Road Tips

J.P. Soars and the Red Hots

It's been quite sometime since I've written about any musical experiences I've encountered.  The tag line to this blog is "A Sales Guy's Guide to Travel, Food and Music in the Midwest and Beyond" and I had the pleasure of seeing someone the other night that I had hoped to see sooner than later, blues guitarist J.P. Soars.  Soars and his band, the Red Hots, played a show at Martini's on the Rocks in Rock Island the other night.  The event was sponsored by the Mississippi Valley Blues Society.  

When I drive throughout the Midwest, I have my car radio tuned to Sirius XM channel 21 - Little Steven's Underground Garage - almost exclusively.  I've found the music to be edgy and eclectic, reminding me of music that I grew up with and introducing me to new bands and artists that don't get a lot of air time on over-the-air radio stations.  It was on Little Steven's Underground Garage where I was first exposed to J.P. Soars a little less than two years ago.  While his songs aren't in quite the same heavy rotation they were about a year ago, I still hear "Doggin' ", "Back of My Mind" and "More Bees with Honey" on the channel from time to time.  When I found out that he was going to be coming to the Quad Cities to play a midweek show, I made double-damned sure that I was going to be in town for that.  (Besides, I have been traveling so much lately, I needed a week at home to catch up in the office and recharge.)  

John Paul Soars was born in California before his family moved to Cedarville, AR near Fort Smith.  He picked up his first guitar at age 11 and continued to play when his family eventually relocated to South Florida when Soars was 16.  Influenced by Jimi Hendrix, ZZ Top and the Beatles, Soars turned to heavy metal music and joined a popular area band by the name of Raped Ape.  Soars was with the band - which eventually took the name Paingod - for eight years turning out one heavy metal album and disbanding soon thereafter.  

While he was still in his "metal phase", Soars discovered the music of French jazz guitarist Jean "Django" Reinhardt, an avant-garde musician and composer who has been called one of the greatest guitarists of all time.  One of Soars songs featured on his My Space web site is called "Django's Tiger" which displays his prowess for the gypsy jazz guitar stylings from the era before, during, and after World War II.

It was also during his time playing heavy metal that he was captivated by down-home, southern-roots-style blues.  Soars was in and out of South Florida bands over the years and traveled the states with other musicians playing all different types of music.    But he was more well-known for his work with hard metal/thrash bands Malevolent Creation and later with Divine Empire, recording a total of six albums with those bands.  

In 2005, Soars left Divine Empire to focus on blues and jazz music.  He started up his blues band - the Red Hots - soon thereafter.  Another one of Soars' side projects at the time was a band called the Gypsy Blue Acoustic Revue, a group of South Florida musicians who played the gypsy jazz music from the 30's and 40's that Django Reinhardt made famous among jazz aficionados.  

In 2008, Soars and the Red Hots won a local competition for Best Blues Band in South Florida and they went on to Memphis to compete in the International Blues Challenge in February 2009.  Soars and his band blew away the competition to capture the Best Blues Band award for the IBC while Soars also garnered the "Best Guitarist" award.  His blues career was beginning to take off.  

We heard a lot of different varieties of music when Soars and his bandmates - Don "The Cougar" Gottlieb on bass, and Chris Peet on drums - took the stage at Martini's on the Rock around 7 p.m.  From traditional blues, to jump-style blues, to down-in-the-swamp blues, to surf music, to gypsy jazz stylings, Soars captivated the audience with his guitar playing.  

About halfway through the first set, Soars got out one of his homemade "cigar box" guitars that he and his brother made, paying homage to some of the down-south do-it-yourself musicians who made guitars out of cigar boxes and wooden planks in the 1920's and 30's.  Soars' cigar box guitars have fretless boards and feature just two strings that are tuned an octave apart.  (For giggles when he was tuning up his guitar, I got out my Samsung Galaxy S III smartphone and got into my guitar tuning application.  He was tuning it to G.)  

With a combination of both a slide and regular fret work, Soars made some amazing music on this cigar box.  The 50 or so people on hand for the show couldn't wait until the next day to tell others what they missed the night before.  

Soars took a short break and Mike Livermore from the Mississippi Valley Blues Society got up on stage to announce some of the bands coming up at this years Mississippi Valley Blues Festival being held at LeClaire Park in downtown Davenport on July 4th through the 6th. I had heard that Walter Trout, John Primer, Eddie Turner, Anthony Gomes and Samantha Fish had already been booked.  But Mike said that another one of J.P. Soars' side projects - Southern Hospitality, a Southern roots blues band featuring fellow Florida bluesmen Damon Fowler and Victor Wainwright - would be playing the festival.

(As an aside, I'll be the Master of Ceremonies for the Mississippi Valley Blues Challenge for both the preliminary round at Muddy Waters in Bettendorf on April 28, and for the finals during the blues fesitval at 5 p.m. on Friday, July 5.  The winning band goes on to the International Blues Challenge - the same competition J.P. Soars won over four years ago.  This will be my 16th time MC'ing the Quad Cities preliminary round of the Blues Challenge.)  

But the biggest announcement was the addition of Kenny Wayne Shepherd to the blues fest line up.  I had run into Bob Covemaker, the chairman of the committee that books bands for the blues fest, a couple three weeks ago and he said that they were close to getting Shepherd to play the festival.  The announcement that night confirmed what Bob told me previously.  

After about a 45 minute break, which allowed me to catch up with some blues society people I haven't seen in awhile, Soars and the Red Hots came back out and began to play a number of songs from his current CD, "Bees With Honey".  He implored the people sitting at the tables away from the stage to move closer.  When the bulk of the crowd took their chairs and tables closer to the stage, Soars said, "There you go!  Now it's a show!"

It was a great show for a weeknight.  The only quibble I had was that they allowed smoking in the enclosed patio at Martini's on the Rock.  We were wondering how they could do that with the no-smoking laws in the state of Illinois, especially when they were serving food out there.  It was the first time in a long time I had to ditch my clothes in the basement laundry after I came home because of the smell of smoke.  Nonetheless, I was glad that I had the opportunity to see J.P. Soars play in a local venue and can't wait until he comes back with Southern Hospitality this summer.   

Behind the Scenes at the 2011 River Roots Live

The 7th annual River Roots Live festival was recently held in LeClaire Park in downtown Davenport and, once again, I was the stage manager/announcer/parking attendant/janitor/paymaster and whatever else needed to be done behind the stage area. I've done River Roots Live for six of the seven years of its existence - the one year I didn't work the event turned out to be a financial disaster, and the Davenport Chamber (now the Quad City Chamber) took over the event and folded it in with the highly popular Rib Fest. The Rib Fest has been going on for 14 years, and I've worked each one of those running the stage area with the exception of the first year in 1998.

It takes a lot of hard work and planning to pull off an event like River Roots Live. After last year's event, our planning and production team was pretty much burned out and we all said, "This is it - we're not doing another one of these."

But Marcy Hyder from the Quad City Chamber called me in March and said, "Well, are you up for another one?"

I said, "Wait a minute! I thought you said you were through!"

Marcy said, "Yeah, I know. I know."

In addition to Marcy heading the planning for the festival once again, we had Kate Benson and Tom Swanson from the River Music Experience booking bands, Ellis Kell from the R.M.E. coordinating the "Junior Jam" sessions, Scott Rexroat from Rexroat Sound (and his very competent and professional crew) doing the sound, staging and lighting again, Kyle Carter from the QC Chamber handling marketing of the event (and who took many, if not all, of the pictures in this entry), and Marcy's assistants Abbey Nagle and Jeanna Trenkamp, along with their summer interns, Kelsey (who I kept calling Ashley by mistake) and Nichole who were all a big part of helping pull off another big event like this. Chris Mandle and his crew handled the beer delivery once again and did a stellar job of helping keep the tubs full of beer. I've also got to give a shout out to Dale Sievert from the Davenport Police Department and Tom Flaherty, Marcy's boss at the QC Chamber, for their efforts in making the event a big hit once again. And I also have to thank Mike and Michele Monfort for their continued great food for backstage catering. Finally, I have to give a shout out to my lovely wife, Cindy, who helped us all out in a lot of different capacities once again this year.

Over the past couple three years, Mother Nature hasn't cooperated with us. Last year, it rained out a portion of the Friday night program. The two years previous to that, flooding in LeClaire Park meant that we had to venture onto the streets of Davenport. (To see my previous entries on River Roots Live, click here, here, and here.) This year, we were back in LeClaire Park and even though rain was a distinct possibility during the weekend, we were pretty blessed with good weather for a large portion of the event. It rained on early Saturday morning - enough to leave mud puddles in some areas of the backstage (I'll talk about that in a moment) - but since it had been so dry, the ground sponged up much of the water and by mid-morning on Saturday, it was mainly sunny and the grounds were mostly dry. It did rain ever so lightly on Saturday night for a brief moment, but we didn't lose any of the crowd and actually it turned out to be a record night with well over 25,000 people in the park. (This picture is just before Blues Traveler hit the stage on Saturday night.)

Since River Roots Live is a free event, the event is predicated upon selling beer to help defray the costs of the event. Lots of beer. And we did just that. I'm not going to give out numbers of beer sales that I heard after the show was over on Saturday night, but I was amazed at how much beer was sold. And I was told afterward that many people were upset that the beer lines were so long that they just gave up and walked up the street to Sippi's and got beer up there and listened to the music from their outdoor patio.

Ribs are still a big draw for River Roots Live. We had six national rib vendors and a couple local guys for the ribfest portion of River Roots Live this year. We had some repeat vendors such as Desperado's, Chicago Barbecue and Texas Outlaws. But one big surprise was Uncle Bub's Barbecue from Westmont, IL, a place that I've eaten at a couple three times before. (To see my entry on Uncle Bub's, click here.) Since I'm pretty busy most of the time around the stage area, I don't get a chance to try much of the barbecue (to my chagrin). But I was able to try some ribs and pulled pork from Big Boned Barbecue, the winners of the "People's Choice" award at this year's River Roots Live/Ribfest. Both were pretty damned good.

This year also featured an appearance by the world famous Budweiser Clydesdales (above right). Chad Pregracke from Living Lands and Waters, a great environmental group based out of the Quad Cities that goes around cleaning up the nation's waterways from all the junk and crap that people throw into rivers, was to receive a large grant from Anheuser-Busch during River Roots Live this year. He was also offered the Clydesdales to use as a promotion and he wanted to have them at the festival. Well, it was a logistical nightmare to have these large animals pulling a Budweiser beer wagon down a narrow street with thousands of people around them. Scott Rexroat and I joked (but were also somewhat serious at the same time) that the whole thing was going to turn into a Clydesdale stampede. But long story short, their appearance came off without any incident.

Music started on a beautiful Friday evening with the local band, the Candymakers (below left), starting things out. Last May, the band won a spot and will represent the state of Iowa in the International Blues Challenge in Memphis next February. I've worked a couple three events with them now and they're good people and put on a great show.

Following the Candymakers, Kevin B.F. Burt and the Instigators from Iowa City came to play on the side stage at River Roots Live. I've seen Kevin (pictured above right) play both with his band and as a solo act for a number of years, but had never met him before.  And it's a wonder as it turns out that Kevin and I know a lot of the same people.  He did a great job and the early evening crowd really got into his music.  

One of my highlights of the Friday night portion of the evening was the appearance of the Kansas City-based blues band, Trampled Under Foot.  This band consists of two brothers and a sister who grew up in a household with parents who played blues music in bands around the K.C. area.  About four years ago, I just happened to click on Iowa Public Television and there was this band with a male guitarist and a female bass player - both of who played left-handed - who were performing from the Simon Estes Riverfront Amphitheater in Des Moines.  I was immediately drawn in, not only because of the music, but because I'm a left-handed guitar player. (I'm not very good at it, but I still dabble from time to time.)  It's extremely rare to see a group with one left-handed guitarist/bassist in the band, let alone TWO of them.  

Trampled Under Foot consists of guitarist Nick Schnebelen (above left) and his sister, Danielle, on bass, and brother, Kris, on drums (above right).  The siblings won the International Blues Challenge in Memphis in 2008 and have garnered a growing following around the U.S. over the past few years.  They were all just very nice and easy to work with.  They stuck around for a good portion of the evening before they hopped back into their van to head to the East Coast for a round of dates out there.  

Speaking of easy bands to work with, the Gin Blossoms headlined the Friday night portion of River Roots Live.  Like most national bands that play the festival, I don't have a lot of interaction with the band members as much as I do with the production staff they have.  The two guys that I worked with primarily, Brian Allensmith, the Gin Blossoms production manager; and Gary McIntyre, the band's road manager, were great guys to work with.  They do around 100 shows each year and both were overly impressed with how professional we all were in regard to getting them up and going from the time they showed up around noon to the time they left about midnight that night.  Most of the band members were back at the hotel, but lead singer Robin Wilson hung out a good portion of the day with the production crew.  At first, I wondered who this shirtless guy hanging out behind the stage was and I finally had to ask Gary McIntyre if he knew him.  He said, "Oh, yeah.  That's Robin, the lead singer."  I got to talk to him a few times and he was a great guy, down to earth and very unassuming.  He did turn into a rock star after the show inviting girls back to their RV/dressing room and wanting to stay there and party with them all night long before I finally had to ask Gary to get him to vacate the grounds.  But all in all, they were great to work with. 

During their encore, Robin Wilson told the crowd, "You know, we'll do about 80 to 90 shows this year and we have to put this event in our top ten."  I was pretty happy to hear that.   

Another side story about the Gin Blossoms - Robin Wilson had left behind his iPod Shuffle in the RV they were using as a dressing room.  We found it after cleaning it up later that evening and I called Gary McIntyre to let him know we had it .  He called me back on Sunday to thank me for picking it up and to give me their corporate FedEx number and an address where to send it.  He said, "I just want to let you know that we all had a great time the other night.  The guys couldn't stop talking about how well everything went with your festival.  It was really first class."   

He contrasted River Roots Live to a show the Gin Blossoms did the following evening in Atlanta.  "It was a benefit concert that they changed the venue three times on us," he said.  "I guess a car dealership had to put up the money after the original promoters ran out of money."  

Gary told me that the stage didn't have a roof and, as you can guess, it rained, heavily, an hour before the gig.  He said the rain ruined two on-stage amplifiers and half of the stack of amplifiers used to run the P.A. system. Gary told me, "The people running the event were nowhere to be found once the shit began to hit the fan.  We had to literally pull the whole thing together by ourselves and the small crew that they had."

Gary told me that our festival was one of the best ones that they've ever played at. He said, "From the time we were booked for your show, before, up and through showtime - and now afterward - it was one of the most organized and easy shows we've ever played. And when it's easy for us, it's easy for the band and they play better." He told me the touring community is pretty tight knit and he sees the tour managers and production managers of a lot of bands all the time. Gary said, "I'll let 'em all know how well you guys do things in Davenport."   

A crowd estimated at just over 10,000 people came to listen to the Gin Blossoms on Friday night and, thankfully, many of them stayed to listen to Jason Isbell and 400 Unit.  Jason Isbell is the former guitarist with the great alternative rock band, The Drive-By Truckers.  Isbell, a native of Northern Alabama, joined the Truckers in 2001 and recorded three albums with them before he split from the band after his divorce from Drive-By Truckers bassist Shonna Tucker in 2006.  Isbell has been getting some rave reviews for his recent album, "Here We Rest", and things are beginning to come around for him.  

I talked to him at length before and after the show.  I told him that I really liked his work with the Drive-By Truckers.  He was very appreciative that I brought that up.  "When I went out on my own about five years ago, I didn't know where it would end up," he told me.  "I had my doubts and things were tough for a long time, but we're finally starting to put it together."   

We had an 8 a.m. stage call for the load in for Blues Traveler and I had my alarm set for 6:45 as I was expecting a 7:30 phone call from Gina Thompson, the road manager from Blues Traveler (and the subject of the song "Gina" from Blues Traveler's first album).  However at 6:05, I was awaken by the sound of thunder outside my bedroom window.  I went into the office and looked up the weather radar on my computer.  A large thunderstorm cell was just about to hit the area.  And when it did, it poured.  We got about a 1/3 of an inch in 20 minutes.  Thankfully, the ground was so hard and dry what didn't run off right away was soaked up into the ground.  

 However, a curve ball had been thrown at us about six weeks prior.  The picture to the left is the backstage area behind the bandshell at LeClaire Park.  This was taken just as construction was beginning on a new addition to the bandshell that would hold two dressing rooms, a couple permanent restrooms, and a handicap access to the stage area.  By the time River Roots Live came about, they had a good portion of the addition up, but the backstage area (that we use extensively during the festival) was a large dirt pile.  In other words, we didn't have a backstage area for River Roots Live.

I was actually the one who alerted Tom Flaherty of the QC Chamber to this construction after it had initially started.  He said he didn't know anything about it.  A few calls to the Davenport Public Works department by Tom also failed to come up with an answer as to who made the decision to allow Russell Construction to begin on the bandshell addition even with three or four more large events coming up in the summer.  I found out much later that a guy in the Public Works department, who had a reputation for being somewhat of a turd to work with, authorized the start of construction after the Mississippi Valley Blues Festival ended on the 4th of July weekend.  And he did it just before he retired on June 30, so the city couldn't reprimand him as the construction was supposed to begin in September.  Or as Tom told me, "This guy gave the city one more big "F You!" before he retired.  

Since it was a big dirt pile, Tom authorized the city to come in with five large dump truck loads of gravel - after considerable prodding by Marcy - to cover a large portion of the dirt so we could, at the very least, use part of the backstage area as a drive through to get back to the RV dressing rooms and catering that we placed closer to the river.  When the rains came, the water was repelled by the gravel and a couple dirt areas that were still exposed became muddy quagmires.  After the show on Saturday night, I playfully went over to Tom and showed him the dry gravel and then a deep, muddy hole that still had water in it from the downpour that morning.  I said, "Hey, Tom!  Look at this!"  I pointed to the dry gravel and said, "Gravel."  Then I pointed to the muddy hole and I said, "Dirt.  Aren't you glad that you had them bring in gravel on Thursday?"  

He sort of put his head down and said, "I know. I know..."  Tom's a great guy.  

The sun had come out by 9 a.m. when we were setting up Blues Traveler for their show that night.  I had worked with Blues Traveler one time before about seven or eight years ago and while the guys in the band were great guys, the road crew was not a likable bunch - well, at least one of the guys was sort of a prick to work with.  I got to know Chan Kinchla, the guitarist for Blues Traveler (Chan is in the corner on the far left in picture on right), during their previous visit and it was good to see him again.  I reminded him of the time I ran into him at O'Hare Airport in Chicago when I was on my way to Montreal and he had a morning flight that was taking him from Fargo to Cleveland.  He said, "That's right!  That was right after we played here the first time!"  

However, on this pass through Davenport, Blues Traveler's crew were great to work with.  Gina was with the band the first time they had played at the bandshell in LeClaire Park and she didn't remember playing there.  She said, "When we pulled up, they said we'd played here before.  I didn't think we had.  But then our bass player (Chan's brother, Tad Kinchla) pulled himself up out of his bunk and looked out the window of the bus.  He said, 'Is that a minor league park over there? (John O'Donnell/Modern Woodmen Park is next door.)  Yeah, we've played here before.' "  

When I told Gina that my memories of working with Blues Traveler the first time around wasn't very pleasant, she wondered what the deal was.   I said, "You had a guy that was just a prick the whole time he was here."

Another guy working for Blues Traveler was standing there with Gina at the time and at the same time they both said, "Fisher!"  It was the former production manager/sound guy who was pretty high strung.  Gina said, "We were getting the reputation of a pretty difficult band to work with on the road.  We had to make a change and it wasn't long after we were here before that the band fired him."  

Scott Rexroat and I were talking at one point on Saturday night and he said, "Whoever hired these bands, I want to know if the first question out of their mouth was, 'Are you easy to work with?'  Because every band we've dealt with this weekend has been great!"      

He told me that one of the production guys in the Gin Blossoms had told him the day before that they had fired their long-time drummer about two years ago and had him replaced because he was so difficult to work with.  "I guess he was pretty demanding with the local (production) crews and the band was getting a bad reputation within the touring industry because of this guy," Scott said.  "It was getting to a point that if a venue booked the Gin Blossoms, they never wanted them back."  

I told him the story about the story Gina Thompson had told me about their former production manager that they had let go.  The Blues Traveler show from seven or eight years ago was the first time I'd worked with Scott and we've been good friends ever since.  He said, "Yeah!  I remember that prick!  Oh, he was a piece of work."  

Music started at noon on Saturday and by that time the sun was high in the sky with a few puffy white clouds.  It was still a little humid, but there was a nice breeze out of the north helping keep things very nice.  A good-sized crowd had come in early in the afternoon and it just kept filling up the rest of the day.  By the time Blues Traveler came on, there were more than 25,000 people in the park.  It was just packed.   

We had another curve ball thrown at us late in the morning.  Chamberlin, a band from Vermont, had their tour van break down on the way to the show the night before and they wouldn't be able to make their appearance later in the day.  Kate Benson and I huddled and decided to give the five afternoon bands an extra 10 minutes to play to make up for the 50 minute set that we were going to lose.  It actually worked out pretty well.  Each band that we told we were going to give an extra 10 minutes on stage were literally ecstatic.  To them, playing River Roots Live was a big deal.  

One band that I was really looking forward to seeing was the Kris Lager Band, a blues band based out of Nebraska and an act that I'd seen before during a trip out to Omaha a few years ago. I even have one of their CD's in my collection, I liked them so much.  The only problem was that they were woefully late getting to the venue.  Along with River Roots Live going on, the Quad City River Bandits had a game that evening and it was to feature fireworks.  They had their biggest crowd of the season and traffic downtown was a mess.  Kris Lager and his band were stuck in traffic.  By the time they finally got parked, it was 20 minutes before their scheduled appearance.  But with our great stage and sound crew and the fact that they didn't have a lot of equipment for a four piece band, we were able to get them set up, do a line check for monitors and sent them off right at 7:30 p.m.  

After he played a blistering set that had people screaming for more music, I was able to talk a little bit with Kris Lager.  He said, "I heard you were freaking out that we were running late."  

I said, "In all the years of doing an event like this, I've never had a band show up so late.  And then we were able to get you guys up and going withing 20 minutes.  So, yeah, I was freaking out a bit."   

Kris told me later in the evening, "We've done hundreds of festivals like this over the years and I have to say that this is probably my all-time favorite.  The crowd, the river being right there, the whole set up.  This is first class."   

Wisconsin-based Cory Chisel and the Wandering Sons was a band that was scheduled to play River Roots Live last year, but were canceled due to the rain we had on Friday night.  Well, just after the Kris Lager Band began to play that particular night, it began to rain - but ever so lightly.  Enough that you knew it was raining, but not heavy enough that you were running for cover.  And it only rained off and on for about 45 minutes.  By the time Cory Chisel and his band took the stage, the little bit of rain caused some major malfunctions with the sound at the festival.  He had to play a good portion of his set with feedback issues and sound cut-outs.  It was all the Rexroat Sound crew could do to keep it from falling apart.  Cory Chisel wasn't too happy with the problems, but it was Mother Nature and not shoddy workmanship that was causing it to happen.  Still, he put on a good show, but told me afterward that he was pretty frustrated that the rain played havoc - again - with his scheduled appearance at River Roots Live.  "I want to come back next year," he told me.  "And I want it to be warm and sunny!"  

After the Clydesdales made their entrance with Chad Pregracke on the barrel wagon along with Budweiser executives and people from the local distributor with him, it was time for Blues Traveler.  The last time Blues Traveler played, the band all came together on a bus, with the exception of lead singer/harmonica player John Popper (pictured at left) who flew in for the gig.  This time, they all came on the bus, but Popper has some pretty peculiar rituals the day of the show. While the band and crew were staying at a hotel over in Bettendorf, Popper was placed in one of the nicer hotels in downtown Davenport.  Gina told me, "It's just better for John to be seperated from the band.  He goes through all these pre-show rituals and it takes him forever to get ready for a show."  

At the last Blues Traveler show I worked years ago, I sensed a little bit of "prima donna" syndrome with Popper as he didn't hang with the band by the side of the stage as they were getting ready for the show.  The guys in the band, especially Chan Kinchla, were all great guys, easy going and fun to joke around with.  When Popper came out of the bus to go on stage, he had a handler to show him the way to the stage.  

This time, Popper showed up with one of our van-driven runners about an hour before the gig.  He's had some health issues over the years and Gina said that it's tough for him to get up and down stairs.  When I showed her that he only had to go up about seven or eight stairs inside the bandshell to get to the stage, she was happy with that.  While the guys in Blues Traveler still milled about backstage before the gig started, Popper relaxed in the bus.  

But once they started, he was great.  During set up earlier that morning, they had his custom microphone that he uses for both vocals and playing his mouth harp on an old table that looks like he's used for 20 years.  I found it to be rather interesting with the volume control and the buttons for his Hammond Leslie bottom that he used to play his harmonica through. I know I was probably committing some sort of sin for a stage manager, but I had to get a shot of it.  

After the show was over, the band came off the stage and I happened to be near the bus.  Each one of them shook my hand, including John Popper, who told me, "Thanks for having us back.  This was a great show." 

Later in the evening, one of the guys from Blues Traveler was still hanging around after the show and he went up to Cindy who had a River Roots Live "staff" shirt on.  He sort of touched her arm to get her attention and he told her, "Great job.  You guys know how to put on a show."  

Cindy told me later, "All I could say was 'thank you!'  I wish he would have told someone else who worked a lot harder and more hours than me!"  

Closing out the 2011 River Roots Live was an L.A.-based rhythm/soul/funk performer Nikka Costa.  Last year, we had Grace Potter and the Nocturnals close up the show after Creedence Clearwater Revisited played.  Our hope was to keep a good portion of the people in the park up to the midnight closure of the festival.  But it didn't quite happen as well as we planned.  This year, however, once Nikka Costa and her very good band got to starting as soon as Blues Traveler got off stage, I was simply amazed at how many people stuck around for her set.  While a large portion of the crowd filed out after Blues Traveler, there was three to four times the crowd that stuck around for Nikka Costa than did for Grace Potter last year.  

 And put on a show she did!  I don't generally get to see much of the entertainment at River Roots Live because I'm usually so damn busy behind the stage, but I did make it a point to go out to the sound board and catch some of Nikka Costa's act.  She had the crowd in her hand.  Dressed in a glittery top with spandex pants and high boots, Nikka belted out tune after tune, played percussion, sank to her knees for effect.  The crowd was really into her.  She was a great performer and I can't say enough about her band.  They were tight and on top of it in the hour or so that she played.  

When Nikka Costa came off the stage after her last song and the band was still playing, I was there with a flashlight to illuminate the path off the back of the side stage.  I said, "That was a great show.  But I've got to tell you, you've got one helluva band!"

She sort of laughed and said, "They are very good, aren't they?"

We had very little problems during this year's River Roots Live and some brainstorming directly after the event gave us some great ideas for next year's festival in August of 2012.  Tom Flaherty wants the event to get bigger, going after big name bands rather than older bands that primarily tour on their name.   I don't know if we're quite ready for that, but as energized (but physically beat) as I was after this year's River Roots Live, I almost can't wait for next year. 

Behind the Scenes at River Roots Live - 2010

 

 

The sixth annual River Roots Live festival was held in LeClaire Park in downtown Davenport over the weekend of August 20-21.  Once again, I was called upon to be the stage manager/coordinator and did the announcements for the event.  As I tell people, I must be doing something right because the promoters of the event - the Iowa Quad Cities Chamber of Commerce and The River Music Experience - keep asking me to come back.  In all, I've been involved in five of the six River Roots Live festivals. 

 

 

We began production meetings back in June headed up once again by Marcy Hyder from the Iowa Quad Cities Chamber and her fun and able right hand gal, Jessica Kohn.  And once again, Kyle Carter headed up marketing efforts, and Tom Swanson and Kate Benson from The River Music Experience were the contacts with the bands we hired.  We continued with these meetings throughout the summer on a regular basis, getting to the point just before the festival where Marcy sort of stopped in the middle of one meeting, looked at me and exclaimed, "Wow!  I think we actually know what we're doing!"   

Our budget had grown so we could get bands like The Marshall Tucker Band, Creedence Clearwater Revisited and Grace Potter and the Nocturnals.  And given that the last two years of River Roots Live (see the 2008 entry here, and the 2009 entry here) were on the streets of downtown Davenport and free to the public, we had to make it free at LeClaire Park, as well.  Once you open that door, it's going to be difficult to shut it. 

 

 
In addition to the music, it's also the annual Rib Fest - the 13th year there's been a rib festival (and the 12th year I've been involved).  We had six national rib vendors and a couple of local guys show up for the festival this year.  Over the past couple years, the rib vendors were inundated with people once we opened the festival up free of charge.  All the rib vendors ran out of food quite early a couple years ago.  Most of them were back last year and brought even more food, but many were out of food by the time 10 p.m. came around on Saturday night. 

 

 
This year, the rib vendors had large refrigerated trucks parked in the lots near the park, hoping that they wouldn't run out of ribs again this year.  One of the long time rib vendors, Desperado's, was back this year.  Their owner, Lee Rice, had suffered a stroke earlier this year and was confined to a wheel chair.  Lee, who was well over 400 lbs when I first met him years ago, had dropped over 100 pounds before the 2009 River Roots Live/Rib Fest.  He said he was looking to drop another 50 to 75 pounds.  Well, he certainly had, but it was sad to see him in his wheel chair, able to only move the left side of his body. 

By the way, check out the unique smoker in picture on the upper right.  I've seen pictures of these pistol-shaped smokers, but had never seen one up close until the Texas Thunder cooking team brought this one out for display during River Roots Live.  It's a true working smoker with a wood box off to one side and the barrel of the "gun" acting as the chimney.  I'm not certain I'd want one, but it was pretty interesting to see.

Production work on River Roots Live began on the Wednesday night before the festival.  Scott Rexroat's stellar production crew from Rexroat Sound and Elite Productions began to set up the two stages that we had literally side by side in front of the band shell at LeClaire Park.  This worked tremendously well for me compared to the last couple of years where we had two stages about 75 yards apart.  I had a lot of logistical problems working between the two stage areas and there was a lot of running back and forth between the areas.  With the larger stage in front of the band shell and the smaller stage off to the side, the lay-out worked tremendously for us.  We did get a little cramped back there from time to time, but we made it work.

 

 

 

This is what the stages looked like after the roofs were up and the lights were set.  Scott Rexroat had over 150,000 watts of power for 72 bass speakers and about a dozen P.A. horns all controlled by six sound boards for both front of house and stage monitors.  Between what Scott had and what he got from Joe Murphy at Murphy Sound in Iowa City, we had over 120,000 watts of light power combined for both stages.  I'm telling you, this was certainly a big time production.

