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Friday, January 18, 2008

Blue Band Update


Just got this from Bob. It is sad to hear about the loss of Jeff's Mom, and Steve's Father in law.


Every year when the weather here in Sparkle City delivers 25 below windchills, I promise myself NO MORE IOWA WINTERS! Maybe next year...

Our Blue Family is experiencing death this week. Steve Hayes' father-in-law, Dr. Ed Ceilley passed away on Monday. This morning, Jeff Petersen's mother Virginia passed away. Tho' both people have been struggling for quite a long time, finality always comes too soon. I did not know Dr. Ceilley personally, but his influence on the Cedar Falls community was gigantic. He had a long and popular family practice in our town and spent many years in the county coroner office. Condolences go out to Steve's wife Angie for the loss of her father. I did know Virginia Petersen. She was always encouraging our band, opened her little house to us whenever we were around Clinton IA and needed a place to stay, and made some of the BEST brownies I've ever tasted! Sincere condolences to Jeff, who has been a friend, coworker, and brother to me for 30 years. Times like this make me think too much. Life's short. Tell the people who you love how much they mean to you TODAY...

The combination of these deaths and the prediction of 30 below windchills through this weekend has made it that we needed to postpone Saturday night's appearance at Lombardi's, south of Dubuque. Lombardi's and the Blue Band want to reschedule, I'll let you know the specific date as soon as that is formalized...

Next Sat., Jan 26 has us trying to help raise money for the Animal Rescue League in Marshalltown. The event takes place at the Coloseum, on Main St. Food and band and most importantly, support of animals, is all included in your $30, tax deductible ticket. Heath and Tommy "T-Bone" Giblin (Iowa Blues Hall of Famer) have promised to be part of the band, so lets' PARTY LIKE AN ANIMAL!! More info and advance tickets available at 641-753-9046...

Because of the gig cancellation, I'm planning on doing my Backtracks radio show live tomorrow night (Sat. 7-10pm) Requests, comments, salutations at -1-800-772-2440, ext. 5. Talk to me babies! KUNI went back to full power Wednesday at 2pm after repairs, due to the ice damage that happened Dec. 1, finally were finished. (you couldn't get me to climb up on a 2000 foot broadcast tower for ANYTHING! Especially during these Iowa winters!) This means that all the satellite frequencies in Dubuque, Quad Cities, and Des Moines should be back to normal. Find the frequency in your area or listen on line at www.kuniradio.org...

Times like this remind me of the Rev. Gary Davis' song Death Don't Have No Mercy In This Land. We love you... Bob Dorr & The Blue Band

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Sick Again! ACK!!!

Well, you think you are over the crud, and it comes back!! One of the hazzards of working with children. They cough on you all the time! Of course the timing is bad as always. with all of the PR the band has recieved this month, we booked an extra gig for tomorrow night at the Gathering Place in Cherokee Iowa. This is going to be tough! But, as they say the show must go on:-) I am going to drink a ton of fluids tonight, and hope for the best! The show starts at 8:30 so I will give it my best shot.

BTW, I am probably going to be posting off and on this weekend. It is going to be busy, sick or not! However, I hope that by Tuesday things should be back to normal! It has been a wild ride this month. With all the gigs, the class, and the reporters:-) I feel like a rockstar:-D However, I am glad that by February I should be back to the plain old anonymous blues blogger who teaches school by day, and plays piano at night. It is nice to be just a regular joe:-)

UPDATE

Well I woke up this morning and I couldn't talk. So the big gig is off for tonight. It is unfortunate that this had to happen, but it is one of those things. If you can talk you can't sing. I suppose an evening of instrumentals is possible, and probably something I should work up so that if this happens again we can play.

