Blues and Nothing But The Blues.

Torch Club Rare Thursday Night Performance.

2012-05-02T22:37:26Z

This Thursday night, The Torch Club will be hosting San Francisco artist Seth Augustus who is a proficient blues musician. What is so rare about a blues musician appearing in a blues venue? Throat singing. Seth Augustus is a throat singer who studied under Paul Pena, one of the foremost blues musicians of our time.

Throat singing is very different from normal singing. It takes years of discipline and practice to learn to hold the throat and stomach muscles before you can isolate sounds and master them well enough to sing repeatedly. Throat singing was originally part of the Inuit culture - women would have contests to outlast each other and it is a normal part of Tuvin and Mongolian cultures. Throat singing allows the singer to sing with two, and sometimes even four, voices at once.
Sacramento's premiere blues venue, the Torch Club, has been expanding its range of blues performances from the normal standards to contemporary blues, Deep South blues, as well as international artists. Now with Augustus, patrons and music lovers of all genres can come down tomorrow night and see something they have never seen before...and might not see again for quite some time.

Augustus, who hails from Pennsylvania and relocated to San Francisco twenty years ago, was always experimenting with different ways to make music transcend what is already familiar to the mind and ears.
"You know how a guitar is supposed to sound, or a saxophone or drums, but when you sing in this style, people are not expecting this kind of sound. They are already used to hearing vocals the way many people sing, which is through the nasal passages and from your upper torso. Throat singing is almost like growling and few recording artists, like Pena or even Johnny Rawls have been able to grasp it fully."

In the latter part of the 1990s, Augustus met blind blues legend Paul Pena ("Big Ol Jet Airliner"), and the two were inseparable up until Pena's death in 2005. Through Pena’s encouragement, Augustus travelled to Tuva where he studied throat singing and has been building on that experience ever since.
In 2010, Augustus released "To The Pouring Rain" (Little Dog). Take some Tom Waits, mix in some slide guitar and heavy bass and you're on your way to a tasty evening full of that good blues flavor we all love but never hear enough of.
Truly, of all the shows they have done in past years, this performance tomorrow night is destined to be both original and rare. You don't want to miss this one!

Doors open at 9pm, $5 cover.

http://www.myspace.com/sethaugustus

Volker Strifler unveils stellar lineup in unprecedented Torch Club debut.

2011-03-30T08:30:33Z

Sometimes, amazing things are happening right under your nose and all it takes is for one small moment to grab you and change your course of direction, sucking you into something you would normally have walked right past and never given a second thought.

Saturday, March 11th. The night was clear and I had just finished a long interview at Zen Sushi with restauranteur Jason Hon. I stood at the corner of 15th and I Street, waiting for the light to change. It was quiet and I was admiring the way the spotlights showcased the brickface of the Memorial Auditorium when the silver door to the Torch Club swung open. The blues that poured out of that door was the kind I hadn't heard in a long, long time. It was a jazzy, Delta blues sound from back in the Cotton Club era and it was the real thing.

"Who in the HECK is that?", I said to myself as I turned on my heel. Like an addict to the drug, into the joint I went.

I glanced at the handwritten sign hanging in the entryway. "Volker Strifler Band, $10" I paused. This can't be Volker Strifler.

My first look at the Volker Strifler Band was a few years back at a Sacramento Blues Society event. I remember a few guys with big hair, fancy shoes, guitar shredding and mismanaged sound with a heavy dose of poor attitude. I felt like I was listening to a group of recycled metal heads, each fighting to make his resurgence by way of the Blues by over-shredding. Not for me.

Then I saw them on the lineup list last year for the Northern California Blues Festival and I made sure my shift had me working the ticket counter. I took a pass on photographing the man whose myspace Bio uses the words extraordinaire and languorous. It was too hot for pomp, no matter the circumstance.

Yet there I was, utterly stupefied. The sound literally jerked me from my thoughts and brought me in the door from the street corner with such an interest, I could not have paid the cover fast enough. At first, I thought maybe he was a special guest in someone else's band or maybe he was using a local backup band. It simply wasn't the same guy I'd first heard years ago. This guy, this sound was making my blood stir. I found a seat on the bench near the front of the stage, soaking up the vibe.

The room was thick with the sweat of soulfulness. There was no fretboard surfing. Nobody was playing guitar behind their head. This was tight, purposeful, gut-wrenching blues. The kind of deep, passionate sound you feel through your bones when reknown artists like Michael 'Ironman' Burks lean back and wail and you just stand there watching, with your mouth slightly open, forgetting about the camera you're holding in your hands.

Then, a horn section revved up. Mad applause ensued. Volker had his guitar turned down and he was focusing on the projection of his vocals and it gave the room intimacy, allowing the bass and the horns to reach their full bouquet. As I rested my back against the wall, I could feel the energy bouncing off of me and it made my hair stand on end.

Oh, I'm sorry, did I forget to mention the horn section? It was mad, mad brass...mad applause. It was crazy.

About this time, Volker started to introduce "the band". Drums - Berklee Percussion Legend -T.J. Moran. Bass - Dewayne Pate (Robin Ford, Arturo Sandoval). Tenor Trombone - Carl Bowers (Dizzy Gillespie, Jerry Lewis). Sax - David Schrader (San Francisco Quartet, SF Symphony and Opera).

As my gaze fell to the left side of the stage, I could not believe my eyes - Michael Emerson on keys.

No time to gawk. I dug into my bag for a pen and something to scratch some scribble onto.

