Category: Saturday Matinee

Saturday Matinee – Beaux Gris Gris & The Apocalypse, The Cinelli Brothers, and Mr. Sipp

Beau Gris Gris & The Apocalypse is a roots rock blues Americana country soul punk psychobilly band from California, featuring vocals by documentary filmmaker, television producer, business entrepreneur and Louisiana native Greta “Gris Gris” Valenti. (The nice lady dancing in the background is Kitten De Ville.)

Winners of the 2024 UK Blues Band of the Year, The Cinelli Brothers (Marco and Alessandro) revive 1960s – 70s vintage electric blues, R&B and soul with a modern vibe.

Castro Coleman, aka Mr. Sipp is smooth. A recipient of many prestigious awards, Castro was the first bluesman to have his handprint inducted into the Wall of Fame in Fredrikshavn, Denmark.

Another week and world news is still splattering all over the pavement and splashing in the swales. Every major story is both good news and omens of disaster depending upon the time of day and which town crier is coming through the village. The 48 hour rule is officially null and void.

My plan is to sleep in until Porch Time so I can be fashionably late. See you then and/or there.

Saturday Matinee – The Heavy, Big Guitars From Texas, Eric Johnson and Booker T. & The MG’s

Formed in 2007, The Heavy are a rock / soul / R&B band from Bath, Somerset, England. Kelvin Swaby / lead vocals, Dan Taylor / guitar, Spencer Page /bass, Chris Ellul / drums.

Big Guitars From Texas ca. 1985: Evan Johns, Don Leady, Denny Freeman, Frankie Camaro, Keith Ferguson and Mike Buck. Buck / drums and Ferguson /bass were original members of The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Leady & Ferguson were also members of The Tailgators, Leady, Buck & Johns were with The LeRoi Brothers.

From Wikipedia:
Eric Johnson (born August 17, 1954) is an American guitarist, vocalist and composer. His 1990 album Ah Via Musicom was certified platinum by the RIAA, and the single “Cliffs of Dover” won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance.

R.I.P. Steve Cropper (1941-2025)
Booker T. & The MG’s opened this Creedence Clearwater Revival concert at the Oakland Coliseum, 1/31/70. Seen offstage are John Fogerty, Doug Clifford (w/beard), and Stu Cook (w/glasses).

Thanksgiving leftovers are almost gone, Christmas is just around the corner, and I’m still on Halloween. Guess I’ll have to reset the calendar one of these days, but not tomorrow. I plan to have some QPT (Quality Porch Time) at precisely sometime o’clock. See you then.

Saturday Matinee – Lil’ Ed & The Blues Imperials, Grace Bowers & The Hodge Podge w/ Petar Janjic, and The Riccardo Grosso Blues Band

Lil’ Ed & The Blues Imperials are killer.
Lil’ Ed Wiiliams (vocals, slide guitar), Ed’s half-brother James “Pookie” Young (bass), guitarist Mike Garrett (guitar) and drummer Kelly Littleton (drums) have been jamming for over 30 years. Lil’ Ed & Pookie learned from their uncle,  J. B. Hutto.

Grace Bowers & The Hodge Podge (with Serbian drummer Petar Janjic). Bowers is an amazing powerhouse jammer. Born in 2006, she was only 18 at the time of this performance from 2024, and she looks like she’s having fun.

“Blues is my foundation, but I don’t want to be the next copycat. My goal is to deliver the missing soundtrack of your life – and mine.” R. Grosso
Riccardo Grosso Blues Band‘s cover of Slim Harpo’s Shake Your Hips is a steady driver. There’s an interesting interview with Grosso on Bluesmoose Radio here, and it includes more examples of his excellent harp shredding.

It’s finally here – my favorite week. Yep, we gots a lotsa LEFTOVERS!
See you on the porch tomorrow and I’ll tell you all about them.

Saturday Matinee – Eddie 9V, RelaxTrio, Altered Five Blues Band & Bywater Call

“A shot rang out in the name of love” is one hell of a lyric.
Brooks Mason was born in Georgia in 1996, focuses on classic southern soul, blues, rock and funk. “A lot of people wanted me to be the Brooks Mason Blues Band, but that’s been done. I wanted to start from scratch, and I ain’t never heard of no bluesman named Eddie 9V.”

The girl pounds bass. Finnish band RelaxTrio is
Linda Teränen (Vocals & double bass)
Oskari Nieminen (Vocals & guitar)
Vilho Voutilainen (Drums & backing vocals)

Award winning group from Milwaukee, Altered Five Blues Band features frontman Jeff Taylor with Jeff Schroedl / guitar, Mark Solveson / bass, Alan Arber / drums and Steve Huebler / keyboard.

Bywater Call is a Toronto-based group formed by singer Meghan Parnell and guitar player Dave Barnes. They were nominees for the Southern Rock & Soul Independent Blues Awards in 2021. In 2024 they were nominated for International Blues Artist of the year (UK Blues Awards).

Lotta weather this past week, but it didn’t freeze, didn’t flood and nothing important fell over. Thought about getting a hair cut, but I filled up the tank instead and fed the cat a few times. Life is good. See you tomorrow, some time around porch o’clock.

