see your comments on Southern Culture on the Skids at Hartwood, though "countrypolitan" is not a great characterization, since that term's used historically (country + metropolitan) to describe the smooth country music with string orchestrations that emerged in the mid-1960s from Jim Reeves, Patsy Cline, Eddy Arnold, Ray Price and later, Kenny Rogers, Dolly Parton and Ronnie Milsap.
You got closer to Southern Culture's musical muse in the next graf: roots music tangled up in different directions: a very swampy mix of rockabilly, blues, 60s garage band rock, country, surf, punk, Creedence Clearwater in places and a lot of attitude, blended with Southern iconography ("Dirt Track Date"). I love their lack of pretense, something that undercuts more than a few so-called "Americana" acts. I doubt you'll ever see a Southern Culture album produced by the pretentious, artsy, self-consciously rootsy likes of T-Bone Burnett. And thank God for that. Any band who covers Shirley Ellis is cool in my book. Same with the ultra-obscure "Daddy Was A Preacher," a very, very minor 1971 country hit (# 68) for Joanna Neel.
I imagine the band could upset blues purists, the sort who still have trouble accepting that Robert Johnson sang "Tumbling Tumbleweeds" or played a polka. All part of the continuum.
Jul 27 2008
How Sweet It Is
Just like a bad penny, or wooden nickel, or a summer cold, BlueNotes just won't go away. Quietly.
We're back at the Pittsburgh Blues Festival at Hartwood Acres for its final day. The weather is even better than the first two days, if that's possible. Bring a chair or a blanket and grab your loved one and/or a cold one and come on out. Jill Simmons and Patti Spadara of theCAUSE are singing "How Sweet It Is," and that could just be the anthem for the rest of the day. Or maybe for the rest of BlueNotes' life. Or at least this week.
First, a little unfinished business from yesterday. Lots of people stopped by to say hello, so thank you all. Especially Don Vecchio of the Blues Society of Western Pa, who brought along Nothin' But Trouble's Greg Haughey and the band's CD, which sounded awfully good on the way out here this morning. Don is still trying to get BlueNotes to join the society, apparently unaware the BlueNotes is just not an actual person.
One of Pittsburgh's finest guitar men, Jimmy Adler said hello, as did one of its finest saxmen, Eric Spaulding. Thanks, guys.
In looking back over yesterday's posts, I realize that I failed to name several of the members of the Pittsburgh Blues All-Stars, who put on a crackling set. If anybody wants to list them all again.. let me know. And I'm still having trouble getting photos from the camera to the computer, but I'll try and go back and get some in from yesterday.
Meanwhile, theCAUSE (sorry I split up the name the other day!) is still scorching along with some more songs -- I love the old soul and R&B classics they're doing. Andrea Pearl joins Jill Simmons and guitarist Patti Spadaro. Andrea does a nice take on Jimmy Reed's "Big Boss Man." Sweaty Betty's Marcy Brown joins them all to close with a soaring "A Little Help from My Friends." But my favorites are those old Etta James tunes.
Southern Culture on the Skids
A cool name for a band, and very interesting sound. I suppose I could have listened to some of their music beforehand, but why spoil the surprise. If you've heard them, they need no explanation (therapy, perhaps, but no explanation). For those who haven't, they invoke the term "countrypolitan," which probably makes sense unless you try to explain it.
I guess it's roots music, where the roots of all different kinds of musical plants have gotten tangled up and produced a whining electric wall of rock 'n' roll, blues, country, maybe Duane Eddy, maybe anybody else you can name. I'm not sure what it means, but the first song was "Skullbucket." Shortly thereafter bass player Mary Huff did "Nitty Gritty," and now the four of them are churning away with a wall of sound that would make Phil Spector blush. These aren't exactly kids. They formed the band in North Carolina in 1983.
The darndest thing is, they are indescribably delicious. Or just indescribable. They continue in what they call a hillbilly vein (not jugular), with something called "Corn Liquor." And once again, the fest folk have thrown their security blanket to the wind and opened the concrete mosh pit in front of the stage. So far, no one has come bouncing out.
This is one of the bands that band booker Ron "Moondog" Esser said he wanted to book to bring out a variety of fans, and some that might even end up liking the blues. The other band being Dumpstaphunk.
Gollee, Gomer, now they're playing some kind of rapid surf music with a Mideastern twang -- it seems to be names "The Wet Spot." Naw, BlueNotes is too old to blush.
Front man Rick Miller has some standup comic in his genes, plus he's wearing what used to be called Bermuda shorts. A lot of that is relfected in their lyrics. There's a country-flavored thing -- "We're not in love with each other, we're in love with our best friends, so let's invite them over again." They also have songs about bugs: "Greenback Flies" and "Firefly." Then there car songs. All hammered out with fun and intensity.
