May 22, 2009
- Chico Chism Memorial Birthday Bash May 23, 2009 at the Rhythm Room: Chico Chism, best known as Howlin' Wolf's last drummer, moved to Phoenix in 1986, and immediately become an esteemed hero in the Phoenix blues community. For 20 years he made Phoenix his home, and his presence was a major positive influence and prestigious bragging point of Phoenix. Though he passed away on January 28, 2007, he is fondly remembered. In honor of what would have been his birthday, Saturday, May 23, 2009, there will be a musical tribute at the Rhythm Room Concert Club featuring many of the musicians whose lives were touched by the man. There will be a Phoenix Blues Society meeting first, with 7:30pm doors, and the PBS meeting from 8-8:30pm. Then, music will start at 8:30pm with The Flamekeepers (Chico's Last Band), Dave Riley & Bob Corritore, Sugar Thieves Featuring Mikel Lander & Meridith Moore, Hans Olson, Bluzone, Nina Curri, DelRayz, and others. Cover charge is $7. The Rhythm Room is located at 1019 E. Indian School Rd. in Phoenix. Rack Shack Barbeque will be available at this event. This night will be a patio smoking only event; no indoor smoking will be permitted. Please enjoy these photo pages of our friend, the late Chico Chism (page 1 click here, page 2 click here, page 3 click here, page 4 click here, page 5 click here.
- 2009 BMA Photos by David Blake Posted: Phoenix-based photographer David Blake has a special touch for photographing the blues, and his images often capture a moment with grace. His Images graced the covers of Big Pete Pearson's I'm Here Baby and Finger In Your Eye. Though his name is a little under the radar as a blues photographer, the quality of his work is superb. Check out his photos from the 2009 Blues Music Awards in Memphis; click here to see. You might also enjoy his "Daily Dose Of the Blues" galleries, which you can see by clicking here.
- Great Reviews Of Chris James, Patrick Rynn, and Bob Corritore’s Appearance at the Simply The Blues Festival: Very special thanks to Ben the Harpman of Juke Joint Soul and Bob Kieser of Blues Blast Magazine. Both writers refer to the set by Chris James and Patrick Rynn with Bob Corritore and Kurt Kalker at the Simply The Blues Festival in Fort Madison, Iowa on May 9, 2009 as their favorite. To see the review in Juke Joint Soul, click here, and to see the review in Blues Blast, click here. Special thanks also to Eric Steiner of the Washington Blues Society for his great review of the Broadcasting The Blues CD in the same issue of Blues Blast Magazine.
- Correction on BMA Recap: We apologize for the misinformation, as it was not Ruthie Foster on Gaye Adegbalola's coming out set at the Blues Music Awards. Gaye sent this note along: "Thanks for the nice nod, but the woman singing with me was Resa Gibbs, not Ruthie Foster. Resa is openly out, too; as is the piano player, Roddy Barnes. Of the seven of us on stage, four were openly out; I dare say a first for any blues event. I was so proud that I could be so free."
- Big Pete Pearson, Paris James, and Bob Corritore to Make Return Appearance at Quiessence: The beautiful, open-air restaurant Quiessence will feature a return appearance by Big Pete Pearson, Paris James, and Bob Corritore performing a night of down home blues on Thursday, May 28th. Quiessence is located at 6106 S. 32nd St., Phoenix, AZ 85042. Fine dining at its best to an evening of top-notch blues! At their last appearance, this event was at capacity, so it would be best to make reservations early. For more information, click here.
- Fats Domino on YouTube: Please enjoy this great vintage clip of Fats Domino lip-synching his great hit “Ain’t That A Shame in all his glory. Click here to see.”
- A Great European Tour! The Rhythm Room All-Stars (Big Pete Pearson, Bob Corritore, Chris James, Patrick Rynn, and Brian Fahey) come back exhilarated from our trip to Belgium and France. We were given a warm reception at each of the performances. After flying in on Thursday afternoon, we met up with Franky Bruneel, the editor of Belgium's Back To The Roots Magazine and the person who set up our tour. (Franky would serve as our tour manager and he had carefully set up each leg of the trip.) That night, we were treated to a wonderful home-cooked meal at the home of Christian and Renee Boncour, the owners of Blues Station in Tournon D'Agenais, France, where we were to play the next night. After a simply wonderful meal and wonderful company, we were interviewed as a band by Xavier Boulanger of the Collectif des Radios Blues for his Radio Baker Street show. The next night we played to a packed house at Blues Station, complete with a great opening set by Rag Mama Rag. To see the website for this show, click here. The next day was a quick flight from the Toulouse airport to Brussels, then a van ride to Ecaussinnes, Belgium where we checked into the hotel, freshened up a bit, and headed straight to the Spring Blues Festival. What a great event this festival is! The lineup this year included Joe Louis Walker, Sugar Ray & The Bluetones (featuring Monster Mike Welch), The Rhythm Room All-Stars, James Harman Band (featuring Gene Taylor), Mac Arnold & Plate Full O' Blues, the Fruteland Jackson & Bob Hall Show, and Jimson Weed. The master of ceremonies will be André Hobus. To see the poster for this event, click here.