Of course, it wouldn't be River Roots Live if we didn't have some rain to contend with.  I think five of the six events have been hampered by rain at some point - either during set up or during the show.  We knew rain was going to be coming on Friday evening and we were fully anticipating having to either cancel or push back some starting times with the bands.  We were able to get Lojo Russo, a local guitarist/singer, up on stage at 5:30, but it began to rain around 6:15.  It continued to rain steadily for the next couple hours, hard enough that we had to shut the music down even though we have roofs over the stage and tents over the sound boards. 



We ended up canceling three bands including Cory Chisel and the Wandering Sons - a band from Wisconsin that features the son of a Baptist minister (Chisel) as their front man.  I was looking forward to their show as I'd heard that Chisel got a lot of his stage presence from watching his preacher father give fire and brimstone services as he was growing up.  Now his son is playing the devil's music...

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

The Marshall Tucker Band was the headliner on Friday night.  Like many of the old time bands we've had in the past, there was only one original member of the band still around - lead singer Doug Gray (seated in the lower right corner of the picture on the left).  Three of the original members of the band, including the two Caldwell brothers - Toy and Tommy - are dead.  The other members - drummer Paul Riddle and flutist Jerry Eubanks - retired from the road a number of years ago. 

The Marshall Tucker Band continues to play today anchored by guitarists Stuart Swanlund and Rick Willis.  Georgian Marcus James Henderson takes over the reed instrument parts of the band and spells Gray on some songs where the 67-year-old can't quite hit some of those notes like he used to nearly 40 years ago. 

Because these classic rock bands usually only have one or two of the original members in the band, their bread and butter is their live shows.  They usually don't do albums any longer and they have to be damn good in concert or people aren't going to come and see them.  Marshall Tucker has a rabid following as witnessed by the nearly 3,000 people who stuck around in the rain to wait for their show later that evening. 

I don't usually have much interaction with members of the band, but I did spend about 10 minutes before their show with the members of the band, joking back and forth with them and their road manager, David Warren.  Doug Gray and David were telling me about a time out in Colorado a few years ago when the promoter had the band play in the middle of a driving rain with lightning dancing all over the place.  "There had to be 2,000 people on this hillside, all holdin' umbrellas, with all this lightning." David told me. 

"Crazy people," Doug said.  "But that's our fans.  The funny thing about it was that it was really lightnin' out when we were playin' 'Fire on the Mountain'."  (The song features the line "Lightning in the air...")

I wished Doug Gray to have a good show and he gave me sort of a half-hug and a hand shake.  My t-shirt was wet from being out in the rain earlier and he told me, "Now, I don't mean to sound like an old grandfather, but, Son, you've got to change outta that wet shirt!"  I told him I was going to do that just as soon as I got off the stage.   

Nice guys and they did a pretty good job on stage.  I can't say it was a stellar show  from what I saw and heard (remember, I don't get to see many shows in my capacity of stage manager), but they did do a good job. 

Our Friday night was closed out by Backyard Tire Fire, a Bloomington, IL-based band that plays American roots-style rock.  These guys played at River Roots Live in 2009 and were stepped on - literally - by Joe Bonamassa who began to play his set while the band was playing their last song on the small stage.  It was one of the most unprofessional things I've ever witnessed in my years of working these events.  And the Backyard Tire Fire guys sorely remembered the slight.  They all laughed when I promised the guys this year that they could start playing during Marshall Tucker's encore.  

Saturday awoke to gray skies and cool temperatures.  Our first band wasn't scheduled to start until noon and Creedence Clearwater Revisited wasn't due in until about 10:30 a.m. for their set up and sound check.  Compared to other early morning load-ins we've had in the past, this was a piece of cake.  I was actually able to sleep in and got to the stage area around 8:30 in the morning.  

The road crew from Creedence got in and immediately began bitching about this and that.  We had a problem with the bass guitar amplifier and it was evident that it wasn't going to work for the performance.  That didn't make them happy.  We had six stage hands on deck to help them with set up and they didn't think that was enough.  One of the guys on the Creedence crew suffered a small cut, more of an abrasion, on his arm and demanded to see the Emergency Medical Technician on site.  And he came back with this bandage that covered about a third of his forearm - sort of overkill for the small scrape that he had.  

But after awhile, the Creedence crew began to settle in, they warmed up to us and things began to get a lot better with them.  The band had played in western Nebraska the night before and it was a 650 mile, 10 hour drive overnight for the band and crew.  So it was understandable that the crew was a little cranky at first while the band was back in a hotel room sleeping and resting up for the show later in the evening.  

The sun came out just before noon making everything hot and sticky as the first bands began to play.  We had a pretty spacious backstage area with some RV trailers that were used for dressing rooms or "chill stations" for the bands.  We had a great catering service put on by Mike and Mary Monfort again, with help from Neil Vigars who did a lot of the procuring of food and drinks for the back stage area and to put in the band's trailers as part of their contract riders.  That's one of the problems I have with River Roots Live being paired with the Rib Fest - I hardly ever get a chance to take the time to go try some ribs.  But the Monfort's always do a good job of providing some great food to the bands and production crew.  

 

We had a pretty good sized crowd for the afternoon, partly because of the draw of the ribs and the fact that it was free admission.  We knew we were going to have a huge crowd that evening and everyone from the cops to the beer guys to the rib vendors were gearing up for the night.  But in the meantime, the music continued and it featured an eclectic mix of American-roots-based music, modern bluegrass, hip-hop/reggae, and spacey hippies era rock.  The band pictured on the right is a local Quad City band -Bumper Crop - fronted by Craig Smith, whose wife, DaMel, cuts my hair at Salon Luce in downtown Davenport.  (A little plug for Craig and DaMel who own the shop.)

By the way, I'd be very remiss if I didn't mention a couple of things.  First, many of the pictures in this entry are courtesy of Tony McKinney who works for Rexroat Sound.  Tony takes a lot of great photos from his vantage point either on stage or out at the front of house sound board.  So I have to thank Tony for letting me use some of the pictures.

Secondly, I have to acknowledge that I had help this year in the form of my lovely wife, Cindy, who was my assistant behind the stage.  Last year, Cindy said to me, "What do you do after the show is over on Saturday night so that you don't get home until 3 a.m.?  I suppose you just sit and drink and carry on with everyone." 

Well, there is some of that, but I am pretty busy getting stuff put away, cleaning stuff up, helping with this or that.  Last year, she stuck around after Joe Bonamassa played on Saturday night and helped me with my duties.  She said, "I really had no idea of all the stuff you do at these shows!"  So, she volunteered to help out behind the stage this year and she did a great job.  At times, she would be sitting around, feeling guilty that she wasn't doing something at that moment.  But as I explained to her many times, "Don't worry.  You'll get busy.  We just need you to be ready when we need you." 

Later in the afternoon, Cindy came up to me and said, "Hey, WQAD wants to interview you over by the backstage entrance."  I went over there and WQAD's Brian Boesen, whom I'd met before on a couple of occasions (including the night before when he was hanging out in the VIP area of the festival with Cindy and our friends Greg and Jenny Hipskind), was wanting to put me on camera.

Well, I looked like hell - sweaty, hair all askew - and I protested about being put on camera.  He said, "Oh, come on.  We'll just do a head and shoulders shot."

 

If you want to see the segment that Brian did on River Roots Live, including my little part of the interview he did with me, click here. 

The crowd began to fill in quite rapidly on Saturday evening in anticipation of both Creedence Clearwater Revisited and Grace Potter and the Nocturnals.  We had some last minute requests above and beyond the standard tour riders that we have to fulfill for national acts like those two bands.  Kate Benson, who is the events coordinator at the River Music Experience, did a great job with many of these requests including running out to get mouthwash so Grace Potter's road crew could clean the face of the microphones. (I never heard of that before, but it certainly made sense - especially at a festival.)  Here's Kate in an all too familiar pose with the phone pressed to her face as she cheerfully ran down some inane request from one of the bands. 

 

One of the true highlights of River Roots Live is discovering bands that I'm not familiar with and this year that band was Jonathan Tyler and the Northern Lights, a Dallas-based band that played good ol' straight-forward rock and roll.  I had a chance to catch a bit of their set and I was standing with a couple guys from Rexroat Sound at the monitor board on the small stage who were just amazed at how well these guys played.  And they did do a great job.  It was the perfect lead-in to Creedence Clearwater Revisited.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Here's a couple pictures of the crowd just before Creedence played that evening.  In the picture in the upper left, you see the back of Eric Kranz of Rexroat Sound, affectionately known to his friends as "Chikken", getting things ready for Creedence to take the stage.  The picture on the upper right is one that Tony McKinney took just after the show began.  Police estimated there were between 20,000 to 25,000 people at the park that evening.  It was just absolutely packed - the most people I'd ever seen at LeClaire Park. 

Creedence Clearwater Revisited has only two of the four original members of Creedence Clearwater Revival - drummer Doug Clifford and bass player Stu Cook.  John Fogerty, who wrote most of the great Creedence songs, has his own solo career and wants nothing to do with the reincarnation of the band.  Fogerty's brother, Tom, died 20 years ago when he contracted AIDS from a blood transfusion for a back ailment.  The original CCR may be the first main stream roots rock act to make it big.  I still have trouble believing they were from the San Francisco Bay Area and not from the Mississippi Delta. 

 

The other members of Creedence Clearwater Revisited feature lead singer John Tristao, whose vocals are very similar to John Fogerty's.  Before his work with Creedence, Tristao was with a Bay Area band by the name of People!, who had a hit back in the mid-60's called "I Love You".  We've seen Creedence Clearwater Revisited at Summerfest in Milwaukee in the past and his Fogerty-like vocals were the key to making the band sound like, well, like Creedence Clearwater Revival. 

Guitarist Tal Morris and guitarist/keyboard player Steve Gunnermake up the rest of the CCR band.  Morris has worked with the likes of Huey Lewis and the News, Ronnie Montrose, and the Sons of Champlin.  Morris replaced original Creedence Clearwater Revisited guitarist Elliott Easton - formerly of The Cars- a few years ago.  Steve Gunner is sort of the "everyman" for Creedence playing not only guitar and keyboards, but doing some background singing, playing percussion and a little harmonica. 

 

Creedence (pictured at right during their show at River Roots Live) showed up around 8 p.m. for their 9:00 p.m. show.  Their road manager, Wayne Nagel, is a music industry veteran, probably best known as one of the co-founders of the Austin Rehearsal Complex - a.k.a. - the ARC - in Austin, TX.  The ARC was known as the hub of Austin music in the 90's with a large number of area musicians using the space to rehearse and record.  Nagel was also the manager of the famous Continental Club in Austin for a number of years.  The number of bands and artists that have made their way up through the ranks of the Austin music scene and who have played the Continental Club since 1957 is mind-boggling. 

 

Wayne was a very nice guy in a down-home Texas sort of way.  He was a somewhat imposing figure with a barrel chest, but had a quick smile and was very easy to work with.  He was overly grateful for the requests he put forth and was very appreciative of our efforts in making sure everything came off without a hitch.  I've always said the national acts are usually the easiest to work with, even if they can be a little demanding.  There's a lot of give and take when it comes to working festivals, and bands like CCR and The Marshall Tucker Band understand that.

 

Unfortunately, the management for Grace Potter and the Nocturnals didn't quite understand that (as did the management with Joe Bonamassa the previous couple of years).  Grace Potter's tour manager, Ben Erickson, was a nice enough guy, but a little high-strung and overly demanding at times.  Ben heads the Elysian Artist Group, a management firm that handles both business and tours for the likes of Grace Potter and Martin Sexton. 

 

One of the last minute requests we got from Ben was a police security detail in and around the backstage area for Grace Potter.  Grace Potter is a rapidly rising star in the music world and she's not bad to look at either.  With her long hair and long legs, it's little wonder that she probably gets hassled by fans on a regular basis.  However, Ben told me that one of the biggest problems she has is with other musicians hassling her - especially at festivals like River Roots Live.  So, we had to coordinate with the Davenport Police Department in getting one of their uniform cops to accompany Grace at all times and stand guard outside her trailer before and after the show.  Mark Hanssen, lovingly known as "Lumpy" to his fellow cops, drew the short straw to take on this task.  Mark told me, "I have no idea who Grace Potter is, but by Monday, I may be one of her biggest fans."

Another strange request from Ben Erickson was that no one was to be on or near the stage area during Grace Potter's show.  We had three stairwells up to the stage and he wanted security posted at each one.  Well, we couldn't do that and I told him that we just didn't have the manpower.  I just decided to clear the backstage area of all non-essential personnel including some of the bands who had played earlier in the day.  That was one of the more unpleasant parts of my job as the stage manager. 

As Creedence was winding down on stage, it was evident that they were running over their time allotment.  And, quite frankly, that was fine with me.  Nearly every song that CCR played was one that you'd hear on the radio at almost any time on any day.  It was an amazing run of songs they had with the original band. 

Wayne Nagel, Ben Erickson and I huddled before Creedence ended their show.  Wayne explained the way they did their encores - come off stage, go back on for two songs, come off again, go back on for two final songs.  We wanted Grace Potter to start almost as soon as Creedence made their way off stage.  Ben knew this would cut into their 10:30 p.m. starting time by about 10 to 15 minutes.  Ben was told that they had to be off stage by midnight per noise restrictions for the City of Davenport.  (I found out later we had a variance for the noise abatement.)  I told him that if Grace went 10 minutes past midnight, I'm sure the cops wouldn't roust them from the stage.  Mark Hanssen was standing right next to me and I looked at him and he sort of shook his head "no" when  I wanted confirmation to that.  Still it didn't set well with Ben.

As we went to the smaller stage with Grace and the band, Ben was having a mini fit on the stage.  "We're the f***ing headliners here!  We shouldn't have to get pushed around by a bunch of has-been musicians!"

I turned on my heels and went right up to his face. I said, "Hang a second, son.  CREEDENCE is the headliner tonight!  Look at the crowd that came out to see them!  Do you think this crowd is for Grace?  3/4's of the people here have never heard of Grace Potter!  Your job is to hold the crowd and to make new fans!"  And with that, I jumped off the stage and went to the backstage area.

Later on, after Grace began her set, Ben came up to me and apologized.  He said, "Sorry I snapped at you earlier.  You're right.  Creedence is the headliner and we're just the clean up act."  Glad he saw it that way.  And I'm glad that I didn't have to tell him that Creedence got about 3 and a half times more money than Grace did.  But every cent we paid to Creedence was worth it.  They did one helluva job. 

One of the problems with being the stage manager and announcer for the event is that most people think that I'm in charge of the whole event.  We have a television crew from Impact Video that provides the Jumbotron screen and does television production for the event.  A lot of times in the past, they've shown me on the Jumbotron when I do my little bit of announcing.  Over the past couple of years, I've had a wireless microphone and would stand off to the side of the stage out of sight of both the cameras and most of the people.  But I still get recognized from time to time.

 

One of those times occured during Grace Potter's set.  Grace Potter's Hammond B-3 organ was set up to the far side of stage right and we didn't have any handheld cameras set up for that stage.  We just had one camera situated on top of the scaffolding above the front of house sound board.  The only problem was that right in between Grace and the camera was one of the decorative lamp posts that are in the LeClaire park bandshell area.  So the cameraman couldn't get any shots of Grace Potter for the Jumbotron. 

 

This infuriated a number of people who were back toward the middle part of the park.  I went out to the front of house during Grace's set (I always like to go out to the sound board because, quite frankly, that's the best sounding place for any concert) to hang for a bit.   One very inebriated 30's-something lady came up to me and began to complain.  "Hey, this is a bunch of shit!  We can't see Grace Potter.  What the f***'s wrong with the cameraman? I can do a better job than he can!"

I said, "See that lamp post between here and the stage?  Well, it's right in the way of the camera and where Grace is standing." 

She drunkenly said, "Well, that's a bunch of shit, man!"

I got closer to her face and calmly said, "Hey!  How much did you pay to get in here?"  She backed off very quickly after that.

Later on, Grace came out from behind the organ and stood at center stage for a good portion of the rest of the night allowing the camera to follow her around.  

As I said earlier, I tried to keep all non-essential people from the back stage area while Grace was playing.  We had a few people from the Iowa Quad Cities Chamber come back, including Executive VP Tom Flaherty, Marcy's boss.  I had to explain to him that we couldn't have anyone close to the stage area and he helped make sure that happened.  However, one guy was right up behind the stage taking pictures with his Iphone.  And he wasn't wearing any backstage credentials.  I went up to him and sort of pulled him away from the stage area.  I said, "Who are you!?"

He said, "I'm the lead guitarist for Creedence Clearwater Revisited!"

I looked at him in the face and saw that it was, indeed, Tal Morris.  I said, "Oh, man.  I'm sorry.  Grace Potter's manager said that he didn't want anyone hanging close to the stage area and I didn't see any credentials on you."

He sort of laughed and pointed at their tour bus.  "My credentials are on the bus!  I've never heard of these guys and I wanted to get pictures so I can say I played on the same bill with them when they get really big!"  

Well, Grace went about 20 minutes over the midnight curfew.  I was a little unhappy about that because she was really milking the crowd that was left - about 3,000 strong by the time the night was over - and stringing out her songs.  I stood over on the now bare main stage with Tom Flaherty and his girlfriend waiting for Grace to get over.  Now, she was good, but I thought she was also a little egotistical when it came to the end of her show.  

As we were standing there, Tom came over to me and shook my hand.  He said, "Thanks for not screwing up."

I looked at him funny and said, "You thought we would screw up?"

He said, "No, I'm serious.  Thanks for not screwing up.  This means a lot to me and the Chamber."   

After getting Grace off the stage and loaded up to get back to the hotel, Cindy and I began cleaning up the trailers and backstage area.  One of the fringe benefits of cleaning the trailers after the headliners have been in them is scavenging the remains of their food that is part of their contract riders.  Creedence had a sandwich tray along with cheeses, wines, beer and some other munchie food.  Grace Potter's trailer had a similar spread.  Of course, they never come close to finishing any of the food provided.  Creedence had asked for ribs from one of the rib vendors and we got some for them to take on their bus. 

 

Looking back, it was a pretty stressful River Roots Live for me.  But it was also one of the most rewarding of all I've been involved.  I had a lot of great help in the back stage area and I can't go without acknowledging the great help I had from Tom Swanson and his wife, Katie, along with Tim (Red) Roberts who were the defacto stage-hands and jack-of-all trades all weekend long.  And I have to also acknowledge the help from CC Backline in Peoria - Chad Cook and his partner, Kris (aka "Squid") - who provided a number of backline instruments, amplifiers and speaker bottoms for a number of the bands.  Everyone worked so well together that it really took a lot of pressure off of me. 

After we finished up, I sent Cindy home and helped out with a few more chores.  The RRL production staff met up behind the stage area around 3 a.m. for a few beers, to tell some stories and share some laughs.  We keep telling each other that this would be the last time we do River Roots Live, but I have a funny feeling that I'll be getting a call from Marcy sometime in March or April of next year making sure I had that weekend open.

Richie Hayward - 1946 - 2010

The death earlier this week of the drummer and one of the founding members of Little Feat, Richie Hayward, was a sad day for a number of music aficionados.  Richie was a dynamic drummer, fully ambidextrous whose beats and rhythms flowed across his drum kit.  Not only was he the backbone of the Little Feat sound, he was a great showman who turned in great performances night after night.

With the 6th annual River Roots Live festival coming up next weekend here in Davenport, I would like to share a story about meeting Richie Hayward backstage when Little Feat played the initial event in 2005.  I had been hired to be the stage manager and announcer for the event, a position I'd done a number of times for the local Davenport Chamber of Commerce for other festivals they had.  Little Feat happened to be the headlining band for the Saturday night part of the festival that year. 

Before the show, I talked extensively with Bill Payne, the keyboard player for Little Feat, who has long been one of my musical heroes.  I learned long ago that famous musicians usually don't like to be asked about their music or "what were you thinking when you wrote that song", especially by a local crew member in the backstage area.  Most of the more famous musicians I've worked with over the years want to be treated like normal people.  

It turned out that Bill and I had a mutual interest in photography.   He had spent a good portion of the day traveling around the Quad Cities and taking pictures of various places in and around the towns.  He said, "I think this is a neat area.  You have so many little neighborhoods throughout all these towns.  I got a lot of great shots of houses, store fronts, the riverfront.  A day like this makes the long travel we go through on tours somewhat bearable." 

I had known that Richie Hayward was born in Iowa (in Clear Lake - 1946) and raised in Ames.  I was hoping to be able to ask him about growing up in Ames, which was about 55 miles from where I grew up in Newton.  In fact, Ames High School and Newton High School were in the same conference and natural sports rivals for years and years.  I was wondering if he had any recollections of growing up in Central Iowa.

Richie was hanging around the stage before the gig, joking and talking with other members of Little Feat and their crew, so I didn't feel it was appropriate to go up and talk to him about growing up in Iowa.  So, I just sort of left it at that, figuring that I wouldn't have a chance to speak with him.  I will have to say, however, that it was pretty cool to be standing on the ground about 10 feet behind Richie Hayward looking up at him play on the stage watching him masterfully roll across his drum kit with such a fluid nature.  He was truly mesmorizing to watch. 

As Little Feat was finishing their encore, I was positioned toward the back of stage right, near a set of service stairs.  Little Feat's trailer was parked next to the stage with a ramp coming from it onto the stage.  The band accessed the stage by going up the steps in the side of the trailer and then out onto the stage via the ramp.  When the band had finished their final song, they all stood at the front of the stage acknowledging the crowd of nearly 8000 people who had come to hear them play that evening.  When they left the stage, the all took the ramp back onto the trailer.  Except for Richie Hayward.  He turned around and came barreling at me, trying to get down the service steps at the back corner of the stage.  And, of course, I was in the way.  He sort of ran into me, grabbing on to me in the process.  He said, "Watch it, big guy.  You're gonna get hurt if you're in the way!" 

Well, I wasn't expecting anyone from Little Feat to be coming off stage in that direction.  I apologized to him and got out of his way.  I felt sort of like a dolt because the last thing you want to be on or behind the stage is "in the way."   Even though it may be my job to be in the way.  

As the evening was wrapping up, the members of Little Feat were on their bus cooling down after the show.  I had paid the remaining money due to their road manager, Denny Jones, and he and I were talking about a little bit of everything.  (Earlier in the day, Denny told some amazing stories of life on the road in the 70's and 80's when he worked for bands such as Poco, Crosby, Stills and Nash, Lionel Richie, The Tubes, and Kenny Loggins.  He also told some great stories about playing in a Southern California softball league 25 years ago with members of the Eagles.  Their team was called the Hollywood Hoovers - and not because of a sponsorship by the vacuum cleaner company.  The term "Hoover" described heavy cocaine users in the day.)  

As Denny and I were walking back to the Little Feat bus, we paused and shook hands and I headed over to one of the RV trailers that we had for some of the bands that weekend.  Standing alone along some bicycle rack fencing near the trailer was Richie Hayward, smoking a cigarette.   He was just surveying the departing crowds, hanging out trying to wind down after the show. 

I was hesitant to go up and talk with him, but he sort of saw me and acknowledged me.  I went over and said, "Hey, sorry to get in your way up on the stage."

He said, "Aw, hey.  No harm, no foul."

I said, "You sort of surprised me by coming that way off the stage.  Everyone else was going off on the ramp through the trailer."

Richie sort of laughed and said, "They all say that I'm a little different."

I thought it would be a good time to ask him about growing up in Iowa.  I said, "So, when did you graduate from Ames High?"

He sort of jerked his head and gave me a startled look.  But he then said, "I graduated in 1965."

I told him that I had grown up in Newton and he said, "Oh, you're a Cardinal!"  (The Cardinals were Newton High's nickname).  I told him that I was, indeed, a Cardinal. 

I asked him if he had gotten his start playing with bands around the Ames area.  He said he had.  "In fact, my first paying gig was when I was 13 years old.  We played the...  hmm... "  He was having trouble recollecting his first gig, considering it was nearly 45 years prior.  He then said, "It was either in the Moose Lodge or the Elks Club in Nevada."  (Nevada, IA is a town about 10 miles from Ames.)  We played for a bunch of old farts.  My mom set up the gig."  

He said his mom was very supportive of his love for music and playing the drums when he grew up.  He said, "I lived in Clear Lake for about the first six years of my life and I found that I liked to bang on things.  When we moved to Ames I got hooked on playing drums.  I think I was seven or eight."  He said he got his first set of drums not long after that.    

Richie said that he played in a number of different bands while in junior high and high school, but he knew that staying in Ames, IA wasn't in the cards for him.  "As soon as I graduated from Ames High in 1965, I think the next day I was on my way to California," he said laughingly.    

He said he was bumming around Southern California for a while before he answered an ad in a local free paper for a "freaky drummer".  "I liked the wording of the ad and I had to go see who would be on the lookout for that kind of guy," Richie told me. 

It turned out that person was Lowell George.  And with that, their longtime friendship and collaboration began.  They played in a band for a couple years before going their separate ways for a year.  But in 1969 they formed Little Feat with Bill Payne.  "And the rest, as they say in Hollywood, is history," he said.

Hayward's style of drumming crossed over into many different styles of music.  In addition to his work with Little Feat, Richie also played in the studio and on tour for such diverse performers as Eric Clapton, Barbra Streisand, Robert Plant, Taj Mahal, Van Dyke Parks, Joan Armatrading, and James Cotton. 

Last summer, Richie was diagnosed with a severe liver disease and took a leave of absence from the band.  I don't know if it was cancer, but I do know that Richie was living in Canada with no medical insurance.  A number of fund raisers were held to help him with his medical bills, but he died Thursday of complications from pnuemonia in a hospital near Vancouver, B.C. where he was awaiting a liver transplant.  

My short visit with Richie and him telling me stories about his early years in Iowa will stick in my mind as one of the highlights of my life.  He was very down to earth and friendly during his conversation.  I stuck out my hand and thanked him for the years of enjoyment his music had brought to me.  He said, "Thanks, man.  You keep rockin', ya'hear?"

It's sad and too bad Richie couldn't keep rockin' a little while longer.  He might not of been the one of the most famous drummers on the music scene, but as Larry Luttrell, a drummer from Chicago once told me, "Richie Hayward is a drummer's drummer." 

You keep rockin', Richie.  Ya'hear?

Contemporary Hawaiian Music

Spending a lot of time in the car as we did on both the Big Island of Hawaii and on Maui, we found a lot of different types of music can be found in Hawaii.  Most of it is traditional Hawaiian music - ukulele or slack-key guitar-based music with words in the native Hawaiian language.  But we did find one station - KLHI, also known as Native 92.5 - that introduced us to a new style of music that we certainly weren't familiar with - Contemporary Hawaiian.  I'm not talking about traditional Hawaiian music by Don Ho or by Israel "Iz" Kamakawiwoʻole, but new age Hawaiian by groups and artists such as Rebel Souljahz, Rushouze and Amy Hanailai'i Gilliom.   

FM radio stations don't cover as much ground as AM stations, mainly because their broadcast radius is determined by the height of the antenna and how much power they use to transmit.  Their signal is categorized as "line of sight", meaning that if you have clear access to the tower and the broadcast signal is strong enough, you should be able to get the station.  KLHI transmitted from a hillside on the southwest side of Maui, not far from where we stayed in Wailea.  We were able to pick it up pretty well on the Big Island, especially if we stayed on the northwest side of the island.  However, once we got up into the hills around Waimea the signal would rapidly diminish.  Even on the east side of Maui, we would have trouble getting the station in because of the high terrain between us and the station. 

We found ourselves sort of getting sucked in by this Hawaiian Contemporary Music that Native 92.5 played.  The musical stylings feature strong elements of reggae.  And they even had a name for this style of music - "Jawaiian" - because it closely resembled Jamaican music structures.   But in this style of music we also heard bits of soul, hip-hop, jazz and even Mexican Tejano.  There was a strong brass element in many of the songs with trumpets covering many background fills.  But the key to songs were the strong harmonies on nearly every tune.  Hawaiians have some great voices. 

The music was infectious, but not overpowering.  It was the type of music that you'd suddenly sort of start to bob your head to the beat.  We heard some religious songs, but not many.  We also heard some political songs, such as "The Warrior" by the Polynesian artist Fiji where he sang about the civil rights abuses that still exist in parts of that region on earth.  But for the most part, many of the songs were either original songs by Hawaiian artists, or reworked 70's and 80's soft-rock songs that were given a native Hawaiian signature.  A number of artists used the vocal effect known as "auto-effect" such as was used in Cher's 1990's hit, "Believe".  Native 92.5 would rotate 25 to 30 songs on a daily basis.  To see the current song list of what they're playing, click here.

Contemporary Hawaiian Music is relaxing and not taxing like some music can be.  Reggae can be sort of tedious and monotonous, but I didn't really find anything repetitive about "Jawaiian" music.   Some of the better artists we heard on Native 92.5 included The Green (formerly Next Generation), Sean Na'auao, B.U.B.Z., Ooklah the Moc and Inik (pronounced E-nick).  Of course, the station also featured true reggae artists such as Bob Marley, his son, Ziggy Marley, Third World and Jimmy Cliff.  They even played music from the innovative Jewish/Reggae artist Matisyahu.  There was really nothing better than cruising down a seaside highway with Native 92.5 cranked up in the car.  It brought the whole Hawaiian culture that much closer to what we were trying to experience.

You can get Native 92.5 on your computer and I suggest you give it a try.  Click on this link - Native 92.5 Listen Live - and it will take you to a front page.  If you have a high-speed connection, click on the 64K button.  If you don't have one already, you'll have to do a quick download of an Abacast plug-in player for you computer, but it's safe and quick.  It's worth the minimal effort to listen to some great music from the Hawaiian islands. 

There's not much that we could bring back from Hawaii that really helped capture the essence of what life out there was all about.  But closing my eyes and listening to Contemporary Hawaiian Music on Native 92.5 gives me that soothing sense of a Hawaiian lifestyle that we enjoyed for a couple weeks during our visit.

The Beatles in Mono

I grew up in a household that played Beatles music incessantly.   I was hooked by The Beatles from the first time I saw them on The Ed Sullivan Show on Feb. 9, 1964.  My older sisters and my cousins all had Beatles records and albums.  For Christmas and birthday gifts, I received Beatles albums.  The first CD I bought was Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band when it was released on June 1, 1987 - 20 years to the day the original vinyl Sgt. Pepper's was released.  (How ironic - the opening line of the album is "It was 20 years ago today..."  Or was it a calculated marketing ploy?)  So, yeah, I've been a Beatles fan for years. 

