Bob Corritore Blues News

Bob Corritore Blues News


December 19, 2008

• Dave Riley & Bob Corritore Opening for Leon Russell this Monday: Dave has just arrived in Phoenix for his annual winter stay, and he and Bob will open for the legendary Leon Russell for a special show on Monday, December 22 at the Rhythm Room. This show is very close to being sold out at this point, but a few tickets are still available through Ticketmaster or at the Rhythm Room. The Rhythm Room is located at 1019 E. Indian School Road, Phoenix, AZ 85014. Doors open at 7pm. Tickets are $31 in advance or $33 on the day of the show; advance tickets are available at the Rhythm Room, all Ticketmaster store locations, Charge by Phone: (800)745-3000, or Ticketmaster.com. Rack Shack Barbeque will be available at this event. This night will be a patio smoking only event; no indoor smoking will be permitted.
• Rod Piazza & The Mighty Flyers appear Saturday at the Rhythm Room: Rod Piazza, the king of West Coast harmonica, brings his groovin' blues band to the Rhythm Room this Saturday. The Rhythm Room is located at 1019 E. Indian School Road, Phoenix, AZ 85014. Doors open at 8pm, Tickets are $15 in advance or $15 on the day of the show; advance tickets are available at the Rhythm Room, all Ticketmaster store locations, Charge by Phone: (800)745-3000, or Ticketmaster.com. Rack Shack Barbeque will be available at this event. This night will be a patio smoking only event; no indoor smoking will be permitted.
• BMA Nominations Announced - Chris James & Patrick Rynn CD Nominated! Congratulations to all of the nominees for the 2009 Blues Music Awards. These awards (formerly known as Handy Awards) are presented by The Blues Foundation, and feature 26 categories with five or six nominees in each category. The event tales place May 7, 2009 at the Cook Convention Center in Memphis, Tennessee, and will feature performances by many of the nominees in between awards presentations. We are very proud that Chris James and Patrick Rynn's CD Stop And Think About It on Earwig Music have been nominated in the category of Best New Artist Debut. So many of our friends are in the running, and we are very happy for everyone. To read more about this event, click here; and for the full list of nominees, click here.

• André Hobus Photo Library, Part 1: The amazing blues photos of the André Hobus Library have been added to the photo section of www.BobCorritore.com. The André Hobus Photo Library features images taken by photographers Bob Vanderschueren, Claude Meyer, Annique Massange, André Hobus, and Marc De Jonghe. Included in the images posted are Eddie Taylor, Jimmy Rogers, Junior Wells, Buddy and Phil Guy, Lowell Fulson, Robert Lockwood, Jr., Johnny Shines, Big John Wrencher, Louisiana Red, Homesick James, Snooky Pryor, B.B. King, Lightnin' Slim, Billy Boy Arnold, Lonnie Brooks, Otis Rush, Dr. Ross, Dave Myers, Freddy Below, Louis Myers, Koko Taylor, Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson, Fenton Robinson, Etta James, Freddie King, and many others. There are many more photos yet to be posted, so a part 2 will be added to the website at a future date. To view the posted pages click here; then follow the “next page” links at the bottom of the page to view all 14 pages.
• Thank you, Spain! Dave Riley and Bob Corritore had a wonderful time performing in Spain last week. Special Thanks to Vicente and Roser Zumel and the Societat de Blues Barcelona for their warm hospitality, and for some wonderful gigs at beautiful venues. Barcelona is an amazing, upbeat city with spectacular architecture and fantastic food. It seems that wherever we go in the world, we meet with blues lovers and are drawn together by our common bond. We are reminded of the universal appeal of this music. We also had the opportunity to enjoy Barcelona's top blues and roots record store, Disco 100, which featured an amazing blues selection and showed a real commitment to the music. Thanks to our new friend Felix Slim who opened Friday's show, and whom we went to see on our last night in town at his gig at the Honky Tonk Blues Bar (owned by harmonica player Blas Picón). It was also great to meet many other blues musicians and blues enthusiasts from Barcelona including Lluís Souto (harp player with The King Revelers), The Suitcase Brothers, Ron Burke, Ana Piana, Francesc Fernandez, Pedro Aguilar and his young harp playing son Daniel Aguilar, and others!
• Cadillac Records Reflection: The long-anticipated movie Cadillac Records made its debut a couple of weeks ago to great fanfare and mixed reactions. It is the story of Chess Records, and some of the artists who made the label famous (Muddy Waters, Little Walter, Etta James, Howlin' Wolf, Willie Dixon, and Chuck Berry). The movie was a major production filled with much star power (Beyoncé, Jeffrey Wright, Adrien Brody, Cedric The Entertainer, Mos Def, and others). Though great liberties were taken with the historical facts, the movie presented an entertaining tale of some beloved characters in the blues. Those of us that know the actual history will have many "gulp" moments -- as we bust the flick for its inaccuracies-- but the movie does present a captivating story that will surely bring a new audience to this music. It is also successful in its use of great musicians for the soundtrack (Kim Wilson, Billy Flynn, Eddie Taylor, Jr., Larry Taylor, and Barrelhouse Chuck). Already, sales of the original Chess recordings by Muddy, Wolf, Etta, Chuck, and Little Walter have been boosted. A complete Little Walter collection on Hip-O Select is planned as a direct tie-in with the film. Hopes abound that Cadillac Records will bring a new generation of people into an awareness of this precious musical form and one of the greatest blues labels of all time.
• Bob’s Annual Christmas Blues Radio Special this Sunday: Tune in to KJZZ this Sunday for Bob's radio show, Those Lowdown Blues, as he features his annual Christmas blues special. Bob will spin a full 5 hours of Christmas blues, soul and doo-wop. Bob's radio show can heard in Phoenix each Sunday night from 6 to 11pm at 91.5FM, or on 89.5 in Cottonwood, 98.9 in Tucson, and 99.1 in Kingman. It can be heard anywhere in the world (real-time) via online streaming at www.kjzz.org. To get you in the holiday spirit here is a video of a live performance from 1982 of Charles Brown performing his hit "Merry Christmas Baby"; click here to see.