"The swanky drawl of a muffled trombone dripped with desire through an Ambient microphone, bringing the room back to the 1930's. It was captivating. A jazzy, improvosational version of "Somebody Help Me" (The Dance Goes On/Blue RockIt Records), from VSB's 2006 CD, set a hush over the room." I wrote that down and then crossed it out. What a line of crap.

This isn't a glossy fluff piece. This is blues of the respectful kind and I needed to properly describe everything I was experiencing. I wanted to document the facts for all of you so you would all know it when you heard it; the sound of a man whose heart is reaching out of his body, trying to touch every person in the room.

Strifler begged into the microphone with painful expression, "Lord, please, somebody help me..."
"...Sometimes it's rough, I'm hangin' tough... Somebody help me Lord, cause I can't see."

(Yes Lord, I thought to myself, help me. Help me write faster.)

During the brief break between sets, Liz DiGiorgio, the band's Manager, did a little bit of fancy navigating and as I scribbled away furiously, Volker sat down across from me on a little wooden stool.

Within a span of a few minutes I imposed upon him to tell me how he managed to turn his sound around and tighten up the ship to such a degree that it has, in my small opinion, put him leaps and bounds beyond where he's ever been before.

"I am trying to reach into my heart and I'll be honest with you." He looked me in the eye as he spoke to me and his face was full of hope and excitement.

"I'm scared to do this tonight - to make such a drastic change with this band for the first time up here like this, live. We've been playing together on and off for the last few years but never just like this. Tonight is the first time."

Ah, yes... there he was, telling me how he's following his heart and how it is leading him through it all. It was "truth time" for me.

So I told him the story of the big hair and the fancy shoes and the bad attitude and that terrible bio. I told him how this new sound pulled me into the club from the street corner while I was intending to just go home for the night and that by all accounts, this was a different man I saw sitting across from me. Tonight, I saw guts, improv, musicianship, respect and plenty of heart and soul laid wide open for everyone to take a piece of.

I applauded his ability to share this very personal experience of his, this night, with all of us.

Taking the stage again for the final set, the band opened with an instrumental number. It's beat seemed tantric, as if the sound challenged some mythical Jazz God from a distant century to come forth. The crowd started crouching lower and lower in a rhythmic, prehistoric-like dance. The volume surged, the crowd cheered for more...more...

Finally home for the night, I couldn't sleep. Big hair, fancy boots, egotistical, loud sounding, fret-shredding, reconstituted Dokken looking band...it had all vanished and there was only one thing left to say.

I had a really, really great time and I can't wait to see these guys again.

Try www.volkerstrifler.com for more information about the band and their calendar.

Daniel Castro Band packs Torch Club. RIP Johnny Nitro.

2011-03-02T10:47:06Z

It's Thursday, just past midnight, and I've been at the Torch Club to see Trampled Under Foot. I'm out back behind my house sitting in the car, listening to the rain fall on the roof. Since last Saturday night, I've been so busy that the days have become a blur. The more I need things to slow down, the faster I am being pulled through an undertow of phone calls, discussions and fires that need putting out — all the while sitting on this review. I can't even come up with a title.

The Daniel Castro Band packed the Torch Club last Saturday, February 19th. It was, by all accounts, one of those nights where everything flowed perfectly — as if by stepping through the front door, you entered into a private psychedelic blues fishbowl, a musical wonderland where the whole room was having a great time and everyone was happy to see you.

The songs were more fun to dance to, the beer was colder and fresher, and it was my friend Sally Katen's birthday. There was cake!

It was a night of celebration and laughter that ended so abruptly, I didn't know how to put it into words, so I haven't, until now.

Here, in my car, in the quiet of the night, I can gather my thoughts. Nobody can call me or text me and the only things moving fast are the drops of rain falling on the roof.

When I was a DJ back in 1988, my favorite dance song was MARRS' "Pump Up the Volume," a high-energy, house montage with a beat that ran every sensory nerve in your spine from the second it cranked up. I catch a lot of flack from my friends, but, to this day, I still love that song.

There was a section where the pulsing beat chanted, "Put the needle on the record/ Put the needle on the record/ Put the needle on the record/ Put the needle on the record/ Put the needle on the record ‘til the drumbeats go like this..." and an African vocal solo followed while the beat just kept on getting better, and you twisted yourself on the dance floor until you cramped every muscle in your body.

That is what the energy was like in the room that night.

Castro gets that club flowing in a way that I can only describe as pure Castro Mojo. The Torch Club doesn't pack it in for just any schmo. Castro is a beloved part of the Torch Club, and his band brings a sound that everyone wants, and wants to keep a secret for themselves and their closest friends. When the word gets out that the Daniel Castro Band is doing a Saturday night, everyone comes to party and brings their best party buddies.

I once said that Castro's music is like the soundtrack to your life, and it’s true. You are taken to places you remember in your past, and you are reminded of past loves. There's deep emotion, and then, you're jumping around like a kid.

It might be blues and not house music, but he can "put the needle on the record" when they kick up with songs like "Let Me Love You Baby," "Empty Arms," "Talk About My Baby," "Funky for the Ice Man" and, one of my personal favorites, "Start It Up."

One of the last songs Castro sang was the song that made me such a fan of his work, "I Play the Blues for You." While this song was playing, my phone vibrated in my pocket. I loved this song and didn't want to be interrupted, so ignored my phone.

At the end of the evening, I was talking to Castro about this review and how it was such an amazing evening. I reached in to my pocket and pulled out my phone.

The needle carrying the rhythm of laughter in the club screeched across the record running in my head and the fun was over.

There, in a text from blues singer Pinkie Rideau, were only a few words. And, without thinking, I looked at Castro and said something about it.