The first 8 Capitol Records Beatles albums were released on CD a few years ago.  I got those when they came out.  All 8 feature the Beatles songs in both monophonic sound and stereo.  The only problem is that the mono songs sound so much better than the stereo ones.  The reason?  The Beatles and their production engineers, headed by George Martin, put more emphasis into the mono mix because - at the time - there wasn't the proliferation of stereo sound systems available until the boom of stereo in the early 70's.  Car audio was mono, most record players had a built in mono speaker, and AM radio was only broadcast in mono. 

After the tracks were laid down in mono, production engineers would go back and mix the songs in stereo.  Unfortunately, many of those tracks featured the vocals in one channel with the instruments in another channel.  The mono tracks on the re-issues sounded so much better, more vibrant and lifelike.  I ended up using some of the mono Beatles songs for demo material.  They were well recorded, but still lacked some of the dynamics that you find in today's digital music.

For a reported 4 painstaking years, EMI chief engineers Allan Rouse and Guy Massey remixed the entire Beatles catalog in both stereo and mono.  The result was an early September release of The Beatles Stereo Box Set and The Beatles in Mono, all of which are based upon the British release of the albums.  While the differences between the originals and the remixed songs are not as dramatic as to what George and Giles Martin pulled off with The Beatles "Love" album, the songs are definitely more dynamic, more full and amazingly clean. 

Rouse and Massey have been working on Beatles projects for over 20 years at Abbey Road Studios, so the remix of the box sets was a labor of love.  The mono tracks were easy, mainly because that's how 10 of the 13 Beatles album releases were recorded.  Even Sgt. Pepper's was recorded in mono.  Then it was up to the engineers to transfer and mix the recordings to stereo.  Even to me, it boggles my mind as to the work that had to go into these albums to record and release both in stereo and mono. 

The feedback from audio critics was overwhelmingly positive - especially for the mono box set.  Although it was smaller than the stereo box set (the stereo box set has all 13 Beatles albums plus a documentary DVD, while the mono only has 10 albums plus a bonus disc called "Mono Masters 1962-1969"), critics and audiophiles raved about the sound quality of the mono box set remixes.  I first heard a track of the mono mix at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest in Denver earlier this fall and I was blown away.  It immediately became a "must have" item to my collection of Beatles discs and albums that I've collected over the years.

(As an aside - speaking of Beatles collections:  One of the more difficult albums to find is an original copy of The Beatles "Yesterday and Today".  This is because the original cover for the album featured The Beatles holding decapitated baby dolls and blood on their white smocks.  The outrage caused Capitol Records to change the cover.  Over 25 years ago, a friend of mine ran a record store and he was able to get me an original copy of the album from Canada.  I think I paid something like $75 bucks for it.  It was a prized part of my record collection.  And, of course, like a dumb shit, I proudly showed it off to my friends - both savory and ne'er-do-wells, alike.

Through the years with many moves, many hazy nights and many people filtering through the places where I lived, I ended up losing a number of albums - one of which was the original "Yesterday and Today".  I was sickened to find out a couple three years ago that the album (which is what collectors call a "first state" album) was worth up to $7,000 in mint condition.  I don't know if mine was in mint condition, but it still would have been worth a lot of money.  But someone else has it now.  Just goes to show you never know about your friends.) 

However, only 10,000 of the mono box sets were released.  And even at a whopping $239 (U.S.) they sold out rather quickly.  One of my dealers in Chicago, Music Direct, had sold out of their shipment of the mono release before they had them in stock.  A friend of mine told me that you could find them on eBay for $1000.  It looked like getting a set wasn't going to happen.

Due to heavy demand, EMI announced that it would release more of the box sets - both mono and stereo.  The mono box sets were the first to show up in early November, while the stereo box sets were re-released last week.  I heard tracks from both the mono and stereo box sets and relied upon recommendations from other friends and colleagues to tell me what I probably already knew - the stereo box set was nice, but the mono was the one to get. 

Bes from Music Direct told me earlier this month that they had just received more of the mono box sets and I told him to hang onto one for me.  I was in Chicago recently and picked up my box set from Bes.  I couldn't wait to get it home and put the discs on the stereo in the family room. 

The first disc I opened was "Beatles for Sale", which was roughly the same album as "Beatles 65" here in the U.S.  I sat back on the sofa, hit "play" on my Cambridge Audio 840C CD player and waited for "No Reply" to begin.

From the first breath from John Lennon's mouth, his first words and the first chords on the guitar, I was blown away.  It was so open, so lively, so airy, so dynamic, so LIFELIKE!!  It was like the friggin' Beatles were playing in my family room!  The cymbal crashes were open and sustained, the bottom end of Paul McCartney's bass was more pronounced and forward.  The harmonies were more bright and subtle nuances like background hand-claps were more noticeable.  It was just unbelievable.  And I'm not kidding you a bit - the hair on the back of my neck stood up, it was that spectacular. 

I could close my eyes and imagine The Beatles playing about 20 feet in front of me - dead center in the room.  You couldn't even tell they were playing through a sound system.  (Of course, that's sort of the hallmark of a good sound system, as well.  Mono or stereo recordings.)  Each subsequent album that I put on the CD player and played, I was even more impressed with the job Rouse and Massey did on the albums.  The spectacular sound quality only enhanced the stellar performances the band put forth. 

In addition to the great sound, the discs in The Beatles in Mono box set has all the original record sleeves and inserts that were in the 10 EMI mono releases in the U.K.  The Beatles Stereo Box Set has all the Beatles albums, plus it has more paraphernalia and memorabilia to go along with the discs.  While the mono box set is more geared for the audiophile Beatles fans, the stereo box set is more for the hardcore Beatles fan who craves more information on the Fab Four.  I'll eventually get the stereo box set, but for now I'm overly happy with The Beatles in Mono.  Even with the steep price, either box set should be at the top of every steadfast Beatles fan.  To me, it's worth it. 

Behind the Scenes at River Roots Live 2009

The annual River Roots Live festival closed out the summer music season here in the Quad Cities.  Once again, I was hired to be the stage manager and the announcer for the event.  I must do a pretty good job as they keep asking me back to do the event.

As it was for the River Roots Live event last year, it was held on the streets of downtown Davenport.  Even though we didn't have the floods that inundated Le Claire Park in 2008, Davenport One (now the Iowa QC Chamber)- the producer of the event - thought the downtown venue worked tremendously.  And considering that it was free to the public last year and the crowds were huge, that formula should probably work again.  Well, it did and it didn't.

Highlighting the performers this year at River Roots Live were Blue Oyster Cult, the Fabulous Thunderbirds and the return of Joe Bonamassa.  Some of the other performers included The Nadas, Backyard Tire Fire and the Uniphonics.  To see the full line-up, click here. 

As it's been in the past, the River Roots Live was co-joined by the annual Rib Fest that I've been a part of since its inception over ten years ago.  Last year, a number of the good rib vendors that we'd had in the past had pulled out of the event citing the meager crowd we'd had in previous festivals.  When word got out that it was now a free event - and that the rib vendors ran out of food both nights last year - we had a number of them clamoring to come back.   While we couldn't accommodate them all, we did have Desperado's come back from a one-year hiatus.  Lee and Donna and their family are good people and they serve up some good ribs. 

The problem is that I'm usually so busy that I can't get out to sample any of the ribs.  We do have a catering company that takes care of meals back stage, but it's not ribs. 

I had the pleasure of working with Scott Rexroat from Rexroat Sound who did the sound, lights and set up the stage.  The stage at River Roots Live was the largest that Scott and his crew ever assembled.  And his sound system was also the largest he'd ever put together for a show.  Actually, the P.A. system doesn't look all that big, but Scott is able to squeeze a shit-load of sound pressure out of those cabinets.  It's always a pleasure to work with Scotty and his guys in these events.  They make my job just that much easier.  (As always, to get a better look at the pictures, just click your mouse over the picture.)

About the only thing we had to worry about was the weather.  We'd had an unusually cold and wet summer in Eastern Iowa/Western Illinois and the weather was threatening all week long leading up to the event.  In fact, it began to rain on the Friday afternoon of the event, which pushed our schedule back about three hours and we were doing a lot of catching up to make sure the event went off on time.  It was scheduled to start at 5:30 with a local band, Sleeping on Sidewalks, opening the festival.  We couldn't get them on in time and I asked if they would come back the next morning to open the Saturday portion of the event at 11:30 a.m.  A couple of the guys had to scramble to re-arrange their schedules, but they pulled it off. 

The cool and wet weather on Friday night helped keep the crowd down.  Estimates were around 8,000 to 10,000 people in the downtown area - down significantly from last year's Friday night show when we had an estimated 15,000 people downtown.  Since it is a free festival, Davenport One relies upon beer sales to make up for the cost of the entertainment and other amenities to put on the event.  While it wasn't a complete wash-out on Friday night, the cool weather kept beer sales down about $7,000 from the previous year. 

Blue Oyster Cult's road manager and sound man, Steve "Woody" LaCerra, was a great guy to work with.  We couldn't do a sound check for the band because of the rain and he said, "That's OK.  We'll do a line check before the band starts.  I'll just adjust it on the fly."   Most bands would have a shit-fit if they couldn't do a sound check before the show.  Woody's attitude was very refreshing.  "Shit happens," he said.  "And then we try to make the best of it." 

The members of Blue Oyster Cult showed up about a half-hour before their scheduled show and I met the members of the band in the backstage trailer we provided for them.  There was a "meet and greet"  with Blue Oyster Cult that had been organized by some people associated with Davenport One and I had to escort the guys over to the backstage area to sign some autographs and pose for pictures.  Eric Bloom, one of the original members of Blue Oyster Cult, said to me, "How long is this supposed to last?" 

I said, "As quick as quick can be." 

"How many people," he asked.

"15.  20, tops."

He said, "Good, I hate 'meet and greets' that drag on and on." 

I assured him that I'd have him out of there in five minutes.  What I didn't know is that the person who arranged for the "meet and greet" didn't keep it down to the 15 or so people that had been agreed upon by Woody LaCerra.  When we got over to the backstage area where the "meet and greet" was to take place, I was horrified to see about 45 to 50 people milling about.  But Bloom, nor his long time partner Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser (both pictured here), didn't bitch.  They went about their business, signing autographs, posing for pictures and carrying on with the star-struck fans.

Now, I was a huge Blue Oyster Cult fan when I was younger.  I have three or four of their albums lying around in my record collection at home.  I could have easily brought a couple for the two original members of the group to sign.  But I've resisted doing that during all the events I've worked in the past where some of these classic rockers have come to play.  It just doesn't make a lot of sense to be a star-struck "groupie" when you're supposed to be making sure everything is running on time and there's no hassles for the performers.

Blue Oyster Cult put on a great show, from what I was able to see of it.  I still had The Nadas to worry about (they were going on just after Blue Oyster Cult), getting them on stage and setting up for their set.  That's one of the problems being the Stage Manager for the event - I usually don't get to see a lot of the shows.  I can hear them, but I'm busy doing a lot of things and generally can't relax until the last band is off the stage and I've paid them. 

I was, however, able to talk with both Eric Bloom and Buck Dharma, along with their bass player, Rudy Sarzo, after the show.  Bloom and Dharma were very nice and cordial.  Sarzo, who has played with Ozzy Osborne, Quiet Riot and other established hard rock bands over the years, was nice, but somewhat quiet. 

I also spent a bit of time talking with Woody LaCerra about the Focal Professional loudspeakers that I sell to studios and recording engineers.  I had my Focal shirt on it piqued his interest.  It turns out that Woody is a contributing editor for Mix Magazine, the leading trade magazine for the recording and sound reinforcement industry.  He said, "We've done reviews on your speakers!  That's so wild that you work for Focal!"  We were suddenly friends for life.  Unfortunately, I wasn't scheduled to be at the annual AES convention and trade show coming up in New York.  But Woody said, "Listen, let me know who's coming out from your company and I'll line up some tickets for the Mix Magazine party."  

(The Mix Magazine party is the most coveted and exclusive party that goes on at AES.  But it turns out that we already had tickets for the Mix Magazine party.  Some of our Focal Professional speakers were up for Mix's "Product of the Year" and we had to have our guys who went to the show attend the party in case we won.  We didn't, but I understand the party was a very large time.)

Saturday dawned with brilliant sunshine, blue skies, warm temperatures and light winds.  After a short and fitful sleep at the Radisson in downtown Davenport, I was back to the stage at 7:00 a.m., getting ready for the 7:30 stage call to get Joe Bonamassa's equipment up on stage and ready for a sound check.  Last year, we had a tremendous amount of problems with his road manager/sound man, Warren Cracknell.  Warren was just impossible to work with, initially.  He continued to be somewhat petulant even after we had to have a sit-down with him to explain that his shit really did stink and that he was not the emperor of River Roots Live.  But once he realized that we weren't amateurs putting on the show, he calmed down quite a bit in the hours coming up to the show.

During our pre-River Roots Live production meetings, Scott Rexroat and I were just dreading having to work with Warren again.  Scott told me, "I've already had some pretty contentious phone conversations with him.  I mean, he was swearing at me and saying that he hated these outdoor festivals.  I just told him, 'Hey, Warren.  You don't need to swear at me.  Just work with me and we'll get through this.' "

The Bonamassa bus and his semi-trailer were backed up to the stage when I got there.  The same bus driver that Bonamassa had last year was here again.  He came up and put out his hand and said, "Will!  Great to see you again, man!"  And it wasn't much longer after that that Warren came out of the bus.  He came up to me, put out his hand and said, "Hey, Will.  Good to see you again."  He was quiet, he was laid back.  It was not the same Warren Cracknell that we came to hate last year. 

The stage crew got Bonamassa's band's equipment on stage.  A little after 9, a very sleepy looking Joe Bonamassa came on to the stage.  He came up to me and I didn't recognize him at first.  He shook my hand and said, "Hi, Will.  Joe."

I said, "Yeah, Joe.  How you doin'?"

He said, "I'm fine.  Thanks for having us back again this year."  And five minutes later, the band started their sound check.  By 9:20, it was over.  Warren was happy with the sound, the band wanted to go to the hotel to rest up and Scott and I figured that we didn't have anything to do until about 11 a.m.  So we went back to the Radisson for a leisurely breakfast.  It was a complete an 180 degree difference from last year.

The Fabulous Thunderbirds were scheduled to play before Bonamassa on the main stage and we had to rent a lot of their equipment and instruments (as we did the same for Blue Oyster Cult).  Misha Lapine is The Fabulous Thunderbirds manager and he, too, was a joy to work with.  We had a number of telephone conversations leading up to the event and Misha knew that Bonamassa was going to be the last guy on the main stage that evening.  He told me a week before the show, "Yeah, I've heard some horror stories about the road manager for Bonamassa.  I don't know how you can be that way and expect to have people work with you.  We're easy.  Just give us the front 15 feet of the stage and we'll be happy."   We had a deep stage, so we were actually able to give The Fabulous Thunderbirds about 20 feet of stage in front of Bonamassa's equipment.   Misha was very happy when he showed up and saw the space we'd given them.

Here's a picture from the parking ramp above and behind the stage just before the Fabulous Thunderbirds were scheduled to play.  We had a bigger crowd for Saturday night than we did for Friday night as the weather was so much nicer, but it was not as big as the Saturday night crowd for last year's event.   Marcy Hyder from Davenport One told me after the event that preliminary figures show that beer sales were down significantly from last year.  And since we rely upon beer sales to help subsidize the cost of the festival, it was disappointing to hear that news. 

We also had a couple large sponsors back out of their monetary commitment for the 2009 event, mainly due to the economy.  In all, we started out the event $55,000 in the hole from the previous year due to reduced sponsorship money. 

Even though there's only one original member of the Fabulous Thunderbirds - lead singer/harmonica player Kim Wilson - the rest of the band did a great job performing.   Lead guitarist Johnny Moeller was just fabulous.  I talked to the guys before they played and they were all pretty nice to hang with.  Except for Kim Wilson who was pretty stand-offish.  But they did put on one helluva show - a 20 minute harmonica solo by Wilson notwithstanding.

Over on the side stage, a couple of bands put on some great music.  I was especially impressed by the performance from Dick Prall - or what I saw of his performance.  Prall is a native of Iowa who now bases himself out of Chicago.  His songs are a history of what he's been through in his life and he sang them with the same self-deprecating humor that he had when we spoke before and after his performance. 

Backyard Tire Fire hails from central Illinois and they've been getting a solid following around the Midwest over the past couple three years.   They played on the side stage between the Fabulous Thunderbirds and Joe Bonamassa.  They did a great job in rocking the crowd with their roots-style rock and roll. 

Then things blew up - I was standing over by the side stage to give Backyard Tire Fire their "last song" warning and all the sudden I heard a commotion around the corner.  For some reason, Joe Bonamassa - five minutes before his scheduled time - was up on the main stage and playing.  It caught everyone by surprise.  Warren decided to start Joe on stage early - it didn't matter if the other band was playing on the side stage or not.  I ran over to the main sound board and said to Warren, "What the f***, Warren?  We still have a band playing over behind us!" 

He said, "You weren't around to tell us what to do!"

I said, "That's because I was over at the other stage!  As soon as I got those guys stopped, that's when you were supposed to start!" 

He just gave me that asshole grin of his and he said, "Well, shit happens." 

But that was about the only hitch we had all weekend long.  And Bonamassa put on a fine show, as always.  Since Warren was running the sound, Scotty Rexroat and I hung out and drank wine at the main sound board.  He'd told me earlier in the day for Cindy to bring down a bottle of wine for us to celebrate the completion of another River Roots Live.  Just before Bonamassa took the stage, Scott came up to me and said, "Did Cindy bring down that bottle of wine?"  I told him that she did.  He said, "Well, bring it out to the front of house (main sound board) and we'll drink it during Bonamassa's performance."

So we did.  It was kind of funny when Warren turned around and there was Scott, Cindy and I drinking wine and watching the show.  He just sort of smiled, shook his head and then went back to work. 

After the show, Warren and I talked and we agreed to disagree about the foul-up with the start.  I said, "Warren, I told you we were doing it just like last year.  As soon as the other band stopped on the other stage, you guys were to start up."

He said, "I thought they were done.  That's when I gave Joe the signal to start up."  Oh well...

Joe and his guys didn't stick around like they did last year.  It was the last show of their summer tour and they were all scattering to their homes for a few weeks before they all got together for a tour of Japan.  Joe came up to me and said, "Hey, thanks again, Will.  We always have a good time here."

And just before he was getting ready to get onto the bus to leave, I caught Warren and said, "Hey, you aren't leaving here before I get to say good-bye." 

We shook hands and Warren said, "Thanks for everything, as always."

I said, "Well, if I don't see you again, have a good life, Warren." 

He kind of laughed and said, "So, we're not coming back next year?" 

I said, "I didn't say that, but you never know."    

And with that, another River Roots Live went into the books.   

Davy Knowles and Back Door Slam - Summerfest 2009

 "Davy Knowles, the lead singer, guitarist and songwriter, is talented like very few bluesmen these days. He shreds like a young Robert Cray and wails like the love of his life was just hit by a truck." - Nick Alderman, Village Voice.

"If this were a more just world, the band's startlingly talented guitarist, singer and songwriter Davy Knowles would already be a star." - Shane Harrison, Atlanta Journal Constitution.

"I heard the spirit of Jimi Hendrix." - Patrick MacDonald, Seattle Times.

“Davy is very young but he already has got a recognizable style. He’s definitely the gunslinger guitarist of the 21st century. He’s a phenomenal talent." - Peter Frampton

"Holy shit!  I have seen the future and his name is Davy Knowles!" - Me

I recently took in the Davy Knowles and Back Door Slam show at Summerfest in Milwaukee.  I was up there on business and decided to head out on a cool and rain-threatening evening to catch his show. 

I first heard Back Door Slam a couple years ago when WXRT in Chicago was playing a track from their first album, Roll Away.  The group consisted of three friends from the Isle of Man in Great Britain - Davy Knowles on guitar and vocals, Adam Jones on bass and Ross Doyle on drums.  I immediately went out and bought the CD and have been loving it ever since.   The band got their name from a song on Robert Cray's 2003 album, Time Will Tell.  

It was apparent from a standpoint of musicianship and talent that Knowles was the prodigy in the group.  Only 20 years of age when Roll Away was released, he garnered the attention of a number of guitarists including Jeff Beck, Joe Satriani, Warren Haynes and Peter Frampton.  And it was easy to read between the lines of an announcement on Back Door Slam's web site (which now re-directs to Davy Knowles.com) earlier this year that announced that Jones and Doyle had left the group to "embark on new projects of their own in the UK and Europe."  I don't think anyone has heard from those two since.  

Now known as Davy Knowles and Back Door Slam, Knowles' follow up album - Coming Up for Air - was produced by Frampton (the first album that Frampton has produced for someone other than his own albums) and mixed by the great studio engineer Bob Clearmountain.  Frampton enlisted the help of longtime Jackson Browne bandmates Fritz Lewak (drums) and Kevin McCormick (bass) to back up Knowles in the studio.  Frampton also hired Tom Petty's keyboard player, Benmont Tench, to play on a number of songs on the album.  And Frampton and Knowles share guitar licks on a remake of George Harrison's "Hear Me Lord" from his "All Things Must Pass" album.  It turns out that Frampton played on the original cut on the album, as well.  It's one helluva CD if you're into that blues/rock type of music like I am.  

Davy Knowles was playing at the revamped and remodeled Harley-Davidson Roadhouse stage that evening, opening for Buddy Guy.  While it was a cool evening (low 60's) and there was a threat of rain (it began after Davy Knowles played), I was decked out in shorts and a t-shirt.  It was either wear that or put on my slacks and a button-down shirt.  I may have been only one of - maybe - two or three people wearing shorts.  There were guys in pullover jackets, women in turtlenecks, kids with coats on.  Yeah, it was cool, but I was fine. 

Moments before the 8 p.m. start time, I found a seat smack dab in the middle of the stands in front of stage at the Harley-Davidson Roadhouse.  I was incredulous.  Here was this great young guitarist getting ready to play and there were - maybe - 300 people sitting there.  I thought, "Well, there's a lot of people who are here at Summerfest who are going to be missing out on a great show."

And from the opening number, it was a great show.  Knowles was backed by a bald bass player only known as "PK" and on drums by Steve Barci.  I could tell right away these two were much more talented musicians than Knowles original Back Door Slam bandmates.  Knowles has also been joined on tour this summer by keyboard player Ty Bailie, a tour that has included opening up for the new rock supergroup Chickenfoot that consists of Joe Satriani, Michael Anthony and Sammy Hagar (formerly from Van Halen) and Chad Smith, the drummer for the Red Hot Chili Peppers.  But it was just PK and Barci with Knowles that evening. 

By the time Knowles had played his fourth song of his set - a combination of songs from his new CD and from "Roll Away" - the seats around me began to fill in.   Then Knowles did an unbelievable and mesmerizing redux of David Crosby's classic "Almost Cut My Hair."  I was just blown away by the passion and emotion he exuded during the song.  I just sat there thinking, "My God, this kid can PLAY!!"

Knowles also did a great rendition of Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Commotion" with Knowles commenting beforehand, "We're gonna slow it down a bit."  But he played it with even more punch and ferocity as the original CCR rendition.  

I felt a couple of sprinkles about an hour into the performance, so I got up and stood over under the awning of the Miller Lite beer station for the rest of the show. The rain was coming down pretty well by the time I made it back to my hotel and I was happy it held off as long as it did for Davy Knowles' performance.  It was an amazing performance and a completely flawless show.  

Knowles recently played at the Prairie Dog Blues Festival in Prairie du Chien, WI.  I had some friends go up for the fest and I was talking to one, Tom Laake, the next day after the show.  I asked him how Davy Knowles was, and in a slow, measured voice, Tom said, "Davy...Knowles...was...exceptional." 

Tom was spot on - Davy Knowles is exceptional.  I get the chance to work the River Roots Live event here in Davenport again this year, and we're having Joe Bonamassa coming back for an encore performance of his great show last year.  While I'm a huge Bonamassa fan, I stand by my original quote - "I have seen the future, and it is Davy Knowles."

To catch a song from Davy Knowles and Back Door Slam, click on the You Tube link below and see him play "Tear Down the Walls" from a live performance he gave in Atlanta about three weeks before I saw him in Milwaukee.  It's tasty stuff, Maynard.

BeauSoleil - Davenport, IA

Earlier this year, the great Cajun band BeauSoleil (pronounced Bo-so-LAY) came to Davenport for a performance at the Redstone Room at the River Music Experience.  I had seen BeauSoleil a number of years ago in Des Moines and I really enjoyed their rollicking authentic Cajun music.  When I found out they were coming to Davenport, I immediately got tickets.  I didn't know if Cindy would like that kind of music, since most of the singing is in French, but I find Cajun music to be infectiously fun. 

We met up at the Redstone Room with my long-distance, yet local friend, Burt Gearhart, and his wife, Marilyn, who were nice enough to save us a couple seats at a table near the side of the stage.  And we're glad they did.  The place was packed when we got there and there were more people coming in.  The crowd was decidedly older, but boisterous.  There weren't many BeauSoleil "rookies" in the crowd. 

BeauSoleil is headed by multi-instrumentalist Michael Doucet (background right) and his guitar playing brother, David (foreground right).  The band is based out of Lafayette, LA, right smack dab in the heart of Lousiana Cajun country.  Started in 1975, BeauSoleil specializes in traditional and original Cajun root-music - the kind you'd expect to hear if you walked into a bar in any one of the small Louisiana towns on a Saturday night.  The Grammy award winning band has been touring since the mid-80's.  In addition to the Doucet brothers, BeauSoleil also features Jimmy Breaux on accordian, Mitch Reed on fiddle and bass, Tommy Alesi on drums, and even though he wasn't with the band that evening in Davenport, Billy Ware on percussion.  

BeauSoleil's performance was announced as starting at 8 p.m., but as the Redstone Room has a habit of doing, they neglect to mention there will be an opening act.  Instead of BeauSoleil taking the stage, a 50-something troubadour by the name of Tony Cavitt who billed himself as "Tennessee, the Nashville Cat" came out with his guitar.  Cavitt had been playing around the Quad City area for a while and I don't know if he's a permanent resident of the area or if he was just hanging out for a few weeks. 

He told stories about his upbringing where his mother was a longtime bartender at "the only bar in the Nashville airport."  Because of that, she became friends with a number of entertainers who would invariably be sitting on the bar waiting for a delayed flight.  I actually thought his stories were more compelling than his music.  

And because the Redstone Room neglected to say that there would be a warm-up act before BeauSoleil, a lot of the older people in the crowd were vocally upset that someone OTHER than BeauSoleil was on stage at 8 p.m.  Actually, it was kind of comical because Cindy and I knew there would be an opening act that evening - it was the Redstone Room's "m.o." to do so and not tell people there would be an opening act.  

Still, one lady seated near us, probably well into her 60's, couldn't contain her disgust between Cavitt/Tennessee's songs.  "It's 8:30!  Where's BeauSoleil?!  They said the show started at 8!  I expected BeauSoleil to take the stage then, not this bum," she would yell.  

After Cavitt/Tennessee's performance ended shortly before 8:40, it wasn't any more than about 20 minutes before BeauSoleil took the stage.  Fronted by the wild-haired Michael Doucet (bald top of the head, white hair sticking straight out on the sides) - who looks more like a college professor than an accomplished musician - they launched into one of the many fast-paced good time numbers they're known for. Michael Doucet said after the first song, "If you're not familiar with us, we're a Louisiana band known for taking songs in English and singing them in French." 

At one point, Michael Doucet said, "This is dance music.  You can get up and dance if you want."  And the small dance floor in front of the stage was filled with a bunch of people kicking up their heels.  There were some good dancers, too, including the lady who was verbally disgusted when Tony Cavitt was playing earlier. 

BeauSoleil continued playing until about 10:45.  I like Cajun music, although I don't crave it like some people who attended that evening.  In fact, a lot of Cajun music sounds alike.  But, BeauSoleil has released 22 albums and 5 compilation albums since 1977.  So somebody must think it doesn't all sound the same.  Still, you can't get past how Cajun music makes one feel really good.  And BeauSoleil is quite possibly the best Cajun band in the world today. 

It was a fun evening hanging with Burt and Marilyn, and listening to BeauSoleil.  It had been about 20 years since I'd last heard them live and I hope it isn't another 20 years before I see them again. 

Legendary Rhythm and Blues Revue

Recently, we had the fortune to see the Legendary Rhythm and Blues Revue at the Redstone Room in the River Music Experience in downtown Davenport.  The line-up consists of San Francisco-based blues guitarist Tommy Castro and his backing band; blues-pianist and saxophone player Deanna Bogart; the long-time harmonica player from the J. Geils Band, Magic Dick; and blues guitarist Bernard Allison, the son of the late blues legend Luther Allison.

In the past, the Legendary Rhythm and Blues Revue has featured Ronnie Baker Brooks, the son of blues great Lonnie Brooks, instead of Bernard Allison.  Our friends, Tom and Mary Ann Laake, saw that show in Waterloo earlier in the year.  We wanted to go see the show in Davenport and Tom and Mary Ann were up for going with us, as well. 

After standing in line for nearly an hour for the doors to open so we could get a table in the Redstone Room, we finally found a table in the back.  While the sight lines aren't too good in the Redstone Room, the giant projected images they have of the performers on the wall opposite the bar helps those in the back to see the performance.  But the sound system is great, no matter where on sits in the venue.

The show started promptly at 8 a.m. with Tommy Castro and his band taking the stage.  I worked with Tommy Castro at the Rib Fest about 5 years ago.  I remember him being a very nice guy who didn't drink alcohol.  His drink of choice was Red Bull and he had a couple three on ice in the colors off the side of the stage. 

Castro's blistering guitar and gravelly voice did a great job of convincing one that he'd probably grown up in the south instead of the Bay Area.  Castro's band consisting of longtime associate Keith Crossen on sax, Tom Poole on trumpet, Scott Sutherland on bass and Ronnie Smith on drums did a great job accompanying Castro. 

After about 30 minutes of playing his tunes, Castro introduced Deanna Bogart.  I wasn't overly certain if I'd ever see her play before, but the Washington, D.C.-based Bogart put on a great set of about four or five songs as she sang and played both her piano and her saxophone with authority.  I was really impressed with her work.  I wish she would have been able to play longer than she did.