But you can't please everybody. One gentleman just walked over and asked how much longer the band would play. He didn't seem to happy. And even though it's early, people are already asking me if I'm the guy selling the band merchandise. I should've brought a few garage-sale items.
But I digress. These write great song titles -- my favorite, probably, "Liquored Up and Lacquered Down," which seems to be an ode of sorts to big hair. There's a chicken song with actual fried chicken being tossed into the audience (and some of it tossed back), women from the mosh pit hauled on stage to dance through the closing "Daddy Was a Preacher, But Momma Was a Go-Go Girl." Actually, hauled onstage is a bit misleading. They precticall hurled themselves up there. Which says something about the precentage of exhibitionists among us.
It wasn't exactly blues, but it sure was a lot of fun.
The Pawnbrokers
John Pergal's tight little band plays some of the best straight-up, down-home blues in the Burgh. He's a fine singer, and his band is top-notch. They do great covers and bluesy originals. I especially enjoyed John's take today on "Going Back to Shreveport." His is one of several local bands who donated their time and talent to the festival, which benefits the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank.
John also runs the Thunderbord Cafe in Lawrenceville, which brings in some great blues artists. Just for example, this Thursday, he's got Idaho's fine R&B singer John Nemeth. If you've never heard him sing, do it. Do it anyway.
A few announcements
Moondog is ready to present Ivan Neville's Dumpstphunk, but first a few announcements:
First, it's a beautiful day. We know, but it gets a nice cheer anyway. Someone has lost a checkbook. Quick, write a big donation to the food bank. And at the same place where I just a while ago recovered my lost cell phone (technology, bah!), there are more phones to be had, some eyeglasses, wristwatches and a banana.
Ivan Neville's Dumpstaphunk
How many people can make the Credence classic "Fortunate Son" sound really really funky -- or is it phunky? Louisianans Neville and his Phunksters haven't slowed down sine they started qbout 15 minutes ago. It's part New Orleans, part funk, part soul, and once again, the Hartwood Acre dancers have been unleashed at the front of the stage. How about a little of "Woke Up This Morning," The Sopranos theme song?
I remember I used to get porkified with the Bossman, now I think I see what is to be Phunkified. These guys are relentlessly driving home their message, which seems to be "never stop moving your feet." The band cranks and cranks, all the players blending into a seamless, steamy, riveting sound. Ivan Neville brings his classy Neville Brothers pipes to the mix, not too far from the silky Neville sounds.
The drummer takes very extended solo so the band can wipe themselves down and regroup for a tribute to Soul Brother No. 1 James Brown, whose music pushed soul in all kinds of new directions, including this one. His horn sections alone were doing these steps years ago. If only he'd lived a little longer, he could've been vice president.
How does, "I've got soul and I'm super bad" sound?
Soulful songstresses Jill Simmons and Andrea Pearl park their shoes next to the BlueNotes HQ tent and dance away the set. Photos later. Finally, people have a reason to look at the HQ. BlueNotes has an illusory moment of happiness.
I wish I could tell you the titles, but they almost don't matter as the soulful, funky beat rolls through all of them. Like a wave. A big one. Hang at least ten or twenty and ride it home.
Jill West and the Blues Attack
She the local band holding forth at the moment. There's a nice crowd to finish off the festival. Tommy Castro should give them a good sendoff. If you can be air-dropped in, you can still see him. He's not a traditional Chicago-style guitarist, but his West-Coast licks are still excellent, and he puts on a great show. People I talk to who are familiar with his music are looking forward to the evening, while I've also heard a few reservations from people who haven't heard him, and wonder if he's a good closer. I think they'll all go home satisified.
Meanwhile Jill and her band are laying down bluesy tracks on the small stage -- some of her standards -- "Love Song," "Don't Burn the Barbecue." She's a reliable blues belter, but right now her keyboard guy is making the earth shake with his organ licks.
Tommy Castro
He opens with a flash, lightning guitar licks, soars through "Nasty Habits," then shifts into "I May Be Broke, But I'm Not Broken, as the fenceless fans crowd the stage." He does blues and he does them soulfully. His vocals always seem dead-on.
Castro is one of those musicians who's also an entertainer. He always seems to be enjoying himself at least as much as everybody else. That's probably why he won the B.B. King Entertainer of the Year Award and Best Contemporary Blues Album at the 2008 Blues Music Awards.
He's a fan of extended fiery solos, and so are we. If there's a polar oppsite of slow-burning blues, it must be fast-buring blues like these. His blue notes spill up the hillside, finally blending into deepening blue sky. How's that for blues imagery? It might even be true.