"What did you just say? Who are you talking about?" he asked.

"Johnny Nitro died tonight at 6 p.m."

I immediately wished I could have taken back what I had said. The look on Castro's face let me know this had hit him hard. I later learned that he and Nitro had played together at the Saloon in San Francisco, where Nitro passed away in the room he occupied upstairs from the club. I felt terrible about having had so, so much fun, and I didn't feel I could appropriately write about it until today.

So, I didn't ask Castro anything about Nitro last week. I didn't call to talk about the success of last Saturday evening. Instead, I let him have his privacy and I thought about the words to the song he sang that night:

“If you're down and out and you hurt real good,
Come on over to the place I work,
And all your loneliness, I'll try to sooth .
I'll play the blues for you.

Don't be afraid, come on in.
You might run across some of your old friends.
And all your loneliness, I'll try to sooth.
I'll play the blues for you.

Ain't no big name, ain't no big star.
I'll play the blues for you on my guitar .
All your loneliness, I'll try to sooth.
...I'll play the blues for you.”

____

Because I didn't personally know Johnny Nitro, I don't feel it is appropriate to try and describe what kind of person he was, but I will include a passage from SFBlues.net. They had a link to his obituary and I've included it here.

(02-20) 20:41 PST SAN FRANCISCO -- Johnny Nitro's life ended like one of his gigs: in an old North Beach bar, on a Saturday night, surrounded by fans.

Mr. Nitro, whose raspy voice and low-down rhythm guitar made him a beloved fixture in the Bay Area blues scene, died Saturday evening in his apartment upstairs from the Saloon on Grant Avenue, where he performed regularly for decades.

"The paramedics came. It was chaos. But when they brought his body down wrapped in a white sheet, everyone just got quiet and started applauding. It was amazing," said Futoshi Morioka, a San Francisco guitarist who was playing at the Saloon when Mr. Nitro died.

"We finished the set because Johnny would have wanted that," Morioka said. "But then we played Bill Withers' 'Lean on Me' in his honor. I just played my heart out for him."

Mr. Nitro, 59, had been suffering from heart disease and diabetes for several years. In December, he collapsed onstage and was hospitalized for several days but was back performing the next weekend, said Burton Winn of San Anselmo, the bassist for Mr. Nitro's band, the Doorslammers.

"We've lost an institution," Winn said. "When he played, it was like he was in your living room, talking directly to you. He's irreplaceable."

Despite his health problems, Mr. Nitro was among the most tireless musicians in the Bay Area, his friends and colleagues said. He played several nights a week, taught at the Blue Bear School of Music at Fort Mason and mentored dozens of younger musicians.

"I'm 10 years younger than him, and he would wear my ass out," said Kathy Tejcka of Benicia, who played keyboard for the Doorslammers. "He rocked."

Mr. Nitro, whose real name was John Newton, grew up in Sacramento. When he was 13, he saved his lunch money and bought his first guitar from a pawn shop, teaching himself to play by listening to friends' B.B. King records.

A scholarship to the San Francisco Art Institute brought him to North Beach in the 1970s, and, since then, he rarely left. He lived for a while in a 1947 panel truck and worked as a car mechanic to make ends meet.

For a short time, he worked at Sears Point and other raceways.

"I was the guy who mixed the fuel, so I was Nitro Man," he told The Chronicle in 2006, explaining the origins of his stage name.

Mr. Nitro performed with stars such as Albert Collins and Albert King, and released several albums. Collins covered one of Mr. Nitro's original songs, "Dirty Dishes."

Like most blues artists, Mr. Nitro loved to tell a good story. Onstage at the Saloon, he'd chat with the audience, flirt with women, tell jokes and keep the crowd - which typically included local regulars and tourists from around the world - dancing all night.

"His presence onstage was irresistible," Morioka said. "He could just stand there holding his guitar but had so much charisma."

Among Mr. Nitro's favorite quips, said Tejcka, was this: "Keep drinking triples till you're seeing double, feeling single and getting in trouble."

Mr. Nitro himself quit drinking and smoking several years ago, his friends said.

"He was really proud of that. He knew what it was like to have a second chance," Tejcka said. "He just referred to those years as 'back when I was really sick.' "

Mr. Nitro's last gig was Friday at the Saloon. He usually ended gigs with "Great Balls of Fire," but that night he veered from his routine, Tejcka said.

"Some guy in the audience called out for 'Johnny B. Goode,' " she said. "You know, 'Go, Johnny, go ...' He laughed, 'Well, you'd think I oughta know that one.' "

Mr. Nitro is survived by his wife, saxophonist Silvia Cicardini of Antioch, and a daughter, Kirsten Newton of San Francisco.

Friends plan to play a show in his honor on March 30 at the Little Fox, 2209 Broadway, Redwood City.

Carolyn Jones: carolynjones@sfchronicle.com.

Information about the Daniel Castro Band: www.danielcastro.com

More about Johnny Nitro: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/02/20/BAN81HR1FE.DTL#ixzz1FWzjRk5p

The Tommy Castro Band: How I became a Hard Believer.

2011-02-15T10:26:17Z

If you’re a Blues lover, you probably read the Blues Revue. Tommy Castro is featured on the cover of their 20th anniversary issue as the “most dangerous man in the Blues industry.”

Last year, Castro and his Band walked off with four Blues Music Awards. Rarely, if ever, does an artist win more then two awards in the same year. Nary does a single artist win three. Four is unheard of. This staggering number can only be trumped by the fact that all four awards were among the most coveted categories: Contemporary Blues Male Artist of the Year, Contemporary Blues Album of the Year (Hard Believer/Alligator), Blues Band of the Year, and Castro earned his second "B.B. King Entertainer of the Year.”

