More high energy blues rock and powerful vocals from Jay Gordon And The Penetrators. Jay throws off paint peeling solos with bassist Sharon Butcher and drummer Abe Perez laying down a strong rhythm foundation.

 

His inspirations have includd Buddy Guy, Johnny winter, Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan, he does not sound like any of his predecessors and has long had his own disstinctive voice.  Never interested in merely recreating the past, Jay has moved the blues forward to the 21st century, infusing the music with the fire ad power of rock whiel carving out his own place in the music world. 

 

The sixth annual Crescent City Blues & BBQ Festival (www.crescentcitybluesfest.com) takes place Oct. 14-16 at Lafayette Square Park in New Orleans. Admission is FREE.

 

The outstanding lineup includes Shreveport guitar shredder Kenny Wayne Shepherd, legendary soul singer Bettye LaVette, R&B soul man Mel Waiters, Louisiana blues activist Tab Benoit, honky tonk piano queen Marcia Ball, sacred steel heroes The Campbell Brothers, roots supergroup the South Memphis String Band and Mississippi blues original Super Chikan, along with many others.

 

 

 There will also be dozen vendors with the greatest assemblage of home-style barbecue to be found in New Orleans. A huge crafts fair showcases the hand-made works by artisans from throughout the Gulf South. And an interview stage gives fans an opportunity to hear from our performers about their influences.

 

The festival also features a “sports bar,” where fans can keep up with all the latest action on large-screen TVs while enjoying the music. Community radio station WWOZ-FM will broadcast the festival live on the air and on the internet at wwoz.org.

 

 

 

On Friday, Oct. 14, locals and visitors will have the chance to pitch in to the rebuilding of the Crescent City, with a house-building work day organized by the St. Bernard Project.

 

There’s also a contest to submit drawings of original artwork that will be used to grace the festival’s official t-shirt.

 

For complete details, see the festival web site, www.crescentcitybluesfest.com.

 

The Crescent City Blues & BBQ Festival is presented by the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation (www.jazzandheritage.org), the nonprofit that owns the world-famous New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival presented by Shell (www.nojazzfest.com). The Foundation uses the proceeds from Jazz Fest, and other revenues, for year-round programs in education, economic development and cultural events. For info, see www.jazzandheritage.org.

 

The Crescent City Blues & BBQ Festival is sponsored in part of the Louisiana Office of Tourism. Visit LouisianaTravel.com. 

Tab Benoit was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in 1967 and began playing guitar in his teens and hung out in a local club called the Blues Box where he got to play along side and learn from legends like Tabby Thomas, Raful Neal and Henry Gray.

 

Tab was asked to contribute to a compilation album in 1991 to help the homeless along with the likes of Dr. John, Odetta, Gatemouth Brown, Sue Foley, Ronnie Earl and others and Justice Records liked the two songs he did for that album so much they signed him up to his own deal.

 

Benoit was pretty much the first Blues artist since Stevie Ray Vaughan to receive radio time on commercial rock stations and became a young star of the Blues pretty quickly.

 

In his career Tab has worked with Junior Wells, James Cotton, Willie Nelson, Kim Wilson, Allen Toussaint, Billy Joe Shaver and so many others and already has been nominated for three Grammy Awards and elected into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame.

 

 

 

Did you know that I do Custom Comic Strips and Comic Pages as gifts?

 

 

 

The Blues Audience newsletter (T.B.A.), New England’s only Blues Publication, is celebrating 20 years of service to the Blues bands and fans of this great American music. An Anniversary party is planned for October 23, 2011 at The Bull Run Restaurant in Shirley, Massachusetts, doors open at 4, show starts at 6pm. The party will showcase an All Star Revue of New England Blues talent, including the Chris Fitz Band, Diane Blue, Professor Harp, Mr. Nick’s Dirty Tricks, Alizon Lissance, Carl Querfurth and more special guests. There will be a silent auction and a 50/50 raffle.

T.B.A. is designed to promote hard working New England Blues musicians. It helps them reach the diverse, niche market of Blues fans.  Publisher, Diana Shonk, started T.B.A. in 1991. The newsletter has continued to support the New England Blues scene with articles and reviews of performances by local, working Blues bands in the clubs that make up the New England live Blues music scene. T.B.A. has become a widely accepted source for information pertaining to the New England Blues scene, and becomes a history of much of what has happened in the 6 New England states for the past 20 years.