Now he's talking about his show here at the Rex on the South Side a few months ago with Deanna Bogrt, Magic DicK and Ronnie Baker Brooks -- a great show, and he leans into something from that tour, now recorded, "Buked and Scorned" with searing sax and trumpet solos (is that the title? Should be, if it's not.) Both horn men, by the way, are just plain great. Keith Crossan on tenor sax and Tom Poole on trumpet add raunch and swing to turn this from blues band into a blues band.
It's geat to see a performer walk to edge of the stage, literally playing right into the fans. They both seem to love it. Some blues are distant stories; Castro's are in-your-face licks that bite. His voice carries more grit than you might expect, with a built-in drawl that add some soul.
Here's a blues song even I can relate to, about a transistor radio -- "Big Sister's Radio." All music sounded the same on them. It provided a sort of natural segue into sort of James Brown's "Sex Machine."
They send themselves off with extended solos by everybody, a terrific horn duet, bass and drum solos, a bass and drum duet. It's easy to say that band cooks, but it does.
He must be a good guy -- says he doesn't get to Pittsburgh often enough. And he says he's got some ribs he's looking forward to after the show. If they're as good as the music, nobody goes home hungry.
The maybe closer, kind of a built-in encore, a rousing bluesy anthem: "You Can't Keep a Good Man Down." Except there is a real encore. "High on the Hog," another rollicking, horn-driven jam that seems almost anti-climactic after "Good Man."
If the Pittsburgh Blues Festival needed a climax, it was Tommy Castro. Say amen, somebody.
Last call, that's all
That's it. Darkness has tritely fallen on the West Coast blues of Tommy Castro and 14th Pittsburgh Blues Festival. An excellent three days.
Some thanks:
- To the food bank and the sponsors for making it all happen. By any account, it was a great weekend.
- To the food bank people for making the space available to house the Hartwood Acres Branch of the BlueNotes World Headquarters. Many people told me it's the best seat in the house.
- To the Post-Gazette for humoring us in this first-ever venture, and to the PG marketing folks for the cool BlueNotes table sign for the fest. BlueNotes sees merchandising potential in that logo -- mugs, T-shirts, action figures....
- To everyone who stopped by the HQ at the fest to say hello, and to all you giving us a few page views online. Heck, I even appreciated the visits from people looking for band CDs.
- Most of all, to all the musicians who turned in inspired sets, and to their appreciative fans, all in the name of raising lots of money for the food bank.
Y'all give yourselves a big hand.
Some corrections:
I had a little trouble getting some of the names right for the Pittsburgh Blues All-Stars in the Saturday lineup. Here are a couple of notes from Bob Addleman to set things right.
The bass player in the band was Norman's regular bassman, Harry Bottoms, not Dave Tauberg. Harry got stung by a yellow jacket during the set. It had gone into his open beer can, and he ended up getting stung in the mouth.
Phil Brontz was supposed to be the sax man, and was replaced late by Eric, because Phil was playing with two acts on Sunday, and Norman wanted to spread things around.
Far from a belated addition, I've been playing with the All-Stars every year that they've played with horns, except for 2005 when I was at a public radio conference during festival weekend.
The correct spelling of my last name is Addleman.
Hope this helps fill in some cracks. Sorry I didn't get a chance to stop by the Blue Notes tent.
And this note, also from Bob:
Whitey "Clyde" Cooper never played with Jimmy Thackery. That was the other front man for the All-Stars, Mark Stutso, who is still Jimmy's drummer. Stuts made a CD on Moondog Records with Norman, Glenn Pavone, Tom Valentine and some others. There's one cover, and Norman and Whitey co-wrote one of the tunes. Otherwise, all of the songs are Norman's originals. It's rock, blues and soul, called "Rock My Soul."
Thanks, Bob. (My reference to a belated additon was my way of saying -- apparently not very clearly -- that I was adding those names later). My apologies for not getting all that done right on Saturday. I've gone back and made those changes.
Jul 26 2008
Finely, it's Taj Mahal
Taj comes out with a bluesy persona -- not surprising since it's a blues fest, but slightly surprising, since he's such an eclectic musician. He's here with a trio -- himself on guitar and keyboards, a bass and drums. Almost a classic blues lineup. That carries him through the first few tunes. It's a warm night at Hartwood, and after about two songs, sweat is running in little rivers from his head.
One more deep blues, he says, then "some other matters." A medley -- "Mean Old World," sliding into "Blues with a Feeling."
Now he's launching into a little acoustic number, what I think is called "Fishin' Blues": "I'm a going' fishin' and my baby's goin' fishin' too" seems to be the point.
Bill from Elizabeth is looking in (A viewer. Thanks, Bill). In answer to your question, it looks like it's a lot bigger crowd than last night. But as you so deftly pointed out today, I'm still surrounded. My carefully calculated estimate would, ohhh, lots more people.
