Bob Corritore Blues News

July 31, 2008

• CD Release Party This Weekend for Chris James and Patrick Rynn; Special Guests include Sam Lay, Bob Riedy, Bob Corritore, and Eddie Kobek: Chris James and Patrick Rynn's new CD, Stop And Think About It on Earwig Music, will be honored Friday and Saturday, August 1-2, 2008 at the Rhythm Room with a star-studded release party, including special guests Sam Lay, Bob Riedy, Bob Corritore, and Eddie Kobek. Chris and Patrick have been longtime partners in the blues, and are best known as consummate backing musicians in the tradition of Chicago blues. They have served in the bands of Sam Lay, Jody Williams, Tomcat Courtney, Detroit Junior, Johnny "Yard Dog" Jones, Dennis Binder, and countless others. They are best known to readers of this newsletter as members of The Rhythm Room All-Stars. On this weekend, they step out in front to showcase their great repertoire of original songs and well-chosen covers. CDs will be available for purchase. Joining in on the fun will be the great Sam Lay, who is legendary for his work with Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Paul Butterfield, James Cotton, Bob Dylan, and others. Sam will be singing a part of each night, as well as adding his definitive blues drumming to parts of each night. Also of note will be pianist Bob Riedy, who was a crucial part of the 1970's Chicago Blues scene, and will lend his Otis Spann-styled piano chops to the proceedings. Drummer Eddie Kobek, who is known for his work with Jody Williams, Billy Flynn, Willie "Big Eyes" Smith, and Nick Moss will also be on board sharing the drum duties with Sam Lay. Bob Corritore will be on hand to perform on the harmonica-oriented numbers. To check a sampling of songs from Chris and Patrick's new CD, check out the samples on the Blue Four’s MySpace page. The Rhythm Room is located at 1019 E. Indian School Road, Phoenix, AZ 85014. Doors open at 8pm, cover charge is $10. Rack Shack Barbeque will be available at these events. These nights will be patio smoking only events; no indoor smoking will be permitted.
• New photo page from the collection of Bob Riedy: With Bob Riedy coming to town, we thought it appropriate to add a photo page from the collection of Mr. Riedy. In addition to his great piano work, Bob Riedy headed RMR Productions, which brought many great blues artists to a circuit of north-side clubs that included Biddy Mulligan’s, Wise Fool's Pub, The Cracker Barrel, and others. The photos included represent some of the artists of the RMR roster, and are a beautiful look at the Chicago blues scene of the 1970s. Included are photos of Otis Rush, Little Mack Simmons, Howlin' Wolf, Johnny Littlejohn, Sam Lay, J.B. Hutto, Fenton Robinson, Eddy "The Chief" Clearwater, Jimmy Dawkins, Carey Bell, Lonnie Brooks, Mojo Buford, George "Wild Child" Butler, and more. To see this photo page, click here. Thank you, Bob Riedy, for all that you have done, and for joining the proceedings this weekend.
• Cognac Blues Passions Recap: The experience of the Cognac Blues Passions Festival was nothing short of amazing. France has been a place where my artistic efforts have found great acceptance, and I feel a very special bond with this country. The town of Cognac is a beautiful part of France, filled with fields of grapes, magnificent castles and chateaus, and a very kind and generous people. This is the only place in the world where Cognac is made; its careful and artful production is reflective of the care, pride, and detail put into this town's wonderful festival. Special thanks to Festival Program Director Michel Rolland, Denis Leblond of Tempo Concerts, and Beth Lipham of Blue Witch Records for their combined efforts in making this festival appearance possible. Dave Riley and myself were proud to be part of a great lineup that also included Willie King, Elmore James, Jr. with the Cadillac Zack Blues Band, Freddie Roulette, Marie Knight, Bobby Rush, "Sax" Gordon Beadle, Wanda Johnson (with Shrimp City Slim), Washboard Chaz, Beverly "Guitar" Watkins, Billy Jones, Anthony Stelmaszack, Mary Flower, Dawn Tyler Watson, Donna Angelle & Zydeco Posse, Linda Tillery & The Cultural Heritage Choir, The Leningrad Cowboys, and many others. Our traveling group included Dave Riley, Dale Baich (president of Blue Witch Records), my lovely Kim Danielson, and myself. We were greeted at the airport upon our Thursday arrival by our driver Eric Pupel, a very kind man who was a blues fan from the neighboring town of Jarnac, who took vacation time to be part of the festival. He was our primary driver throughout the festival and became our close friend. Eric saw to it that all our needs were always met. Upon checking into the hotel, we saw posters of the festival from years past, as well as photos of Bobby Rush, Koko Taylor, and Sharrie Williams lining the walls. We then grabbed a dinner at the festival hospitality area, where we ran into Bobby Rush and his manager, Frank M. Beaty. I also saw friends David Keyes (pianist with Marie Knight) and guitarist Anthony Stelmaszack. I had the duck and other French dishes, while Dave stuck to steak, fries, and ice cream, which would be a model for Dave's food choices for the rest of the trip. We retired early, as the next day's schedule was very full.