Coming out to join Castro and Deanna Bogart after her short set was harmonica player-extraordinaire Magic Dick.  Born Richard Salwitz, Magic Dick was the cornerstone with the J. Geils Band until the group disbanded in the mid-80's.  He is one of the true innovators of the modern blues harmonica style.  And the guy can really blow on that mouth harp.  Although he's approaching 65 years of age, Magic Dick was still a flamboyant presence on the stage, bouncing, dancing and doing wild arm gyrations when he played. 

Joining the group last - but certainly not least - was Bernard Allison.  It turned out this was one of the first gigs the Legendary Rhythm and Blues Revue had done with the Chicago native.  Allison still plays the same guitar that his father, Luther, played when he became one of the most revered blues artists.  And Bernard Allison did a great job playing three or four of his songs with the other musicians helping out.  It was about 2 hours of non-stop great music played by a stage full of great musicians.

The band took about a half-hour break before coming back out and beginning a jam session where everyone played on stage.  Actually, I'd had enough of the music and heard what I wanted to hear that evening, so we took off after a couple of the jam songs.  But it was still a treat to have so many great musicians on stage for one evening of blues.  The Legendary Rhythm and Blues Revue continues to travel across the nation into 2009 (see upcoming dates here), this time with blues great Kenny Neal taking Bernard Allison's place.  If you love blues music and get a chance to see the show, do it.

Behind the Scenes at River Roots Live - 2008

 The fourth annual River Roots Live music festival was held in downtown Davenport, recently.  Once again, I was on hand to be the stage manager and the main announcer for the event.  Things were thrown into turmoil in the planning stages when the festival had to be moved from its regular location in LeClaire Park to the streets of downtown Davenport due to damage caused by the floods we experienced earlier in the summer.  And because it would have been a monumental logistical nightmare to charge for admission, the powers that be decided they'd make River Roots Live a free event this year, hoping that beer sales would help offset the loss at the gate. 

The main stage at River Roots Live this year was set up on Second Street in front of the Ground Transportation Center in downtown Davenport (see map).  The size of the stage was a staggering 40' X 40' with a same sized canopy roof on top.  We needed that size and then some.  We had two big touring acts on Saturday night - The Guess Who and blues guitarist Joe Bonamassa.  Both road managers wanted to set up at the same time on Saturday morning.  We got it done with a minimum of bruised egos between the two camps. 

And as with last year, we combined the annual Rib Fest with the River Roots Live.  This year there were only six or seven rib vendors at the festival, and all brought their small setups and secondary crews.  We really didn't know what would happen with River Roots Live and the Rib Fest being on the streets of downtown Davenport.  We expected the worst in terms of amount of people who would show up.

It turned out that we didn't have to worry.  Crowds exceeded an estimated 15,000 on Friday night and over 20,000 on Saturday night.  It was almost overwhelming.  Well, actually it was for the rib vendors who ran out of everything before 8:30 p.m. both nights.  The above left picture is a shot from the top of the parking ramp of the main stage crowd when Foghat played on Friday night.  It was just packed both nights.  It was actually kind of fun to see.

Because I was doing a lot of prep work before the shows, I didn't have a chance to eat much of the barbecue this year.  I did have some ribs and a sandwich on Friday and Saturday from a "mom and pop" barbecue place from around Osceola, IA.  All the touring rib vendors were busy and had long lines from the time they'd open around 11 a.m. until they ran out of food.  A lot of people were pissed off because people ran out of food.  One of the local rib vendors told me that he brought six times the amount of meat for Saturday than he did on Friday - and he STILL ran out of ribs by 6:30 p.m. on Saturday night!  It was just crazy.

Here is your handsome stage manager and announcer getting things rolling on Friday evening on the side stage.   It worked out pretty well this year as the main stage and the side stage were nearly in view of one another and it allowed people to just turn their chairs or bodies toward one stage or the other to watch the performers.  Plus, this year, we were able to use the large "jumbotron" for both stages, allowing people far in the back to see the performances. 

The weather, in a word, was perfect for the River Roots Live.  We had a lot of rain during set up on Thursday, and it was sort of cool and foggy during the day on Friday.  But by the time the first band played at 5 p.m. on Friday, the clouds had burned off, there was little to no humidity and the sun was shining.  And it was the same for Saturday. 

The main acts this year were Foghat on Friday night, and The Guess Who and Joe Bonamassa on Saturday night.  But, in between, there were a number of very good performers who came to play at River Roots Live this year.  One of the problems with being the stage manager is that I can introduce an act, then I'm off doing a number of other things behind the stages getting ready for the next act to go on.  I don't get to see or hear much of the performances except right at the start and right at the end.  

And one of the neat things about being the stage manager is that I get to know the guys from Iowa Public Television pretty well.  They've come to River Roots Live for the past couple three years to record the event to be played back on TV in six to eight months.  The executive producer, Jerry Grady, is great to work with and he's offered me DVD's of bands that performed for my personal enjoyment.  The only problem was that every band that was filmed and recorded on the side stage, the sound was all screwed up.  It made the recorded DVD's virtually useless.  I understand they won't be able to use any of the performances on their River Roots Live television show this winter.

And that's too bad because there was some great bands that played on the side stage.  One of them was Pete Francis, who is a former member of the great indie band Dispatch.   Dispatch is renown for having the best selling CD's of any independent band in music history.  Pete went by his given name of Pete Heimbold during his days with Dispatch.   

Pete and his band were in from New York City for the show.  We had some glitches that delayed Pete's performance by 15 minutes or so.  I was pretty pissed about the whole thing, because it was clearly our fault, but Pete and his guys were so pleasant and understanding about the whole thing.   

Actually, I got to hang with Pete for a while after his show as we were waiting for the bank ladies to get him cash to pay his band.  It turned out that Pete had just moved from Boston to New York and was slowly getting settled into his new digs.  He was really complimentary of the way we did things on the production side for River Roots Live.  He was a great guy all the way around. 

Other bands and musicians who played at River Roots Live this year included Goodnight Nurse, a group from Chicago that featured noted Chicago musician and producer, Brian Abraham; and Kris Myers, the drummer for the up and coming jam band Umphrey's McGee (who has played the RRL twice in the past.  Their style of music can be classified as electronica jazz, using computers, samplers and electric drums to make their music.  In fact, we were about 20 minutes late in getting the band up and going because of problems Abraham was having with his Apple computer.  Once they got that all figured out, they were only able to play for about 35 minutes.  Thank God it wasn't our fault on that one. 

Also playing was Assembly of Dust, a New York-based folk-rock band that was beginning to get quite the name out on the east coast.  They were good guys to hang with.  It was sort of funny because their leader, Reid Genauer, told me it was the first time they played west of the Mississippi River.  I said, "Well, actually, this is the first time you played NORTH of the Mississippi River.  The river runs east-west here."

Like most people who grew up learning that the Mississippi River runs north-south, Genauer had a hard time coming to terms that he was actually looking south into Illinois.  I said, "Hey, don't worry.  It took my wife about four years to get her directions straight because the river runs east-west." 

Other bands and artists included Brother Trucker, a roots-based rock band from the Des Moines area; Daphne Willis and Company, a folk-rock band from Chicago that played RRL last year and has been getting some positive national press as of late; and Lissie, a Rock Island native who now lives in California, and who plays folk rock.  Her most recent claim to fame is that she and her band opened for Lenny Kravitz on his tour in early 2008.  She played solo at River Roots Live and was also accompanied on a couple tunes by local musician Jordan Danielsen (above right). 

Local bands also played such as Rude Punch, Head Held High and my friends, Ellis Kell and Andrew Landers, as well as my friends from Jim the Mule.  Before the Mule band was to take stage I was ribbing them about their initial performance at River Roots Live three years prior when they opened the festival.  They were all so nervous and it was overly evident by the way they were playing.  I said, "Don't let your butt holes pucker up like you did the last time you played River Roots Live."

They all laughed and went out and played a great 45 minute set.  They definitely acquitted themselves from their earlier RRL performance. 

It's fun to interact with the bands before and after their performances.  Most of them are a little nervous when they get ready to go on, so I try to joke with them and calm them down a bit.  Afterward, when I go to pay the band, they're usually so jacked up that they want to keep playing.  Good crowd coming out in beautiful weather will do that. 

Usually, I don't get to interact all that much with the big name performers.  I do get to hear the shit from the road managers for those artists, however.  Actually, I do like working with professionals who are somewhat demanding.  However, the road manager for Joe Bonamassa, Warren, was a Class A asshole from the time he arrived with the band at 8 a.m. on Saturday morning until we just sort of had a "come to Jesus" meeting around 11:30.  It was pointed out that he was making life more difficult than it had to be.  And he was also reminded that even though Joe Bonamassa played last that evening, the band that was paid big money - about three times more than Bonamassa - was The Guess Who.  And they were paid big money to bring in the people.  I said, "Your job is to hold the younger people in the crowd to keep our beer sales going up to midnight." 

Once we got on the same page and he quit being such a penis head, we were suddenly friends for life. 

It's interesting that Foghat only has one guy traveling with them - their road manager who also served as their sound technician.  The Guess Who had two guys traveling with them - a sound tech and a monitor technician.  Bonamassa had five road guys traveling with him, plus a nice young lady who I guessed was Bonamassa's girl friend.  I thought it was rather telling in that Bonamassa needed five guys for four guys in his band. 

I'd always heard that Bonamassa (left) was somewhat of a prima-donna and a pain in the ass to work with.  I was fully prepared after the initial run-in with his road manager to see how Bonamassa would react to having to work around The Guess Who setting up on stage in front of Bonamassa's band's gear.  Actually, it turned out that he was fine with everything.  In fact, I was introduced to him and we talked casually for about three or four minutes in the backstage area during the afternoon.  He was very soft spoken, he did complain a little about starting so late, but he said he fully understood the "festival" concept and how things did get to be a little backed up toward the end of the evening.  He was a very nice guy. 

After his show, Jerry Grady from Iowa Public Television and I were standing near the back gate area of the backstage.  Jerry noticed a guy and two young kids standing near the gate.  I excused myself to go do some work in the dressing room trailers and Jerry went over to talk to the guy and his kids.  Jerry told me later on that he asked the guy, "Can I help you?"

The guy said, "Well, my kids are just starting to play guitar and they're big fans of Joe Bonamassa.  We were just wondering if Joe would be able to come out and say, 'Hi!' "

Jerry went over to Bonamassa's tour bus and knocked on the door.  He asked if Joe was on board and the person said he was.  Jerry said, "Well, there's a couple of young guys out here that would just love to meet him if he's got the time."

Jerry said it wasn't more than 30 seconds later and Joe came bounding off the bus and went over to see the kids.  I was shuttling stuff back on a golf cart and I passed this crowd of people all huddled around Bonamassa by the back gate.  He stood there and talked to people for about 45 minutes.  I thought it was rather cool on his part to do that.  Let's say that any notions I had about Joe Bonamassa being a petulant prima-donna were squelched right then and there.

The guys from Foghat were also very nice guys.  Roger Earl is the only original member of the band.  Lonesome Dave Peverett and Rod Price have both died.  Original bassist Tony Stevens isn't touring with the band.  His replacement when he initially left the band in the mid-70's, Craig MacGregor, is still playing with the band.  Taking Lonesome Dave's and Price's place in the band are Charlie Huhn, who used to play with Ted Nugent; and Bryan Bassett, whose claim to fame previously was as the guitarist for the 70's disco-rock band Wild Cherry (whose one big hit was "Play That Funky Music, White Boy"). 

Now, I was sort of leery when I was told Foghat was going to play the River Roots Live fest, given that the core and soul of the group was long gone.  But from the first notes they played and all through their set, they just rocked.  During their set, I was able to get to the VIP area where I met up with Cindy and our friends, Scott and Marcia Schroeder.  (I was able to get them VIP passes for the weekend.)  Now, Scott and I have known each other for years and I've always thought him to be somewhat ambivalent when it came to music - especially hard rock.  But Scott enthusiastically yelled in my ear, "These guys ROCK!!!"

When Foghat came off the stage before their encore, I was standing near the back of the stage.  Craig MacGregor exclaimed, "The people are backed up all the way to that third stop light!  There's a shit load of people out there!" 

This is what it looked like from the stage before Foghat began to play.  It was just a mass of people in downtown Davenport. 

I was able to hang with the guys from Foghat for a bit after their performance.  Roger Earl told me that he's living on Long Island and has been for a number of years.  He said a lot of English rockers from the 70's moved to the U.S. to beat the British tax system.  He said in his still thick British accent, "Long Island is home."  The guys from Foghat were just thrilled to play River Roots Live and Roger gave me a hug before the band left in a rented van piloted by Roger, himself. 

I was also somewhat leery of The Guess Who, given that the two biggest names - Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman - had long disassociated themselves with the group.  Only two original members were left - bassist Jim Kale and drummer Garry Peterson.  Both Kale and Peterson are well into their 60's and had been having health problems.  In fact, we had to have a special seat with back supports for Peterson, who suffers from a bad back and who is not a small man by any means.  

But they did a great job.  I was really impressed and pleasantly surprised by their performance - or what I saw of it.  It turns out that most of The Guess Who gigs are on Saturday nights.  That's right - they usually only play once a week at casinos and small festivals.  I'm guessing the crowd they played in front of that Saturday night was probably the largest they'd seen in quite some time. 

Interestingly, their road manager is also a member of the band - multi-instrumentalist Leonard Shaw.  He was a very high strung, nervous kind of guy, always asking questions about time schedules, when they were going to get paid, who would be looking after the band merchandise, who would be come to pick them up at the hotel, etc., etc.  But he was a very nice guy.  Once he got all the answers he was looking for, he was fun to be around.  

The other two members of The Guess Who, lead guitarist Laurie MacKenzie and guitarist, lead vocalist Carl Dixon, were really the spark of the band.  MacKenzie's claim to fame was that he was just a good local musician around the Winnipeg music scene - as was Leonard Shaw - and Dixon was the guitarist for an obscure Canadian heavy rock band in the 80's by the name of Coney Hatch.  

It appears that both Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman want nothing to do with this incarnation of The Guess Who as we were told before the show that Iowa Public Television couldn't record any of the songs the band played that evening, with the exception of "Shakin' All Over".  It turned out all the other songs are owned by either Cummings or Bachman and they don't allow any recording of the songs either via audio or video when The Guess Who performs.  "Shakin' All Over", a Johnny Kidd-penned tune, was the first hit the band had in the mid-60's.  So that was the only song IPTV could record.

However, the guys at IPTV were also providing the camera shots for the Jumbotron.  During The Guess Who's performance, they only showed one camera shot - a long shot of the full stage.  You couldn't even see the band on the Jumbotron if you were a couple blocks back.  I heard a lot of people complaining (since I'm the defacto "face" of the River Roots Live, being the announcer) and I went into the control room on the IPTV mobile production facility.  Jerry was sitting in his chair and I was asking him what the deal was.  He told me, "According to their contract, we can't show anything other than the shot from Camera One, with the exception of 'Shakin' All Over' when we can tape it and use other cameras".  

However, after the show, Howard, the sound tech guy for the band came up to me and said, "Will, what the f***?  How come they didn't show close ups of the band on the big screen?"

I said, "I was told that it was a contractual situation that they couldn't show the band except for 'Shakin' All Over'."

He said, "Who told you that?"

I told him, "Jerry Grady from IPTV." 

Howard said, "Where did he get that?"

I said, "From Leonard Shaw, I'm guessing."

Howard shook his head and said, "No, no, no.  That's only for recording.  They could have easily shown the band in close ups."

I said, "Look, Howard.  I'm just going on what Jerry told me.  If you want to discuss it with Jerry, he's standing right over there."

Yeah, it was a misunderstanding on Jerry's part.  And a lot of people were pissed, but it was over and done with, so nothing could be done about it. 

Ah!  The politics of the back stage area...

Here's a shot of the crowd during The Guess Who's performance.  I had my camera with me, but I was so busy that I never got to use it.  I got these pictures from Kyle Carter at Davenport One.  I'm still impressed with the number of people who were there.

But it was all free and that brings people out in droves.  I was told by one of the sales guys from the local Anheuser-Busch distributor that it was the most beer they had ever delivered for any event in all the years they'd been working with the city, the local blues society or any other organization producing festivals. 

In 2005, the first River Roots Live lost about $45,000 bucks.  The one in 2006 - the one I didn't work - lost over $200,000 dollars.  Last year, we lost about $30,000 dollars - even combining it with the Rib Fest.  This year, preliminary audits show that we may have broken even - just on beer sales alone!  And there could have easily been more beer sales as the beer tents were inundated with people both Friday and Saturday night, with some lines as long as 30 to 35 people deep waiting to get a beer.  I had one guy tell me a few days after the event that he could have easily gotten a beer, then gone back and stood in line, drinking the first beer while he waited to order his second. 

While we did have some hiccups with the production of this year's River Roots Live, it came off OK.  I wasn't as happy with everything as I was after last year's RRL, but it took a lot of team work to pull off the festival again.  Marcy Hyder and Kyle Carter from Davenport One took the lead in getting everything in place.  Santo Pullela from The Redstone Room booked the acts and took care of the musical riders (always a pain in the butt to track down equipment for some bands), Scott Rexroat from Rexroat Sound took care of the stage work, sound and lights including the building of the massive main stage.  Everything was in place for me to direct who and when and where. 

It will be interesting to see if we go back to LeClaire Park next year, given the success of the festival this year.  There were some logistical nightmares having it on the streets of downtown Davenport, but there was also an intimacy.  I know Marcy is already thinking about next year's event and wondering if we should charge admission like we have in the past.  However, I know for a fact that based on the turnout by the large number of people those two days in late August, a number of sponsors have already upped their monetary commitment to the River Roots Live for 2009.  And that means more big name acts to play the event.

And that also usually means more headaches for the production team and me...

Diana Krall - Vienne, France

As part of our trip to France recently, Focal took the North American sales managers and the handful of dealers who made the trip to Vienne, home of Jazz a Vienne, one of the largest jazz festivals in the world.  And it turned out the evening we went, the Grammy Award winning jazz artist, Diana Krall, was performing that evening.  

Jazz a Vienne takes place at a number of venues in the city, but the main venue is an ancient amphitheater built by the Romans some 2000 years ago.  When it was originally built, it held 13,000 people.  Today, the Roman Theater, as it's called, holds just over 8,000 for concerts.  The slope of the amphitheater and the sight of the old fortress above was just breathtaking.  It could be the best venue I've ever been to for a musical concert.   

Before the concert, Focal hosted the North Americans to a V.I.P. party at the old university near the Roman Theater.  It was called "Jazz en Vignes" (Jazz and Wine) and featured a winery from the rich Rhone Valley wine making region.  They served white and red wines along with hors d oveurs for about an hour and a half before the concert.  It was set in the courtyard of the school and it was a pretty cool deal.

Now, a lot of people were asking me what this V.I.P. party was all about.  Honestly, I didn't know much about it, but I sort of wondered if this was going to be a meet and great with Diana Krall.  I wasn't all that certain as to what the party would entail, even up until the time we got there.  However, there was another group sharing the party area with us that evening and one of the ladies in the group looked strikingly like Diana Krall.  So, I'm standing at a table with one of my colleagues, Chris, and a couple of the dealers and I said, "Oh, so Diana Krall DID show up for this thing." 

The guys turned their heads and looked at the lady.  One of them said, "That's not Diana Krall."

I said, "Bullshit!  That's her, all right.  This is a meet and greet before her show.  That's how much pull Focal has with this jazz festival." 

I was pulling their leg, for sure, but for a moment I had those guys and a few others believing it was Diana Krall.  This lady looked very much like her. 

But then I noticed that a LOT of ladies in the crowd that evening looked like Diana Krall.  I don't know if it was just coincidence, or if they were purposely trying to capture her look.  It was pretty uncanny. 

Our seats at the ancient Roman Theater were a bit off to the side and Diana Krall would have her back to us.  Still, they were good seats.  And the P.A. system was manufactured by a French company called L'Acoustics.  It turns out that Focal makes the speaker drivers for L'Acoustics' P.A. system.  Some of the same components that go into some of Focal's higher end home loudspeakers are part of the L'Acoustics P.A.  

Even though Diana Krall would have her back to us for the performance, we had a large monitor right next to us to be able to watch her facial expressions as she played the piano and sang.  It actually worked out pretty well as we could catch the action live on stage or on the huge monitor not more than 30 feet away. 

I wouldn't say I was a huge Diana Krall fan, but I do enjoy her work.  And I think she has genuine fun playing her music along with her back up musicians.  There was a lot of smiling on stage when she was playing.  I love it when musicians look like they're truly having fun playing music than some of the more serious or angry looks some performers will give during a show. 

But the highlight of the show had to be the venue.  It was a beautiful night in France, low humidity, light wind, not a cloud in the sky.  The sun sets late there so it was still a beautiful sun lit evening well up to 10:30 p.m.  The seats at the Roman Theater are the original stone seats, so Focal provided us seating pads for the evening.  Those things certainly came in handy because there would have been no way I would have been able to sit there for the nearly three and a half hours we were there.  I just found myself staring up at the crowd and taking in the majestic beauty of the ancient amphitheater.  I'm in still in awe of the process the Romans went through to build the place 2000 years ago.

Opening for Diana Krall was Avishai Cohen, a world-renown jazz bass player who was the bass player for Chick Corea's jazz trio and who has accompanied the likes of Herbie Hancock and Bobby McFerrin.   Accompanying Cohen this even was the 21-year-old piano prodigy Shai Maestro.  Cohen played his upright bass with such energy and conviction that he had the crowd on its feet at the end of his performance.  Many of the songs they played that evening were from Cohen's recently released album, "Gently Disturbed".  I really liked the free form nature of his music and his passionate playing helped draw me into the music.

Sometimes I bitch and moan about my job - the travel, the long hours, the politics involved.  But a night like this certainly makes me put a different perspective on my job.  We were treated wonderfully, it was a superb evening, the venue was awesome and the music was great.  I turned to my colleague, John, during the performance and said, "It certainly doesn't suck to be us this evening..."

Bo Ramsey - Davenport, IA

Bo Ramsey, the heralded folk/blues/roots music troubadour, recently played the Redstone Room at the River Music Experience in downtown Davenport.  He was unveiling his new CD, Fragile, which came out the end of March.  We got a copy of it - it's pretty good music. 

I've known Bo Ramsey for a number of years, first meeting him in 1977 when he was part of Patrick Hazell and the Mother Blues Band.  They played my annual pasture party that summer and they were a big hit.  At that time he was known as "Bibby" Ramsey and had only been playing guitar for a couple three years.  But he was such a natural at it that he quickly became one of the anchors of the band.  Here is a picture of the Mother Blues Band from 1977 - Bo Ramsey is in the back with the white hat on. 

The Mother Blues Band played at my party again in 1979, only without Ramsey who had gone on to a solo career with his band, The Sliders.  Ramsey also began a relationship with Greg Brown, producing and playing on a number of Brown's great albums in the 80's and 90's.  In 1997, Brown and Ramsey were nominated for a Grammy as co-producers of Brown's great "Slant 6 Mind" album.

Ramsey has also played with and produced albums with artists such as Kevin Gordon, Pieta Brown and the legendary Lucinda Williams.  He toured with Williams for a while and appeared on "The Late Show with David Letterman" and "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" backing Williams. 

Still, Bo has stayed true to his down home roots and has remained in Iowa making music.  We stayed in contact over the years, running into each other at gigs and the like.  He's played a number of events I've worked over the past few years and it's always great to talk with him. 

Cindy has fallen in love with Bo's music ever since she saw him perform during a 1995 reunion of The Mother Blues Band at the Palmer Auditorium here  in Davenport. In fact, we tried to get him to play our wedding reception back in May of 1995.  But Bo had gotten pretty big by then and even though he gave us a discounted price of $800 to play, we decided that was out of our budget.  Looking back, we should have come up with the extra bucks and had him play.  That would have been a large time. 

Here's a music video Bo did a few years ago with the title song from his 1997 album "In The Weeds".  You'll get a good idea of what his modern music style is from the video:   

Because Ramsey is such a well-known musician in Eastern Iowa, the Redstone Room was filled to capacity when Bo hit the stage with his backup band.  We had a couple of extra seats at our table and a younger couple was looking for a place to sit.  Cindy offered them the seats and they gladly took them.  It turned out the guy was Scotty Hays, a talented guitar player from Wisconsin who is living in the Quad Cities now, and his friend, Jenny.  Although I'd heard about Scotty Hays, I'd not seen him perform before.  He was a very nice guy and we had a good time with them at the show. 

Ramsey's music is almost indescribable.  He has kind of a folk, rock, blues, country thing going on.  He can pick it up and slap it down with up-tempo offerings, or he can lay back and play a haunting slide guitar that conjures up the music he used to hear growing up on the Mississippi River as a young Bob Ramsey.  His style may not be good for everyone, but, for me, it's enjoyable to listen to.

Bo and the band played two sets and ended up about 11:30.  We were able to talk to Bo for a moment after the show.  He's always genuinely happy to see me and is gracious that I take the time to stop by and say, "Hey!"  He's as soft spoken as the day is long, but always the gentleman when he comes around.  He's as great a guy as he is a musician. 

Albert Cummings

When Albert Cummings played at the Mississippi Valley Blues Festival last summer, I felt his performance was possibly the best of every musician who was there that weekend.  Cummings played with such passion it electrified the crowd.  When I found out he was making a return trip to the Quad Cities, I jumped at the chance to get a couple of tickets.

Cummings recently played at the Caribbean Cove, which has been converted from Penguins Comedy Club at the Isle of Capri casino/hotel complex in Bettendorf (see map).  Even though it was a Wednesday night, he was able to draw about 250 blues fans from the area to come see him play again. 

Cummings, who hails from Massachusetts, is first and foremost an award winning building contractor.  He's a fourth generation builder who has been constructing high-end homes and re-models in Western Massachusetts for nearly 13 years.  For a short story on Cummings as a builder, click here.

Cummings, who is just short of 40 years old, played the banjo while growing up.  However, he put the banjo away when he saw Stevie Ray Vaughan in person in 1987.  Vaughan's performance sparked a new found passion for playing the guitar for Cummings. 

Cummings finished college getting his degree in building trades to carry on the family legacy.  But he began to play weekend gigs on the side about 13 years ago.  It wasn't long before he had a strong following and a solid reputation as both a contractor and a guitar player in New England.

Cummings' style of playing the guitar is very reminiscent of Stevie Ray Vaughan.  Cummings has actually played with Double Trouble - Tommy Shannon and Chris Layton - who backed up Stevie Ray Vaughan before his tragic death in 1989.  Both Shannon and Layton played on and produced Cummings' first album, "From the Heart (Under the Radar)" in 2003.  Reese Wynans, who was Vaughan's longtime keyboard player, also played on that album. 

For those of you not familiar with Albert Cummings' music, click here to listen to "Lonely Bed", a track from his 2004 album "True to Yourself."  The guy just cooks on guitar and he's a pretty good singer, too.

The Caribbean Cove was about half full when we arrived 45 minutes before showtime.  We took a large table off to the side and grabbed a few beers waiting for the show.   

Cummings, wearing his trademark two-tone wingtip shoes, took the stage promptly at 7:30.  Accompanied by Dan Broad on bass and Aaron Scapin on drums, they cut right into the title track of Cummings' 2006 album "Working Man".  The Caribbean Cove immediately came alive.  The Stevie Ray Vaughan influence was evident from the opening notes.  Not that there's anything bad about that, but Cummings' is about as close to capturing the essence of what Stevie Ray's sound was all about. 

Cummings ripped through a number of songs before slowing it down for his song "Together as One" from his "From the Heart" album that he recorded with Stevie Ray Vaughan's back up band.  Then he was back up and rolling again before he took a break at 8:45.  A break?  I figured he'd be done at 8:45. 

After about a 45 minute break - including Albert Cummings personally delivering beers (bought by a buddy) to our table - they got back up to play some more.  It was getting late and Cindy had to get up early in the morning so we stuck around for about 20 more minutes before leaving.  I understand that he ended up playing until about a quarter to 11.  It was a great show. 

Albert and the boys were having a great time and were amazed at the turn-out on a cold Wednesday night.  I'm sure that if he hadn't played the blues fest last summer there might not of have been that many people there.  But he drew a great crowd.  The Isle of Capri said the bar was never as busy has it was that night.  And they ran out of a lot of beer - early.  They definitely weren't prepared. 

So, if you're into rollicking blues with a hint of Stevie Ray Vaughan mixed in, don't miss Albert Cummings if he comes through and plays near you.  Better yet, get a couple of his albums, then go watch him.  You'll love the music, but he's better live and in person.       

Cirque du Soleil - "Love - The Beatles"

I got an e-mail in December before Christmas from my colleague, Simon, up in Montreal.  Very simply it said, "I have a line on getting tickets for the Cirque du Soleil show 'The Beatles -Love' at The Mirage.  Are you interested in going when we're in Las Vegas?"

I immediately shot back, "You bet!"

It turns out that a number of my other colleagues were also interested in going.  So, my boss, Daniel, out of the goodness of his heart, popped for nine tickets in the second row for the 7 p.m. show on the Saturday night we arrived in Las Vegas.  And even though we had an "in" to getting the tickets, they were still $170 dollars each.  Yow!

How we had an "in" to the tickets is sort of a small world thing between my company and Cirque du Soleil.  Some of you may remember my blog entry from last year regarding the Cirque du Soleil show "Delirium" coming to the Quad Cities.  When Guy Laliberte started taking Cirque du Soleil on the road in the 80's, he hired a Montreal company by the name of Solotech to do lights and sound for the show.  One of the co-owners of Solotech is a guy by the name of Andre Riendeau, who just happened to be a co-owner of my company for a number of years.

As Cirque du Soleil evolved, Solotech was instrumental in providing the high-tech sound and lighting that adds to the magic of the Cirque performance.  And when Cirque began to have shows in Las Vegas, Solotech was hired to install the sound and lights in the theaters in which they performed.  They eventually opened a separate Las Vegas office/warehouse a few years ago.   

Solotech also was the company of choice for Celine Dion when she went on the road.  When Caesar's Palace built the 4,000 seat Colosseum for Dion's "A New Day..." show, Solotech was called upon to provide the sound and lights for the venue.  Andre told me there are 144 speakers in the Colosseum powered by about 150,000 watts of total power.  I understand it sounds magnificent in there.    

Andre is now in semi-retirement having sold his interest in Solotech to his partner a couple years ago, and he's in the process of being bought out of his shares in our company by my boss, Daniel.  But we still have contacts with the Solotech people in both Montreal and Las Vegas.  In fact, we used Solotech's warehouse to house our gear for CES before and after we showed the products at the Las Vegas Hilton this year.

