Tag: Saturday Matinee

Saturday Matinee – The Walkers Blues Band, Ronnie Earl & the Broadcasters, Thorbjørn Risager & The Black Tornado

The Walkers Blues Band cover Slim Harpo’s Te Ni Nee Ni Nu. I couldn’t find details about the group other than they made their debut in 2015 at the Festival Internacional de Blues de Asunción, Paraguay.

Ronnie Earl and the Broadcasters need no introduction. Fun fact: Ronnie Earl (aka Ronald Horvath) was born in Queens, NY, and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Education & Special Education from Boston University.

Since their beginnings as a Copenhagen bar band, Thorbjørn Risager & The Black Tornado have been dubbed Denmark’s premier roots-rockers. The septet has performed in Scandinavia, Europe, Canada, the US and Asia for the past twenty years.

Thanksgiving is just around the corner and right after that comes the best part: leftovers. The porch shall open promptly at noonish tomorrow for weather observation. Be there.

Saturday Matinee – Solon Fishbone, The J R Clark Band & Toronzo Cannon

Armed with vintage Fender gear, Solon Fishbone has spread the blues throughout Brazil and South America for 20 years.

The J R Clark Band includes Johnny B. Gayden (bass), Randall Willis (drums), Willie “Styles” Phipps (keyboards), and J R Clark (guitar & vocals), all of whom have excellent resumes.

Chicago bluesman Toronzo Cannon didn’t pick up a guitar until he was 22, but he picked it up fast:
“Gary Clark, Jr. declared, ‘Toronzo is a beast. He lights the room up,’ and Joe Bonamassa rightly pronounced, ‘Toronzo’s a great guitar player, excellent vocalist and an amazing personality.’ “

It’s been a week since my eyeball work got done, and I think the missus is getting tired of me pointing out things that I could never see before. Stop by the porch tomorrow and I’ll explain the benefits of depth perception.

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.

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 Pre-Halloween Edition – The Interrupters, Messer Chups, The Creepshow & Tom Waits

The Interrupters: Aimee Interrupter & the Bivona brothers sing an ode to a poor bony soul.

From St. Petersburg, Russia,  Messer Chups is listed under vampire space zombie surf rock. “Messer” is German for “knife” and “Chups” is from Chupa Chups lollipops.

The Creepshow has been blasting psychopunkabilly for a while. Zombies Ate Her Brain was from their debut album, Sell Your Soul (2006).

Who needs Halloween music when you got Tom Waits with his Olds 88 and the devil on a leash.

Been a busy week taking care of busy-ness and dodging busybodies. Tomorrow we’ll porch. See you at the crack of noon.

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.