Tag: Blues

Saturday Matinee – Mitch Woods, The Bruce Katz Band & Tas Cru

Born in Brooklyn in 1951, Mitch Woods began playing classical piano at eleven, but his real initiation into blues and boogie piano had already been assured at age eight. “My mom would hire this superintendent of the building, a black man, Mr. Brown, to take me to school, and we stopped off at his cousin’s house, where somebody was playing boogie-woogie piano. It really hit me.”

Mitch Woods (without his Rocket 88s) makes it look easy on the streets of New York.

The Bruce Katz Band features Bruce Katz on Hammond B3, Aaron Lieberman on guitar and drummer Liviu Pop (whose snare mic got disconnected in this song).

Singer, songwriter and guitarist Tas Cru is an eclectic, performing original songs that mix roots rock, blues and gospel. Good stuff.

Some interesting historical events transpired this week, and now we’re in the danger zone – a lot can happen between now and January 20.

Good news on the home front. I attended a laser show that lasted two minutes, cost me a few clams, and now my left eye can spot a red tail hawk before it spots me. The porch will be open for business tomorrow as usual, see you there.

Elinguated Hot Links

She’s Gone, GA-20 (2021)
Cover of Hound Dog Taylor & The House Rockers. Great authentic electric blues with respect.

Runners.

Smile *click*

Irish mussels.

Some bad days.

The Hand (1966).

Trains and trains.

Product placement.

Ricky G, influencer.

R.I.P. Peanut & Fred.
(There’s more to the story.)

Little Shop de Brujerias.

Norty Blues Episode 88.

World’s longest experiment.

Moving plates [via Memo Of The Air].

1965 Polaris Sno Traveler Super Pacer.

Cabbie shelters of old London [via Mme. Jujujive].

Everyone knows what he had for lunch [via Bunkerville].

[Top image: Electronic artwork found here.]

From the Archives: 1 year ago. 5 years ago. 10 years ago. 15 years ago.

Saturday Matinee – The Errol Linton Band, Aynsley Lister & Gary Clark Jr.

The Errol Linton Band plays a cool ska to reggae blues mashup, described as “funky stuff, blues with a reggae tinge and jazz flavours, Black British music with roots in Mississippi and New Orleans, Kingston and London.“

Self-taught guitarist from the UK, Aynsley Lister learned by copying the sounds of Peter Green, Albert King, Eric Clapton and Paul Kossoff. (I hear some Robyn Trower in there too).

Gary Clark Jr.‘s  influences and collaborations range from B.B. King, The Jackson 5 and Muddy Waters to Alicia Keys, Dave Grohl and Childish Gambino, and there are good reasons why he’s a four-time Grammy winner.

Only three days until The Great Election, and I expect fireworks regardless of the outcome – and not the good kind either…
In any case, the porch will be open for business as usual. See you there.

Saturday Matinee – The Romain Vuillemin Quartet, Samantha Fish & Albert Castiglia

The Romain Vuillemin Quartet covers Django Reinhardt in fine Hot Club fashion, and it’s perfect road trip at sunrise music.

Samantha Fish recorded her take on Ronnie Love’s 1961 original, and it works.

Florida slidewinder Albert Castiglia is vicious in an Elmore James meets Negan Smith kind of way.

Been quite the good news / bad news week around here lately, so we mixed them both together and came up with tolerable.
Porch.
Tomorrow.
Be there.

Saturday Matinee – Keith Turner & The Southern Sound, Jovin Webb, Selwyn Birchwood and Dollar Bill

Keith Turner & The Southern Sound was a popular Scottish rockabilly band until the demise of guitarist and singer Keith Turner in 2015. Turner’s other bands included Hi Voltage, The FretTones, Shake Rag and Memphis Detour.

“Drifter is the sound of a blues life searching for gospel redemption,” Jovin shares. “It’s me trying to figure out religion, women, my career, and everything I’ve gone through.”
Louisiana blues singer Jovin Webb has the John Lee Hooker growl down, can’t rhyme worth a shinola, but he made it to the final ten performers on the 2020 season of American Idol.

Selwyn Birchwood plays what he calls “Electric Swamp Funkin’ Blues,” and his tribute to Florida Man seems appropriate given the recent weather.

Scotsman Ian Bowerman, aka Dollar Bill, is one tight band. Bowerman also played drums for Keith Turner’s Southern Sound and The Blue Mambas.

Hope you’re all sound and safe from hurricanes, tornados, fires, floods and fleas, and we’ll see you tomorrow, porch time- ish.

Saturday Matinee – FRANK, Ronnie Baker Brooks, Eric Tessmer & Big Monti Amundson

FRANK is not a band that didn’t form in 2021 when singer/songwriter/guitarist Élise Lounici didn’t join up with Sébastien Gaschard (drums) or Colin Pradier (bass) or something. Their website is in French and I can’t decipher the story.

Chicago guitarist, vocalist and songwriter Ronnie Baker Brooks‘ cover of the Stones makes me smile.  He is the son of multiple GRAMMY Award nominee and Blues Hall Of Famer Lonnie Brooks.

Eric James Tessmer is a guitar slinger out of Austin and cites Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix as inspirations. That’s no surprise – his guitarist dad named him after them. More about Tessmer here.