UPDATE II

Still not well, and not sure if I am better or not. I don't think I have slept since Wednesday night. Still drinking fluids, but my fever is coming and going. It really feels like flu to me, but I got a flu shot so I don't think it is. I have to be in Des Moines Monday, and I am hoping to be better by then, but I have learned that sometimes it is best to just wait out this stuff, and not force it. I suppose you let nature take its course. I do know that it sucks to be sick when you are a performer, because it is hard to put on a show when you are feeling sick. That is why I think Bobby Darin was an amazing artist who performed with a heart condition for years. That guy had guts! I wish I had just half of the bravado that Darin had, and who knows where I would be:-)




ST Johns Blues Festival

Found an early blues festival listed on the Illinois blues email. Makes you think of warmer weather!! I can't wait for march and a return when the temps start returning to the 40s and 50s:-)


MARCH 19 to MARCH 23rd
THE 6th ANNUAL ST. JOHN BLUES FESTIVAL
Coral Bay Ball Field – Coral Bay
Starring:

Tab Benoit
Chubby Carrier & The Bayou Swamp Band
Waylon Thibodeaux
Sean Carney & The Sean Carney Band

For further information contact Steve Simon at 340-693-8120
stevesimonlive@yahoo.com or go to www.stjohnbluesfestival.com

6 live Blues shows over 5 days beginning on March 19th and running through March 23rd.

Bob Corritore Newsletter


I love this newsletter that Bob sends out to people on his email list. Not only does it cover what he is doing, but it also covers what everyone else is doing. Plus he has links to some great videos. Check out the Johnny Shines videos that he linked to at the bottom of the post. Great stuff!!!!!!!!!!!!

January 17, 2008

  • Travelin' The Dirt Road is #1 in France! The CD Dave Riley and Bob Corritore/Travelin' The Dirt Road on Blue Witch Records is #1 on the January Powerblues chart of France! This is a collective rating done by the blues DJs of this country. A huge thank you to the radio show hosts and blues lovers of France for this beautiful honor. To view the Powerblues listing, click here. This CD also has received a Blues Music Award nomination from The Blues Foundation for "Acoustic Blues Album". Please remember this CD in your BMA voting.
  • Bob Margolin, Diunna Greenleaf, Big Pete Pearson and the Rhythm Room All-Stars Friday and Saturday at the Rhythm Room! Joining Big Pete Pearson and The Rhythm Room All-Stars Friday and Saturday, January 18-19, 2008 will be our dear friends guitarist/vocalist Bob Margolin and vocalist Diunna Greenleaf. Look for some zesty blues performances that all the participants in this line-up are known for. To view the poster for this event, click here. 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 this event. These nights will be patio smoking only events; no indoor smoking will be permitted.
  • Tomcat Courtney CD Cover Unveiled: The cover of Tomcat Courtney/Downsville Blues has been completed. This is one of the most anticipated of Bob Corritore's productions in that it is the first national release by this amazing blues master who has been the secret treasure of San Diego. Tomcat, now 78, was originally from around Waco, Texas, and grew up in the neighboring small town called Downsville (therefore the name of the title song of the album). The cover photo is by Nena Anderson, and cover design by Tony Amato of Amato Image Design, who has designed numerous great CD covers for Bob. Thanks to Dale Baich and Beth Lipham of Blue Witch Records. The rest of the packaging will be unveiled shortly and will include some vintage Tomcat photos plus additional images by Nena Anderson and Tony Tomlinson (of The Fremonts) as well as liner notes by Bill Dahl. But the real treat will be the amazing music that will be coming soon with a release date soon to be announced for later this year. Look for some real down home blues by this spectacular vocalist/guitarist and songsmith. To see the cover of Tomcat Courtney/Downsville Blues, click here.
  • Thanks Juke Blues: The latest beautiful issue of the UK's Juke Blues Magazine features glowing reviews of Chief Schabuttie Gilliame/Snakes Crawls at Night and Willie "Big Eyes" Smith/Way Back, both of which are Bob Corritore's productions. Also in this great issue is an in depth article about the One-Derful label from Chicago, Sherman Robertson, Leon Haywood, and Evejim Records, and a great photo of Bobby Robinson at a rally in Harlem to save his landmark record store from landlord eviction.
  • Superbowl Blues Pre-Party at Rhythm Room announced: Dave Riley and Bob Corritore (with band) will be the hosts of Super Bowl Eve Blues showcase on February 2, 2008 that will include special guests Long John Hunter and Big Pete Pearson. 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 this event. This night will be a patio smoking only event; no indoor smoking will be permitted.
  • Johnny Shines on YouTube: One of the greatest country blues singers and guitarists, Johnny Shines has frequently been overlooked . He was a traveling companion of the legendary Robert Johnson. Shines was a stirring slide player and had a rich and electrifying voice. He started his recording career in the 1950's cutting sides on J.O.B. and Chess. He would make an easy transition back and forth between solo country blues and ensemble Chicago blues, of which he played both styles to perfection. For his bio, click here. Seeing these videos reminds us of his brilliance in the blues. Please enjoy.