So, in a nutshell, that's how we were able to get second row tickets on a Saturday night for Cirque du Soleil's "The Beatles - Love" show - even though we had to still pay face value for the seats.

The background of Cirque du Soleil's "The Beatles - Love" started with a meeting between George Harrison and Guy Laliberte nearly 8 years ago.  The two wanted to collaborate on a Cirque show that featured Beatles tunes.  After Harrison died a year later, negotiations soon began between Cirque du Soleil, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and the widows of John Lennon and Harrison - Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison. 

During this time, MGM Mirage was looking to replace their top drawing show - Siegfried and Roy - after Roy Horn was attacked by a tiger during one of their shows in 2003.  The company entered negotiations with Cirque du Soleil, the remaining Beatles and widows, and The Beatles holding company Apple Corps, Ltd.

Cirque du Soleil's Dominic Champagne wrote the initial script for "The Beatles - Love" and contacted George Martin, The Beatles producer, to remix a number of Beatles songs for the show.  After getting permission from McCartney, Starr, Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison, Martin and his son, Giles, went to work on a series of songs for the shows that included re-editing of songs, samples and outtakes from recording sessions.  The subsequent sound track was made into an album and released in November 2006.

"The Beatles - Love" opened to preview audiences in June of 2006.  McCartney and Starr, plus Lennon's and Harrison's widows attended the opening performance of the show on June 29, 2006 and all gave the show a hearty "thumbs up".  The show has been playing to sold out audiences ever since.

The theater that houses "The Beatles - Love" was rebuilt from the old Siegfried and Roy theater.  The seats are in the round and the farthest seat is only 90 feet from the front of the stage.  The capacity of the theater is a shade over 2000 seats, each of which has a built in rear channel sound system in the headrest of the back of the seat.  I didn't know that at first, but then Simon pointed it out to me after the show.  I was trying to figure out how they could do surround information in a theater in the round.  Simon told me, "The speakers were in the seats."  Man, I'm telling you - it sounded unbelievable. 

Like any Cirque du Soleil show, they feature what I read somewhere as a "wide-eyed every man" that seems to walk aimlessly around the stage during the show.  Delirium had a guy like that, as well, and I could never figure out what his function was.  Turns out that nearly every Cirque show features this type of character. 

And like every Cirque show, there's a lot going on all at once during the opening sequences.  Being close to the stage for a Cirque du Soleil show is not as good as sitting back.  We were straining our necks up to see the aerial performers.  And we also had to move our heads to see many of the projected images on screens that surrounded the theater. 

There's actually a storyline to "The Beatles - Love" - it follows the early days of the members of the band growing up through World War II, getting together, becoming world famous, embracing meditation, and then the subsequent break-up.  Interspersed through the show are the re-mastered songs by the Martin's, a lot of visual effects, great stunts and dancing, and a number of great aerial feats that Cirque's performers are famous for.

My favorite part of the show was when they wheeled out these huge sloping walls and a team of roller-bladers performed some amazing acrobatic skills to the tune of "Help!".   I'd seen a clip of this in the past and it was even more impressive in person.  Also, another segment I really liked were the trampolinist's performing to "Revolution".  It was pretty damn cool.

I found this video on You Tube that gives a two minute "teaser" of "The Beatles - Love".  It doesn't come close to capturing the experience live, but it does give you an idea as to what the show is about.

   

The show lasted just a shade over 90 minutes.  There were some head-scratching moments - just as you normally find at most Cirque du Soleil shows.  But overall, I have to give the experience and the show 4.75 stars out of five.  I would go back to see it again, but the $170 price tag is a little too steep for an out of the pocket expenditure.  Still, "The Beatles - Love" packs 'em in every night, so there's a lot of people who will fork over that kind of cash to see a great show.   

The Beatles Meet Led Zeppelin

My friend, Rick Knight, sent this to me this week and I thought it was clever enough that I wanted to share it on my blog. 

This is an Austrailian Beatles tribute band - the Beatnix - who put a very Beatles-esque slant on the classic Led Zeppelin hit song, "Stairway to Heaven".  They're performing it on a television program broadcast in Austrailia back in the early 90's.

Click on the video, sit back for the next two and a half minutes and enjoy the music.  It's pretty neat.

Sonny Landreth - Davenport

The great Louisiana guitar player, Sonny Landreth, played at the Redstone Room in Davenport a while back.  We've seen Landreth on a number of occasions playing at Summerfest in Milwaukee with John Hiatt, as well as with his own band.  And he played the Mississippi Valley Blues Festival last year here in Davenport, putting on a great show. 

If you aren't familiar with Sonny Landreth, check out this incredible YouTube video of him playing at the 2007 Crossroads Guitar Festival in Chicago earlier this summer.  It's one of his new songs that he played the night he was in Davenport. 

Cindy and I went with my buddy, Randy Adams, and his girl friend, Laurie Brekke, to the show.  I had asked Santo Pullela to hold us a table, but he wasn't able to do so.  I noticed before the show started that there was a table over by the wall that had a "Reserved" sign on it.  I asked Santo, "Is that table for us?"

He said, "Well, no one was supposed to be saving tables, so if you want to sit there, do it."

And we did.  We had a great sight line directly to the stage.  No one challenged us for the table. 

Opening for Sonny Landreth that evening was a local trio calling themselves Fusion Infusion consisting of Paul DePauw on guitar, Al Nache on drums, and Barry Vestal on bass.  These guys used to back up Ernie Peniston for a time, but broke out on their own to play a jazz/rock infused style of music.  As long as I've known him, I've always been a big fan of Paul DePauw's guitar work and the band did a great job that night. 

After about a 25 minute break, Sonny Landreth hit the stage.  Landreth was accompanied by his longtime bass player David Ranson and a new drummer, Mike Burch, who played the hell out of the drums.  The show was just absolutely electric.  He played for about 90 minutes with one short break to solve a grounding problem after about five songs.  But after the break, the band just unloaded.  It was one helluva show.

The Redstone Room was extremely lucky to get Sonny Landreth for the price they did.  He had an open date between a Thursday night show in Champaign, IL and a blues festival he was playing in Monroe, WI the next day.  Santo told me how cheap it was to get him and I promised that I wouldn't reveal the amount.  But it was significantly lower than what he normally gets for a show.

If you're into great guitar players, don't hesitate to buy a ticket when Sonny Landreth comes to a stage near you.  He plays it all - rock, blues, cajun, jazz.  You won't be disappointed. 

River Roots Live - 2007

The 3rd Annual River Roots Live festival was held the last full weekend of August at LeClaire Park next to the Mississippi River in downtown Davenport.  As I said in an earlier post here, I was hired to be the head stage manager for the event this year.  Actually, I thought it was going to be an easy gig. 

I wear a lot of hats when I manage the stage at the Wells Fargo Street Festival.  But for River Roots Live, I had a stage crew, I had assistants, I had a lot of help at my beck and call.  Little did I know that it didn't matter - I was busy as all get out all weekend long.

This year, they combined the River Roots Live festival they used to have in late September with the annual Rib Fest they would have during this time in August.  The River Roots Live hemorrhaged money last year and DavenportOne took over the production for RRL this year.  Marcy Hyder, the director of events for DavenportOne, asked me after the Street Fest this year to be in charge of everything behind the stages.  I couldn't say no to her when she told me I'd have complete control of everything.

One of the great things about River Roots Live is that it brings such a diverse section of musical talent together.  This year we featured such different types of music as reggae and ska, folk blues, jam music, and middle of the road rock.  Some people bitch that River Roots Live is all over the place, but I like to think of it as a place where one can come and be exposed to a lot of different types of good music.  Music they may not have had the chance to hear previously.   

Set up took place on Thursday, August 23 as we brought in stage extensions for the main bandshell, and the city brought in their portable stage for the Riverside stage along the levee in the park.  Sound and lights were set up, as well.  Things were going very well, until it started to rain.

The next day, we had to deal with soggy grounds after a 1.2 inch rainfall the night before.  August had been extremely dry, but in the days leading up to the River Roots Live, a stationary front decided to stall out over the Quad Cities and deposit about 4 to 6 inches of rain on the area.  In fact, we dodged a major bullet on Friday afternoon as a storm front that was bearing down on the Quad Cities from the west decided at the last minute to go north of us.  While my wife said it was pouring at her work place in far northern Davenport, it was dry down at the riverfront.

And with all the rain in the area and up north of us, the Mississippi River began to rise - and it kept coming up.  We were a little concerned it may spill over the levee into the park during the weekend, but it leveled out about six inches under the top of the levee.  We were pretty lucky.

And I was told before that I wouldn't be doing the announcements - local talent from various radio stations would be handling that.  But I was then told three hours before the event that I would be handling all the announcing chores for the weekend.  Oh boy - just what I wanted to do.  And how was I going to be able to announce from two stages at the same time?  I knew I had to figure something out.  Turns out things worked out pretty well.  Here's a picture that Cindy took of me on the big screen doing announcements on Saturday night.

I didn't get a chance to hear a lot of the bands that played as I always seemed to be running off in some different direction.  But I made it a point to listen to a couple three each of the songs the artists played.  I really wish I could have listened more.

The skies cleared just before The Pines took the main stage at 5 p.m.  The Pines are a Minneapolis based group with roots in Iowa.  One of the founders, Benson Ramsey, is the son of the legendary Bo Ramsey.  In fact Bo Ramsey played guitar in support of his son's band that evening.

Benson Ramsey (left) and Bo Ramsey (right) on stage at River Roots Live.  Photos courtesy of Danny Owens.

At 5:45 p.m. on the Riverfront Stage, Iowa bluesman Joe Price, a man I've known for a number of years, played his eclectic brand of delta blues.  Joe was joined on stage with his wife, Vicki, for a few songs, as well.  You can check out part of their performance on this YouTube video.  They both did a great job, as always.  And they're both very nice people, too.

Joe and Vicki Price.  Photos courtesy of Danny Owens

When Joe and Vicki finished up, it was back to the main stage to see Nashville-based Kevin Gordon, a Louisiana native who studied writing at the University of Iowa's esteemed Writer's Workshop.  Gordon's style of combining delta blues and rockabilly reminded me of John Hiatt.  Kevin was a great guy to hang with, too.  (Photo courtesy of Danny Owens)

William Elliott Whitmore, a folk/blues guitarist from SE Iowa came on next on the Riverside Stage.  Whitmore sounds a lot older than he is, combining a voice that sounds similar to Tom Waits with a passionate style of playing.  I was able to listen to a couple songs he did and I was quite impressed with him.

Following Mr. Whitmore, my good friends The Andrew Landers Project played on the main stage.  I've worked with ALP over the past few years in conjunction with the Street Fest and the old Rib Fest.  Andy and the guys did a very good job playing in a great time slot for a crowd we estimated to be around 2500 to 3000 people.  There was rain in the area, but it was holding off for the time being.  But, still, it was keeping the numbers down in terms of attendance. 

Andy Landers of The Andrew Landers Project. Photo courtesy of Danny Owens.

The Chicago Afrobeat Project played next on the Riverside Stage.  CAbP (as they're known as among their fans) combined an urban funk, jazz and world music fusion of sound that had people instinctively dancing to their music.  And they were good guys, too.  They all hung out behind the main stage the rest of the evening talking with a lot of the crew and other musicians. 

And last, but certainly not least on Friday night, the fun and energetic ska band Reel Big Fish took the stage in the bandshell for a rollicking performance.  Based out of Southern California, these guys certainly have a lot of fun on stage.

Aaron Barrett of Reel Big Fish.  Photo courtesy of Danny Owens. 

Their show could be classified as "R"-rated, so I was told by my superiors at the event I had to tell their road manager before they went on that this was a "family festival" and asked them to tone down the language if they could.  And they did.  They were very professional about it.  Oh, there were some words in their lyrics that they didn't change, but they didn't drop any "F-bombs" like they're known to during their shows.

Almost as soon as Reel Big Fish took the stage, it began to rain lightly.  The light rain started to get a little more steady and after playing an hour we decided to pull the plug.  Even though they were under a canopy over the stage, they were still getting wet.  Their road manager and I agreed to stop 'em before someone slipped on stage and got hurt.  Too bad, too.  They were really fun to listen to. 

Saturday morning, I had to be back down at 8 a.m. as we were going to load in America for their performance that evening.  I got up at 7 and looked outside.  It was beautiful out.  Clear blue skies, a light wind, low humidity.  It was a perfect day.  I knew we were going to have a large crowd for the fest that day.

I got down to the stage area around 7:45 and promptly found out that America wouldn't be coming in until 9 a.m.  Well, that was going to cause a problem because that was the time Tea Leaf Green was going to be showing up, as well.  OK, we'll deal with it when it happens. 

America's bus and equipment showed up around 9:30 and we got them unloaded and on stage by 10:15.  Thankfully, Tea Leaf Green showed up at 10:30, so the possible conflict of two big acts arriving at the same time was averted.

Here's a picture I took of the main stage at River Roots Live before things got going on Saturday.

Saturday's show started out with two local bands, Dr. Death and the Retro Mechanics; and Rude Punch playing on the Riverside Stage and the Main Stage, respectively.  DD&tRM's are based out of nearby Clinton and won the West Music Battle of the Bands contest to be able to play at River Roots Live.  Actually, for a bunch of high school kids, they weren't bad. 

Rude Punch is a local ska/reggae band from Davenport.  I've heard them play better in the past.  Their gig that Saturday was not their best.

Another local band, The Parish Festival, played on the Riverfront stage for 30 minutes.  I didn't get much of a chance to hear them, but their music had a lot of people captivated at the stage.  I'm sure a lot of them were local friends and supporters.

Things began to heat up with Madison, Wisconsin's Adam Isaac and the People on the Riverfront stage.  Combining a great funk sound with soul and pop, the band did a great job in getting the afternoon going.  Actually, they should have been playing at the main stage, they were that good.

The Woodbox People, a band from Carbondale, IL, was the next band up on the main stage.  These guys came in the night before and were hanging backstage with the crew and other musicians.  They were very nice guys, humbled to be playing at River Roots Live.  Their acoustic mix of bluegrass, delta blues, country and folk was a very intriguing combination.  They'd been out on the road for about two months and this was their last gig before going home that evening.  They were ready to get home.

Playing on the Riverfront stage was a reggae band from upstate New York, J-san and the Analogue Sons.  These guys drove 16 hours from Rutland, VT to play the River Roots Live.  One of the guys in the band grew up in the Quad Cities and was fired up to come back to play the festival.  They really pleased the reggae and ska fanatics in the crowd.

(J-san of J-san and the Analogue Sons.  Photo courtesy Danny Owens)

Chicago's Daphne Willis was absolutely fabulous.  Not only is she a wonderful person, but she's a very good musician.  She's only 20 years old and is completely more mature, intelligent and savvy beyond her years.  She did an absolutely fabulous job with her set on the Riverside Stage.  Once again, she could have easily played the main stage and held the crowd captive.  And she just loved River Roots Live.  She was really fun to hang with before and after her set.  In fact, she stuck around throughout the night because of the strong lineup of musicians we had on Saturday evening and Saturday night. (Photo courtesy Danny Owens)

5:30 came around and it was time for the great jazz guitar virtuoso Charlie Hunter.  The San Francisco-area guitarist was probably the one I wanted to take the time to hear that weekend.  Hunter plays a custom made seven-string guitar where he plucks the bass note with his thumb and strums the upper strings with his index and middle fingers. 

Here's a picture I got of him when he was playing.  He was mesmerizing to watch on stage.  He played about 10 minutes over his alloted 60 minutes.  But as the stage manager, I didn't care.  Charlie Hunter was unbelievable to watch and hear.  And he was a genuinely great guy, too.  He also stuck around the rest of the evening to hear the other musicians on the bill.  He and I became very fast friends that weekend.  What a very, very nice guy.

Actually, the headlining band for River Roots Live was the 70's and 80's middle-of-the road staple America.  They were definitely the band that brought in the people on Saturday night.  We estimated there were about 7000 people there for America.  Considering we were only expecting 4000, that was a nice little surprise. 

Their road staff and the backing musicians were very professional people.  Their road manager, Erin Edwards, was sort of a no-nonsense lady who just wanted to make sure things were going as smooth as possible for the band.  And their sound engineer, Jeff Worrall, is a guy who has run sound for the likes of Fleetwood Mac, Pat Benatar and Edgar Winter.

I got to meet the two principals of America - Gerry Beckley and Dewey Bunnell (shown at right) - just before the show.  I was able to talk with Beckley a little more than Bunnell.  He was pretty matter-of-fact, but a nice guy at the same time.  I'm sure there's always that tense time just before the show begins.

And when the show began, it was very, very good.  In fact, I couldn't believe how great these guys sounded.  They just kept coming up with song after song of hits they'd had over the years.  Everyone I talked to that evening and in subsequent days after the fest said they were blown away at how well America played.  Afterward, Bunnell and Beckley sat at the merchandise tent and signed autographs for well over an hour after their show.  A class act all around.  I heartily recommend that if you get the chance to see America in your area, do it.  You won't be disappointed.   

Later that evening, The Headhunters, featuring the great percussionist Bill Summers, the excellent jazz and funk drummer Mike Clark, and joined by the original funk masters The Meters guitarist Leo Nocentelli (shown on left), played on the Riverfront stage.  Now, this was an unbelievable show.  When you have a number of professional musicians who say Leo Nocentelli is one of their favorite guitarists, you know the guy has to be good.  He's not just good, he's excellent.   The Headhunters put on a great show filled with funk and R&B.  It was just an honor to have them play the event.

Now, just to show you how high of regard Leo Nocentelli and The Meters were, here's a picture of them with the Rolling Stones when they opened up for them a few years ago.  That's Leo in the middle next to Keith Richards.

I was able to spend a little time with Leo and his wife, Pesuky (pronounced "pa-SUE-key").  They were both just great to hang with.  Both were very down home people and a joy to be around.  Pesuky told me that they had been living in California for 25 years and decided to move back to their home town of New Orleans in August of 2005 - one month before Hurricane Katrina.  She said, "We lost everything.  I'm still sick to my stomach of all the memorabilia, pictures, guitars, and other things that are now gone forever." 

Ending up the festival was Tea Leaf Green, a San Francisco area jam band who has a great following with the young crowd.   I didn't interact with the guys in the band all that much.  But I did have to deal with a very high-strung lighting engineer at one time.  This guy had too much caffeine in his body.  But their road manager, Jeff Brooks, was a very down to earth guy who was very easy to work with.  We got through some minor issues and the band did a very good job closing out the show.

One of the perks I received as the stage manager for the event were some free tickets and free passes to the V.I.P. area of the festival.  I gave Cindy a couple tickets and passes, I gave our friends Scott and Marcia Schroeder a couple more, and I gave my old friend Randy Adams and his girlfriend, Laurie, the other two.  I didn't get to spend a lot of time in the V.I.P. area, but it was sort of fun getting to hang in there with everyone for about five to ten minutes at a time.

Here's a picture of Cindy, Laurie and Randy enjoying the evening in the V.I.P. area.   

Also, I have to give a shout out to my new best friend in the whole world, Santo Pullela, who is the booking manager for the Redstone Room, and who booked all the acts for River Roots Live.  Here's a picture of Santo and his lovely wife, Denise, on Saturday afternoon of the fest.

And I have to give a big "THANX!" to Tom Swanson of the River Music Experience and his compatriot, Jason Gilliland who both play in Jim the Mule for helping me control things at the Riverside Stage.  These guys all worked incredibly hard to make things come off in a very orderly fashion.

A lot of people said that the group of people I worked with couldn't pull off this year's River Roots Live.  I think we more than ably showed the skeptics that it could be done without a professional production company.  Marcy and Kyle at DavenportOne put together a great team of people to pull it off.  It was a lot of hard work, but really a fun experience, as well.  I usually think at the end of these events that I don't want to do another one.  But I'm already looking forward to working the 2008 River Roots Live.         

The Blue Band/BoDeans - Des Moines

As I pointed out in an earlier post here, Cindy and I went up to Des Moines to go the Iowa State Fair in August.  Our main reason for the trip was to go see both The Blue Band and The BoDeans who were playing at two separate stages on the second Friday night of the fair. 

The Blue Band played for the first time in three years at the annual Wells Fargo Street Festival in downtown Davenport over the Bix Weekend in late July.  In fact, they were sandwiched between two of my favorite local bands - Jim the Mule and Wicked Liz and the Bellyswirls.  The Saturday lineup for Street Fest was the strongest in the nine years I've been involved with the festival.  Also playing that day was the great Ernie Peniston, as well as The Ellis Kell Band.  It was a day full of great music in downtown Davenport. 

Ernie Peniston

In fact, Bob Kelly from Wicked Liz and the Bellyswirls came up to me while The Blue Band was playing and said while looking out at the massive crowd, "Now, how are we supposed to follow THIS?!"

Wicked Liz and the Bellyswirls on stage at the Wells Fargo Street Fest.  Photo courtesy of Colin Peterson.

But they did follow them and did a great job.  It may have been the best show I've ever seen them play in all the years I've worked with them.  In fact, they even had Bob Dorr from The Blue Band come up on stage with them and play a song with them (picture left - courtesy Colin Peterson).  It was a great night for everyone.  It was, by far, the most fun I've ever had working the stage at a Street Fest.

But back to the subject at hand (I know, I know - I always digress).  Cindy and I got up to the fair and after running into my cousins, we took off up the hill to go to the Anderson-Erickson Stage to catch The Blue Band's first show of the evening. 

We got up there and grabbed a beer and walked down to see the guys behind the stage.  They were all sort of surprised to see us there, but happy we made the trip over from Davenport.  Bob Dorr was a little flustered with the guys running the sound, so we didn't get to visit all that much with him.  But we caught up with the other guys who were just hanging out.  Just before showtime, we wished them the best and went back out front to catch their show. 

Playing bass for The Blue Band that evening was Rick Cicalo, a guy I've known for a number of years who used to play with Patrick Hazell in the old Mother Blues Band years ago.  Rick is now the mayor of Washington, IA, which, to me, is sort of surreal.  Rick also plays with Greg Brown and Bo Ramsey on occasion.  The Blue Band's drummer, Steve Hayes, I've known just as long as "Rico" and he also has played with Hazell, Brown and Ramsey over the years.   

And Sam Salomone (left) joined the band on the organ that evening at the State Fair.  Sam used to play full time with The Blue Band, but has cut back in the past few months playing selected shows with the band.  Since he lives in Des Moines, it was an easy gig for him to make. 

The band sounded OK, but they were definitely having problems with the sound.  Heath and Nathan on saxophones were barely audible when they first began to play.  Still, the band did a great job as always.

In fact, just after the State Fair over the Labor Day weekend, The Blue Band was inducted into the Iowa Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  (See their inductee details here.)   It was a double whammy for Steve Hayes who was also inducted into the Iowa Rock and Roll Hall of Fame that same weekend for his work with Mother Blues, along with Cicalo.  In fact, Steve and Rick were inducted into the Iowa Blues Hall of Fame earlier this summer, too.  They're great musicians and equally great guys. 

After hanging around for about 45 minutes listening to The Blue Band, we decided we'd better high-tail it back down the hill to get a good seat for The BoDeans at the Bill Riley Stage just south of the administration building.  We got there in plenty of time to grab a Gizmo from Carl's Gizmo.  It was just killer.

There was a pretty good sized crowd waiting for The BoDeans.  My cousins were able to snag some seats up front in the covered bleachers area.  But it was still about 30 feet from the front of the two foot high stage - a lot of real estate between the crowd and the band.

That didn't last for long.  As soon as the band came out to play, a rush of people went to the foot of the stage area.  Cindy and I were part of the crowd and we stood about 10 feet from where Sammy Llanas and Kurt Neumann were standing.  It was pretty awesome.

In fact, The BoDeans, backed with a new keyboard player and bassist, along with longtime John Mellencamp drummer Kenny Aronoff, sounded about the best I've heard them in a long time.  They seemed to be fresh and upbeat during the whole show. 

BoDeans guitarist/vocalist Kurt Neumann

      

After seeing them a number of times and working with them at the 2005 River Roots Live festival in Davenport, it was good to see them again.  They put on a great show.  Actually, it may have been the best show I've ever seen them play. 

BoDeans guitarist/vocalist Sammy Llanas

Even though Joe Walsh was the main attraction at the fair that night (he was playing in the grandstand), I'll have to say that just for the price of admission to the fair The BoDeans were the best deal of the night.  They drew a good amount of people - I'm guessing between 1000 and 1500 people were there to see them.  And they certainly didn't disappoint.

We were going to go back up the hill to catch the second part of The Blue Band's second show of the night.  But lightning in the skies to the northwest and an ominous looking radar on my Blackberry told us it was probably best to high-tail it to the shuttle bus to take us back to our car at the State Capitol complex.  We got back to the hotel just as it was starting to rain. 

We got to see two great bands who have been together for a long time, and both with great followings.  The Blue Band and The BoDeans may not be the most well-known bands out there, but for the Midwest they're the tops in their class.

River Roots Live - Davenport

The 3rd Annual River Roots Live event will be held beginning tonight at LeClaire Park in downtown Davenport.  They've combined the River Roots Live with the annual River Rockin' Rib Fest after last year's River Roots Live turned out to be a monumental money loser. 

I worked the first River Roots Live in 2005, but wasn't asked to work the event last year.  This year, DavenportOne - the city's chamber of commerce arm - took over the event and are working with the River Music Experience to produce the event. 

I worked the annual Street Fest again this year - the 9th year I've worked the event as the stage manager and stage announcer - and I must have impressed Marcy Hyder, the new director of events for DavenportOne.  (It didn't hurt that Bob Dorr - the leader of The Blue Band - told Marcy I was the best stage manager of any locally produced event they've played at.)  She asked me to be the lead stage manager for the two stages that will feature performances this weekend.

At Street Fest, I am the stage manager, the stage announcer, an equipment guy, a bartender, a traffic cop, a janitor, a parking coordinator, a banker, and I have to be an asshole from time to time, especially when someone from the crowd wants to go up on stage with the band, or hang around with the bands behind the stage. 

At River Roots Live, I have a whole slew of local union stage hands and volunteers who will be working under me to do many of the jobs I do at Street Fest.  I don't even have to do announcements - they're supposedly having some of the local on-air radio talent come in to do that.  Other than making sure bands are ready to go, and having to pay them afterward, I don't have to raise a finger, much less my voice. 

Some of the bands that are playing this year are the old 70's rock/folk group America (right), who just came off a very successful summer tour headlining with Chicago; Tea Leaf Green, an up and coming jam band; Reel Big Fish, a fun "ska" band, the great Jazz guitarist Charlie Hunter; and the Headhunters, featuring Leo Nocentelli - an original founder of the great New Orleans band The Meters.  It's a pretty diverse music line-up, just as River Roots Live has proven to be over the first two years. 

The only problem is that it's been raining over the past week and the ground at LeClaire Park is very mushy.  As I write, we got 1.2 inches of rain last night and it's still coming down.  We're hoping that the rain gets out of here this afternoon and we get a respectable crowd for the show which starts at 5 p.m. tonight.  Tomorrow - when America, Charlie Hunter, The Headhunters and Tea Leaf Green will play - promises to be much better with sunny skies and much lower humidities than what we've experienced over the past three or four weeks.

There will continue to be rib vendors on site - although only 5 compared to the 8 to 10 we've had in the past for Rib Fest.  There will be no amateur contest to judge, but that's OK.  Quite honestly, a lot of the amateur rib cooks that participated - especially over the last couple of years - weren't all that great. 

I'm hoping for a good weekend and I'm sure I'll have pictures and some backstage stories to share with you later on.  

Summerfest 2007

I was in Milwaukee recently to call on a couple dealers, but my ulterior motive was to take in some time at the 40th Annual Summerfest along the lakefront at the Henry W. Maier Festival Park.

I hadn't been to Summerfest for about three years.  We used to go pretty regularly for a number of years when my cousin, John Wehrle, lived in Milwaukee.  But since he's moved to St. Louis, we don't go as much as we used to. 

We'd go up and stay at his place and we'd go down to Summerfest with him, sometimes from the time the gates opened to the time they closed the park.  He always had tickets in advance, so there was no waiting in lines when we got there.  Thanx again, John!

My first stop was to the Marcus Amphitheater to see if there were any Roger Waters tickets available through the box office for his performance that evening.  Nope - sold out.  There were some unsavory scalpers hanging out asking outlandish amounts for tickets they held.  I was going to wait to see if anyone dropped their prices.

In the meantime, I went to the top deck of the Water Street Brewery building to survey the situation.  It's on the southern side of the Summerfest grounds, just north of the Marcus Amphitheater.  It's always been kind of the "center of the universe" or the central meeting place in the past.  I had to go up and have one of their Oktoberfest beers and see what was going on.

Being that it's near the south gate entrance to Summerfest and next to the Marcus, there's always a lot of people watching that can be done from the top of the Water Street Brewery.  Here's a picture of people coming in to Summerfest at the south gate.

Having picked up a Summerfest guide on the way in, I noticed there was a Pink Floyd tribute band playing at the M&I Bank Classic Rock Stage - a Chicago area band called Think Floyd USA.  Since Roger Waters was playing at the Marcus that evening, the stage area was packed with Pink Floyd fans. 

Instrumentally, they weren't too bad.  The musicians weren't much to look at, except for the three backing vocalists they had out front and center, which I thought was rather weird.  But when they did the classic Pink Floyd song "Pigs", I knew why the girls were out front.  The guy who did the singing - the lead guitar player - butchered the vocals so bad that I had to leave.  It was such a horrendous rendition that I would have been embarrassed to call myself a Pink Floyd tribute band if I was with the group.

I stopped off at the JoJo's Martini Lounge - the former comedy tent - to see the end of a set by another local band, Hot Sauce.  I've seen Hot Sauce a number of times in the past.  They're kind of a brass/show band and they do a good job.  It turns out that Hot Sauce played the wedding reception of our former neighbors, Eric and Molly. 

I then found myself at the Briggs and Stratton Big Backyard watching a "world music" musician by the name of King Ibu.  It was OK, if you're into that African/World Music.  And judging by the size of the crowd in front of the stage, not many people were. 

I walked up the main concourse of the Summerfest grounds stopping to look over the new Miller Oasis area.  They've moved the stage area back, made it bigger and added a couple of large screens on either side of the stage so people in the clear back can see the performance - especially when a headliner is playing late at night.  That's one of the pet peeves I have about Summerfest.  They have a number of permanent benches in front of the stages.  When the stage areas get packed late at night, people stand on the benches.  Even taller guys like me can't see the performers on the stage if we're stuck in back.  That always irritated Cindy, who's a little shortcake.  I've always thought they needed to raise the stages by three or four feet.  They obviously didn't with the new stage at the Miller Oasis.

