Saturday Matinee – Linda Teränen / RelaxTrio, The Nick Moss Band, and Shakura S’Aida

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

The Nick Moss Band gives a tribute to the late great Hubert Sumlin in fine Chicago style.

Great smoker by Shakura S’Aida, backed by Donna Grantis (guitar), Lance Anderson (B3), Roger Williams (bass) and Tony Rabalao (drums).

While posting this, an internest outage almost forced me to watch television. Fortunately it came back just in time so I could announce that tomorrow’s porch time shall commence promptly at whenever o’clock. See you then.

Saturday Matinee – Jesse Welles, The Anthony Paul Soul Orchestra w/ Willy Jordan, Curtis Salgado, and Vanessa Collier

Born and raised in Ozark, Arkansas, Jesse Welles began his career around 2012, performing as Jeh Sea Wells. “It’s obvious that Wells will always be comfortable in some dirty rock and roll kitchen where, as he says in one song, ‘everyone’s kinda ugly in that way that looks pretty.'” – NPR

60s-70s soul sounds from San Francisco: The Anthony Paul Soul Orchestra (APSO) features Willy Jordan.

R&B soul singer Curtis Salgado won the  Blues Music Awards’ Soul Blues Male Artist Of The Year two years in a row (2021 & 2022). Salgado was the inspiration behind John Belushi’s creation of the Blues Brothers characters in the late 1970s. They met in Eugene, Oregon, and became friends while Belushi was filming the movie Animal House [Wiki].

Nice Louisiana dixiefunk. Vanessa Collier fronts an 11 piece band that includes Laura Chavez (guitar), Doug Woolverton (trumpet) and Mark Earley (sax).

Gonna take my hatchet and get a Christmas tree tomorrow. Not gonna cut it, I just get a better price with a hatchet in my hand. Don’t know why, I just do. In the meantime, help yourselves to the porch and I’ll be back soon enough.

Saturday Matinee – Béla Fleck & the Flecktones, BIG DEZ, Joe Louis Walker, and Jackie Venson

Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, featuring Victor Wooten on fretless bass, his brother Roy “Futureman” Wooten on Drumitar. Alto saxman  Jeff Coffin joined the trio in 1996.

Nice laid back groove. BIG DEZ was formed in 1996 by Phil “Big Dez” Fernandez (guitar) and Bala Pradal (keyboards). They spent most of their time rehearsing in a cabin in the suburbs of Paris, and after adding Lamine Guerfi (bass) Archibald Ligonnière (drums), graduated to the bar scene, then moved on to the big time. [More here.]

Joe Louis Walker, a Blues Hall of Fame inductee and six-time Blues Music Award winner, NPR described him as “a legendary boundary-pushing icon of modern blues.”

Jackie Venson: Singer-songwriter Jackie Venson’s version of the blues – with its R&B, psychedelic rock – has invigorated Austin’s music scene with its refreshingly electric sound.” Rolling Stone

Dang. It’s almost December already. Porch time has been scheduled for whenenever you get here. See you tomorrow.

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.