But Taj is now working his way through his own version of the classic "Corrine, Corrina." He does it differently than just about anyone else. Nicely different.
Now a Latin-flavored version of "Stagger Lee." It certainly makes it sound just like a bouncy little ditty of jealousy, revenge and death. Nothing could be finer.
A BlueNotes complaint: It's hard typing in the dark.
"Movin' Up to the Country" is where we're going next. Paint our mailbox blue (violate postal regulations?). Let's give Mr. Mahal credit. He's cranking out song after song, which is exactly what everyone seems to want.
Cranking doesn't quite describe his treatment of Mississippi John Hurt's "Creole Belle," a sweet little song. Taj adds kissing sound effects. Hmmm. Still, it's a nice lyrical version. Taj seems to have a flavor of his own that he adds to everything. Which is what artists do.
Now it's time for the mandatory blues cheer: "Is everybody doing alright?" The consensus seems to be that we are.
This one is "Queen Bee." Not quite like the bluesy "King Bee." More world-beat hints lurking in the backgound. Something about "honey in your honey pot," I believe. Must be about agriculture, which I believe is what Taj studied at UMass many years ago. For a trio, these guys make a lot of music.
He's vamping around the "sun's gonna shine in my back door some day" lyric -- he could be making it up as he goes along (like BlueNotes), but I doubt it.
We've gone more electric again, bluesy, a hard-driving something like "What's Wrong With You." Classically tough Chicago. He says it was first guitar song he ever learned.
Now a raucous, sing-along maybe finale "The Blues is Alright." We'll see about an encore. I'd bet on one. I win.
Looks like a banjo. A few dance steps with the bass player. A call and response. Mostly a yell and a yell. A few remarks about American music and the blues, and now the banjo moves to New Orleans, which seems to be a hot topic this weekend. Three songs into it, and the encore continues with a "song for the ladies," generating something of a singalong iin front of the stage (which was opened for dancing part way into his set), "Lovin in My Baby's Eyes." Say goodnight, everybody.
It was, not to put too fine a point on it, a truly great show from Taj. In fact, it was darned fine evening. Joanna Connor, the Homemade Jamz and Taj Mahal made for a mini-festival of their own. An excellent day of blues of all stripes.
Homemade Jamz
The Homemade Jamz are the Perrys: Ryan16 (guitar and vocals) , Kyle 14 (bass) and Taya, 9 (drums), out of Tupelo, Miss. Yep, those are the ages. Dad Renaud and the brothers make their guitars from used auto parts (they look suspiciously like mufflers with strings -- in fact, they are).
He also backs them up on harp. Not that they need help. But it's nice to see the youngsters helping to take care of Dad with some employment.
But how do they sound? Close your eyes and try to convince yourself they are teens.. and less. They play with power, and Ryan sings with authority. They kicked off their set with the classic Little Willie John's "Grits Ain't Groceries."
Right now they're doing something they wrote -- "Right Thing, Wrong Woman" -- are they supposed to know about these things yet? Close your eyes, you're in a tough Chicago club; they're that good.
Now, "Got My Mojo Workin'," and it's not the original, but what is? A great cover.
Introducing the band, Ryan runs down the list, and the biggest hand goes to Taya.
Shameless BlueNotes plug: I wrote about their latest album, "Pay Me No Mind" a while back.
People keep coming up to the BlueNotes tent and asking where the CDs are for sale. I didn't think to cut one this year. Maybe next year.
Actually, even though these kids seem very young, lots of blues players got their start in their teens. Many were already on their own.
A very, very, very long jam breaks out as the brothers take their guitars into the crowd, Kyle's bass frets flashing red lights like little kid' tennis shoes. Tara is almost hidden behind the drum set, flowered head tossing, sticks flailing. Come back tomorrow for the pictures.
"Boom Boom" shuts down their set. The John Lee Hooker classic. These guys will tackle anything. The thing is, they tackle it, knock it down and celebrate over it. Did Jack Lambert start like this?
A heckuva show. I'd hate to be Taj Mahal. Or not.
Joanna Connor
A slight change in the schedule. Joanna Connor is swapping spots with the Homemade Jamz, who appear to have arrived at just about the time they were to play. So right now, Joanna is tearing up the stage with a ferocious slide guitar attack. A glance at her schedule indicates she's enjoying a good run in Chicago at the House of Blues and the Kingston Mines. I can see why.
Sally Wiggin, who introduced her, said Connor had driven directly here after closing down the Kingston Mine at 4 a.m. this morning.