I stopped by the Lakefront Brewery booth on the fest grounds to see if they had their Cream City Pale Ale.  They didn't.  They had three or four different beers that I didn't think I'd like, so I hiked on over to the U.S. Cellular/Leinenkugel stage area. 

This was one of my favorite areas to come to for a number of years when Leinenkugel was the sole sponsor of the stage - known as the Leinie Lodge stage.  Leinenkugel beer is still served at the little beer area, but it's mostly their Honey Weiss and their new Sunset Wheat - two beers that I really don't care for.  I still miss their Northwoods Lager.  I opted for an original Leinie's. 

Most of the beers at Summerfest were $4.00 for a 16 ounce glass that was filled to about 14 ounces.  The "special beers" such as at Water Street, Lakefront or the specialty beers at the Leinie Lodge were $4.50 or $5.00.  It wasn't that long ago that $5.00 would get you a couple beers and change.

Playing at the U.S. Cellular stage was a non-descript band from Minneapolis called The Abdomen.  Two brothers and a sister.  They weren't bad, but they weren't tripping my trigger - kind of laid back rock.  I decided to walk next door to the Potawatomi Bingo Casino stage and see what was going on there.

In the past, the Potawatomi stage has usually been the place for the great blues artists to play.  I've seen some great acts there over the years - Sonny Landreth, Robin Trower, The Radiators, and Los Straitjackets to name a few.  However, they've turned the stage into mostly Country and Western.  The band playing - Great Guns, a local band from Milwaukee - was definitely C&W.  OK, off to another stage. 

Walking up to the Zippo Rock Stage, I noticed a large crowd gathering for the 6:30 show.  A local band by the name of Beatallica came on and began to play their interesting blend of music that married portions of Beatles tunes with those of Metallica.

Actually, they were pretty damned good.  They were all dressed in these fluorescent trimmed marching band jackets and just tore up the place.  Their first song "Sgt. Hetfield's Lonely Hearts Club Band" was a take off of the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", only using Metallica lead singer James Hetfield's name in the title and lyrics.  It was kind of funny to see the middle-aged people who must have thought they were coming to see a Beatles tribute band get up after the second or third song.  They had one song, "Sandman" that was a mix of Metallica's "Enter Sandman" and the Beatles "Taxman".  It was very cleverly done. 

I would have liked to have stayed more than the half-hour I was there, but I still had Roger Waters on my mind and I had to hoof it all the way back down to the south end of the grounds to check out the ticket situation with the scalpers.

On my way down, I stopped off at the Miller Oasis as a band was playing a rendition of Bryan Adams' "Summer of '69".  They were doing a pretty good job at it.  So I stood there and watched them for a minute.  The band - Dot Dot Dot out of Chicago - had a girl guitarist and a girl bass player, along with a male lead singer who appeared to be more effeminate than the two girls.  They then did a Madonna song - with the guy singing - and I started to walk toward a beer tent.  Then when they started in on Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline", they completely lost me.  It turned out were nothing more than a glorified wedding band.

Then passing by the Harley Davidson Roadhouse stage, I was completely appalled to see a D.J. playing dance mix music!  What the hell is going on with Summerfest?!  The only time you'd see a D.J. would be after 9 p.m. on the Sentry SportsZone court for the kids who would hang out there.  But a D.J. on a music stage?  Is this what Summerfest has come to?

By the time I got down to the Marcus, the Roger Waters show had started about 20 minutes prior.  The remaining scalpers still had tickets, but they were still wanting $75.00 for $30.00 bleacher seats.  I didn't need to see Roger Waters that bad.

I went back to the Water Street Brewery and had a beer, then wandered back over to the Classic Rock Stage to catch some of the Family Stone Experience - three members of the original Sly and the Family Stone, only without Sly Stone.  In the long run, they were about on par with the tribute band. 

I decided to go back up to the Miller Oasis and see how close I could get to see Heart who was headlining there that evening.  But I took this picture of the Milwaukee skyline from the lagoon just on the east end of the Summerfest grounds.  It was a nice evening.

As I feared, when I got up to the Miller Oasis, the place was packed.  I stood over to the side of the stage toward the back and was able to see part of the stage through all the people standing on the bleachers.  This is a picture of the band playing.  Had it not been for the new screens on either side of the stage I wouldn't have been able to see the band up close.

I stuck around for about five songs, then decided to head back to the hotel since I had a couple appointments scheduled for the next morning.  As I was walking along to get to the shuttle bus area, I passed the Potawatomi Bingo Casino stage and it was packed as country artist Clay Walker was playing.  And the Zippo rock stage had Jackyl playing when I passed there.  Didn't care to see either one. 

The next day, I got down there just after the Summerfest grounds opened.  I got up on the Sky Glider to take some pictures.  This is a shot of the main concourse looking north.  As I said, it was early and there was a threat of rain, so that kept the crowds down.  Which was fine with me.

Here's a picture of the Harley Davidson Roadhouse area with the downtown skyline in the distance.  You can see the rain clouds off in the distance.  I remember asking my cousin John what happens when it rains at Summerfest and he said, "It goes from the World's Largest Music Festival to the World's Largest Wet T-Shirt contest."

Here's every band's worst nightmare.  When you're playing and there's more people on stage than there are in the crowd.  This is a band whose name I didn't get - they won a local "Battle of the Bands" contest. 

But on my return trip on the Sky Glider, they had a few people in the seats to see them.  I don't really know if they were all that good or not.  I never really stopped to listen to them.

Here's an aerial shot of the new Miller Oasis stage area.  They moved the stage back about 75 feet and eliminated the walkway behind the stage.  Historically, the Miller Oasis would get some of the bigger crowds and it caused bottlenecks with people trying to walk along the concourse.  This gave them more room, but it just means more people can pack in the place.

This is the Potawatomi Bingo Casino area from the Sky Glider. This used to be a small tent years ago.  Sprecher Brewery also used to be the sponsor for the stage when they put up the permanent structure.  Like I said, they used to have a lot of blues musicians play in the place, but it's mostly country and western now. 

For a number of years, a lot of the blues artists that would play in Davenport at the Mississippi Valley Blues Festival would also play at Summerfest.  We would pass on going to the blues fest and come up to see a lot of the same bands in Milwaukee.  But this year, the only person to play both Summerfest and the blues fest was Bruce Katz who was opening later this evening for Buddy Guy.  There weren't very many blues artists at Summerfest this year.

Here's the main gate of Summerfest.  It's only $8 bucks to get in if you get there between noon and 4 p.m. during the week.  Then it goes up to $15 bucks.  There are a number of promotions and ways to get discounted tickets. 

After I got off the Sky Glider, I went up to the Water Street Brewery to get a beer.  I found the upper deck to be completely empty.  This had to be a first in all the years I've gone to Summerfest the deck was empty.  I enjoyed a couple beers up there in complete solitude.  It was kinda neat.

I went out and walked around one last time.  I came across the "sandwich board" at the Chipotle Rhythm Kitchen stage that showed our friends Wicked Liz and the Bellyswirls playing the next day (July 4).  It would have been great to see them play, and I could have easily stayed in Milwaukee just to see that, but the 4th of July gets to be sort of crazy at Summerfest.  Too many people.

I did catch a band called The Breakfast Klub, a local Milwaukee band that played a mix of 80's and 90's type of dance music.  The lead singer, who called herself Miss Honey (right), looked a helluva better than she sang.  The band definitely didn't hold my interest, but Miss Honey was fun to look at.

It had been sort of sprinkling for a good part of the afternoon, but around 2:30 it started raining pretty well.  Not a torrential rain, but enough to make everything - and everybody - damp.  I had hoped to be able to catch some of the great troubador/comic Pat McCurdy at the Potawotomi stage (after they finished with bingo at 3:30 - no shit!).  But even though I would have been dry in there, I just decided to head home and beat the rush out of town for the 4th of July.   

I don't know - Summerfest just doesn't have the same feeling to it like it did a few years ago.  Since longtime director Bo Black (above) was forced out four years ago, Summerfest just isn't the same.  Black oversaw the explosive growth of Summerfest during her nearly 20 year tenure as director of the festival.  Earlier this year, Black suffered a stroke at her home in Scottsdale, AZ.  At Summerfest, they had a big "Get Well" card for people to sign for Bo at the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel booth.  It was already full five days into the 11 day run.

A lot of very good regional and national bands that used to play on a regular basis at Summerfest haven't played there since Don Smiley took over at the director of the event.  Smiley has gone on record saying that he wants to make Summerfest smaller - attendance-wise.  Attendance at this year's Summerfest totaled around 892,000 - about 81,000 a day on average.  Smiley has been quoted as saying 72,000 a day is his ideal goal for Summerfest, giving more "elbow room" to people coming to the event.

And with the lackluster bands that I saw on the side stages during the time I was there, he's certainly doing a good job of keeping the crowds down.  I heard a lady remark at one of the stages, "These are a lot of the same bands that you can see any weekend around Milwaukee." 

No more will we see annual performers like Deluxury or Those Darn Accordions.  Perennial favorite The Love Monkeys used to headline at the Miller Oasis for thousands of people.  They were relegated to the small JoJo's Martini Lounge venue at Summerfest this year.  Pat McCurdy would play every day at Summerfest - sometimes doing two shows a day.  He'd always do an "R" rated show every night at 10:30 at the old comedy tent.  He only played 4 times at Summerfest this year. Even the BoDeans didn't appear at Summerfest this year.  A lot of the better regional bands aren't playing at Summerfest.  It's obvious they're not spending a lot on music, especially with a lot of musical acts I saw.

Summerfest would probably be a large time if you'd never been there before.  But after seeing all the changes from what it had been and what it's become (more corporate and less free wheeling), it just doesn't have the same feeling.  Still, it's unique and certainly a major destination for music fans.  Like everything, things change.  You just have to take the time to get used to it.  I'll probably go back again someday. 

As long as they're still serving beer...          

Mississippi Valley Blues Fest - 2007

The 23rd annual Mississippi Valley Blues Fest was held last weekend at LeClaire Park, which is right next to - and sometimes in - the mighty Mississippi River.  The weather all weekend long was just perfect.  Temps in the low 80's, low humidity, light winds.  The Mississippi Valley Blues Society couldn't have asked for better weather.  And because of that, they had great crowds all three days of the festival.

Once again, the MVBS' entertainment committee did a pretty good job of pulling in a number of great performers, but also offered some of the same "head-scratching" acts that left a lot of people wondering what they were doing performing at a blues festival. 

I will have to say they started out the festival with a bang on Friday night.  Even though I wasn't there to see him play, I was told Damon Fowler put on a high energy show.  But the next guy up on the main stage absolutely blew the crowd away.

Albert Cummings' main job is running a family construction company that specializes in building houses and remodeling homes.  His hobby is going out with his bass player and drummer and playing some SCORCHING blues.  I'd heard and read about Albert Cummings in the past and he was one of the top people on my list that I wanted to see at the fest this year.  And he certainly didn't disappoint. 

Cummings' 90 minute set started off with high energy and the level never came down until he walked off the stage.  Cummings played his guitar with authority and passion - so much to the point that he literally made the hair on the back of my neck stand up on a couple occasions.  It was an amazing show. 

Chubby Carrier played Cajun music on the bandshell next.  I've seen Carrier play about three or four times before, so I wasn't eager to see him play all that much.  But what was more interesting was running into a group of old friends from my hometown of Newton, IA who came over to the festival with their wives.  We stood near the beer tent before, during and after Carrier's set catching up on old times.  It was great fun for me. 

Actually, the one person they came over to see - as did a number of others in the crowd - was Robert Randolph and The Family Band.  Robert Randolph got his start playing pedal steel guitar in his church band in New Jersey.  Backed by a brother and two cousins, Randolph is also an accomplished guitar player and singer. 

Randolph's music is sort of a cross between gospel, funk and blues - delving more into the "jam band" style during a large part of his show.  This didn't sit well with a lot of the hardened blues fans in the crowd, but it pleased the younger people who the MVBS was trying to lure to the festival with Randolph's music.  Randolph was good, but I was somewhat underwhelmed by his overall performance. 

Saturday was a beautiful day - clear skies and temps in the lower 80's.  I came down in the middle of the afternoon to see Kelly Richey, a high-energy female guitar player from Cincinnati.  Once again, I'd heard and read about Richey and really wanted to see her play. 

She put on a great show.  Not only is she a great guitar player, she's a great showman - or is it showperson?  She deftly played the guitar behind her head and didn't miss a note.  When she left the stage, she left those in the crowd howling for more. 

I left for awhile and then came back later in the evening to see a couple of acts.  Over in the tent, blues great Watermelon Slim and the Workers were entertaining an overflow crowd.  Watermelon Slim (aka Bill Homans) is a Viet Nam war vet with a genius level I.Q.  He plays the harmonica and a table top dobro guitar.  He uses various objects to play the slide on the guitar - things like salt shakers, miniature liquor bottles, spark plugs, even a smooth rock that he said he found on the ground. 

And he put on a GREAT show.  Over the years, there are many people who have played in the cramped and hot tent who I felt should have been on the main stage.  Watermelon Slim is another one of those performers that had me wondering why they didn't do just that.   

Unfortunately, at the same time Watermelon Slim was playing in the tent, the Jackie Payne and Steve Edmondson Band was playing on the main stage.  I caught about 45 minutes of Watermelon Slim before I grudgingly walked over to the bandshell to see Jackie Payne and Steve Edmondson. 

Jackie Payne (left) is a long time blues singer from Texas who now lives in the Bay Area in California.  Steve Edmondson's dad, Travis Edmondson, was half of the old folk duo Bud and Travis.  Steve (below) traveled on the road with his family and learned the guitar from his father.  He certainly plays a blistering style of blues.

Playing along with Jackie Payne and Steve Edmondson was the legendary New York blues organist, Bruce Katz.  Katz (left) was scheduled to play the tent stage on Sunday and he sat in with the band and played his Hammond B3 organ and electric piano to perfection.  He's a great keyboard player and really added a great dimension to an already terrific band. 

I was told by a friend that I was not to miss the Jackie Payne/Steve Edmondson performance, and I have to say he was right.  They put on a great show and had the crowd jumping and dancing. 

Saturday night's headliner was the Blues Harp Blowout, a show featuring three great harmonica players - Mark Hummel, James Harman and Paul Oscher.  You know, I really appreciate the expertise involved in playing blues harp, but I don't think I could sit and listen to 90 minutes of nothing but harmonica music backed by a band.  I left after the first song. 

I found out the next day I wasn't alone - 30 minutes after the show began at 11 p.m., well over half the people in the park had left, as well.  The MVBS had the same problem last year keeping people in the park for the "headliner".  Hell, Watermelon Slim would have been a better headliner than the Blues Harp Blowout.  Oh well...

Sunday was also a gorgeous day - a little warmer and more humid than the previous two.  But a nice breeze coming off the river made the weather very enjoyable in the park.  I was sitting on my deck at 2:45 and my buddy, Randy Adams, called me up.  He said, "Where you at? You're missing a kick-ass performance down here!"

The person he was talking about was Doña Oxford, a piano playing dynamo of a woman.  After I got down to the park, I was told by many people that I missed a helluva show.  I was told Oxford was "Marcia Ball with an attitude."  Sunday's first show of the day have historically been killer performances.  I should know that by now.

Actually, I wanted to come down to see the great guitarist, Tom Principato who played on the main stage at 4 p.m.  Principato is from the Washington D.C./Northern Virginia area and has been performing for over 40 years.  He has played with a long list of blues greats, including a stint in the great band The Assassins with blues legend Jimmy Thackery. 

And Principato didn't disappoint, either.  Backed by a bass player and a drummer, Principato also had the great blues organ player Tommy Lepson playing with him for the show.  Principato and Lepson played off each other without effort and put on a fine show.

As I said earlier, the Bruce Katz Band played in the tent on Sunday late afternoon/early evening.  The tent was about a third full - disappointing considering the great job Katz and his band did.  Once again, considering Memphis blues/soul singer Ruby Wilson was on the main stage, they could have very easily juxtaposed the performers.  I caught a little bit of Ruby Wilson and the performance was more of what you'd see in a lounge.  Katz and his band put on one helluva show - very worthy of playing on the main stage. 

Closing out the festival on Sunday night on the main stage were Little Charlie and the Nightcats.  Fronted by the wonderful showman/harp player/singer Rick Estrin, and featuring the guitar work of "Little" Charlie Baty, these guys put on a high energy show and had the crowd jumping and dancing. 

I've seen Little Charlie and the Nightcats a number of times in the past, but hadn't seen them perform in person for about 13 years.  Estrin looked a little more gray around the temples from when I last saw him in person.  But he still exhibited the stage presence he's always possessed in the past. 

And Charlie Baty's guitar work was still top notch.  Playing an old style Gibson guitar most of the night, Charlie showed many in the crowd why he's the king of "jump blues" guitar.

Estrin and Baty have been literally joined at the hip for about 25 years.  The band members backing them may have changed, but their music is still as great as it was when I first saw them nearly 21 years ago at a small bar in Des Moines. 

The crowd on Sunday wasn't near as good as the previous two days.  Because the 4th of July comes on a Wednesday this week, a lot of people who came in from out of town undoubtedly had to scoot back home to go to work on Monday morning.  Still, I was told by a MVBS board member they had more people on Friday and Saturday this year than they had for all three days of the fest last year.  (Last year, the weather was unbearably hot.)  And a lot of beer was sold, which helps out the MVBS' bottom line.

Once again, some of the acts that played the main stage were a little more "funk" and "soul" than blues.  And a couple guys that I felt should have been showcased on the main stage were stuck back in the tent where the sound and sight-lines aren't as good (and it's appreciably hotter in the tent).  But it was still a good festival.  I know the entertainment committee for the MVBS does their best - especially when not a lot of performers are traveling these days, and the fact that coordinating the effort to get so many performers to come to a festival in the Midwest around the 4th of July is a pain in the ass.

There's always the on-going discussions by the blues "purists" that attend the Mississippi Valley Blues Fest each year as to what is and what isn't the blues.  I say to them, "You're already here.  Just shut up and listen to the music."  Pleasing everyone is so difficult to do.

But I'd have to say the top performances I saw were from Albert Cummings, Watermelon Slim and Bruce Katz.  Those three alone, back to back to back, would have worth the price of admission for the full weekend.

Also, by the way, I have to give a shout out to MVBS president Ric Burris who got me a pass to the V.I.P. area up front for the shows on Saturday and Sunday.  Thanx again, Ricardo!

The Phoenix Piano Bar and Grille - Kansas City

On a recent trip to Kansas City, Dominic Baker from Focal Loudspeakers and I offered to take one of our dealers in the K.C. area out to lunch.  Not far from his place of business is a little jazz club called The Phoenix Piano Bar and Grill.  I'd always seen the place and had wanted to try it out.  Now was my chance.

The Kansas City jazz scene has been a staple of the community for a number of years.  There are a number of jazz clubs and bars throughout the Kansas City area - many of them are carrying on the tradition that started in the city in 30's.

The building that houses The Phoenix Piano Bar and Grill in downtown Kansas City (see map) sits smack dab in the middle of the historic Garment District.  The building, itself, was built in the late 1800's and was rumored to be a brothel at one time. 

In 1989, Tim Whitmer (right), a world-class jazz pianist, opened The Phoenix as a place for good food and good jazz.  Whitmer brought in a number of great Kansas City jazz musicians to play each night.  Whitmer will occasionally play The Phoenix, but he prefers to allow other area musicians show their prowess. 

As you walk in the door at The Phoenix, there's a grand piano sitting on a small stage.  While the place is not all that large, you get a cozy feeling when you find a seat.  Actually, the tables are jammed pretty close together.  I'm sure it's to maximize the minimal seating area they have. 

The Phoenix draws a pretty good lunch crowd from the downtown offices.  Guys in coats and ties were having lunch and talking business all around us.  Dominic wasn't feeling well, having caught a cold in Japan a couple weeks earlier that he couldn't shake.  So we kept the business conversations to a minimum.

The Phoenix's menu offers a number of entrees including a number of pasta dishes.  They also have steaks and a couple of seafood items to choose from, as well.  Their sandwiches and burgers are pretty basic, but interesting from the description.  They also offer appetizers and salads, as well.

Even though they feature lunch specials each day during the weekdays, everything that is on the dinner menu can be had at lunch.  Dominic was thinking that he really needed to eat some spicy food to help stifle the cold, so he went with the Cajun chicken pasta - chunks of grilled chicken on a bed of fettuccine with a spicy Cajun sauce lopped on top. 

Our guest got the Smoked Reuben - smoked corned beef brisket piled high on marble rye with sauerkraut and then grilled.  It looked great.

I went with the Phoenix's Special - ham and lean roast beef topped with Monterey and cheddar cheese, and piled on sourdough bread and served with a side of Gates BBQ sauce.  Even though I'm not a big fan of Gates BBQ sauce, it helped complement the sandwich very well.  The sandwich was large and was very good.

All three of us were more than full when we were finished.  Dominic, who has eaten in fine restaurants all over the world, thought his pasta was delicious.  Our guest told us, "They do a pretty fine job here at The Phoenix."  I have to agree.

I'm sure the place really packs in the crowd for the jazz music that starts around 9 p.m. each night.  But even if it weren't for the draw of the music, I think The Phoenix would more than hold it's own as a stand alone restaurant.    

2007 Mississippi Valley Blues Fest Line-up

They recently announced the line-ups for the 2007 Mississippi Valley Blues Festival to be held June 29, 30 and July 1 at LeClaire Park in downtown Davenport.  And once again, I'm afraid it's going to be another underwhelming festival.  I'm just hoping for some pleasant surprises along the way. 

Actually, the two biggest names that I'd like to see are Robert Randolph and the Family Band; and the return of Little Charlie and the Nightcats.  But I wouldn't mind seeing Tom Principato, Albert Cummings and Kelly Richey, as well. 

Robert Randolph and the Family Band play a mixture of blues, funk, soul and gospel.  Randolph plays a 13 string pedal steel guitar, an instrument more akin to country music than it is to the blues.  The band - all related to Randolph - started as the church band for the Randolph family church back in New Jersey.  He has three albums out and has also played Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival. 

Little Charlie and the Nightcats were just here in the Quad Cities a couple weeks ago.  I understand they put on a helluva show - one that some tell me was one of the best shows they've ever seen from a touring blues band.  I've seen Little Charlie and the Nightcats play three or four times before and their infectious "jump blues" style of play, along with Rick Estrin's stage presence and harmonica playing make Little Charlie a must see for any music fan.

I've seen blues guitarist Tom Principato once before and he put on a blistering show.  The Washington D.C.-area guitarist is a little bit of everything - gospel, jazz, rock, country - but is pigeon-holed as a blues guitarist.  And he said he doesn't mind that one bit.  In fact, he likes to call his style of hybrid music "American music".   

Principato first started in the business as taking over for blues great Jimmy Thackery in a band called Crawlin' King Snake.  The band eventually turned into a Chicago-style blues band called Powerhouse and Principato was on his way.   

I've heard about blues guitarist Albert Cummings but have yet to see him play.  Cummings is a 30-something native of western Massachusetts whose previous day job was as a designer and builder of high dollar custom homes throughout New England.  Cummings recently released his fourth CD and will be traveling this summer across America and parts of Europe.

Kelly Richey has been described as a cross between Stevie Ray Vaughan and Janis Joplin.  Richey is based out of Cincinnati and fronts a three-piece band that plays homage to great guitarists such as Lonnie Mack, Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton.  She would be a good one to see.

Other than that, there really isn't anyone else I'd like to see.  Chubby Carrier will be playing here again, and I think I've seen him play three or four times at various places.  There's a "Blues Harp Blowout" scheduled for Saturday evening featuring Mark Hummel, James Harman and Paul Oscher, but I'm not huge on guys playing harmonica. 

I know booking the bands has to be a tough gig, given that you need months of advance notice to try and get performers to come to the area.  But still, I'm not too enamored with the line-up again this year.  Maybe that's a good weekend to head up to Summerfest in Milwaukee.

The Music I'll Miss

There's a lot of great music coming to the Quad Cities over the next couple of weeks.  And I'm going to miss them all with business obligations. 

Actually, I've known that these performers would be in the area for a long time.  I had my schedule sort of blocked out to make sure that I'd be around.  But some unforeseen circumstances came up that I just couldn't get out of or reschedule.

The first show is tonight - Little Charlie and the Nightcats are playing at the Isle of Capri in Bettendorf at a show sponsored by the Mississippi Valley Blues Society.  Little Charlie and the Nightcats are based out of the San Francisco area and have been around for a number of years.  They're led by a great guitarist, Charlie Baty; and is fronted by showman extraordinaire and harmonica player/singer Rick Estrin. 

Estrin has a stage presence that is usually bigger than the stage the bands usually play on.  I've seen the band in small venues and at large festivals.  It doesn't matter the size of the crowd, Estrin always puts on a great show. 

But I'll miss them tonight.  I understand they're coming back for the annual Mississippi Valley Blues Fest in July, but it would have been neat to see them in a club like venue tonight.

Tomorrow night, the Redstone Room at The River Music Experience is hosting the return to the area of Junior Brown.  I worked with Junior Brown at the River Roots Live festival a couple years ago and he put on a great show.  He came back to play the Redstone Room last year and that was a great show.  Coupled with the excellent sound system at the Redstone Room, Junior Brown is going to be tough to miss tomorrow night. 

But the big show I'm missing will be Eric Clapton at The Mark of the Quad Cities next Tuesday.  I'll be traveling with Dominic Baker, one of the big honchos with my speaker company, Focal.  His schedule in coming to the states just so happened to coincide with Clapton coming to the Quad Cities next week.  Even though I bought the tickets back in January, my boss couldn't work Dominic's travel schedule around the Clapton concert date.  Or as he said, "Shit happens."  (Actually, he wasn't that cold about it.  He thoroughly apologized that he couldn't make the schedule work any other way.)

So, I have a couple tickets to the Clapton concert, but I can't go.  Cindy is going to take her sister, who I'm not too certain she's all that familiar with some of Clapton's work.  Then again, I'm not certain if Cindy knows much of Clapton's work over the years, either. 

Opening for Clapton will be the great blues guitarist Robert Cray.  I used to see Robert Cray back in the early 80's when he'd play from time to time at Gabe's Oasis in Iowa City.  I like to tell people that I used to dance to Cray's music on a dance floor not more than four or five feet from where he stood.  I've seen Cray numerous times including the times in Iowa City and at other venues and concert sites.  The Clapton/Cray show will be a great one. 

But I've got to miss it.  Oh well...

One show that I did catch a little bit of recently was Reverend Raven and the Chain Smoking Altar Boys at the Creekside Bar and Grill here in Davenport (see map).  The Creekside is owned by my buddy, Randy Adams, and he was able to get Reverend Raven for a great price as they had played at Blues on Grand in Des Moines on Friday night and were looking for a Saturday night gig on their way back to Milwaukee. 

I've caught Reverend Raven two or three times over the years at Summerfest in Milwaukee.   The band consists of Reverend Raven - a southside Chicago native who has lived in Milwaukee for a number of years - on guitar and vocals.  They have a great harmonica player who goes by the stage name of Madison Slim.  The bass player, P.T. Pedersen, has played with the likes of Charlie Musselwhite, Pinetop Perkins and the late Sunnyland Slim; and Spencer Panosh rounds out the band on drums.

The band plays primarily traditional swinging and rocking Chicago Blues.  The music is upbeat and infectious.  They always put on a good show and last Saturday night at the Creekside was absolutely no exception.

So, there's a lot of great music coming to town that I won't get to see.  As Eric Clapton is getting up there in years, this may be the last time I have a chance to see him.  Yeah, I'm bummed, but what are you going to do?      

Marty Stuart

I haven't been writing much about the Redstone Room in downtown Davenport lately.  There's been some recent upheaval at the River Music Experience, of which the Redstone Room is part of.  Right now, the RME and the Redstone Room are a ship and a dingy trying to find their direction. 

With that said, they've again begun to book some acts that we would like to see and recently they had guitar-man extraordinare Marty Stuart perform his solo act for a nearly packed house. 

Stuart has been a longtime fixture on the Nashville scene, combining country, blue grass, rock and folk into his music.  The Mississippi native has been playing professionally since he was in his early teens and was considered something of a prodigy when he was as young as nine. 

Before going out on his own, Stuart played with a number of legendary music figures including Lester Flatt, Doc Watson and Johnny Cash.  Stuart actually ended up marrying Cash's daughter, Cindy, in 1983.  They divorced five years later.  Stuart is now married to one of the greatest voices in Country Music, Connie Smith. 

Stuart said this would be only the second solo show of his career in an article in the Quad City Times.  He usually is backed by a three piece band when he tours on the road.  I was kind of hoping to see him with his band, but sometimes those solo shows work out to be pretty good.

In any event, Stuart was the second renown Nashville guitarist to come to Davenport in as many days.  The night before, Vince Gill played at the renovated Adler Theater in downtown Davenport.  I would have liked to have seen them both, but I thought seeing Marty Stuart in an intimate setting like the Redstone Room would have been more enjoyable. 

Opening for Stuart was 26-year-old Stoll Vaughan, a Kentucky troubadour who has opened for the diverse likes of John Mellencamp, John Fogerty, Def Leppard and Journey.  Vaughan had sort of a "Bluegrass Bob Dylan"-style to him and he was accompanied by a great mandolin player by the name of Harris Gardner.   He was a pleasant surprise, to say the least. 

After about a half hour break, Stuart came out with his trademark rooster haircut (only slightly more gray these days) and an acoustic guitar.  He went right into "Streamline Lover."  The only problem was that you could only hear his guitar and not his vocals.  After a minute or two of fussing around by The Redstone Room's sound guys, Stuart's voice boomed through the P.A. speakers, much to the delight and loud applause by the crowd. 

As much as I would have liked to have seen Stuart backed by his three-piece band, it turned out to be a great experience as he whipped through a number of songs, pausing only to acknowledge the applause from the crowd. 

Finally, Stuart began to tell a story about his old friend and mentor, Johnny Cash.  Stuart bought the house next to Cash's house outside of Nashville and he talked about how he missed his old friend since Cash died in 2003.  Stuart talked about how he was wanting to write a song in tribute to his friend, but he couldn't come up with the right words. 

He said one day he was watching a crow eat some of the fruit off the trees that Cash had planted on the property between Stuart's and Cash's house (a plot of land where the home of Roy Orbison once stood before it burned in 1968).  Stuart said that Johnny Cash used to remind him "of a big ol' crow", and that's how he got the inspiration for the song "Dark Bird".  And he proceeded to play it.