When we arrived at the Spring Blues Festival we were greeted by the music of Mac Arnold sounding just great on the stage, and a hello by my longtime friend James Harman. After being shown our dressing room, we checked in CDs at the Back To The Roots booth, where countless photographers were snapping pictures, and we were greeted by friends and fans. It was so great to meet in person my email friend Marc De Jonghe, who has provided many photos for the website (click here to see). It was also great to see Michel Remond, who was looking just great after suffering a minor stroke last year. Michel (with the help of Jocelyn Richez) was the first to reach out and get us a European festival gig, and I will be forever grateful. Freddy Celis from Rootstime Magazine (another fine blues publication from Belgium) conducted an amazingly in-depth interview in the rushed, 30 minute window of time that we had available before our festival set. After a killer set by James Harman (that included Gene Taylor on piano who now lives in Belgium), we set up our gear and took the stage. After a wonderful announcement by emcee André Hobus, we broke into a set that made us all feel proud. We were provided great equipment, a great sound system and crew, and the best of audiences. What a great feeling it is to have everything clicking, and to be able to share yourself to an audience with total acceptance! As we were getting ready to perform our encore, the festival presented Chris James with a surprise birthday gift of Belgium chocolates (It was actually Chris's birthday). After our set, we went to the Back To The Roots booth and enjoyed a seemingly endless stream of CD sales, autograph signings, photo ops, and greetings. After that were wonderful sets by Sugar Ray & The Bluetones and Joe Louis Walker. To read a nice review (compete with photos) of the Spring Blues Festival, click here, and and click the concert review link, then the SBF link.
Some of the other people we ran across at the Spring Blues Festival were Jacques Perin and his wife Monique of Soul Bag Magazine, Jean Pierre Urbain of ABS Magazine, Didier Chaumier and Lucky Jean Luc of Oreille Bleue, Dominique Floch of the Beautiful Swamp Blues Festival, Georges Lemaire, Dominique Cranshoff, Joel Bizon and Claude Dannic of BCR, Henri Mayoux of France's Blues Magazine, Guido Schmidt and his wife from the Lucerne Blues Festival, Fabrizio Berti, Mike Stephenson (Blues & Rhythm Magazine), Aigars Lapsa, Lil Hobus, and Guido Heynderycx, as well as fellow musicians Sugar Ray Norcia (who introduced me to Anthony Geraci), Mudcat Ward, Henry Oden, Gene Taylor, Mac Arnold, James Harman, and many others. We found out after we got back that our close friends Richie and Teresa Villiger were also there, but we unfortunately never connected with them in the large crowd. My friend Fruteland Jackson was there, but I also never saw him to say hello. The next morning Kim and I ran into Joe Louis Walker at breakfast. Joe immediately brought up our mutual friend the late Chico Chism, who Joe dearly loved. Also that morning, Big Pete Pearson was interviewed by Mike Stephanson for the UK's Blues and Rhythm Magazine. We then travelled to a the beautiful Belgium town of Zottegem, where we would play at a small but mighty club called De Blauwe Wolk which means "The Blue Cloud". We had a wonderful crowd of blues lovers who were there specifically to see us. I met a man that called himself Doc, who had with him the first three LPs that I produced, which he asked me to sign (these LPs were Little Willie Anderson/Swinging The Blues, Big Leon Brooks/Let's Go To Town and Low Blows, an anthology of Chicago blues harmonica from the 1970s and early 80s). We played two spirited sets and two encores before calling it a night. The next day it was off to the airport for our flight back home where we hated to say goodbye to our friend Franky Bruneel and our driver Kirk. Thanks, Franky, for a wonderful adventure and for your constant support of the blues.
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