Just now she's unleashing powerful vocals and slide in an extended, hypnotic version of an old Ray Charles tune, "I Don't Need No Doctor." She moves with liquid ease from a scorching attack to a soft little rift just to get you thinking she won't hurt you again with that slide, but then she does.
Then some Magic Sam. Then whatever she feels like. Then, the "Whipping Post." Lashing out again. And again. All with bone-numbing power and intensity. If there's a rain dance for the night, this could be it.
Once again, let me apologize for the lack of photos. My gear won't cooperate, and if Blue Notes had a middle name, it clearly wouldn't be "TechMan."
On a more personal note of self-gratification: BlueNotes just posed for a photo with a lovely woman who said she wanted to make someone jealous. That she was here and he wasn't. Oh well.
Pittsburgh Blues All-Stars
Each festival year brings a collection of local musicians who crank out some Pittsburgh-based rock, blues and soul. This year's collection included Norm Nardini, Guitar Zack Wiesinger, Shari Richards, Eric Spaulding, Bob Addleman, Whitey "Clyde" Cooper, and Harry Bottoms. Zack, by the way, is a young guitarist worth seeing and then watching where his career goes. BlueNotes was especially taken by Richards' torchy, soulful, "Baby, Baby, Baby." But then, he's easily taken. Spaulding's honkbopsax sounds do the same.
And they'll wind up the night with a late show at Moondog's in Blawnox. Last night, Tab Benoit sat in played drums for a set. So you never know. .
The festival's second stage keeps the acts flowing more smoothly, but BlueNotes has to actually leave his chair to see and photograph them.
Technical difficulties, but the show goes on
Nothin' But Trouble finished its sharp set and showed why they won the right to repesent the BSWPA in the IBC playoffs, even though the band is from Delaware. They do an amazing acapella rendition of "John the Revelator."
Meanwhile, BlueNotes has been struck by blues bad luck. After working properly all last night, my computer today refuses to recoginze the fact that I have my camera plugged into it and want to remove some of the photos I've taken. So I'll keep up with the posting, but it looks like the photos I'll be taking will have to wait for another day, another computer. Or a flash of insight. Is Bill Gates reading this? Does he do his own Windows?
But I should pay attention to Mem Shannon, who's funkily delivering another set of Nawlins music after last night's Mardi Gras celebration. Shannon is more eclectic than some other Louisiana blues players, combining lots of funkiness and a deep, deep groove drawing from all musical corners. It's hard to believe he lays down this wall of funk with just a bass player (Ian Michael - actually not, it turns out, Ian was sick and replaced by Brian... whose last name got lost in the PA system), keyboards (Robert Debon) and drums Josh Milligan -- a Grove City native). And his own razor sharp guitar work.
Man, this is funk on FGH -- Funk Growth Hormone. Bigger than it deserves to be -- extended solos in each song. Some songs are just extended solos. Even the drummer got one. And his hat never came off.
The day begins
Is anybody out there?
Let me hear you say yeahhhhhh!!
All right. Never mind. I'll just keep assuming that someone might be out there.
It's Day Two at Hartwood Acres. People are moving in with their chairs and umbrellas (for the sun, right now), chairs with canopies coolers (yes you can bring one in for a $5 donation. I hope some of the fans with semis for coolers are kicking in more than that).
The weather forecast for today is sligtly mixed, but the musical forecast is definitely blue, with the most straight-ahead blues lineup of the weekend. From what I hear, a lot of people are really looking forward to Taj Mahal. So am I. He probably doesn't remember me, mainly because we never met, but I was lowly cub reporter in Worcester, Mass., when he was star in the making not too many miles away. Alas, I'm still a star in the making.
The setup is slightly different today. There's a small second stage at the top of the hill, just to make BlueNotes walk. Nothin' But Trouble opened up a little early, so they're going strong now. They're the band that the Blues Society of Western Pa. is sending to the International Blues Challenge next year.
Jul 25 2008
Ending the night with Tab Benoit
Tab Benoit opens with a couple of rousing New Orleans-flavored songs, which are, of course, what he does best.
He's just the right mix of grit and soul and Cajun, a voice that wraps his guitar notes with sensuous feelings. Swampy, muddy, done with passionate intensity.
Notes get bent just the right way, soaring into the dark country night -- if this isn't some kind of blues Nirvana, I'm not sure what is.
I'm just gonna go listen, and write more later.
It's later. Much later. Benoit went right up to the 11 p.m. closing time, and probably could have gone all night. He sounded happy to be here, happy to be singing, and everybody seemed deliriously happy to hear him.
He did a number of straight-ahead Nawleens songs, and few interesting choices, one of which was the old Buffalo Springfield hit, "Something's Happening Here." It was a unique reading of the old rock classic. He did an extended, jam-like version of Hank Williams' "Jambalaya," in which he took a turn on the drums. His encore was the simple "My Bucket's Got a Hole In It," and he made that sound pretty fine as well.
