Tag: Saturday Matinee

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.

Saturday Matinee – Guy Verlinde, The Cinelli Brothers w/ Connor Selby, Jay Hooks, and Robert Randolph & The Family Band

Belgian guitarist Guy Verlinde covers Hound Dog Taylor. He’s best known as a solo artist and as front man for The Mighty Gators and The Houserockers. There’s not much of a bio on his website other than a link to his Facebook page where there’s not much of a bio either.

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. Guest guitarist Connor Selby is no slouch either, having been named Traditional Blues Artist of the Year (2025).

In the 1990s, Texas bluesman Jay Hooks kickstarted what promised to be a successful career, but he burned out in 2005 due to unspecified personal troubles. 15 years later he began from scratch, reinventing his music and performing in bars; Hooks returned to the studio in 2024 to make his comeback official.

Robert Randolph & The Family Band – In 2010, Rolling Stone ranked pedal steel guitarist Robert Randolph 97th in their list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time.

Big news this week: this year’s Super Bowl halftime show is gonna suck again, the word tardigrade offends some people, sombrero memes are racist, and I got a chair on the porch with my name on it. There are others available on a first come first sit basis, so see you there.

Saturday Matinee – Ndlovu Youth Choir, Giles Robson and JW-Jones w/ Paul Pigat & Jack de Keyzer

Ndlovu Youth Choir: “An eleven-year journey has seen an after-school programme for orphaned and vulnerable children, started by the Ndlovu Care Group, transform into an international recording and touring career. Participation does not only instil values of togetherness, a work ethic and a sense of responsibility, but it develops self-discipline, self-confidence, and leadership.” [h/t Miss Cellanea]

British harp wizard Giles Robson is one of only three UK blues artists to win a coveted Blues Music Award in Memphis. The other two are Eric Clapton and Peter Green.

“This is an amazing blues band.” – Elwood Blues
JW-Jones, with Paul Pigat and Jack de Keyzer, crack open a can of Magic Sam boogie and head for the coast. Backing them is Chris Nordquist on drums, Julian Fauth / keyboards and Suzie Vinnick / bass.

Disturbing events the past few days. Two little girls lost their daddy, and a young woman has to tell them that their daddy isn’t coming home.
Charlie Kirk expressed his opinions peacefully, rarely raising his voice in anger, and for that he was assassinated. That some soulless wretches jeer and applaud the tragedy makes me want to vomit.

The porch will be closed tomorrow…

Saturday Matinee -The Firebird Trio, Mississippi Big Beat, and The Bloyet Brothers & Lourychords

Australia’s Firebird Trio takes the heart of rock and roll and nails it to your forehead with their cover of one of Lieber & Stoller’s most recorded tunes.

Mississippi Big Beat is/was a retro-future tehno-swamp blues group out of Budapest, Hungary: Founders Andor Oláh / blues harp and Csaba Gál Boogie / acoustic guitars, vocals, with Szabolcs Máté (Sab) / sound decks, turntables, and János Fekete / beatbox, drums.

The Bloyet Brothers & Lourychords are from Redon, France, play 1970s=style blues rock, they don’t have a website or bio that I could find and I have no idea who or what Lourychords is.

Guess where I’ll be tomorrow.
Yep. Good day for a porch sit. See you there.

Saturday Matinee – The Tarbox Ramblers, Fred Wesley & The New JBs, and Taj Mahal w/ Gregg Allman, Chris Stapleton & Little Bigtown

The Tarbox Ramblers: “If the Rolling Stones had happened 10 years earlier, hailed from Memphis and been produced by Ike Turner, they might have sounded like The Tarbox Ramblers. The way the Ramblers lay down their backroads grit and raw hillbilly-rock jive, you’re unlikely to hear a more genuine blast of sandpaper rhythm and roots.” – The Boston Herald

Fred Wesley & The New JBs is comprised of: Fred Wesley / trombone, Gary Winters / trumpet, Phillip Whack / saxophone, Bruce Cox / drums, Dwayne Dolphin / bass, Reggie Ward / guitar and Peter Madsen / keyboards.

Taj Mahal, with Gregg Allman, Chris Stapleton and the members of Little Bigtown do the Elmore James‘ classic.

Hot days… warm nights… the rat in the garage couldn’t sleep so he left on his own. I’ll have the house to myself tomorrow night which means pizza for me and leftover steamed vegetables for the possum. Porch time tomorrow is at porch time o’clock. See you then.