Having seen many Blues bands, artists and legendary musicians over the years, and having met Tommy himself at different social gatherings and tributes, I still hadn’t seen the Tommy Castro Band (TCB) perform. I headed down to Harlow’s last Friday night wondering… I mean, he’s a great guitarist and easy on the eyes, but how good could they be?

The lack of parking in a three block radius was the first thing that suggested my skeptical nature was going to be in for quite a lashing. Once through the door, Harlow’s was bumpin’ and it was packed. At best, there were two seats at the bar, but everywhere you looked, there was no place to sit. I folded my jacket and put it on the floor by the corner of the stage, taking in the scene while I got my camera ready.

There was some serious electricity flying in that room.

The band was scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m., ending at 9 to make way for the second show, but they started earlier, at 7:15. As I was told by a few people that night, that is quintassential TCB - give the people what they want, and then find a way to squeeze out something extra.

The effort was obviously well-received, as I saw an endless array of happy faces in their 30’s, 40’s, 50’s, dancing, swinging, or tapping their feet. Every kind of dance formation seemed to be in effect while groups of people in the back booths pumped their hands in the air.

I watched Castro as he moved around the stage, playing alongside all the band members and maximizing his exposure to the crowd. To the left were tables with people sitting. To the right, tables and booths, and in the center, his dancing constituents. He wanted everyone to get their money’s worth, and I really do mean everyone. Even me.

As a photographer, you try to get as good a shot as you can for whatever print source you’re representing, and I’ve loved photographing Blues artists because they are so accessible. Castro made no bones about coming right up to the edge of the stage, right in my face as I stood maybe two feet from his guitar, praying for at least one picture to be in focus as I hit the shutter on my camera like a machine gun. He took his time standing there, smiling and gesturing to the crowd, letting me get my bearings before moving aside to let saxist, Keith Crossen come upstage for his solo.

Then, Castro was circulating again, stepping back while all the band members took their turn. Tom Poole on trumpet. Tony Stead on keys. Crossen on tenor and baritone sax. Bass man and fashion icon Scot Sutherland, with Ronnie Scott on skins, ruled the engine room.

There was no back-porch mojo working in this joint. That band brought R&B, funk, rock and some Latin teasing into a twisted cable of electrifying Blues like I never saw in any club at any time by anyone.

The band left the stage at 8:30. I no more than had enough time to look to see if my jacket was still in the corner before they came back out and reclaimed the stage for a 35-minute encore of the James Brown hit “Sex Machine.”

Let me say it again… a 35- MINUTE ENCORE!

In traditional form, each band member showcased their talent before exiting the stage. Castro’s guitar solo was followed by the announcement that Keith Crossen has been nominated this year for his own BMA Award. Castro then bid good night and took leave backstage.

Without missing a beat, Crossen and Poole presented their 40-plus years of friendship in a brilliantly crisp section that received thunderous applause. Following suit, Tony Stead took everyone to piano school and the room answered with a standing ovation. Sutherland finally brought the house down with a funk-loaded solo while simultaneously sliding across the stage in his black-and-white shoes, leaving Ronnie at the helm of a massive drum solo. To the delight of the crowd, which still remained in standing ovation, at the end of Ronnie’s solo, the band came back out for the third time to collectively say “thank you” and “good night.”

As the band and road crew cleared the stage, Castro was making hiimself busy greeting literally everyone and anyone who came to the merchandise table. Some bought CDs or t-shirts, others took a photo, while other just came by to chat him up and say hello. He served everyone the same way, with a smile, a handshake and a thank you.

A lot of adjectives can be thrown into this story in an attempt to illustrate the musical prowess and technical dynamics of Tommy Castro and his band. Now, having seen them perform together, I can’t imagine the years of hard times and hard work that have pre-empted their recent success. I now see why the Tommy Castro Band won four BMA Awards. It’s not so hard to believe.

To cast your nomination for Keith Crossen at this year’s BMA’s, go to: www.blues.org/bluesmusicawards and look for the link to this year’s nominations.

Kim Wilson: Lay down the harp and sing.

2010-12-08T08:53:00Z

After a brief snafu with our appointed interview date, I finally reached Kim Wilson, co-founder of the Fabulous Thunderbirds and one of the most accomplished harmonica players in the United States, as he was dragging his bags down the hall to his hotel room.

While the Tbirds are in their 'off-season', Wilson doesn't stop, and is off again, on another club tour with his Blues All Stars: Guitarists Billy Flynn and Little Frank, bassist Randy Bermudes and drummer Richard Innes, plus piano player Barrelhouse Chuck. They also did a string of performances in Sweden and have recently arrived back from the Stockholm Blues Festival.

One of the things I have liked about Wilson is his open way of talking. Not many artists have a willingness to discuss any subject you bring up, but the evening found him in good spirits. It was a refreshing break to just relax and have a conversation. We talked a good long while about a topic very close to my heart: the crippling death and deterioration happening within the blues industry. We also discussed Marshall Amp stacks, education, his plans for the future, and respect. Buckle up kids, we’re goin’ to school, and this man drives his own bus.