Saturday Matinee – Alastair Greene, Eric Johanson & Katarina Pejak; Nikki Hill Band, Anthony Rosano & The Conqueroos, and Cam Cole

Ruf’s Blues Caravan 2024 featured Alastair Greene, Eric Johanson & Katarina Pejak. 

Nikki Hill Band:
“If Tina Turner and Little Richard had a daughter and raised her with the help of uncles James Brown and Chuck Berry, she’d be like Nikki Hill.”
— Minneapolis Star Tribune

Anthony Rosano & The Conqueroos mixes Delta blues, NOLA  second line funk and 60’s jams with classic rock. No self-indulgent wheedly-wheedly solos with these guys.

Cam Cole, busker, bluesman, rocker, recording artist, and the most impressive one-man band you will ever see.

Looks like the west coast is in for rain, the midwest is in for winter, and the porch has a roof with a live weather watch. See you tomorrow, rain, mud, sleet or snow.

Saturday Matinee – The Lemonheads, Evan Johns & Charlie Burton, and The Guy Forsyth Blues Band

Alt-rock punk band The Lemonheads was formed in Boston in 1986 by Evan Dando, Ben Deily, and Jesse Peretz. There’s an obvious Ramones influence on their 1992 cover of Simon and Garfunkel‘s Mrs. Robinson (recorded in commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the move The Graduate).

Evan Johns and Charlie Burton on Art Fein’s Poker Party, 1993.
Charlie Burton on vocal and rhythm guitar, seated is Grammy nominated Evan Johns (Evan Johns and the H-Bombs) on lead guitar, Dave Robel (Shithook) on drums, C. Buggs Coombs on bass. Johns passed away in 2017 at the age of 60; Burton passed on in 2024, age 73.

The Guy Forsyth Blues Band out of Austin, Texas, sounds a bit like early Fabulous Thunderbirds to me, and I like it. Forsyth’s earlier collaborations include The Asylum Street Spankers and The Hot Nut Riveters.

Cold weather moving down south, wind and water for us folks in the west, and a great big storm of stupid just passed through much of the nation. There’s some good news out there if you know where to look, and a good place to start is on the porch tomorrow. See you then and there.

Matiné del Sábado – El Día de Los Muertos

Saturday Matinee Pre-Halloween Edition – Kitty, Daisy & Lewis, Koffin Kats, Zombie Ghost Train, and The Ramones

Kitty, Daisy and Lewis Durham are a quirky group of siblings from London who play a mix of R&B, blues, soul, punk, rock and roll, and West Indian music.

Koffin Kats started as a Detroit bar band in 2003, hit the psychobilly circuit, released several records and changed lineups over the decades.

Zombie Ghost Train (ZGT) were formed in Sydney as a gothabilly/psychobilly/horrorpunk group in 2002. In 2008, one of Sydney’s city guides, TwoThousand, called the band, “Australia’s best kept secret… These mortuary musicians are the best thing psychobilly has seen since The Cramps.” They are now defunct.

The Ramones. In 1989, fiction author Stephen King, a huge Ramones fan, invited the Ramones to his Bangor, Maine home as they played in New England. During the visit, he handed Dee Dee Ramone a copy of his Pet Sematary novel, and the bassist retreated to the basement. One hour later, Dee Dee returned with the lyrics to “Pet Sematary“.

My favorite time of year is upon us, when the sun stays low, shadows grow long and colors become more vibrant. Perfect days to contemplate leaves and dogs while sitting you-know-where… on the porch. See you around whenever.

Saturday Matinee – HatFitz and Cara, Marc Amacher & The Thilo Wolf Big Band

HatFitz and Cara: “Aussie bluesman and Irish Songstress get married, form a band and make great music together. This shabby hill country blues oozes cool”. Guitar & Bass Magazine.

Swiss gravel-voiced guitarist Marc Amacher plays his mashup of roots blues, gospel, rock and funk – someone called it “dirty blues-rock of traditional style”.

The Thilo Wolf Big Band, the Thilo Wolf Jazz Quartet and the Thilo Wolf Groove Selection are all groups created by German pianist and composer Thilo Wolf. What a coincidence.

Had the house main water line replaced yesterday (weasels chewed up the old one) so we can shower and flush the toilets, then we had an internest downage last evening so this post was delayed a bit. The porch is open for business.

Saturday Matinee – Black Pumas, JP Soars’ Gypsy Blue Review & The Jimmy Vivino Band

Black Pumas is a psychedelic soul band based in Austin, Texas, led by singer/songwriter (and former busker) Eric Burton and guitarist/producer Adrian Quesada. Since forming the band in 2017, they’ve won critical acclaim, made numerous television appearances, and won their first Grammy in 2020 for Best New Band.

JP Soars’ Gypsy Blue Review plays an eclectic mix of blues, rock and southern soul, and features the amazing violinist Anne Harris. J.P. Soars is no slouch either – he also performs as JP Soars & The Red Hots.

The Jimmy Vivino Band: Jimmy Vivino on guitar; bassist Rick Reed; Tony Braunagel on drums; and, Luca Neroni on guitar. Vivino has played with artists including Al Kooper, Charlie Musselwhite, Michael McDonald and many others. He is best known as guitarist, arranger and music director for Late Night with Conan O’Brien.

This weekend is the annual church fair, and that means the missus is gonna fetch a bucket of vietnamese eggrolls. Stop by tomorrow at porch time o’clock and she might let you smell them. See you there.