They kept the security fence in front of the stage down for Benoit as well, so there was dancing, if not in the streets, at least in front of the stage, with happy fans leaning on the front of the stage as Benoit worked his Cajun mojo. That's nice to see, because I think it provides a feedback loop between the fans and the musicians that raises the emotional level for everyone.
It was a good start for the weekend. Lots more blues to come. Stay tuned. Watch this space. Or better yet, go watch the show, then watch this space. We'll be here Saturday and Sunday for the day. I know ... but somebody has to do it.
The schedule
Finally found a real schedule in the program. Here are the next two days:
Saturday:
2:30 - Nothin' But Trouble
3:30 - Mem Shannon
5 - Pittsburgh Blues All-Stars
6 - Homemade Jamz
7 - Joanna Connor
8:30 - Taj Mahal
Sunday
2:30 - theCAUSE with Jill Simmons and Patti Spadaro
3:30 - Southern Culture on the Skids
5 - The Pawnbrokers
6 - Dumpstaphunk
7:30 - Jill West and the Blues Attack
8:30 - Tommy Castro Band
Lil' Brian and the Zydeco Travelers
Continuing with the night's Louisiana theme, Lil' Brian and the Zydeco Travelers stirred up enough dancers to get the security fence in front of the stage moved back to make a nice concrete dance floor. Take that, homeland security.
Zydeco is a great blend of music from multiracial Louisiana, featuring a lot of accordion and rubboard. But you knew that.
What it also does is render humans unable to sit still. One person even seems to be able to dance with an alligator on his head.
Right now they're moving sideways out of Louisiana and doing Bob Marley's "I Shot the Sheriff."
An an up-to-the-minute festival report: The flies have stopped biting, the crowd is still coming in, and there's a large and happy crowd of music fans on the premises. If you're not one of them -- well, you should be.
They've put on a body-bending set of non-stop music. It's hard to imagine that an accordion and little metal washboard on the chest can sound so good.
And closing with the Stones' "Beast of Burden" on accordion is certainly an interesting and effective touch.
Actually, they just keep playing and playing... hard to tell if they were encores or unbridled enthusiasm.
Blue Lunch from Cleveland
I'm looking forward to their set -- never heard them, but they're supposed to have a horn-driven big-band, R&B flavor as well as a straight blues bent.
Before they start up, Moondog himself (I wonder if he'd like to meet HoneyBoy?), Ron Esser, who runs Moondog's and books the festival bands, welcomed everybody on behalf of fest sponsor First Commonweath. Nothing like a bank that's still solvent to pay the bills.
But here comes the band. They're an impressive looking group -- harp, sax, trumpet, keyboards, upright bass -- dig that!
They've got a little New Orleans rhythm, some raunchy sax -- remember "Mother In Law" by Ernie K-Doe? They're doing it a huge amount of justice as I try to type in time to the music. Next up, Professor Longhair. Then, "Barefootin'." These guys swing. If you drive really fast, maybe you can still catch a tune. Now it's Huey Piano Smith.
They're really rolling in the New Orleans music. After all, the first night of the fest was billed as Mardi Gras night, so that's cool
(BlueNotes conflict of interest note: I'm sucking down a really good and head-numbing cold red, white and blue Italian ice handed to me by Tom La Scola. Just for being BlueNotes. Thanks, Tom.)
This is a heckuva set. Kind of like Roomful of Blues, but from Cleveland. They swing, they rock, they get down and dirty with the blues. What more can a blues fan ask? No free lunch? Don't tell these guys.
Sweaty Betty / Marcy Brown get things moving
Pittsburgh's Sweaty Betty Blues Band, featuring Marcy Brown, has just kicked off the evening with Marci belting out "Never Make Your Move Too Soon." My, my. I think this will be fun.
Marcy favors beads, tambourines, and blues that scorch. Which is what she's doing at the moment. Guitarist George Kalantzis shares the vocals, and his guitar doesn't gently weep, it crackles and burns.
There's already a nice crowd filling the hillside in front of the stage. But there's stil lots of room. And don't forget, a bag of food gets you in free tonight.
Blues lyrics are really great.... "I'm a cement mixer for you baby....." Wonder what that means? Suggestions accepted.
She's winding up with a tune by the great Slim Harpo, "Teena Neena Nu."
Next up, Blue Lunch, from Cleveland.
Well, it's just about time for the 14th annual Pittsburgh Blues Festival to get under way, and the 1st, maybe annual, BlueNotes live blog coverage.
If anybody is out there as the evening goes along, drop me a line.
If anybody knows how to stop the flies from biting my ankles, let me know.
