July 13, 2009
- Off To Canada to Perform at the Cisco Ottawa Blues Festival! The Rhythm Room All-Stars (Big Pete Pearson, Bob Corritore, Chris James, Patrick Rynn, and Brian Fahey) head to Canada this week to perform at The Cisco Ottawa Blues Festival, which is going on as we speak. Joining the group for this festival will be the great David Maxwell on piano, and in part of our set, we will call up Kaz Kazanoff and the Texas horns. Both David and Kaz are artists in residence at the festival, and we look forward to supplementing our sound with these great players. The Rhythm Room All-Stars will also back Bob's lifelong friend Louisiana Red for Red's Saturday set. Our performance schedule at The Cisco Ottawa Blues Festival is as follows:
Friday: Barney Danson Theatre, 9pm Rhythm Room All-Stars set
Saturday: Subway Stage, 2:30pm Rhythm Room All-Stars set, then 4:30pm Louisiana Red set
Sunday: Blacksheep Stage, 6:30pm Rhythm Room All-Stars Set
Other blues and roots acts who are part of the festival include Hubert Sumlin, Buckwheat Zydeco, Dave Alvin & The Guilty Women, Eden Brent, Larry McCray, Daddy Mack Blues Band, Roomful of Blues, Reverend Billy C. Wirtz, Cedric Burnside & Lightnin’ Malcolm, Diunna Greenleaf and Blue Mercy, Saffire - The Uppity Blueswomen, Henry Butler, Moreland & Arbuckle, Otis Taylor, Cassie Taylor, T.J. Wheeler, Doyle Bramhall, Papa Mali, Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings, That One Guy, The Soul Of John Black, Zac Harmon, Shemekia Copeland, Sugar Blue, JW Jones Band with Little Charlie Baty, Homemade Jamz, Sista Monica, Larry Garner, Mick Taylor, Freddie Roulette, Paul Reddick, and many others. Note that the festival began on Wednesday, July 8, 2009, and many great acts have already performed. Many types of music other than blues are represented at The Cisco Ottawa Blues Festival, and acts as diverse as Lynyrd Skynyrd, Styx, KISS, Van der Graaf Generator, The Yardbirds, Alan Parsons Live Project, Ornette Coleman, Ani DiFranco, Toots and the Maytals, King Khan & BBQ Show, Drive-By Truckers, CAKE, Ludacris, Busta Rhymes, Ice Cube, Steve Poltz, Jeff Beck, Ben Harper, Joe Cocker, Los Lonely Boys, Handsome Furs, DeVotchKa, Our Lady Peace, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the church, Stone Temple Pilots, Brian Setzer Orchestra, Our Lady Peace, The Black Keys, Loreena McKennitt, Jackson Browne, Dave Mason, Israel & New Breed, David Lindley, and many others also appear on the festival roster. The Rhythm Room All-Stars are very proud to be a part of The Cisco Ottawa Blues Festival. For the complete lineup, and more information on this amazing event, click here.
- Big Pete Pearson/Finger In Your Eye #1 on CRB Radio Charts! This just in! Big Pete Pearson's latest CD Finger In Your Eye (VizzTone Label Group) was number one on the Collectif des Radios Blues charts in the month of June. The CRB charts are compiled from the playlists of numerous French, Belgian, and Canadian blues radio shows. To see these charts, click here and here. Thanks to all the CRB DJs who made this possible!
- Dave Riley/Bob Corritore MySpace Revamped + Song Samples from Forthcoming CD Included: The Dave Riley/Bob Corritore MySpace site has just been revamped in preparation for their highly anticipated new CD Lucky To Be Living, which will be released September 8, 2009 on Blue Witch Records. Song samples from the new release have just been uploaded on the site, along with songs from their first CD, Travelin' The Dirt Road, also on Blue Witch. Tour dates and CD release party information have also been added, as well as a number of new photos. To see the revamped MySpace and hear selections from the new CD, click here.
- Chicago Blues Guide's Tribute To Koko Taylor: Special thanks to Linda Cain and the Chicago Blues Guide for lovingly compiling remembrances and photos of Koko Taylor in a recently published piece. Click here to see the article. The Queen of the Blues is gone, but will never be forgotten.
- A Morbid Occurrence Affecting The Blues: This sad news from Chicago: A grave-robbing scheme was discovered at the historic Burr Oak Cemetery where Willie Dixon, Dinah Washington, and Otis Spann were laid to rest, as well as Emmett Till. Apparently, graveyard employees were digging up hundreds of graves and reselling the plots, while discarding the remains. No word yet on whether historic blues artists graves were disturbed. To read more about this sad story, click here.
- Henry Gray New Release: Henry Gray is among the highest stature of blues piano players. Henry was born in Kenner, Louisiana on January 19, 1925. Henry moved to Chicago in 1946 and studied under pianist Big Maceo, who remains his greatest stylistic influence. He is best known for his work in the 1950s and 1960s in Chicago as a key member of Howlin' Wolf's band. He also recorded classic sides with Jimmy Rogers, Jimmy Reed, Billy Boy Arnold, Little Walter, and Morris Pejoe, as well as brilliant sides under his name. Returning to his home state of Louisiana in 1968, Henry upholds the blues piano tradition locally, and at numerous festival dates around the world. In 2006, Henry Gray was awarded a Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, an undeniable acknowledgement of his great talent. Lucky Cat Records has just released a new Henry Gray CD that shows Henry in fine form, backed by his dedicated road band "The Cats". The CD is called Times Are Getting Hard (reworking a song originally released on Henry's Plays Chicago Blues CD), and Henry includes a number of new original songs, including the riveting "Barack Obama Boogie". Thanks to bassist/manager Andy Cornett for releasing this fine CD, and for years of looking out for Henry. To find out more about this release, click here. To see a photo page devoted to the great Henry Gray, click here.
- Dinah Washington on YouTube! Please enjoy these wonderful, vintage clips of the amazing Dinah Washington. She possessed one of the greatest singing voices ever. To see her singing "Send Me To The 'Lectric Chair", click here; and to see her singing "I Don't Hurt", click here.
No comments:
Post a Comment