Stuart soon changed from his acoustic guitar to his mandolin.  He played two instrumentals and one vocal selection which was a bluesy number.  Let me just say that it was the first time I'd ever heard a mandolin played on a blues tune. 

Changing again to his electric guitar, Stuart played his mid-90's hit, "Tempted".  Then he spoke about his relationship with the Lakota Sioux tribe at Wounded Knee, S.D., and how he has been working to bring to light the perils the tribe faces in the form of drug abuse, alcoholism, low income and gang problems.  He said he was adopted into the Lakota tribe, he and his wife were married there in 1997, and he continues to visit the area and play concerts for their benefit. 

Stuart then played a couple selections from his 2005 album "Badlands" that was produced by the son of Johnny Cash and June Carter, John Carter Cash. 

A couple more songs and Stuart called it an evening.  However, a raucous standing ovation from the crowd brought him back out.  He proclaimed, "Well, I didn't have anything planned after this point.  What do you want to hear?"

Favorite Stuart tunes through the years were called out and he said, "OK, that's fine.  I play a few more.  But you all need to get up closer to the stage."

(That's one of the problems with The Redstone Room.  They have a nice dance floor that's about 15" X 20" in front of the stage and they usually don't have chairs or seating on the dance floor when these acts come through.  So the artist is playing to people seated about 18 feet from the stage.)

So, we went up from our seats toward the back of the room and Stuart played four more songs including his hit, "High on a Mountain Top" and finished with a rendition of the traditional "Will the Circle Be Unbroken".  You could tell that Stuart was having a genuinely great time up there by himself.

Afterward, he had a small meet and greet by the side of the stage.  I went to the bathroom, but Cindy got an autographed picture of him - for $5 bucks.  She said, "If you can have autographed pictures of people, I can have them, too." 

I said, "But, yeah, I don't think I had to pay $5 bucks to get an autographed picture before though."

It was a fun night of great music at The Redstone Room.  I'm hoping they get more acts like Marty Stuart in there to help keep the place going.

Cirque du Soleil - Delirium

The touring company for Cirque du Soleil's stage show Delirium came through the Quad Cities last week and put on two shows at The Mark of the Quad Cities in Moline.  Cindy had mentioned that she thought it would be fun to go to, so I bought a couple tickets a few weeks ago and we went.

Cirque du Soleil (which is "Circus of the Sun" in French) got it's start in 1984 in Montreal when two street performers, Guy Laliberte (right) and Daniel Gauthier, combined their talents for a commissioned show marking the 450th anniversary of explorer Jacques Cartier's visit to the region.  Laliberte and Gauthier then expanded the show to include a non-animal, circus-like atmosphere and took it on the road.  The featured performers were acrobats, ballet artists, musicians and jugglers - all of whom had outstanding talent. 

Laliberte and Gauthier then opened permanent shows in both Las Vegas and in Orlando.  They expanded their touring companies to include shows such as Alegria, Quidam, and Varekai.  Gauthier "retired" in 2001 and Laliberte continues to oversee the Cirque du Soliei empire. 

OK - now a little side story.  The silent partner/owner in the company I work for is a guy by the name of Andre Reindeau.  Andre's main occupation was running a company by the name of Solotech which supplied the lights and sound for a number of touring musicians such as Celine Dion, Anne Murray and other Canadian entertainers.   Laliberte and Gauthier turned to Solotech to be their main sound and light company when Cirque was on the road. 

When Mystere opened at Treasure Island in 1993, Solotech was called on to design the sound and lighting for the show.  And when Caesar's Palace opened their new Colosseum venue (left) for Celine Dion's A New Day show, Solotech did the sound and lighting for that place, as well.  Andre told me that there are over 140 speakers in place in the Colosseum.  That's a lot of sound, I'm tellin' ya.   

Andre retired from the Solotech and sold his share a couple years ago.  Cirque du Soleil made him a very rich man.  And he maintains a close relationship with Laliberte to this day. 

Even though I've had the chance over the past few years to take in a Cirque show in Las Vegas free of charge, but I've never taken the offer.  Now that they were coming to the Quad Cities, I thought for a moment about calling up Andre and seeing if he could get us some complementary tickets.  Then I thought, no, I don't want to be a pest. 

The basic story of the Delirium stage show centers on a man who finds himself in a delirious dream filled with music, dancing, acrobatics, image trickery and confusion.  The music is very good, dancing is OK (if you're into that), the acrobatics and stunts are marvelous, the projected images on the see-through curtains were pretty remarkable, and the confusion is just that.  You get to focusing on a performance at one side of the stage and the next thing you know, there's something happening at the other side of the stage.

The stage for Delirium is also set up to work long-ways on an arena's floor, rather than setting up at the end of the arena as they would for rock concert.  Thus, only half of the arena can be used, but it worked out well.  When I went to get tickets, I actually had the chance to get two tickets down on the floor.  But then I thought that I'd rather be back a ways because the stage was so big that I thought we may miss something if we were too close.  It turned out that was the way to do it. 

The rigging for the lights and sound are the most complex of any concert/act I've ever seen.  And I was mesmerized by the projectors they were using for the images cast on the see-through curtains. 

Greg Hipskind - the drummer for Wicked Liz and the Bellyswirls (right) - is part of the set up and tear down crew the Mark hires for concerts and shows.  He told me the basic set up of the show took about 6 1/2 hours and about 8 to 10 hours total.  And before the first performance at a venue, they have a dress rehearsal the night before to make sure everything works. 

I sat there and figured that the performers must not get a lot of time off because they would be performing in a place for three days, pack up and go to the next town, set up, do a dress rehearsal, and then do the shows for two to three days.  But given that a lot of the acrobats and performers only have one act in the whole 90 minute show, they can probably get by with it.

The highlights of the show - other than the music, which I liked a lot - were the guy whose delirious dream we were watching unfold.  He hovered above the stage for a good portion of the show attached to a sphere that changed colors throughout the show.  He was sometimes part of some of the stunts, but most of the time he was just an interested observer. 

Of course, there were the well-in-shape acrobats and aerialists who balanced or flew all over the stage area.  One of the aerial acrobats was a little Chinese guy who was pretty amazing to see. 

Other than the music, my favorite part was the girl who "hula-hooped" with up to seven hoops.  She came out and began to twirl one hoop around her mid-section.  She was tossed a second one that she twirled around her leg while the first one was still going.  Then she put her right leg straight up in the air so her foot was over her head.  She got a third hoop and was twirling that with her right foot over her head, the second hoop was around her mid-section, and she still had the hoop twirling around her left leg.  And I don't mean it was just the backyard variety of speed that she was putting on the twirling of the hoops - they were rocket fast going around her!

There were a couple things that I didn't quite understand - there was a bald-headed guy on stilts (who was very nimble and good on them, by the way) who seemed to just be hanging out and moving around the stage during the songs or acts.  In between segments, he'd do this maniacal laughter and screech out words in French.  Weird.  Also weird was this very annoying man who started out the evening in the crowd, made his way to the stage and would come and go from the proceedings from time to time.  I never really knew what his purpose in the show really was.

All in all, I'm glad we went.  Tickets were a little pricey (over $100 bucks each with fees), but for a show of that size and quality, you knew you had to pay through the nose for the production.  All told, there were nearly 50 performers and musicians, about 75 production people, and 15 managers and coordinators in the traveling party for Delirium. 

Delirium is one of those shows that you sort of wish you could see again because it's so busy.  You know there are things you may have missed during the course of the show.  I know I missed a few things.   

Actually, I'd like to get a hold of Andre to see if he could line me up with a meeting with one of the production guys.  Not for free tickets - I'd pay to see this show again - but for a tour and a close look at how they do the sound, lights and video.  I see they're going to be in Peoria and in St. Louis later this spring.  We may have to just go again...

Wells Fargo Street Fest - 2006

The 35th annual Wells Fargo Street Fest was held in downtown Davenport recently and I worked the stage area again this year (the 8th year) as the stage manager and the announcer for the bands. 

The bottom line - it was just too hot.  Temperatures hit over 100 degrees on the street on Saturday and the humidity was oppressive all weekend long.  It literally zapped the energy out of everyone involved in the festival - including those who attended.

Attendance was noticeably down from previous years.  Temps were still in the lower 90's and upper 80's well into the evening, and humidity levels rose as the night went on.  A lot of water was being consumed and not a lot of beer.

The bands were, for the most part, OK this year.  No one performance was really great, and the heat had a lot to do with that.  After a couple of songs, musicians were dripping wet (if they weren't already before they got on stage).  We went through 14 cases of half-liter bottles of water behind the stage that weekend.  And at night, we went through a lot of beer, as well. 

Starting off the festival at 11 a.m. on Friday were the Funktastic Five.  Led by singers Nicole Collins and William "Whistle" Jones, and anchored by the great guitarist Nate Nicholson, the Funktastic Five played what could have been the best set of all the bands all weekend long.  We had a good crowd down there for lunchtime and the band did a great job.

Following at 1:30 was Down the Deuce.  Formerly known as "The Basement Boys", the band had to change it's name when a hip-hop band in Baltimore, MD sued them to stop using the name.  Fittingly, Down the Deuce's CD is appropriately named, "Banned in Baltimore." 

Down the Deuce is led by local advertising executive Terry Loder, with his son, Jeff, on bass guitar.  Charles Griffen is the lead guitarist, with drummer Adam Reed.  With not much of a crowd, the band was not as sharp as they've been in the past (they really do play off the crowd very well), and it was a tough gig for them coupled with the heat and humidity.

A group of young guys by the name of Micro Groove played from 4 to 6 p.m.  They weren't all that good and I was a little upset they were hired in place of a couple of bands I had recommended to Mark Holloway from Davenport One.  I found out later they had only been together for six months.  Although, I will say that their leader, keyboardist Nick Vasquez, was a very good musician.   But he couldn't carry the other guys very well. 

Hal Reed and the MOB played next as part of the "all-blues" night for the Street Fest.  Hal has been a noted harp player/singer in the Quad Cities for a number of years and is backed by a great band of musicians - Will Gustofson and Jeff Andrews on guitars, Claire Finley on bass and Jimi Van Hyfte on drums.  His set was choppy with a lot of time in between songs to get some monitor issues sorted out.  But for the most part, it was a good show.

Following Hal Reed was the noted Quad City area bluesman Ernie Peniston.  Ernie is the consummate showman and I'm amazed at how many women swoon over this hulking big guy - 6'4" and well over 300 pounds.  But Ernie's got the stage presence and the great voice that make the women moist in the crotch.  I just laugh when I see the women who flock to him when he plays.

Ernie's backing band included Al Nache on drums, Barry Vestal on bass guitar, and a pleasant surprise - Paul DePauw on guitar.  Paul is one of the most versatile guitar players in the Quad Cities and fronted his own band for a number of years.  However, with two growing kids and a business of his own, he had to cut back on playing gigs.  Ernie plays about six or seven times a month and Paul told me that it's perfect for him.  "I show up, I play guitar, I get paid.  It's the perfect gig.  No worrying about bookings or making sure other guys show up."

I think there may have been a couple times when Paul upstaged Ernie with his playing.  But Ernie didn't mind.  He knows he's got a good band behind him and he lets them branch out from time to time.

Here's a picture of Paul's old band (with Al Nache holding the drum sticks next to Paul in the middle).

And closing the first night of bands for the Street Fest were the 2005 All-Iowa Blues Challenge winners (and finalists for the 2006 International Blues Challenge), The Mercury Brothers.  The current line-up consists of Ric Burris on vocals and harp (one of the best blues harmonica players in the Quad Cities), Daniel Rangel on drums, Wade Braggs on guitar, and new bass player Donnie Gustofson.  The band did a great job, but, once again, the hot weather zapped the enthusiasm of not only the crowd, but the band, as well. 

Here's a great shot of Ric Burris, Ernie Peniston and Hal Reed back stage before the Mercury Brothers went on stage. 

Saturday began as Friday ended - hot and sultry.  The temperature actually was higher on Saturday.  At one point, a thermometer in the shade on the street registered 103 degrees.  I checked the humidity level at the airport at that moment, which was about 50 percent, and I later found that the combination felt like 125 to 133 degrees on the heat index chart.  It was brutal. 

The first band to play at 11 a.m. were my good friends from the Blue Collar Band.  I've worked with these guys at a number of events and they always put on a good show.  Carol Ann Chouteau is the lead vocalist, Rick Maddelein is one of the more underrated guitar players in the Quad Cities, Rick's brother, Bob, is the bass guitar player, and the group is lead by drummer Jim Van Acker.  Their song list is primarily 70's and 80's rock, and they do a great job each time they play. 

In the meantime, the Elvis' came to see me behind the stage.  These guys dress up like Elvis and crash many of the big events around the Quad Cities.  They're always in the parades and they walk part of the Bix 7 race on Saturday morning. 

Two of the guys, Dale Dietz and Cory Langer, I know from Cindy's work place at Deco Tool here in Davenport.  Dale used to be Cindy's direct boss until he retired last year.  And Cory still works with Cindy.  Dale and Corey are pretty professional when they're at work, but they do like to cut loose when the plastic wigs and the double-knit jumpsuits come on.  Here's a picture of Dale dancing in front of the stage.  Those guys were literally baking in those wigs and jump-suits.

At 1:30 p.m., Jordan Danielson and The Great Space Coasters took the stage and put on one of the more surprising sets during the Street Fest.  Even with a fill in bass player, they did an exceptional job and it was a shame that there was only a handful of people there to watch them. 

4:00 p.m. brought on a band by the name of Identity Crisis, a group of about 13 to 16 people (depending on the song) specializing in sort of a "big brass" rock sound.  Many of them are local teachers.  Actually, they're not very good.  But one of the guys in the band is an executive for Wells Fargo Bank here in Davenport, so Mark Holloway's hands are somewhat tied, politically, so to speak. 

Identity Crisis played last year and really stunk the place up - horrible singing, missed cues, not everyone on the same page, musically.  This year I will admit they were much better, but still not all that great.   And they're a nightmare to move on and off the stage in 30 minutes or less.

Following Identity Crisis was the start of what I've wanted to have for a line-up at night for two or three years now, but couldn't pull it off in the past.  Spatterdash at 6:00 p.m., Jim the Mule at 8:00 p.m. and Wicked Liz and the Bellyswirls at 10:30 p.m.

Spatterdash put on their usual high energy show with lead singer Chris Sindt and guitarist Leo Kelly jumping and dancing throughout the 90 minute set.  Chris is probably the best front man in the Quad Cities today.  He's a good singer, he has wonderful stage presence and really holds a crowd. 

As usual, Spatterdash was very good, with the multi-talented Matt Hauser on guitars, keyboards and vocals, and the driving drumming of Sean Dorton.  Since Randy Archer's untimely death last February, Brian Wilkens - aka "Willie" - has been flying in from Phoenix a couple times a month to play bass for the band.  I don't know what Willie does for a living, but it's got to pay good for him to be able to do that. 

Jim the Mule did a good job, but I think it was evident from the start the gusto they usually display on stage went away during the first couple of songs.  It had gotten more humid, the guys were sweating, the crowd was not as big as we'd hoped, it was just too hot to play. 

Still, Tom Swanson and Dan Videtich on guitars, Jason Gilliland on bass and Ryan Koning on drums did about the best they could given the conditions.  But they feed off the crowd and the crowd was just too hot to give it back that night.

Finally, Wicked Liz and the Bellyswirls took the stage around 10:30.  The crowd was no where near the packed scene it was the year before when they headlined the Saturday night part of Street Fest for the first time.  Liz Treiber did her best to get the crowd going, but there wasn't much to get out of them.  Leo Kelly bounced on the stage with his brother, Bob, playing the guitar and bass, respectively.  Even their energy level wasn't as high as I've seen in the past. 

(Then again, Leo ran the Bix 7 race earlier in the day in an hour and 22 minutes, he played with Spatterdash for 90 minutes, then took a break for a couple hours and came back to play for Wicked Liz later that night - what an animal!) 

And Greg Hipskind did a fine job of keeping the beat.  But even Greg said that it was tough to sustain any type of high emotion for the gig because of the heat and humidity. 

About halfway through Wicked Liz's set, Liz, Bob and Greg took a breather and Leo had Willie, Chris and Sean from Spatterdash come up and play some songs.  I thought they would only play a couple songs, but Chris was into it and they kept going.  Finally, I had a couple people come up to me and ask if Wicked Liz was done playing, or what the deal was.  One lady said to me, "I came to see Wicked Liz!  This is bullshit!"  I had to seek out Bobby Kelly to find out what was going on, myself.

We got Wicked Liz back up there and they finished out the night.  But you could tell that they were all just zapped from the heat.  The heat took a toll on everyone. 

And it was evident with the crowds all weekend, as well.  It was not one of the more memorable gigs I'd seen either Wicked Liz, Jim the Mule or Spatterdash play. 

All in all, over the 8 years that I've worked the Street Festival, this was the worst one.  It just wasn't all that fun as it's been in the past and the weather was the direct reason why.  I keep saying that I won't do them in the future, but I keep getting sucked in.  But this may truly be the last one I work. 

Trout Fishing in America

I lived in Houston, TX for a short time in the mid-80's.  I wasn't making a lot of money then and Houston was in the midst of an economic downturn at the time.   It wasn't as fun as I thought it would be when I first moved there. 

However, my roommate, Kurt Nyffeler, and I would go out from time to time to catch some of the music around the Houston area.  One of the more eclectic bands we saw play was a band called Trout Fishing in America, named after Richard Brautigan's abstract novel of free thoughts, anecdotes and humorous stories. 

The band consisted of this tall, goofy looking guitar player with long blond hair who played a Roland G707 synthesizer-guitar; a very short bass player who appeared to come up to just about the guitar player's arm pits; and a drummer that I don't really remember much about.  Their music was pretty broad and wide-ranging, to say the least. 

Cut to 2006 - The Redstone Room at the River Music Experience announced that Trout Fishing in America would be playing there.  I thought, "Wait a minute - this can't be the same Trout Fishing in America I used to see in Houston all those years ago?" 

I did some checking of facts and found that, indeed, Trout Fishing in America (which now consisted of two people - the bass player and the guitar player, who has since got rid of the Edgar Winter look) seemed to be one and the same band.  Except they traded in the synthesizer guitars for acoustic guitars. 

So, Cindy and went down to the Redstone Room and caught Trout Fishing in America.  We got there a little late and only got to see them play four songs, but they were good.  Very good.  A lot different than the spacey rock music they used to play years ago.  The songs were upbeat and had a nice little whimsical nature to them along with a good sense of humor about them. 

The two guys in Trout Fishing in America, Ezra Idlet (the guitarist), and Keith Grimwood (the bass player), did a good job of keeping things light and moving forward for the small, yet enthusiastic crowd at The Redstone Room.  I was only a little upset that we didn't get to hear more of them. 

After the show, the place cleared out rather quickly and Cindy and I were finishing our drinks.  Keith Grimwood stopped by our table to thank us for showing up and I said, "Hey, I just wanna make sure about something.  Are you the same Trout Fishing in America that used to play in Houston back in the mid-80's?"

He sort of looked at me and said, "Yes!  That was us!  We're both from Houston.  We moved to northwest Arkansas in the late 80's and started doing acoustic music." 

I told him that I used to see them play at a couple of places in the Houston area, but I couldn't remember the name of the places.  I said, "One was a place where you guys would play outdoors..."

He said, "Why, that was called Stan's Boat and the other place we used to play quite a bit was a place called Lovejoy's."

I said, "Oh my God!  That's right!  Stan's Boat, and how could I forget Lovejoy's?" 

He told me that was during their "spacey" time of playing music, when Ezra would make weird noises on his synthesizer guitar.  He said, "We had a drummer then, but decided to move to Arkansas and play some upbeat acoustical stuff." 

I said, "Well, you guys have a great name, and it was a great book, too."

Keith said, "Oh, great!  You got the literary reference!  Ezra and I do a lot of reading and Brautigan was one of those 'out there' kind of guys - kind of like us.  Years ago, we had a lot more people who knew about the novel, but today don't have the faintest idea of what "Trout Fishing in America" is or who Richard Brautigan was." 

He said that years ago he could joke to the crowd that "Trout Fishing in America" was a better name than "An Abortion" (another one of Brautigan's books).  But he said today's political climate doesn't allow for that joke to go over so well.  Plus, it was written over 30 years ago and it's been out of print for quite some time, so the younger audiences don't get the joke. 

He gave me their business card and said they really hoped to be back him in Davenport again. (Evidently, they were here in 2003, but I don't remember seeing anything about it in the papers then.) 

When we were leaving, I heard Keith say to Ezra, "Hey, that guy used to see us in Houston during our spaced-out days in the 80's!"   

I hope they do make it back so we can see a little more of their show.  They put on a great show for the handful of people that came to see them. 

2006 Mississippi Valley Blues Festival

The 22nd annual Mississippi Valley Blues Festival was held recently at LeClaire Park (right next to and sometimes in the Mississippi River) in downtown Davenport.  As I said in an earlier post, I wasn't too hopped up with this year's headlining acts - Mavis Staples (of the famous Staples Singers); The Dirty Dozen Brass Band; and Delbert McClinton. 

In fact, a lot of the acts leading up to the headliners (and those in the tent stage area) were much better than the headliners.

I know, I know - Delbert McClinton has won a number of Grammy Awards, he's universally known as being one of the top blues harmonica players in the world, and he's an icon for blues music.  But I've seen him about three times previously and while he puts on a good show, it seems like he's just mailing in the performance. 

I was at the Fest all three evenings catching a number of good bands - some I'd seen before and others I hadn't.  Here's the rundown of who I saw:

Popa Chubby was playing when I got there on Friday night.  This was the third time I'd seen Popa Chubby.  His real name is Ted Horowitz and he hails from New York City.  It's not the place that you'd think a bluesman would hail from, but that's the case with Popa Chubby. 

Each time I've seen him, he just puts on a blistering show.  Ably backed up by a very good bass player (a new guy was playing with him this time around - he had a black guy playing for him before who was very good in his own right); and a very capable drummer, Popa Chubby put on a high spirited show.  His music more of a high powered variation of the blues - some of those in the crowd didn't care for his style of the blues - but I thought he smoked.   

And just after Popa Chubby played, Ronnie Baker Brooks came on.  The son of legendary bluesman Lonnie Brooks, Ronnie Baker Brooks grew up on the southside of Chicago and learned the blues from some of the world's best.  And he's a good showman, as well.  Brooks put on a fine show, backed by longtime bandmates, keyboard player Darryl Coutts, drummer Moe Taylor and a very intense Carlton Armstrong on bass guitar.  This was the second time I've seen Ronnie Baker Brooks and I'm hoping it won't be the last.

Mavis Staples was 35 minutes late for her headlining performance on Friday night.  Although she is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for her work with her family, The Staple Singers; and she recently earned a National Heritage Fellowship Lifetime Honor from the the National Endowment for the Arts, she was somewhat mismatched for the Blues Fest.  I didn't stay long for her set which seemed to be more tinged with gospel music than blues.  Plus she talked too much in between songs.  There were droves of people leaving the park during her late set. 

I did stop off at the tent (as did a number of people) to see a couple three songs by The Mannish Boys, an eclectic group of all-star blues musicians led by the great Kid Ramos on guitar.  I talked to a couple people I knew who were standing in the hot tent who agreed with me that they should have been on the bandshell stage instead of Mavis Staples. 

Saturday, Cindy went down with me as the Blues Fest gave tribute to the musicians of the Gulf Coast with an all-Louisiana day at both the bandshell and in the tent.  But the only person I wanted to see was Sonny Landreth, the great slide guitar player who has also played with John Hiatt.  I've seen Landreth by himself and with Hiatt at Summerfest in Milwaukee.  Both were great shows.  And this show was no exception.  Backed by a bass player and a drummer, Landreth played the blues, slow blues, zydeco and rockabilly each with equal enthusiasm. 

The Dirty Dozen Brass Band was the headliner for the bandshell on Saturday night.  And, once again, this choice was a little perplexing.  This longtime New Orleans band is more of a funk/jazz band than blues.  We didn't stick around for long.  Once again, people were leaving the bandshell area in droves.

At the tent on Saturday was Chris Thomas King - probably more well known as the young blues guitarist, Tommy Johnson, in the great movie "O Brother, Where Art Thou?".  We missed his performance, but we did listen to a couple songs from Kenny Neal, a great Louisiana blues guitarist who I first saw at the 1991 Mississippi Valley Blues Fest just after I moved to the Quad Cities.  His performance was worthy enough to be playing on the bandshell stage. 

And as we were leaving that night, we stopped to catch some of C.J. Chenier, whom I've seen four or five times in different locations.  Chenier's brand of blues zydeco is catchy and fun.  Once again, he probably would have been better suited to play the main bandshell stage than have him in the hot tent. 

Sunday was a warm day and I wouldn't have gone to the Blues Fest had I not got a late free pass from Kristy Adams (thanx again, Kristy).  There really wasn't anyone that I wanted to see.  As I said earlier, I'd seen Delbert McClinton three times in the past.  And even though he is a revered blues musician, he doesn't get my heart pounding to see him. 

But I'm sorry I missed Eric Steckel - a 17 year old blues guitar prodigy; and Kelley Hunt, a Kansas City based boogie-woogie style blues pianist in the mold of Marcia Ball.  I understand their bandshell performances earlier in the day were very good.

I did get there in time to see Guitar Shorty, a delta-born, L.A.-based blues guitarist who has been around the music scene since the 1950's.  I've seen him once before, years ago in Ames, IA, and he did a pretty good job at the Blues Fest. 

Delbert McClinton took the bandshell stage around 10 p.m. and it was evident from the start that he wasn't his usual self.  His voice was raspy, he was coughing, his nose was running.  My buddy, Tom Laake, thought that Delbert was coked up, but I think it was nothing more than a pretty bad cold.  He normally plays his harmonica on every song, but I think I only heard him play the mouth harp a couple times during the 40 or so minutes I stood to listen to him.  I was highly disappointed in his performance. 

I stopped off at the tent stage to see the legendary bluesman James Cotton, a man who is well past his prime.  He was seated on stage, next to a guy who was playing the harmonica instead of Cotton (Cotton is known as "Superharp").  He looked every bit of his 71 years of age.  I understand he only plays a few dates a year these days.  But even though I thought it was a disjointed performance, he did finally play his harp.  I was still glad I got to say I saw him play. 

I wasn't too whipped up with the acts for the Blues Fest when they announced the line-ups back in March.  But I wasn't too whipped up on the acts they had at Summerfest this year, so I just decided to take in some of the Blues Fest instead.  And it is a good event for the area.  Even though I may question some of the acts they bring in from time to time, I'll still support the festival. 

Sturgis on the River - Davenport, IA

One of the largest motorcycle rallies - not only in the Midwest, but in the nation - is held each Father's Day weekend here in Davenport.  "Sturgis on the River" celebrated its 12th year this past weekend with bands, beer, bikes and babes. 

Sturgis on the River was started in 1994 by local businessman Roger Peet who first held the event in the Village of East Davenport.  It was estimated that 1,000 bikes attended the two day event that year.  By 1997, Peet was out of the picture and Sturgis on the River was taken over by Glen Rohm, a local small promoter who moved it to LeClaire Park next to the river. 

As it grew steadily over the years, it became a three-day event (Thursday - Saturday), more bands were added (there were 60 bands this year on four different stages), more vendors showed up and more people came.  They've been estimating that upwards of 50,000 bikers come to Sturgis on the River each year. (Although, they've got to be counting a lot of the same ones three times. Even though there are a lot who show up, there's no way there's 50,000 different bikers in town for this thing). 

I've been asked to work the event in the stage area for the past three years, but the promoter is always claiming "poverty" and doesn't want to pay me much of anything for three days of schlepping equipment around and making sure the bands get on and off in their allotted times.  So, I don't work the event. 

But Cindy and I did go down on Friday night to check out a couple bands and to see the bikes.  A lot of them are just lined up along Biederbecke Drive just west of John O'Donnell Stadium in downtown Davenport (see map).  There's a number of colorful and exquisite motorcycles and the owners are always more than eager to show 'em off. 

When we got down there, it was such a zoo for parking.  My buddy, Randy Adams, told us to go to this area for VIP parking.  I drove to the area and it turned out that the guy running the traffic control was the son of a Davenport police officer that I work with at a number of events.  I asked him where VIP parking was and he pointed the way.  We parked and got in for free.  Another example of "It's not what you know, but who you know." 

Randy's wife, Kristy, was in charge of one of the beer tents so we went there and had a couple beers.  Boy, for saying he doesn't have much money to work with, Glen Rohm must be rolling in the dough after this year's event.  It was $5.00 per person to get in (if you weren't on a motorcycle), it was $3.00 for a 12 oz. can of beer; $3.50 for a 16 oz aluminum bottle of beer, and $3.50 for a Corona.  They couldn't keep up with the beer demands at Kristy's tent. 

After walking around looking at the bikes, we stopped to hear some bands.  We first saw Sugar Nipples, a surprisingly good band that I just found out about earlier this year.  What was more surprising is that a guy I've known for about 18 years, Jim Stichnoth, is the bass player for the band.  I didn't know he played an instrument, let alone playing bass in a good band when I first saw them on St. Patrick's Day.

Matt Truitt is a good singer and a good showman as the lead singer for Sugar Nipples.  They have a good guitar player and a drummer who also does some background singing for the band.  Their renditions of some popular songs are very surprising and entertaining.

We caught some music by my friends from Spike.  Spike is a band that has been around the Quad Cities for a number of years and I've worked with them at a number of events over the years.  They completely changed from a classic rock band to a blues/rock band about three years ago and I think their popularity went way up.  Chris Ryan is the lead singer and harmonica player.  Jeff Sime is the lead guitarist and the leader of the group.  Richie Reeves on drums has played with Jeff for over 30 years since their days in high school.  Bruce Hunt on guitar and George Reidesel on bass round out the band.  It's always good to work with these guys.

Here's a picture of Spike from the Rib Fest a couple years ago.   

We also caught the debut of Shane Johnson and John Resch, two guys who used to play together in a number of bands including Shane Johnson's Blue Train.  Shane is probably - no, not probably - he IS the best guitarist in the Quad Cities today.  He's about as perfect in technique as you can get with a guitar player.  He's played on tour with E.C. Scott and her band, Smoke, and is back with John Resch playing in a "super blues group" out of the Quad Cities called the Juke Joint Sinners.  They recently won the All-Iowa Blues Challenge held last month in Des Moines and will be playing at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis next February. 