We also promote the newsletter with a web presence. The web site that does not echo the newsletter but contains pictures and articles about Blues Festivals, “Blues Audience Parties”,  new CDs and links of interest. We send special notices to our readers by email. 

T.B.A. presents Readers Poll Awards every year and the results are on our web site 

www.bluesaudience.com.

T.B.A.’s Publisher, Diana Shonk, was recently honored with a “Keeping The Blues Alive” Award by HeatherFest, a yearly Blues Festival and fundraiser for local charities in the Boston area.

 

The Blues Audience newsletter is archived at the University of Mississippi’s Dept of Archives and Special Collections, JD Williams Library, University, Mississippi

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The second annual Daytona Beach Blues Festival was enjoyed by Nancy and Gordon from The Blues Festival Guide.

 

Here are a couple of pictures from Friday Night's outdoor shows.

 

 

 

 

 

We found the festival to be well organized, well staffed  and at a great venue... the Jackie Robinson Baseball Park.  

 

 

Friday night the event went as planned outdoors at the stadium, but the weather didn't continue to cooperate, requiring Saturday's and Sunday's performances to be moved down the road about 1/2 a mile to the Daytona News-Journal Center.  A big Thank-You to the Promoters to have such a perfect back-up plan!

 

The "after festival" Jams were held each night at the Ramada Inn in their bar/restaurat area.  That too was a lot of fun, and provided a great opportunity to meet the artists who performed that day, or those preparing to perform the next.

 

Here's Nancy with John Nemeth as he holds the 2011 Blues Festival Guide magazine which featured him on the cover.

 

 

Now that we know the festival can and will go on "rain or shine" we won't hesitate to make plans to attend next years' festival. A variety of hotels in different price ranges offer special festival rates.  It's possible to stay right on the beach and only be a few blocks from the festival.  How cool is that!  ....Or the budget minded blues fan can drive a mile or two and save money by staying at the Ramada (Cheaper, and that is where the the after festival jams are anyway).

 

See you there next year!  Nancy & Gordon

MODESTO, CA -   The 11th Annual Modesto Area Music Association (MAMA) Awards were held last night at the Doubletree Hotel Ballroom in Modesto.  It was a black tie affair which held the elite who's-who of the local Modesto music scene.  An array of performers created music from various genres - all very well done.  Announcements from everyone to include government officials, radio personalities, tv personalities to comedians all had wonderful things to say about how Chris Ricci and Chris Murphy have kept the music alive in Modesto.  The MAMA Awards is their baby.  For eleven years now the people of the world have been able to vote for their favorite band online no matter where they live in relation to Modesto. 47 states were heard from, as well as 17 countries.  www.modestoareamusic.com

 

The official results of the 17 categories have not been released yet, but we have the result of the Blues/Jazz Category!  Of the 12 nominees in that category; Pinkie & Blind Resistance came out on top.  Pinkie Rideau has been a fixture in the Modesto area music scene for 3 years now - having performed at The Modesto Blues Festival (3 times), Jax on H, Minnie's, Nino's, T's, The Fat Cat, The Copper Rhino, Main Street Inn, and numerous venues beyond the Modesto Area.   www.PinkieBlues.com

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SALISBURY, NC — Top women performers and their bands will be on stage Oct. 15 for the 13th annual Rowan Blues & Jazz Festival in Salisbury.

 

The daylong card of musicians includes Toni Spearman, Beverly “Guitar” Watkins, Eden Brent, Penny “Queen Bee” Zamagni and Brenda Morie.

 

On the same day, the Rowan Blues & Jazz Society is joining Rowan Public Library in presenting the Jackie Torrence Storytelling Festival.

 

The N.C. Black Storytellers Association will be on the library’s front lawn on West Fisher Street for three hours, telling tales and paying tribute to the late Torrence, a renowned storyteller from Rowan County.

 

The Storytelling Festival is free and runs from noon to 3 p.m.

 

The Blues & Jazz Festival costs $15 a person; $10 for seniors. Children under 4, with an adult, are free.

 

The festival venue is 200 W. Fisher St. and features a variety of vendors and international foods.

As he nears his 70th birthday, Dan Hicks ranks as one of America’s great musical eccentrics, with a wonderfully dry sense of humour to match.