We'll keep a running commentary on this page as the night goes along... well, maybe just sort of a trot. It's hot out here at Hartwood Acres -- a perfect night for the blues.
Jul 25 2008
If you look closely at this photo of the Hartwood Acres stage, you'll notice a little white canopy off to the left. That's going to be Hartwood Acres Branch of the BlueNotes World Headquarters for the next few days.
That's where I'll be blogging and photographing the bands, the fans, or anything else that crosses my mind. The weather was perfect yesterday, but unfortunately the festival had not yet begun. Stop by and say hello. It's absolutely free.
I've had a couple of questions about the schedule, and the specific times for the bands. All the information I had was in the schedule we published yesterday in the Weekend Mag and here. It's the same schedule that's listed on the blues festival's Web site. If I can find out anything more today, I'll post it here.
I should also remind anyone planning to go tonight that the admission is free, IF you bring a bag of nonperishable food items for the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, which benefits from the entire weekend. No frozen dinners, please!
It should be a good weekend for blues in the Burgh. Stop by and find some music you like.
Tonight's lineup: Sweaty Betty Blues Band; Blue Lunch; Lil' Brian & the Zydeco Travelers; Tab Benoit. The gates open at 4 p.m. If you absolutely can't make it, join me here. Or join me here later and post your own comments.
Jul 24 2008
I suppose that BlueNotes is venturing into unfamiliar territory here, but there's a San Francisco Afrobeat band named Aphrodesia coming in to the Thuderbiord Cafe in Lawrenceville tonight.
The T-bird is one of my favorite blues venues, but they bring in a lot of other music, too, like Afrodesia. The band is on tour supporting it's latest album, "Lagos by Bus," which grew out of an African tour.
Afrobeat, according to various references, describes a funky African sound pioneered in the 1970s by the late Nigerian bandleader Fela Anikulapo Kuti. The Afrodesians say they are trying to push the boundaries beyond the original form, using Afro-Cuban music, Ghanaian Highlife, and jazz.
Being kind of a single-minded blues fan, I'm not very familiar with the music, but it's got a joyous, infectious sound. And the fact that this band has two women singers is supposed to be unusual. So if you're looking for something a little fresh and different, maybe even uplifting enough to chase the blues, this could do the trick.
Pittsburgh Blues Festival
As promised, here's more information on BlueNotes and the PBF. I plan to be writing the blog live during the fest, taking some photos, and generally trying to give a running account of the music right here. There is even supposed to be a special tent set up to function as the temporary, remote location of the BlueNotes World Headquarters. Sounds like a lot of fun, so don't tell my bosses here. I have them convinced that it will be a lot of work. Stop by and say hello...
Jul 23 2008
Yesterday I wrote about Maria Muldaur's new CD, "Yes We Can," a plea for peace and love in the world, and today I want to take a look at the other of the two "message" CDs I have -- Gaye Adegbalola and "Gaye Without Shame" (Hot Toddy Music via Vizztone).
While I'm sure that Muldaur's album comes from deeply held feelings, Adegbalola's comes from gut-wrenching personal experience as a black lesbian, and the music carries all of that weight with it. Many of the songs are her own, painfully laying bare her own life. Some are covers that speak to her, and a few are covers reworked to suit her message.
Most blues fans will know her as a founding member of Sapphire, the Uppity Blues Women, a raucous trio whose trademark was cleverly crafted blues that touched, often with ribald pleasure, on age-old themes of love and lust.
This solo effort does the same, in a way, with brutally frank songs like the rollicking opening autobiographical, "Queer Blues." But she follows it up with one of the most poignant and tender of blues love songs, Jimmy Reed's lovely "Honest I Do," done here as a delicious duet with Resa Gibbs, adding a piano to caress the melody. Here's a sample of that, just because I like it so much:
There's a lot of variety in the songs and styles. Gaye tackles religious hypocrisy with "Lying Preacher" and a nasty slide guitar -- "Any preacher with more than two suits is livin' a lie...." (perhaps with a look over the shoulder to Lenny Bruce for that thought).
There's a tender original, "Hold My Hand, Baby," an acoustically quiet ode to AIDS victims. There's a great cover, with more stinging slide, of the great Tampa Red tune, "It Hurts Me Too."
There's an oldies flavor here, too, with a slightly altered but definitely not neutered "Great Pretender," and an original doo-wop "Boy in the Boat." Then there's the lusty blues chestnut, "Meet Me With Your Black Drawers On." And there are a lot of other great songs here. Check it out.
Musically, there's not a bad track on the CD. Thematically they are adventurous and honest, and, if blues fans are as open and honest as they seem, they should appreciate this refreshingly topical and contemporary music in a traditional blues basket. Musically they cover a wide range of styles, from honky-tonk '20s to sharp electric edgy blues.