Johnny performing a fantastic version of "Sweet Home Chicago" on acoustic guitar. Done in the style of Robert Johnson but with all of Johnny's amazing musical personality, click here.

Johnny Shines performing a shortened version of his song Ramblin' on electric guitar, originally recorded on the J.O.B. label. Great slide guitar, click here

Johnny Shines performing Ramblin' on acoustic guitar live in concert, click here.

-Bob

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Taylor Hicks: Georgia On My Mind

Brother Ray's great tribute to Georgia as interpretived by Taylor Hicks.


Lovesprials


From Ariel Publicity comes information about another interesting band called Lovesprials.


Here is their press release from Ariel Publicity


Lovespirals have truly hit their stride on this third album, Long Way From Home. Melding the dreamy folk and rock of their 2002 debut, Windblown Kiss, with the soulful jazz and blues of 2005 follow-up Free & Easy, the duo seamlessly blend prior influences with new sounds and styles. “Sultry chanteuse”, Anji Bee, spins seductive tales of beautiful sadness and spiritual longing set to band founder, Ryan Lum’s masterfully melancholic music.

After nearly a decade of artistic collaboration between singer/songwriter, Anji Bee, and multi-instrumentalist/producer, Ryan Lum, it seems almost a moot point that Lovespirals evolved out of Projekt act, Love Spirals Downwards. Yet Lum’s former band incarnation remains popular within dream pop circles; popular enough that his first 2 early 90’s albums are currently being reissued. And Love Spirals Downwards have long held the reputation as Projekt’s best selling act. So though Lovespirals have been around as long as LSD, the two projects are inextricably linked in many people’s minds.

Still, Lovespirals have gained many new fans, from both their heavy involvement with the digital music revolution and their growing popularity in the podcasting world. Lovespirals were a forerunner of band pocdasting, launching Chillin’ with Lovespials in mid-2005. This Podshow syndicated podcast has detailed their work on Long Way From Home, leaking clips of songs in progress, as well as remixes, live recordings, and demos with thousands of listeners monthly. Bee’s popular podsafe music podcast, The Chillcast, has won the band additional fans due in no small part to her stature as “the sexiest voice in podcasting.”

Lovespirals were one of the first bands to join the Podsafe Music Network, founded by PodShow owner, Adam Curry. The band enjoys strong support not only from Curry’s seminal Daily Source Code, but from many other renowned podcasts including Accident Hash, Rumor Girls, Dave’s Lounge, and Coverville. The album’s first podsafe single, “Motherless Child”, was remixed by indie bands including Karmacoda, Hungry Lucy, and MoShang, for a digital EP which is entirely podsafe.

Multi-award winning music podcaster, C.C. Chapman, has said Long Way From Home is Lovespirals best work to date, and the band agree. In fact, Lum believes this is his finest work, bar none. Long time fans will be pleased to hear the duo return to their dream pop roots, as well as their return to vocal and guitar based songwriting. With Long Way From Home, bluesy electric guitar abounds, with touches of wistful slide guitar, tinkling piano, and haunting harmonica to evoke a lush, organic, Americana feel. Bee’s vocal harmonies soar confidently alongside Lum’s guitar with that trademark blend of childlike innocence and mature sensuality that has endeared her to listeners new and old.

Lovespirals’ music has appeared on TV and cable including MTV, VH1, E!, and The Oprah Winfrey Show.

Free & Easy and Windblown Kiss (and soon Long Way From Home) are available digitally via iTunes, Rhapsody, Emusic, MusicMatch and Napster, as well as in CD format through Amazon, CDBaby, and other online retailers. Chillcuts worked with Metropolis, Noise Kontrol and Monitor for distribution to stores in the US, Mexico, and Hong Kong.



Sounds like
Norah Jones, Everything But the Girl, Mojave 3, Mazzy Star, John Mayer
Influenced by
Pink Floyd, Neil Young, Fleetwood Mac, k.d. lang, Cocteau Twins, His Name Is Alive

Charlie A'Court


Got an email from one of my friends KraftR about a blues artist named Charlie A'Court. Check him out!!