MF:    Lately, I find myself amidst more than a few touring musicians, club owners and even musicians’ wives, listening to them debate about how so many of ‘the blues greats’ are gone. That it’s had a devastating impact on the whole genre because, for so long, so many held so few in such high regard. Blues is all about the story of living life, yet with every passing, with every club closing its doors and every record label that runs out of money, the traditional form is dying little by little. There are fewer and fewer stories being told.
            Mr. Robert Jr. Lockwood's protege and dear friend, Cleveland Fats, once told me he felt like a car tire losing a little more air after every trip down the road, because more and more of his friends, like Lockwood, are missing from the picture. What’s your position on all of this?

KW:    It's true. There is less of the real thing available now. It all started in the 80’s when it was thought that there was quick cash to be made in the blues. So, now there are people seeing dollar signs and there are fewer ‘generations’ of people left. It’s dwindling. It’s all about the money for so many people…
           Some people who actually sanctioned the whole ‘guitar hero’ electric thing (the use of electric guitars in a freeform “shredding” style at high volumes in small clubs) really shouldn’t have. People hear that and they get eventually turned off because it’s not friendly. You don’t hear the phrasing or musicality or the tone. It’s all more like loud rock, not blues. While the traditional musicians are getting on in their years, clubs are starting to lose their audiences because people really don’t want to listen to it. You have a couple of generations of new people bringing like… Marshall (Amp)stacks into clubs and then people really don’t want to listen to it, because you really can’t. It’s so loud.

MF: I’ve seen Marshall Amp stacks (powerful, oversized floor amplifiers stacked one on top of the other) turned up so loudly that drinks, sitting on the bar, vibrate. It’s supposed to be commitment before fancy equipment. I’ve said that to many people who think doing it as a career is just planning and marketing. They make a catchy name for the group and buy some expensive equipment. Then, a few months in the family garage with the 'fellas' and it's time to find a booking agent. No voice coaching. They don't know what dynamics are and can't understand why they aren't booked everywhere in town.  It takes such a massive investment of yourself. Focus and discipline have to be first. I might be off the mark, but to play the blues, you really have to go back to the basics and learn before you just go buy a fancy painted Gibson and a boutique amplifier.

KW:    And kids come in thinking the book has totally been written and all the old guys wrote it, which is true, but you can certainly write your own page in there when you get to a certain point. You can’t do anything remotely close to the kind of music that pushes the envelope without being well-versed. To be able to reach back to where this all started.
           Where the record label screws up is that an artist has to be viable…to bend, go different directions. Many of them can’t. They don’t have the background. Then, as an artist, one day you have to face it. You have to lay down the harp and sing.

MF:    So, have you gone back to the basics?

KW:    A lot of what you are hearing from us now, at certain points during the set, is very standard and from the "book." You have to have guys that can cover ALL the bases, not just a few. I am here with great guys. The best guys in the world, and, luckily, they enjoy playing with me.
           I go out in the wintertime with the All Stars, doing the mid-West before Christmas with them and then some stops in January on the East Coast. Tbirds again in the spring. Everybody knows when it gets slow, I start the All Stars and we play the clubs.

MF:    Do you feel as if you’ve been “well seasoned” for so many years with the success of the Fabulous Thunderbirds, that writing and performing blues…it’s all coming to you in a more natural flow these days? You’ve been a busy man since 1980 and, in the music industry, that puts you in some mighty fine company.

KW:    We’ve been picking up some speed…still going strong but you have to take it one step at a time. Yes, it’s probably the “seasoning” (laughs) I’ve gone through, especially now the way that I feel. It’s the best music I’ve ever played. It’s like breathing for me. Physically, yeah, it’s hard but when we do a two set show like the one Wednesday night at Harlow’s, a lot of cool things happen in the second set, a lot of improvisation. I would say, the REAL show happens in the second set.
           I love to re-introduce people to what the blues is: just having a good time in mind. When they come to our show, there is no set list. Half the time I don’t tell the guys when I’m starting out. I just might call out a shuffle in ‘G’ and I’ll start singing. It’s not preconceived. Totally improvised. Lots of dynamics. Everyone’s having fun and people dance a lot.

MF:    There are so many people who adore blues music. It’s as if the sound become a part of your heart and you just have to have it. I especially love the intimate venues where I can photograph the artists. You can actually watch them play. There is that one on one exchange, a level of respect in small venues. I know the awareness is growing; I just wish there was more career longevity so that it would allow more of the younger musicians an opportunity to spend their lives learning and growing.

KW:    34 years ago, everybody could play. If you had the skills and wanted it, you could make it happen. There was that incentive to be a musician for your whole life. Now, there is no incentive for kids to do that. The people who want to hear quality are still there, but there are no examples for the up and coming. The young kids are not going out to see the older ones. There is no respect being paid, no time spent watching.

MF:    I know what you mean. There are a few musicians I will never tire of watching and a few months ago, I had the honor of speaking with Ron Thompson. Every time I photograph him or speak to him, I learn something. He is a powerful and talented man who has spent his life honing his craft….

KW:    Ron Thompson, now THERE’S a guy who really can sing! He puts on a great show. He is a great entertainer and an incredible musician. And he’s been really great for a long time. And this is what I mean: there isn’t one of him on the corner of every bar in town and there’s a distinct reason for that. He is unique. But still, people are not watching. Respect is not being paid.

MF:    If you could lecture at a music department somewhere, what would you tell them about respect and understanding the history before you think you can carve your own?

KW:    I actually lectured at Harvard. Five years ago, one of the professors there added me as part of his curriculum. You can learn music from pages and records but it really helps more to watch people. I did tell the ones I met, that this is a lifetime commitment. You know, I still carry around a ’59 amp that I had in 1972 when I played with Luther Tucker. I really enjoyed doing that course and I’d do it again if I could.

MF:    You use an amp from 1959?