Friday began with a luncheon sponsored by Hennessy at Château de Bagnolet (originally the home of the Hennessy family, which can also be viewed by going to the Hennessy website and viewing the "Our House" section), a beautiful walled mansion surrounded by miles of sculptured trees with a perfectly manicured grassy lawn and tranquil lake. We shared a wonderful meal with Bobby Rush, Mary Flower, Washboard Chaz, Michel Rolland, plus other festival organizers, and Isabelle Decitre, International Marketing and Communications Director of Hennessy. I had brought some copies of a photo I took of my late friend Robert Lockwood, Jr. holding up a Hennessy bottle, and gave them away as gifts. Then it was off to the sound check for our first show, which took place in the courtyard of a beautiful historic building, now a showroom and facility for Camus Cognac. After our sound check, we were given an in-depth tour explaining the age-old process of the manufacturing and storage of Cognac. This tour ended with each of us creating our own custom cognac blend, which was bottled, corked, sealed, labeled, boxed, and given to us as a gift. We then gave our first appearance to a packed courtyard filled with a loving and enthusiastic audience, which included many of our European friends and advocates. Dave was at his rowdy best, and our set included Dave's originals mixed with some Frank Frost and John Weston songs. Dave had a new audience participation song called "I Don't Know", which was a big hit. After the show, we greeted our friends, signed autographs, and took photos, before we were driven to the festival hospitality tent for a nice dinner. We then enjoyed an excellent set on the main stage by Joan Baez while hanging out at the Hennessy VIP area with our driver Eric and Willie King and his band.

The next day (Saturday) began with conversation in the hotel restaurant with Elmore James, Jr., Cadillac Zack, Rick Reed, Bill Bates, and Steve Mugalian. After a quick lunch at the festival hospitality area, we went to Saturday's venue, the Château de Cognac, now affiliated with Otard Cognac but also once the ancestral Court of François 1er, King of France 1515-1547. Before our performance, blues DJ Xavier Boulanger gave a speech, then called me up to the stage where he declared me a "Membre d'Honneur et Parrain du CRBLUES" and presented me with a beautiful award trophy. CRBLUES stands for the French Blues Radio Collective, and it was so special to be honored by this great organization. To read about this award and see a photo of Xav and I holding the award, click here. Then Dave and I gave a great performance that I must give Dave the credit for. He was simply at the top of his game! Since it was in an echo-filled stone chamber (the State Room), we played at a whisper, and the packed house hung on every note. To see a video tour of this venue with performances by Willie King on the day before our performance, click here. After the show, we hung out with our friends and fans, before being taken to an interview area where Dave and I were individually interviewed by David Baerst of the blues radio show Route 66. Then all the bands that were free at that time went to an amazing dinner party hosted by Hennessy in the courtyard of another beautiful château, called Château Batailley. This party was a unique mixture of blues musicians, Hennessy executives (including the very gracious CEO Bernard Peillon), CNN personnel, and Craig Stapleton, the US Ambassador to France, complete with an entourage of secret service agents. Of course, the very finest vintage XO Hennessy Cognac and vintage French wines were served. The extravagant meal included a wide array of wonderful food including canapés of tuna sushi, steak, mushroom pastry, pâté de foie gras, and other morsels, Gazpacho soup, scrambled eggs with truffles, salad de fines herbes with assorted Mediterranean olives, gravadlox and sliced fishes, assorted Kebabs, crusty French breads, a smorgasbord of aged French cheeses, coffee, apple tarte, chocolate torte, tiramisu, berry tartes, plus numerous other dishes; though Dave Riley stuck with (you guessed it) the steak.

Dale and Dave left the next Morning but Kim and I scheduled an extra day to relax a little. We went to the festival for a few hours, and enjoyed the company of our dear friend Jocelyn Richez and Jean Guillermo of Blues sur Seine, as well as Gary Erwin, Simon Boyer, and Brian Slack of Zeb Productions. We called it early to have some time to pack and rest before leaving an amazing town and dream-like trip. We must mention some of our friends not previously noted that we saw in Cognac (sorry if we are forgetting anyone) Marcel Benedit of ABS Magazine (and his lovely wife), André and Lil Hobus (Soul Bag Magazine), Blues DJ Ben Buijs Boue (who was also a driver for the festival), Shanna Waterstown and her manager Christophe Litvine, Elizabeth Levanier (Blues en Loire Festival), Francis Rateau (Crossroads Magazine), Marc Loison, Alain Enjalbert of Radio Terre Marine FM, Jean-Pierre Savouyaud of Virus De Blues (thanks for the issue!), Luc and Annie Drouffe-Noe, Marc Loison of www.soubock.com, Joel Bizon, Christian Boncour of Blues Station, Didier Marty, Luc Ghyselen of Blues Promotion, Thibaux Chopin, Claude Dannic, Maria Giulia Sorrentino (our dear friend who runs the Marco Fiume Memorial Blues Passions Festival in honor of her late son), André Cochepin-Mingarro, and others.

Check out a beautiful slide show of photos from the Cognac Blues Passions Festival by Jean-Pierre Savouyaud of Virus De Blues (click here to view). Also, some nice shots by Fannybluesrock on her MySpace (click here to view).

A heartfelt "Thank You" to all who provided for and shared in these wonderful experiences!

-Bob Corritore