Big Monti Amundson backed by Bart Kamp (bass) and Henk Punter (drums). Amundson definitely has the Texas blues sound down.

What a week, especially with the continuous news of the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene. Prayers for the survivors that they not lose hope.

See you tomorrow.

 

Saturday Matinee – Lurrie Bell & Billy Branch, Omar & The Howlers, The Andreas Diehlmann Band, and Playing For Change

Lurrie Bell and Billy Branch are two modern day blues masters. Branch is a roots blues promoter and historian with  a direct link to Willie Dixon, while Bell is the son of harpslinger and Blues Hall of Fame inductee Carey Bell. In 1977, Bell and Branch were considered members of the “New Generation of Chicago Blues” and both have made significant contributions to the genre.

Omar and The Howlers features Kent “Omar” Dykes:
“He hails from McComb, MS, a town with the distinction of being home turf for Bo Diddley. Omar started playing guitar at twelve where he took to hanging out in edge-of-town juke joints playing with Wakefield Coney and other authentic blues greats in the middle of the night when his parents were asleep.”

The Andreas Diehlmann Band is a German power trio who crank out Texas blues ala ZZ Top, with vocals to match. Diehlmann is backed by Jörg Sebald on bass and Tom Bonn on drums.

Playing For Change: Legendary multi-instrumentalist John Paul Jones, accompanied by Stephen Perkins, Susan Tedeschi & Derek Trucks, and over 20 musicians and dancers from seven different countries perform a rework of the 1929 original release by Memphis Minnie and Kansas Joe McCoy about the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, the most destructive river flooding in U.S. history.

Prayers to those who lost loved ones and were otherwise affected by Hurricane Helene, one of the largest to hit the US in recent history.  The cleanup effort required is mind boggling.

Porch time begins at porch time. See you tomorrow.

Saturday Matinee – The Black Hole, Carolyn Wonderland, The Henrik Freischlader Trio & The Gary Hoey Band

The Black Hole (UK, 2008) is a short film starring Napoleon Ryan and a hole, directed by Phil Sampson and Olly Williams (Phil and Olly) who may or may not have been fans of Warner Bros. cartoons.

“Carolyn Wonderland  describes herself as ‘a guitarist in a roomful of singers and a singer in a roomful of guitarists,’ was recently called ‘one of Texas’ finest Americana guitar-slingers’ by her hometown newspaper, The Austin American-Statesman.” – Alligator Records

The Henrik Freischlader Trio plays some damn good funkified blues. Freischlader is a German blues guitarist, singer-songwriter, producer, and self-taught multi-instrumentalist from Wuppertal, Germany.

Gary Hoey was in diapers when the Chantays recorded their 1962 classic, and he rips it up with respect.

Way too much happened this past week. I think some of the sensory overload is intentional and unnecessary, but we’ll cope.
Porch. Tomorrow. Noonish.

Fissiparous Hot Links

Boeing Starliner returns to Earth without NASA astronauts Friday, 06 September 2024.

We Are Alive, Key Frances (2007) “I was born in Seattle in Kings County Hospital. I’m six months younger than Jimi Hendrix. Don’t do the math, I want to be younger than somebody and I am six months younger than Jimi. He was born in the same hospital as I was.” – Key Frances

*squish*

PUGMAN!

Monkeybrew.

First car jewelry.

Vitamin D needed.

A visored bascinet.

Lord of the Swamp.

Burning Ring of Fire.

Cows have best friends.

Norty Blues Episode 80.

Someone opened the blinds.

Miss Sukey feeds a swaddled cat.

Terrifying Satellite Jumping Shoes.

Margaret Watts Hughes’ visible voices.

The Golden Age of Radio [via Memo Of The Air].

Solving California’s energy shortage [via Bunkerville].

On the road to Black Rock [via The View From Lady Lake].

[Top image: Screencap from live Starlink video.]

From the Archives: 1 year ago. 5 years ago. 10 years ago. 15 years ago.

Saturday Matinee – The Dirtbombs, Al Green & The Hard Times, The Chase Walker Band and Chicago Blues Union

Motor City afropunk:
“Since the band’s inception in 1992 The Dirtbombs have won over dozens of fans. In more recent years, they’ve been named Spin magazine’s #10 best live band in the world.” – YouTube description (2009)

Al Green & The Hard Times (aka Piper & The Hard Times) mixes roots rock, blues and soul performed by “pro-level players covering bass, guitar, keyboard/organ, and horns for a big rootsy vibe,” and fronted by Al “Piper” Green on vocals.

The Chase Walker Band is a blues roots rock and soul band from Riverside, California.  Despite his young age (26 as of this posting) Walker has already attracted the attention of many in the industry, and he’s going places.

Straight outta Hungary: Chicago Blues Union is a project of T. Rogers & Jenő Fekete as a tribute to the 50’s and 60’s Chicago electric blues scene. ( I couldn’t find much solid information about them, other than that Fekete is on guitar and vocals.)

The Labor Day weekend is upon us, so do Labor Day things on Labor Day. Tomorrow we’ll be attending to our regular duties on the porch, watching the world go fry. See you then.