KW:    Yes, it sleeps next to me every night.

I laugh and then realize he is dead serious.

MF:    I realize there is some creative diversity in running the two bands, but how in the world have you kept things fresh for all these years?

KW:    I’ve recorded with so many different artists and I’ve enjoyed all those projects. I enjoy the arena events with the Thunderbirds but making a performance intimate is hard in the arena. The kind of places I’m playing in now, you can hear a lot of the things you won’t hear with an engineer and a giant soundboard. Playing to 10 or 20 thousand people is great but you can’t live on that and keep your inspiration fresh for yourself.

MF:    What could possibly be left on the “Kim Wilson Bucket List?”

KW:    I just want to keep getting better and better, creating more and more fresh versions of traditional music. I really want to write my own page in this stuff and I now have all the guys to do it with.
            Right now, it’s just a good time, both in my life and when I’m with them. This is not some serious thing either. It’s all made to dance to or live your life by it. It’s made to party and that’s the kind of atmosphere we try to bring to the clubs every night.
______________

Kim Wilson and his Blues All Stars are at Harlow’s, 2708 J Street on Wednesday, December 8th. Tickets are $20. Doors open at 7, show starts at 8.

Christmas Album and Grammy Nod for Maria Muldaur.

2010-12-02T10:57:22Z

At the age of 67, with 37 albums under her belt, Maria Muldaur has no fondness for Q-and-A chatter. So, we threw away my notes and dove straight into a conversation about her exclusive area appearance on Dec. 4th at the 24th Street Theater, celebrating the release of album No. 38, “Christmas at the Oasis.”

Thirty-six years after the hit song “Midnight at the Oasis,” its holiday sequel came as a surprise to Muldaur who had no plans to release a Christmas album. She vowed years ago never to contribute to the ‘pile’ of artists who have produced holiday albums whose songs play in the supermarket and the shopping malls until “your eyes are glazed over.”

“When I booked the gig, I didn’t even know I was putting out a Christmas CD. Over the years, we are all inundated with endless sentimental, sappy Christmas tunes. They are overdone. Everybody records the same 12 or 14 Christmas songs over and over. As an antidote to that, I have collected and enjoyed some of the ‘rare gems’ in blues and jazz by such artists as Louis Armstrong, Bessie Smith, Victoria Spivey, Louis Prima..."

“(They are) very upbeat, different and hip. All with really great musical arrangements, like Christmas swing tunes. I had enjoyed listening to them, and so I learned them, and in the last 15 years or so, I have been performing them at Christmastime whenever called upon."

“People would say, ‘I’ve never heard those songs before, why don’t you put them on an album? I had decided that there was such a run of Christmas Albums that I would be the exception, the only artist on the planet NOT to put out a Christmas album.”

Then, last year, The Razz Room produced a series of live shows for radio and television and recorded a show she did as a Christmas special.

“It was filmed and recorded live and just exceeded my expectations,” she said.

“I hadn’t given it another thought until the guy that produced that little special came to me, literally, a few weeks ago and suggested it was so good, that we should put it out. I was skeptical because I’d already moved on to my next project."

“He finally played it for me, and I could not believe the exceptional recording quality, for a live recording, so I joined the ranks of all the fellow artists and put out a Christmas album,” she said with a laugh.

“I’m just thrilled about how the music came out,” she continued. “I’m not one to think about the complications of recording a show live, but these musicians were just spot-on. The songs are witty and sharp and humorous – something that will take you out of your Christmas doldrums.

“This is like a Christmas surprise for me,” Muldaur said. “A year ago, a friend of mine, Bob Dylan, to my utter astonishment, came out with a Christmas album, ‘Christmas in the Heart,’ and he donated all the proceeds of the album to Feeding America, and I thought well, if the ‘King of Cool’ can put out a Christmas album, who am I to resist? So we did it.”

The performance in Sacramento is the first of only four Christmas shows in the greater Bay Area. The CD is only available at the show and has been produced in a very limited quantity.

Maria Muldaur’s Blues and Jazz Christmas Concert is Saturday at the 24th Street Theatre. The Harley White Jr. Trio will open the show. More information is available at: www.swellproductions.com .

(Tonight, as this interview was being posted, I learned Ms, Muldaur has been nominated for a 2010 Grammy for Best Traditional Folk Album: "Maria Muldaur & Her Garden Of Joy" (Stony Plain). Outstanding news for Ms. Muldaur and her team. Congratulations! )

LUKAS NELSON & PROMISE OF THE REAL: Part 1

2010-09-13T01:26:05Z

Prior to this, I had never heard of Lukas Nelson or Promise of the Real. Expectedly, in preparation for the interview, all of my research came from the internet. Before we embark on this story, it is important to clarify a detail, otherwise inaccurately reported on the internet. Promise of the Real is NOT a cross-over band. They are not claiming to belong to one genre and then altering their style to accommodate another genre. Promise of the Real are here to write and perform their music their way, on their terms. No gimmicks, no hanky-panky, no cheap car salesmen.

(actually, there might be just a little hanky-panky…)
_______

When I started the interview by telling him the truth, that I knew nothing about his work prior to a few days earlier, but that I really wanted their new EP, Brando Paradise Sessions. He said he was glad I liked the music and that the way I came about discovering it wasn’t the important part…that it really didn’t matter. He was happy that I didn’t know him before, because now I would and he doesn’t mind if every person after me makes the connection to his music in the same way. He does, however, prefer people’s first experience to be at the live show rather than view the clips on the internet.