 

“It seems to come naturally, but I was never a class clown,” Hicks muses. “I’m an only child and I used to sit at the table with my parents and crack them up. I guess I’m a bit of a social commentator, not in a preaching way, but it’s kind of an attitude thing.”

 

The California singer-songwriter and bandleader is best known for hits like I Scare Myself, but he’s difficult to peg given the way he has danced through the jazz, folk, country and pop genres in the course of nearly 50 years in music. The one constant to Hicks’ sound isn’t so much a style, but his love of swinging grooves.

 

“I think that comes from just being a jazz fan and trying to do it myself. I’m not interested in trying to rock hard. It’s just about what I consider to be good taste.”

 

There’s a touch of irony then in Hicks’ legendary status as a pioneering influence on the San Francisco psychedelia scene of the 1960s tied to his early work drumming in The Charlatans around 1965. He was a recent graduate of a college broadcasting program, trying to figure out what he wanted to do, and it was an exciting time.

 

“There was a lot going on and it was starting to get national recognition, too, for the whole early hippie deal. I guess I had a role, but I kind of fell into being a professional musician. I just kept going and eventually put my own group together, The Hot Licks.”

 

The Hot Licks have seen many changes over the years, but they remain Hicks’ focus along with occasional side projects or collaborations. At times he has welcomed Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, Brian Setzer and Bette Midler as guests.

Bluesman Otis Taylor has always - to use a well-worn cliché - thought outside of the box musically. Now he's taking his influence and participation in blues music to a new level, from performing to promoting with the scheduling of the artist's first annual "Otis Taylor Trance Blues Festival," which will be held from November 25th - 27th, 2011 in Boulder, Colorado.

 

This inaugural Otis Taylor Trance Blues Festival is being held over the Thanksgiving holiday and features an intriguing mix of public workshops and performance jams that include such folks as Taylor and his talented daughter Cassie; legendary guitarist Bob Margolin; bluegrass banjo innovator Tony Trischka; bassist George Porter Jr. of New Orleans' favorite sons, the Meters; talented multi-instrumentalist Don Vappie; and others.

 

The event kicks off Friday night with a pre-Trance jam session, and runs through the weekend with the visiting artists leading workshops on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday night will feature the "Trance Blues Jam," an open-to-the-public session with audience participation encouraged, and the night will close with a special 9:00 PM concert at the Boulder Theatre.

Coming this month:  CDs from Sharon Lewis, Toronzo Cannon, Jason Stein, and a CD and LP from Jason Adasiewicz.  

 

Recent Blues Releases: newly remastered, digipak CDs of Junior Well's Hoodoo Man Blues (with extra tracks!) and Magic Sam's classic West Side Soul, and CDs from Quintus McCormick, Demetria Taylor, Clarence Johnson, plus our 55th Anniversary Blues CD/DVD collection.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Join the Sacramento Blues Society in celebrating Pacific Standard Time change with an "Adios Summer Party" on Sunday, November 6, 2011.

 

The entertainment will be by headliner The Jeff Watson Band along with "special guests" Daniel Castro and Kyle Rowland.  

 

November 6, 2011

Show begins @ 2:00 PM

The Stoney Inn

1320 Del Paso Blvd.

Sacramento, CA 95815

(916) 927-6023

Full Bar & Food Available

 

$10 Cover @ Door

Proceeds will benefit the Sacramento Blues Society's "Blues In The Schools" program. 

 

For more information visit www.sacblues.com or call 916-712-7277.

 

 

 

 

      

 Jorma Kaukonen and Hot Tuna are back. Steady As She Goes is Tuna’s first album in twenty years. Jorma joins Elwood to talk about his music, and influences. Ray Charles and the Reverend Gary Davis will be heard. And Jorma takes out his guitar for a live performance, exclusively for the Bluesmobile. (And you can hear more of that, here.) This week’s breaker is from piano boogie master Kenny “Blues Boss” Wayne. Here on the website, sign up to win Love My Stuff, new music from folk blues artist Paul Geremia. We also have copies of Duets II from the American icon Tony Bennett. It features collaborations with John Mayer, Norah Jones, and the late Amy Winehouse (the last music she did).

 

 

 

 

More on our radio and video streams can be found here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 House of Blues Streaming Audio Here