Charlie is a 29 year old singer/songwriter from Nova Scotia. He is an indie artist, and has two albums out, working on his third. I introduced him to the Boogie Board, and was overwhelmed by the positive response I received, they seem to like his music as much as I do. He was nice enough to connect to the board, and even got online with us live one night while we listened to his albums, and he discussed his music and answered our questions. He is a personable man with a great sense of humour.

Charlie has won numerous awards in these parts, including East Coast Music awards (a pretty big deal in Canada). This Fall he won Music Nova Scotia’s “Blues/R&B Artist Recording of the year”, and has won various other awards for his current album “Bring On The Storm”.

Charlie’s first album, “Color Me Gone” is more blues oriented than the Current “Bring On The Storm, which has a more contemporary feel. I describe Charlie’s music style as a contemporary interpretation of the Blues tradition, I think his vision is similar to Taylor Hicks in that regard, but I could be wrong, what do I know? Here’s what I do know….. I like it. I hope you do too. Charlie plays all the guitars on his “Color Me Gone” album, and most of them on “Bring On The Storm”. I have seen him live, and he is wonderful to watch. He frequently starts his tunes live with a bit of a solo. His voice has a rich tone, and he has great range. He uses his wonderful falsetto to maximum effect.

Here’s where you can find him on the web, song samples on the MySpace page…:

www.charlieacourt.com
www.myspace.com/charlieacourt
www.sonicbids.com/charlieacourt

Rob Enos RIP

Just got this sad news from Bob Corritore About Rob Enos former trumpet player for Roomful of Blues.


January 14, 2008

Sunday, January 13, 2008

January Madness, Or Why I Haven't Posted Much This Month!

We started out on NYE playing at the Gathering place. We had a small crowd but they had a great time.
Here is me and Don sharing a laugh at the Cherokee Jazz and Blues festival
The great Erick Hovey tuning up before he played at BVU as part of the January Blues Series
Here are a couple of nice pics taken by Dolores Cullen of the Storm Lake Times.
The second pic from Dolores.


If it wasn't a gig then it was class, and I still have two more gigs and a week more of classes before I get my nights back!!! It has been a wild couple of weeks and looks to be at least one more great week. Monday night I play piano for Bob Dorr at Buena Vista University, then on Friday after, my class ends at BV, I will rush over to Cherokee and the Gathering Place for our first Third Friday Live! show.

I also wanted to thank the Chronicle Times of Cherokee, the Sioux City Journal, and the Pilot Tribune, and Storm Lake Times, of Storm Lake for there great stories on our band and my blues class.

Hopefully I can return to full time blogging after next week!

Reno Jack And Sunday Wilde


Just got an email to check out this very interesting duo known as Reno Jack and Sunday Wilde. They are an interesting combo of upright bass, and vocals! They certainly have a unique sound. There myspace page is HERE, and their webpage is HERE. Below is a clip of them from Youtube.



Blues Historian Review: Little Arthur Duncan, Live At Rosa's Blues Lounge


I just received a great DVD from the fine folks at Delmark Records, called Little Arthur Duncan: Live At Rosa's Blues Lounge. This is a great visual document of one of those players that the rest of the world needs to see and hear. Little Arthur was born in Indianola Mississippi in 1934, and like many Mississippi bluesmen moved north to Chicago. Little Arthur is a classic in all sense of the word. His set recorded at Rosa's is classic Chicago blues at its finest. I know that the blurb on the DVD talks about the band not being very slick(click here), but hey, that is what makes them so appealing. Duncan reminds me a little bit vocally like Sonny Boy Williamson II, and the band can certainly grove like those classic harp driven classics from the 50s. The band doesn't want to slow down, and keeps it up tempo until they get to the Howling Wolf classic Little Red Rooster, which is the 8 song of the set! Young Fashioned Ways makes me think one of the beauties of the blues is the love and respect that is paid to the older bluesman. I have always said that most forms of popular music is a young mans game. Especially today in our Star-Crazed, American Idol, what have you done for me lately, music business, but the blues is still an old mans game. We respect our elders, and they in return show us how its done. Little Arthur may be 70+ years old, but he is a master of the blues, and what Muddy Waters said many years ago is true that the blues takes a lifetime to master! If you would like to order this great DVD then Click HERE and while you are there check out some of the great blues and jazz recordings available at Delmark Records.