LN:     I don’t even like recordings of my music because I’m a perfectionist. There are some really bad videos, that you probably seen on youtube and it doesn’t give a clear picture of who we are as a live band. Our live show is nothing like the clips up there from months ago, or last year. Back in the day artists had more control over what is put out there and there’s a lot of stuff out there that I’d rather not have … but you can’t change that.

We briefly discussed the idea of change. That change to some degree is necessary to evolve within the process of life itself. He cited the simple example of the honeybee. The honeybee pollenates the flower and a give/take is created at that moment to allow for a change to come. We shared the fundamental idea that without the willingness to accept change, we cannot seek improvement within ourselves or expect it to happen around us and he spoke briefly about his experiences on stage.

MF:     Did you ever look out into a crowd during a gig and say to yourself..Wow, this is the biggest audience we’ve ever played for…or feel that at that time you had reached a pinnacle? You just finished working with BBKing. That had to have had quite a few fond memories.

LN:     I have been getting up on stage since I was about three years old, so I never really thought about it. It was part of my upbringing to be in front of a lot of people…at FarmAid and the Family Picnic. A month or so ago, we were with BBKing (we’ve done about 50 shows with BB so far) and then on tour doing our own thing for the last week. He (King) is a very fatherly figure and he’s humble and always helped me out if I had any questions…kind of a mentor, almost. One night he even let me play with him. That was really great, in Boston at the House of Blues. But I’ll tell you what…(on our own) this last show at Red Rocks was probably the best show that we’ve played. There was a really intense, crazy, vibe and we got a standing ovation. We really used that opportunity and gave it 110% and I felt everybody was talking about it afterwards. We’re just getting better with every show.

MF:     One of the most seasoned harmonica musicians in the game, Mick Martin, once said to me, 'Blues –real Blues- has forward moving directionality.' The sound gives you goosebumps and runs your emotions. All you know is that you can’t sit down; you have to get up and move. There is no other choice. Considering your young age, I was really thrown sideways by the way you can accomplish that feeling of beckoning through the Blues that you play. It opens a door inside the listener and says...You, yes it’s YOU we want. Please come in and sit down.

LN:     I just play music and if people like it, great and if they don’t…well… (he was quiet for a few seconds) Like souls attract like souls. People… attract people who are like them and whatever frequency you are operating at, you need similar people and I don’t believe for a second that it’s not meant to be. Whoever I’m hanging out with when I hang out…I met Anthony at a Neil Young Concert, I met our Bass player at this other thing...it’s all kind of a syncronicity kind of deal.

MF:     Well the band is tight. You have that sobering knowledge only musicians four times your age carry with them. Yet, you’re a comfortable old friend to me, and I’m 43. There are a few of your songs that I’m drawn to because of the melody but moreso, it’s the lyrics. I replayed “Learning to Love” about 4 times and then I discovered “Want you to Want me Around”. I still can’t stop repeating the lyrics in my head.

I would leave you alone, it would be hard but I'd find a way.
Because I know that you know...where my love stays.
You stood in the window of my soul and I played for you.
I ain't desperate, but I know what I've found.
I know what I've found.
I want to wake up in the morning and see your face there.
And when the world outside is stormy, we'll be safe here.
But I know that you need space, to keep your mind still.
So, let me know just when to go....and you know I will.
I will...

.....I want you to want me around....

LN:     I write about three songs a day. Most of the time… I’m writing all the time. I’ll write about anything. I’ll …I don’t try to limit myself or anything. Sometimes I hear a little piece of something and sometimes I hear the whole song in my head complete with a string section orchestra and those are the ones that frustrate me so much because I don’t have the means to put that together, you know? So there are a lot of songs out there that I have that I can’t wait to (be able to) afford to do…to hire the musicians and have my orchestra together.

MF:     I even sense some carefree ocean breezes and maybe a slight hint of reggae here and there.

LN:     Yes, well there might be. I was in a reggae band when I first started. We started back in the day in Maui as a reggae band. My Own Wave … it was in college when I wrote that song and I don’t remember how or why ….I think it was about when I quit school and was feeling free about myself. You have these melodies..they are all in my head and you’re walking down the street thinking… what song would be playing right now… and it drives me crazy because I have to stop and write it down. All the parts play in my head like the soundtrack to my life or something. I’ve never been able to be disciplined to do anything for ‘every day’… to do anything routine…keep a journal, things like that so I have to stop and write it down.

MF:     Did you ever want to be anything else when you were younger…like a plumber or a fireman?

LN:     I picked up the guitar when I was 12, and at an early age, I just started it..and I couldn’t stop. When I was really young, before 12, I wanted to be a pilot, a fighter pilot in the Air Force. I love planes. When I grew up a little more, I started skateboarding and I wanted to be a pro skateboarder…but I started getting hurt. So, I picked up the guitar. I had a few more things I wanted to do but I just fell in love with the guitar and it kind of consumed me.

MF:     What is your direction now, for yourself and the band?

LN:     We don’t really have a game plan. But…I think it’s important to give back as much as you receive. It’s kind of how we’ve forgotten to live with the earth: the cycle of giving and receiving. Evaporation will create a cloud and it will rain and I feel it’s the way we should be living and how I try to live. We have a bio-diesel car, etc… but we’re just trying to make a living right now. We can’t afford to be too invested in anything other than what we’re doing moment to moment but for the most part we just want to last. We want to be around and it doesn’t matter if we’re in the spotlight or not…I just want to be able to play music the rest of my life and have that orchestra at least once …to do the incredible stuff at least once.
_____

(Part 2 of this interview will be published with photographs after Thursday night’s performance in El Dorado Hills. Promise of the Real is opening for Roy Rogers & The Delta Rhythm Kings. For more information or to buy tickets: www.carrera-productions.com )

Carrera Productions Goes Solo with Lukas Nelson/Roy Rogers Event.