This is all deliciously raunchy, poignantly tender, rough and ready, soft and sweet, lusty and loving, spiritual and profane -- everything that good blues and probably the good life should be. All the while the music never loses the focus of her own personal struggles. It's not an an easy thing to do, but she does it very well. While the blues has always been ripe with sexual metaphor, Gaye and "Gaye" go where few metaphors have dared to go in contemporary blues songwriting.
Gaye and co-producer, Bob Margolin, the fine blues guitarist, deserve much credit for putting together this package. Margolin added his vote of confidence by releasing it through the VizzTone label group, of which he is a founding member. Margolin also contributes tough and tasty guitar throughout, and several of the tracks were recorded at his North Carolina home.
This is a unique and powerful album, created in the best blues tradition of stepping outside the boundaries of convention. And it's a lot of fun.
Pittsburgh Blues Festival
It's coming up, and it looks like some good music ahead. BlueNotes is currently working out the details of his personal appearance schedule for the weekend. Watch this space for details.
Jul 22 2008
Lots of songs have messages, morals and assorted tales to tell, whether it's a plea to end a war or a plea to save the children, or a plea to save the farmers or just a "baby, please don't go."
Sometimes those songs work, sometimes they don't depending on how well they are written and how well they are performed. Sometimes the message is subtly whispered, sometimes it's a two by four upside the head.
And sometimes these songs are put together on an album, for a more complete statement. The good news is that I have two of those concept albums to write about at once. The bad news is... well, i have two of those albums to write about at once.
One is from the sultry blues artist Maria Muldaur -- "Yes We Can" -- and the other is from the longtime singing/songwriting member of Sapphire, the Uppity Blues Women, Gaye Adegbalola -- "Gaye Without Shame." I'll take them one at a time, and today will begin with Muldaur's effort(on Telarc).
In such weighty matters as making the world a better place, BlueNotes usually falls back on a catchy blues phrase or two ("It don't make sense you can't make peace"), but Maria has upped the ante here, and in every song she's selected, delivers a powerful message . I don't usually like to quote press releases, but for this album, she makes an eloquent statement about why she's made the recordings: "What is on my heart and mind is the sad, deplorable condition f our planet today."
And she's chosen a number of songs that speak to that, even though many were not written with her contemporary fears in mind. My favorite, partly because it's about saving the world and partly because you can dance to it, is Earl King's funky, driving "Make a Better World." If a song with all this energy doesn't make you want to save the planet, then we are all truly doomed.
It would be hard to do an album of this sort without a song by Bob Dylan, and indeed, Maria has chosen three, delivering them with the appropriate passion: "John Brown," "License to Kill" and the classic "Masters of War." There are others, but Dylan's poetic visions are hard to ignore. Another passionate plea is the rousing version of the traditional spiritual, "Down by the Riverside."
In addition to raising her own voice here, Maria has assembled a crackling little band called the Free Radicals, and a group of singers called The Women's Voices for Peace Choir, which includes, Bonnie Raitt, Odetta, Joan Baez, Jane Fonda (who knew she sang, too?) and Phoebe Snow. Maria's singing throughout is just right, adapted to the tone of each track, whether the music and message are upbeat or clinically depressed.
I realize I may be sounding a little cynical here, and I don't want to. I spend my life wondering whether the glass is half empty or half full, and usually end up wondering when the glass is just going to fall and shatter.
But This is a finely crafted album with an honest, forthright message about how we've failed at running the world we live in and isn't it maybe time to do something about it. It's a topic I want to come back to and ramble on about in later posts, but in the meantime, if you have any thoughts about music like this, and whether it can make a difference, share your thoughts in a comment.
Contest stuff
You may have noticed a comment a few days ago about our blues contest, challenging my answers to the color of the car Muddy Waters got from Chess after recording "Hoochie Coochie Man." I mentioned the book I used, which I still favor, since I thought it was a much more specific reference to the incident. But RoyalJester made a good case for a green and yellow Olds, and not the red and white I had used. I agree that there's room for disagreement. I did pass that along to our marketing people who awarded the prizes, and I understand that because they had so many entries, they used a lottery to determine the winners. 
I hope no one was unhappy with the results. It was the first time I've tried anything like that, and I wasn't sure that that I should have. Should we do it again? Let me know.
But it did generate a lot of comments and interest, and I hope you'll keep the comments coming.
Among the comments was a personal note from CindyG, who sent a message to BeerNotes, wondering where he's been -- he's still around. In fact, he was recently at the Victory Brewery in Downingtown, Pa., sampling some of their finest. The verdict? Golden Monkey is still his favorite Victory brew. It goes well with blues of any hue.
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