People came for the music and because Sunday’s musical feast at Folsom’s Powerhouse Pub was a charity event. At $15 per ticket, with six bands lined up to cover a spectrum of blues music, and all ticket proceeds benefiting the 147 year old Sacramento Children's Home, there was no better place to be. The Randy Carey Band opened the show at 1:50 p.m. and their rocking country blues sound had people dancing early on. They opened with “Born Under a Bad Sign,” sung by Carey, who also penned several of the songs, including “Blue Boy Blues,” their next to last song. The band’s rendition of “Good Time Charlie’s Got the Blues” had feet tapping and bodies swaying in seats and on the dance floor tha

If you equate blues music with Robert Johnson, you’re in for a surprise and a treat Sunday afternoon when Sacramento Blues Revue teams with Folsom’s Powerhouse Pub to host the second annual Blue Christmas for Kids, benefiting the Sacramento Children’s Home. The event kicks off at 1:50 p.m. with the Randy Carey Band, a country blues group, and will finish with Rick Estrin & the Nightcats, a blues/jump band, playing from 6 to 7 p.m. In between, attendees will hear blues/zydeco from GumboStew, blues from Pinkie Rideau & Blind Resistance, rockin’ blues from the Jimmy Pailer Band, and blues/R&B from Sacramento Blues Revue, led by Rick von Geldern. Von Geldern said he began working on this eve

The bumper sticker read, “I’d rather be at a Tommy Castro Show,” and the crowd that filled Folsom’s Powerhouse Pub Saturday night agreed. Ben and Robin Penn chose Castro over the lighted boat parade, and others chose the show over competing concerts and Sacramento’s Second Saturday events, braving the cold and the Santa Pub Crawlers to hear Castro and his band. The band that performed Saturday night is not the same lineup fans will see in 2012, when Randy McDonald will replace Scot Sutherland on bass, Keith Crossan will take his sax skills elsewhere, as will Tom Poole and his horn and Tony Stead and his keyboards. Byron Cage will remain at drums. Castro fans were clearly not disappointe

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,

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 i