Starting today. I'll be offering little profiles of all the bands playing at this year's Pittsburgh Blues Festival, including the local artists. I'll add videos when I can find ones that offer decent sound and image quality.
As usual, your comments are very welcome.
For today, let's take a look at Friday's opening night lineup (gates open at 4 p.m.; free admission with a bag of non-perishable food for the Greater Pittsburgh Food Bank):
Two very fine and talented local bands kick off the festival: Glenn Pavone and the Cyclones, and the Jimmy Adler Band. Both are excellent guitarists: Pavone is a mercurial guitarist with a Hendrix attitude, and Adler brings a somewhat more tradtional Chicago blues approach. Both have been playing the Burgh blues scene for years, honing their skills in other bands before forming their own. They're a great way to kick things off.
5:00 pm - (Main Stage) - Glenn Pavone & the Cyclones
The previous video I had here doesn't seem to be working, so here's another, although the quality is poor.
6:00 pm - (Giant Eagle Express Stage) - Jimmy Adler Band
Eric Lindell is a young, rootsy and soulful Louisiana-based and flavored musician whose career has taken off in the past couple of years. He performed at the PBF in 2007 and put on a fine show.
7:00 pm - (Main Stage) - Eric Lindell (play till 8:30)
Cyril Neville is the youngest of the four famous New Orleans Neville brothers. He plays percussion and favors funky rhythms that render people unable to sit still. And he now livres in Austin, Texas. When I was looking him up on the web, I found this interesting piece from a few years ago, after Hurrican Katrina, titled "Why I'm Not Going Back to New Orleans."
8:45 pm - (Main Stage) - Cyril Neville & Tribe 13
Here is the full schedule for Saturday and Sunday. More on these bands later.
Saturday - gates open 1:00 pm - 11:00 pm
1:45 pm - (Giant Eagle Express Stage) Eugene & the Nightcrawlers
2:45 pm - (Main Stage) - Shannon Curfman
4:15 pm - (Giant Eagle Express Stage) - Ron Yarosz & the Vehicle
5:15 pm - (Main Stage) - Shawn Kellerman
6:45 pm - (Main Stage) - Curtis Salgado
8:30 pm - (Main Stage) - Los Lobos
Sunday - gates open 1:30 - 10:00 pm
2:30 pm - (Giant Eagle Express Stage) - Jill West & Blues Attack
3:30 pm - (Main Stage) - Deb Callahan
5:15 pm - (Main Stage) - JJ Grey & Mofro
6:45 pm - (Giant Eagle Express Stage) -Felix & the Hurricanes
8:00 pm - (Main Stage) - Robert Cray Band
Congrats to --- BlueNotes
Warning: Shameless self-promotion follows.
BlueNotes may be going national. Here's a blog on SunSentinal.com in sunny downtown Florida that quotes from our review of AZ Kenny Tsak's new CD, "Like I Do." Take a bow, BlueNotes.
Posted
Jul 21 2009, 01:00 AM
by
Jim White