2010-09-12T01:49:04Z

June 5th came on a Saturday this year and it was a glorious day. The sun blazed down through clear skies, the mountains lay crisp and green. As I took in the beauty of the drive from Downtown Sacramento up through the hills of Lotus, I smiled. Today, on my 43rd birthday, I was to photograph a powerful combination of Blues artists at the 5th presentation of Coloma Blues Live: Coco Montoya, Charlie Musselwhite, Laurie Morvan, Shane Dwight and headliner, Robert Cray. As I pulled into the parking lot, I saw the back of the stage. The huge mesh curtain was drawn back and in the distance, I could see white peaked tents dotting across the lawn. Unloading gear from the trunk of my car, I looked up just in time to see a golf cart race by, driven by a woman in a straw hat speaking into a two-way radio. She waved back at me. I’d just met the boss, Mary Carrera of Carrera Productions.

A testament to her character, that hasty drive-by was probably the perfect introduction. Known for her no-nonsense work ethic, Carrera markets & produces some of the biggest and most successful outdoor events in El Dorado County. In conjunction with the El Dorado Hills Arts Council (EDAC), the El Dorado Hills Chamber and the El Dorado Hills Optimist Club, The Art & Wine Affaire has been on her schedule for a few years now. Each year it falls on Mother’s Day weekend and attracted some 16,000 people and, like Coloma Blues Live, it takes 10 months to prepare.

“They (EDAC) first hired me to book talent, sell sponsorship and do some marketing. We started doing Coloma Blues Live in 2006, and in ’08 I was managing the El Dorado Hills Art & Wine Affaire. Then, the Town Center’s Thursday Night Summer Concert Series “Live on the Boulevard” was added to the list in 2009.” I’ve been fortunate to work with great clients.”

Currently a Folsom native, Mary grew up in the 60’s with her sisters and fashioned a liking for shred-style guitar solos and for playing the drums. Involved with a girl band when she was a teenager, she spent her time listening to Hendrix and & Clapton, like most kids at that time. In the end, she found herself toiling in the Blues.

“I love rippin’ guitar and good solid drumming but Blues had that soulful influence. Now that I’m in my 40’s, there is no ‘Classic Rock’ anymore and I find I’m going back to the roots of this music, back to Blues. I am passionate about music as a whole and just because I haven’t tried another kind of music in an event format, doesn’t mean I won’t.”

When I asked her what thrills her about doing these events, she answered straight away.

“When I’ve worked hard on an event, like Coloma, and I get to see it from beginning to end, and I can watch the interaction on the faces of the people as they too watch the show, it raises the hair on the back of my neck. I love it! And…for me, to introduce new artists, like Laurie Morvan and Albert Cummings, who were new to the scene a few years ago. When people can relate to them, it makes it all worth it.”

As the concert trend continues to swing the curve toward mid-sized venues with ‘boutique’ ticket pricing, offering high-priced VIP packages and dinner seating, Carrera is already cutting them off at the pass. By sticking with local, outdoor concerts and by using local food and beverage merchants, she is succeeding at keeping the community dollars inside the community where they belong. By keeping the events suited for families, she also hopes to gather interest from the younger generations.

Images of her six year old daughter Allyson sitting on Elvin Bishop’s guitar case are fresh in her mind. She talks of how her daughter, at that age, is already a Blues-savvy diva.

“My time with her is so important. I have to block everything out sometimes just to get the quality time we both really need. She’s really just absorbing everything going on. We’ll be driving somewhere and I’ll put in a CD and Allyson will say …Mom, you know I like that ‘Curtis Salgado’ one… and we pop it in and sing along. My hope is that I will do more events in the future that are geared toward younger children and get them interested in music.”

Carrera works with one of the best volunteer staff and stage crews I’ve ever come across. Everyone is there to have fun and there’s not an ego to be found, not anywhere. Crew members are encouraged to get more involved and learn from the masters, and from what I saw at Coloma, by far, it was the nicest group of stage engineers and sound men I’d ever spent a day with.

“I love the people I work with. From sound people to lighting companies, it’s a big family on the day of the event. Our stage manager even makes t-shirts just for the stage crew at Coloma each year. In this economy you can’t turn down work, and when you get a project, it’s so much more fun to be able to use the same people.”

Surging ahead with the blessings of local merchants – many of whom are pitching in to sponsor her or sell food at the venue, Carrera Productions is presenting a special evening event on September 16th, it’s her second large format show. The first show, a Chicago Tribute band with Steelin’ Dan, was very successful, so, before the Fall weather rolls in, she has arranged for one more night on the Lakehills Green.

“People kept saying ‘Bring Roy back’ and the last time Lukas was here for the Town Center Series, the response was excellent.”
Doors open 5pm and the concert is 6-9:30. Returning to El Dorado Hills: Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real and slide guitar master: Roy Rogers & the Delta Rhythm Kings. POTR toured with BB King last month and did a show at Red Rocks last weekend that earned a standing ovation. Roy has just come off of the summer Blues festival rotation (Fire On The Mountain) and is completing an album with Ray Manzarek, the keyboardist and last remaining member of the Doors.

For tickets and more information: www.carrera-productions.com
For information on the artists: www.roy-rogers.com ; www.promiseofthereal.com

Also coming soon: Mary Franklin’s interview with Lukas Nelson.
Photographs: www.franklinstudios.net ; ©Mary Franklin.