Shane and John played with a drummer who I couldn't identify.  I'd never seen him before and I didn't go talk to them after their gig (which was dominated by a number of Cream and Jimi Hendrix tunes) to find out what this guy's story was.  But the way John made it sound as he gave his thanks after their show was over, it sounded like they would be playing again.

Here's a montage of Shane and John playing from a few years ago.

We also stuck around for the Gibbs Brothers band out of Fort Madison.  This three piece band has been around for a number of years, with the twin brothers - Brandon on guitar and Brent on drums - playing with their dad, Brian, since they were pre-teens.  They first played the Rib Fest in 2000 when the twins were about 16 years old.  Prodded on by an aggressive stage mother (who is actually a very nice lady), these guys are the quintessential showman rockers. 

They had a new bass player playing with them, some guy named Phil, but their father Brian got up to play a couple tunes with them during the show, as well.  I joked to him before the gig, "I see they haven't fired you yet."

He said, "Well, they've semi-retired me."

Cindy remarked during the show, "Man, those two kids have really grown up!"  Yep, it wasn't long ago that they were two blond haired kids playing rock and roll music with their dad.  Now they're these scary looking 22 year olds rocking out with their dad.   

Sturgis on the River is a nice event, a little scattered with their displays and with the entertainment, but a good event.  I'm just glad I don't work the thing.  I've got enough on my plate each summer. 

Eric Sardinas

Delta blues disciple Eric Sardinas blew into town to play the Redstone Room recently and having seen him tear up a guitar three times previously, I knew I had to go see him again. 

I first saw Eric Sardinas at The Renassaince in Dana Point, CA in 1997.  Playing in front of - maybe - 75 people, he put on a show like he was playing for 10,000.  Playing an electric dobro, the guy just didn't slow down.  He played what I would call "amphetimine blues" as song after song was just faster than the last one.  But it was all traditional Delta blues that he was playing.  He had a bass player (playing an upright bass) and a drummer and he just rocked the place.

I went back to Iowa and was telling friends about him.  They couldn't fathom a guy just playing fast traditional blues all the time.  He finally put out his first CD in 1999 and though it was good, it didn't capture the energy of his live shows. 

I saw Eric Sardinas again on a Thursday night back in August of 2001 at the old Music Box in Omaha.  I went with a couple of buddies and I said, "You just aren't going to believe this guy."

And they didn't.  They hadn't seen anything like him or heard anything like him before.  Sardinas put on one helluva show in Omaha that night.

The next time I saw him was at the Mississippi Valley Blues Festival in 2004.  Once again, he just tore the place up.  It was probably the best performance at the fest that year and a lot of people still talk about it.  He actually set his dobro on fire that night.  It was quite a sight.

Here's a great picture of Eric Sardinas at the Mississippi Valley Blues Fest by Cindy

Sardinas was born in Florida in 1970 and moved across the country playing music after he got out of high school.  He ended up in Southern California in 1990 playing music on street corners for spare change.  He met up with bass player Paul Loranger, and with a drummer they began to play some of the clubs around Southern California.  His reputation grew and he suddenly was touring the United States and parts of Europe. 

Ten bucks was the cover charge to get into see Eric Sardinas at the Redstone Room when he recently came into town.  The crowd wasn't as big as the night Junior Brown was in town, but it was a weeknight in the middle of the week and not a lot of people get out on those nights.  It was a lot easier to get a drink and a pleasure to not get jostled around all night.

Sardinas was backed by Patrick Caccia on drums and Levell Price on bass guitar.  Once again, he put on a great show.  I was telling a couple people there that night that he does things with an electric dobro that some people can't do with a regular electric guitar.

He did two sets - the first one was about 90 minutes in length, then he came back after a 30 minute break and did another hour.  He actually did some slower blues tunes during the show, the first time I'd heard a more "soulful" side to him in the times I'd seen him. 

After the show (no he didn't light his guitar on fire - he only does that for outdoor shows), I was sitting with Lon Bozarth, the president of the River Music Experience, and Tom Swanson of Jim The Mule, who is the new marketing coordinator for the R.M.E., having a couple of drinks.  Lon was telling me that he lost his camera the night Junior Brown played.  Lost it, as in, someone stole it.  He said he set it down at the back of the stage to go talk to Junior, and when he came back it was gone.  He said, "I would have thought that someone would have found it and brought it up to the bar.  But, no.  Someone just slung it over their shoulder and walked out with it." 

He said with all the attachments, it was probably worth about $3000.  He said, "I checked our insurance and found that we have a $1500 deductable for theft up here.  So, I guess I'm out the money for all new gear." 

I sat and talked to Tom while the crowd was thinning out and Eric Sardinas was signing autographs outside the Redstone Room.  I waited until the "groupies" had cleared out and I went up to him and shook his hand.  I said, "I just wanted to say that I first saw you in 1997 in Dana Point, California..."

He immediately lit up and said, "The Renaissance!!!   Man, all you had to say was Dana Point and I knew you were talking about the Renaissance!  You know, we were the opening act the first night that place opened up in 1995." 

We stood and talked for a bit and he looks scary and menacing on stage, but he was very well-spoken and mild-mannered off stage.  A very nice guy. 

He's on the final leg of a tour in the Midwest, but if you're into blues and good guitar work, I wholeheartedly recommend you see Eric Sardinas if he gets close to you sometime down the road. 

Junior Brown

The Redstone Room at the River Music Experience here in downtown Davenport continues to get a number of great acts to come through the place.  The recent Junior Brown show was certainly no exception. 

Junior Brown is a Tulsa, OK based guitar player who plays a unique guitar that he invented and calls the "guit-steel" which is one half guitar and one half steel guitar.  He perches it on a little stand and just stands there and plays it.  I think the thing is abnormally heavy so he can't wear it on his shoulder with a strap. 

Junior played the River Roots Live show last August in Davenport.  I was probably more excited to see Junior play his manic style of country/rock/rockabilly/blues/surfer music more than any other perfomer there that weekend. 

I got to meet Junior back stage for a moment when he first arrived at the event and he was a nice guy, kind of quiet, but very unassuming.  In fact, it was kind of funny - a while after I'd talked to Junior after he'd shown up, he was walking along back stage in a golf shirt and a pair of slacks that looked like he'd gotten them at K-Mart.  I was standing with Ken Krueger of K-Square Productions, the producer of the event, and I said, "Man, Junior is looking old!"

Ken looked over at this balding, paunched-belly, bug-eyed guy shuffling along and he said, "THAT'S Junior Brown!?!  I haven't seen him in a long time.  He IS looking old."

Junior was 52 at the time. 

But he sure didn't play like he was 52.  He is one helluva guitar player.  He put on, arguably, the best show of the River Roots Live festival.  In fact, he was playing so hard that at the end of one song, he literally ran off the stage.  Not knowing what was going on, I jumped up on stage to announce something like, "Ladies and Gentlemen, Junior Brown!"  But he'd only played for something like 35 minutes (he was supposed to play for 75 minutes). 

Then, I looked over at Ken Krueger and he was holding Junior Brown up off by the side of the stage.  Junior sort of nodded his head a couple times and walked back up on stage to start playing again.

I went over to Ken and I asked, "What was that all about?"

Ken said that Junior was so worked up playing that last song (and he was just hammering that guit-steel) that as soon as he was done he had to go compose himself.  Ken said, "I asked him if he was all right and he told me that he just had to take a minute to pull himself back together.  He told me, 'I'd never done that before.' "  He was playing his ass off that day, I'm tellin' you. 

Well, his show at The Redstone Room was a little more subdued than his performance at the River Roots Live.  He battled sound problems at the start and his voice sounded a little out of kilter at times. 

Still, he put on a spirited show with his bass player, Jason Rathman, and his drummer, Pete Amaral.  Both played with Junior at River Roots Live last year.  Pete Amaral has played with Junior off and on for over 30 years.  And Pete's set up is rather unique for a drummer - he just has a snare drum and a ride/crash cymbal.  That's it.

I talked to Pete briefly at the River Roots Live show last August.  Jason, Pete and I were sort of joking around waiting for Junior to come to the stage before the show and I said something along the lines that my body didn't behave like it used to.  And Pete told me that his didn't either as he was "well into my 70's".    

Jason Rathman (left)

And Junior's stage set up is one of the most unique of any bands I've worked with over the years.  They have absolutely no stage mixing.  (They have no stage monitors to listen to what's going out over the P.A. system.)  For those of you who have played in bands in the past, you know that is almost unheard of in live performances.  When I asked Jason at the River Roots Live fest why they didn't have a monitor mix, he said, "Junior likes it that way."  Oh, OK. 

Junior's wife, Tanya Rae, used to play in the band for a number of years.  She didn't play with him at the River Roots Live event last year and when I paid Junior after the show, I asked him where his wife was.  He told me that she was back home in Oklahoma.  I asked, "Doesn't she play with you any more?"

He said, "No, she hangs around home and handles the business end of things.  My wife and I are better off when we don't play together." 

I had a friend from Ames, IA, Scott Cochrane, who actually played bass guitar for Junior Brown on the road a number of years ago.  Scott told me that Junior and Tanya Rae would just fight and fight on the road.  They'd fight about silly little stuff, Scott said.  He told me, "It got so bad that I had to quit the gig after about 4 months.  The constant fighting was too much."  He said they looked all lovey-dovey on stage, but once they got off, it was a dog and cat fight of biblical proportions.

I asked Junior how he met his wife and he told me that he'd moved from Austin to Oklahoma in the early 80's and was teaching a guitar class at a small college.  He said that in one of his classes was Tanya Rae.  He told me, "When the class first started out, she was the best guitar player in the group.  As time went on, everyone passed her.  So I had to give her some special one-on-one lessons, if you know what I mean."

I asked Junior if he remembered my friend, Scott, playing for him and he said, "Buddy, I have trouble remembering the names of the two guys I got playin' for me now.  I've had a lot of good musicians play in my band over the years."

Opening for Junior Brown that night was a three-piece surf/rockabilly band based here in the Quad Cities by the name of The One Night Standards.  I've heard about these guys and have wanted to see them to possibly get them to play one of the Davenport summer festivals this year. 

They were great - surf music from hell.  I talked to the guitarist, Scott Haut, after the show and got band information from him.  They reminded me a lot of a band Cindy and I saw a couple times in Memphis, The Dempsey's.   The One Night Standards did a great job and were fun to listen to. 

As an aside - the Redstone Room was packed.  It had to be well above the 225 person capacity they list it as.  Because of that, there was some infrastructure problems - the time to get a drink at the bar was excrutiatingly long, there were people standing in front of people who had seats, and it was just a little overly crowded. 

Still, it didn't detract from the great performance Junior Brown put on.  If he comes around again I'm sure that I'd go see him. 

Bob Dorr and the Blue Band

Bob Dorr and the Blue Band have been making music around Iowa and the Midwest since 1981.  Actually, Bob was one of the founding members of the old Little Red Rooster Band in the mid 70's and that's when I first got to meet him when I was throwing the big parties in my parent's pasture.  Although I never booked the band, we stayed in touch over the years and got re-acquainted with Bob when I began to work the annual Wells Fargo Street Festival a few years ago. 

The Blue Band started out as "Bobby's Blue Band", a take off on the name of the great bluesman, Bobby "Blue" Bland.  As time went on, the name of the band was shortened to just "The Blue Band", but it's no mistake whose band it is.

Bob Dorr is the lead singer and plays a good harmonica.  Bob's main gig is on KUNI Radio as a disc jockey/announcer and does a couple of shows that showcases local and unique musical talent.  He's been doing that for a number of years.  Bob was inducted into the Iowa Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000 for his efforts in promoting local rock bands via the KUNI airwaves, and he was recently inducted into the Iowa Blues Hall of Fame for his years of great music with the Little Red Rooster Band and with The Blue Band. 

Jeff Petersen is Bob's longtime partner on his signature Gibson Flying V guitar.  Jeff is the only original member of The Blue Band still playing with Bob. 

Sam Salomone plays the Hammond B-3 organ and also plays the bass notes for the band, as well as doing some occasional singing.  Sam is a long time member of the Iowa music community and has played with artists such as The Duprees and Del Shannon.  He is also a member of the both the Iowa Blues Hall of Fame and the Iowa Jazz Hall of Fame. He is simply one of the best keyboard players playing in the area today.    

The drummer, Steve Hayes, is an old friend who I first met nearly 30 years ago when he was playing drums with Patrick Hazell and the Mother Blues Band.  Steve had been playing off and on with The Blue Band over the years, but also had been playing with Greg Brown, Bo Ramsey and a number of other musicians over the years.  He joined back up full time with The Blue Band in 2003 and we became reacquainted when The Blue Band played the Street Fest that year.  It's always good to see Steve and we always seem to talk about anything and everything when we see each other. 

The horn section for The Blue Band is manned by saxophonist Nathan Peoples who joined the band full time in 2004.  Sometimes, Heath Alan also plays saxophone with the band in the summertime (or when he can get time away from his teaching duties).  Both guys are smoking saxophone players. 

Bob and the Blue Band played at the River Music Experience last Friday evening.  Actually, they were supposed to play outdoors in the courtyard next to the place, but it was sort of cold and the powers that be at the RME decided to bring 'em inside to play at Mojo's coffee shop. 

Upstairs in the Redstone Room, country-alternative rocker Charlie Robison was scheduled to play at 9 p.m. and it turned out that the bass player for his band The Enablers, Scott Esbeck, was one of the original members of The Blue Band when they were formed in 1981.  Scott came down to play a couple songs on the guitar with Bob and the guys and it was a treat to see and hear him play with the band. 

I've worked a number of gigs around town as the stage manager when The Blue Band has played.  Last year and again this year, The Blue Band has had scheduling conflicts that kept them from playing the Wells Fargo Street Fest.  Bob grew up in Davenport so it's always a homecoming for him when he plays the Street Fest. 

Bob gave me the highest compliment one time a couple years ago when they were playing the Street Fest when he told the crowd, "We play a lot of shows each year and I have to tell you - Will Veber is the best stage manager of any place we play.  He makes sure that everything is in place and on time.  Heck, the guy even called me from North Dakota the other day to make sure everything was fine with us!  There's no one that does that for us!"  (I happened to be in North Dakota on business when I had to talk to Bob about something minor, it was no big deal, but he made it sound like it was a big deal.)

I talked to Bob at length on Friday night because he and I had been talking in the past few weeks about the band playing at the upcoming Sturgis on the River motorcycle rally.  I got a call from a couple of the organizers in charge of hiring bands who wanted to know if I could get them in touch with Bob about hiring The Blue Band. 

At first, it appeared that Bob was going to do it and was enthusiastic when I told him that I'd make sure that I'd work the event if they were going to play (he likes the work I do).  Then I heard that they had to pull out.  Bob was telling me that he felt like a real turd about the whole thing, but it was just a question of economics - he didn't think he could justify playing in Des Moines on Thursday night, then in Davenport on Friday night, then back to Des Moines for a Saturday night gig.  He ended up getting a gig about 30 miles away from Des Moines for more money on that Friday night.  He said, "Man, I feel really bad because we really did want to play that thing, but it just didn't work out economically." 

Bob Dorr and The Blue Band have legions of fans all over Iowa and the Midwest.  They've been rockin' and singin' the blues for nearly 25 years and I'm sure they'll be playing for a few more years.  Their gig in Davenport this last Friday night was the only one they'll play in the Quad Cities (so far) in 2006.  So it was good to see Bob and the guys even though we won't be working together again this year. 

Greg Brown/Pieta Brown with Bo Ramsey

The grand opening of the new Redstone Room at the River Music Experience here in Davenport occurred over this past weekend.  Friday night, Martin Sexton (above) officially opened the place with two shows.  And on Saturday night, Iowa born and based folk singer/songwriter Greg Brown played. 

I used to see Greg Brown play quite a bit at Gabe's Oasis in Iowa City in the early 80's when I was going to school at the University of Iowa.  Brown had penned a song called "The Iowa Waltz" and there was some lobbying going on to make it the official state song of Iowa.  I don't know what ever happened, but in the end "Iowa, O Iowa" is still the state song. 

Greg Brown garnered some notoriety as he wrote "They All Went to Mexico", a song that was a chart maker for Willie Nelson and Carlos Santana that was featured on Santana's great "Havana Moon" album from 1983

Brown moved on to Minneapolis and lived there for a number of years, recording and performing.  He was a featured performer on "A Prairie Home Companion" a number of times, as well. 

Brown married the great country/folk songwriter and singer Iris Dement in 2002 and moved back to Iowa to live on his grandfather's farm in the hilly old coal mining country near Douds, IA.  He continues to perform and record periodically. 

Brown played the River Roots Live event last August in Davenport.  Before I went on stage to introduce him, I went up and introduced myself to him and I said, "I know you don't remember, but I used to see you play at Gabe's Oasis in the early 80's.  And I haven't seen you since."

He said to me, in his deep, gravelly voice, "Well, we've got to stay in touch a little better than once every 20 years, don't you think?"   We both laughed at that. 

Both at the River Roots Live and at the Saturday night show at the Redstone Room, Greg was accompanied by the great blues guitarist, Bo Ramsey.  I first met Bo Ramsey when he was known as Bob Ramsey and playing guitar with the old Patrick Hazell and the Mother Blues Band in 1977.  They played that year at the annual party that I used to throw in my parents pasture.  Pat Hazell told me that at that time Bob had only been playing guitar for about two years.  You certainly couldn't tell it. 

Patrick Hazell and the Mother Blues Band played at my pasture party again in 1979, but this time Bob Ramsey was now known as "Bibby Ramsey".  He became "Bo Ramsey" sometime after his somewhat acrimonious split from Hazell's band a year later.  Since then, Bo Ramsey has worked with a number of musicians including the alternative country artist Lucinda Williams. 

In fact, when Cindy and I got married in 1995, I asked Bo Ramsey and his band, the Sliders, to play for our wedding reception.  Bo had gotten so big that his fee at the time was around $1200 per performance - a little more money than we wanted to spend on a band for our reception.  In retrospect, we should have kicked in the money to have him and his band play at our reception.   

Greg Brown's music isn't for everyone, but his lyrics are strong, his voice is forceful and his musical talent is quite evident.  Paired with Ramsey's mournful and wailing electric guitar, Brown's performance at the Redstone Room was one of those moments that was both magical and engrossing. 

Opening for Greg Brown was his daughter, Pieta Brown, also accompanied on electric guitar by Ramsey.  I first met Pieta when she and Bo played for the grand opening of the River Music Experience in 2004 and I was the stage manager and master of ceremonies.  Cindy really liked her haunting voice and bought a couple of her CD's. 

We saw her and Ramsey again during an outdoor show they did in the courtyard next to the RME last year.  She's got a somewhat hypnotizing voice and a slightly shy demeanor on stage.  But she's always done a fine job each time we've seen her play.  And her performance with Ramsey that evening at the Redstone Room was excellent, as well. 

For the encore, Brown and Ramsey were joined on stage by Iris Dement, Pieta Brown and Constie Brown, the middle one of Brown's three daughters.  They played a song that was written by Dement and the three ladies backed up Brown on the chorus.  It would have been just too cool had they stayed up there for one more song.  Unfortunately, that was the end of the show. 

Once again, the Redstone Room sounded good, the lighting was wonderful and the service with the bar crew was stellar.  They still have some kinks to work out, but once they do, this is going to be a first class small venue to see a show. 

(Many thanks to Lon Bozarth of the River Music Experience for the above photographs, with the exception of the solo Pieta Brown shot which is from Jordan Lewis Reed.)

The Redstone Room - Davenport

The River Music Experience in downtown Davenport has been a welcome addition to what ever type of music scene we have here in the Quad Cities.  Lon Bozarth came up from Austin, TX to take over as the head of the RME a little over a year ago and we've seen a number of interesting things happen over the last year.  From the River Roots Live festival last August to the current "30 Years of Austin City Limits" exhibit that will continue through the end of this month, the River Music Experience is something that I wholeheartedly support. 

However, possibly the biggest impact the RME will make in the community will be the new Redstone Room venue on the second floor of the museum.  Named after the original title of the building that houses the River Music Experience, the Redstone Room will host a number of shows of all different genres of music.  Other than the Rock Island Brewing Company in Rock Island, the Quad Cities have never had a small venue that caters to some of the regional and lesser known music acts that tour. 

Jeff Wagner, the owner of Blues on Grand in Des Moines, told me that he had been approached to run a blues club that would be housed in the RME's basement, but he passed on the offer.  Jeff gets a number of good blues touring acts to come through his venue in Des Moines, but he told me that he seriously doubted something like that would work in Davenport.  "People don't like to go out and see the blues through the week in Davenport," he told me. "But if you had a number of different types of music to play there, it may work." 

And he's probably right.  But we've never really had a venue that was nice and comfortable to go to around here.

The Redstone Room fully addresses that and then some.  The room will seat 225 people and possibly add an additional 75 standing room patrons.  The bar is nice and long, and there are a series of tables and chairs throughout the floor area.  There's a good sized stage with a sizable dance floor up front.  And the great thing for guys like me who don't smoke - there's no smoking in the room. 

The Redstone Room opened for a shakedown last Monday with a jam session featuring Terry Hansen of The Ellis Kell Band, Dave Cox formerly with The Blue Collar Band and Tom Swanson from Jim the Mule.  The first scheduled show was this last Saturday night with The Ellis Kell Band playing.  Their grand opening will be this coming weekend with two shows on Friday night from Boston-based rocker Martin Sexton, and Greg Brown with Bo Ramsey and Pieta Brown on Saturday night. 

Cindy and I went up to see Ellis Kell and his band do a set on Saturday night.  The only problem with the Redstone Room is the number of columns that run the length of the room.  These structural columns block the view of part of the stage from the bar area, but don't detract from the architectural integrity of the room. 

The one thing that absolutely blew me away about the place was how good it sounded in there.  The house pubic address system is balanced and it sounded tremendously good - from the back, from up front, and from off to the side.  Ellis and his guys are good musicians in their own right, but I'm such a good sound snob that the Redstone Room's P.A. made it that much more enjoyable to listen to their music.

Some of the other upcoming shows that I'm planning on seeing is Junior Brown on May 12 (Junior played the River Roots Live show last August and it will be a pleasure to see him again), and hard-core bluesman Eric Sardinas on May 17.  I've seen Sardinas three times before and he is one helluva guitar player.  You can check out the upcoming Redstone Room shows here.

The Redstone Room is a very welcome addition to the Quad City music scene.  Now a lot of bands and acts that were either going to Gabe's Oasis in Iowa City, or just blowing by the Quad Cities on their way east or west will now have a great place to stop and play. 

XMG Music Conference and Showcase - Chicago

The XMG Music Conference and Showcase is an interesting concept.  It is designed to help independent bands and musicians to get an audience in front of music industry representatives with the hope of being signed to a label. 

I wasn't all that familiar with the concept until a new band I've been recently listening to here in the Quad Cities - Seed - held a fundraiser recently to help defray the costs of their trip into Chicago for some showcase conference they were selected to attend.  Cindy and I went and helped their cause by donating a few bucks. 

A couple weeks later, I got an e-mail from Bob Kelly from Wicked Liz and the Bellyswirls that said they were going to be playing in suburban Chicago for the XMG Conference later that week.  It turned out that I was going to be in the Chicagoland area at that time and I worked my schedule out to be able to go see them and support them in this thing.

When I got to reading up on the XMG Conference, I found that this was the same conference Seed was going to be at.  Small world. 

In addition to being able to perform in front of music industry representatives, there are a number of workshops for bands to participate in during the XMG conference.  These workshops include information on promotion, publishing and copyright procedures, and other things that go into helping bands grow and hopefully get them signed to a national recording label. 

Over 100 bands were invited by XMG to participate in the Chicago leg of the conference.  Each band is given 20 minutes to perform three original songs in front of music industry "Artist and Repertoire" (A&R) reps.  They then get to sit and talk to the A&R people for a short time after their performance.  And six bands will be picked to come back to perform in the finals of what will turn out to be a "Battle of the Bands" for prize money and studio recording time. 

The Chicago XMG conference was held out in Schaumburg at the Marriott, and the performances were held at the Penny Road Pub (shown above) in Barrington, IL.  I went out to the Penny Road Pub, kind of a neat little road house sort of in the country in the far NW suburbs of Chicago.  It wasn't a big place, but it certainly wasn't crowded, either.  They evidently have a number of lesser known national acts that come through and play at Penny Road Pub - mostly heavy metal and headbanger acts. 

The showcase was neat in that each band or performer had three songs and couldn't go over 20 minutes.  There was about a 10 to 15 minute changeover between performances.  It was good because you could watch music for 15 to 20 minutes, talk to people for 10 to 15 minutes, then see someone else perform for another 15 to 20 minutes.  If they sucked, well, you only had to listen for a maximum of 20 minutes.  But since most are going to be playing their best stuff for three songs, you can pretty much make up your mind if they were good or not within the 20 minutes they're on stage.

I was able to see a few bands before Wicked Liz and the Bellyswirls took the stage.  Some were pretty good, others were, well, hmm...  They sucked.  You could see the judges seated at a table toward the back and I would look at them from time to time to gauge their interest of a given band.  More often than not they weren't paying attention by the end of the second song if the band playing wasn't all that good. 

Not so with Wicked Liz and the guys.  I stood over by the sound board(the best place to listen to a band - a little tip there) and was able to watch the judges reactions.  Given the fact the band sounded great - they brought their "A" game to this thing and it was probably the best I've ever heard 'em sound - the judges were pretty enthralled with their performance.  They were intently paying attention the whole time the band was on stage.

Bob told me afterwards, however, that the "interview" with the A&R people was sort of lukewarm.  But as I told him, these guys are probably so jaded that it would have really taken an extraordinary talent or performance to get them fired up.  I said, "The way they were paying attention to you guys through all three songs, considering the way they were tuning out some of the others, spoke loudly in my book." 

One of the things that I noticed in this "competition" were the number of bands and performers who used acoustic guitars within their band.  I'm guessing it's probably because of the wide popularity of the Dave Matthews Band. 

And one of those guys playing acoustic guitar was a Twin Cities performer by the name of Ronny Cary (shown left).  (The competition showcase was open to performers from all over the Midwest.  Craig Smith from Seed told me at the showcase the night I was there that there were a number of musicians and bands there from Iowa.)  He did a three song set and was very good.

Another good band that I saw was a Chicago area instrumental band called Lost in Blue.  They were three guys - a great little left-handed guitar player, a bass player and a good drummer - whose musical style reminded me of a cross between Metallica and Rush.  I talked to the guitar player, Keith (shown above), after they played and he said they really needed a vocalist.  I thought that was kind of funny because when Leo Kelly and I were standing there watching them play, Leo turned to me and said, "What this band really needs is a vocalist."

I could have stuck around all night listening to bands, but they were going to be playing until about 2 a.m.  And it was the first night of the showcase.  I'd really hate to be the music industry reps come the last night of the showcase.  And, quite unfortunately, a new Quad City band that Bob Kelly has taken under his wing - Minus Six - is scheduled for the LAST performance of the conference.  Too bad. 

By the way - Wicked Liz and the Bellyswirls didn't make it to the finals on Sunday.  I talked to Bob Kelly about it and he said it didn't matter to him.  Besides, the A&R guys thought their name was too long and cumbersome.  Bobby told me, "You know, over the last couple of years we've had maybe 50 people come up to us and say, 'We saw the name of your band and we had to check you guys out.' "

There are a number of XMG Conferences held across the U.S. at different venues.  If you want to check out some up and coming local and regional bands in a short amount of time, this is a great way to do it.

Mississippi Valley Blues Festival - June 30, July 1-2, 2006

They've released the schedule for this year's Mississippi Valley Blues Festival which will be held this year at Le Claire Park in downtown Davenport, IA. 

The headliners for this year's festival will be Mavis Staples on Friday, June 30; Dirty Dozen Brass Band on Saturday, July 1, and Delbert McClinton on Sunday, July 2. 

The thing about it - I really don't want to see any of the headliners.  Mavis Staples may be somewhat famous as part of the renown Staples Singers, but no thanks.  The Dirty Dozen Brass Band?  As a headliner for the Blues Fest?  I guess I don't understand that one.  Delbert McClinton I've seen three or four times.  I don't really care to see him again.

Who I would like to see are Sonny Landreth, a great slide guitar player who has a somewhat successful solo career and who also plays with John Hiatt quite a bit.  I saw Landreth once before at Summerfest in Milwaukee three or four years ago and he was just smoking. 

Left to right - John Hiatt, B.B. King and Sonny Landreth

I'd also like to see James "Super Chikan" Johnson, a great Mississippi guitar player who I've heard play on CD, but I've never seen or heard in person.  Kenny Neal is playing in the tent area with his brothers on Saturday - but at the same time as Sonny Landreth is playing at the band shell.  Oh, man.  That's going to be a tough choice. 

Kelley Hunt, an up and coming blues pianist who grew up in Kansas City is playing on Sunday, as is the infamous Guitar Shorty.  Hunt I'd like to see, but I've seen Guitar Shorty a couple times before.  He's good, but nothing special to me.

Kelley Hunt

I still haven't see the full schedule as to who is playing at Summerfest, but they usually don't have those bands listed until May.  When we used to go to Summerfest all the time, a lot of the headlining and secondary bands that would play at the Blues Fest in Davenport would usually play in Milwaukee, so we'd see a lot of the music up there that we would have seen in Davenport. 

I don't know if we'll go up to Summerfest for a couple days or not - it depends on who will be there and when - and if Cindy want to go.  But if we don't go that weekend, we'll probably hang around Davenport and hit a night or two of the Blues Fest.

Randy Archer - Spatterdash

I heard today from Greg Hipskind of Wicked Liz and the Bellyswirls that Randy Archer, the bass player for Spatterdash, a great alternative band here in the Quad Cities who I've worked with many times, died yesterday evening of a heart attack.

Randy Archer

Randy had just finished giving a presentation to a large group at his job for Modern Woodmen of America insurance in Rock Island yesterday.  He sat down after giving his talk and a little later he slumped over in his chair.  They worked on him for about an hour, but they couldn't save him.  He was 46.

Randy was as good of a guy as he was a bass player.  He was also an accomplished wood worker, and he made a funky looking blue bass guitar that he was very proud of.  Unfortunately, it's not the one he's playing in this picture. 

I got to know Randy through working gigs that Spatterdash played for Street Fest and Rib Fest over the years.  However, we were bound together by one near disaster involving his homemade bass guitar that was averted by a quick hand.

A few years ago, Spatterdash was playing an afternoon gig at the Street Fest in downtown Davenport.  It was a very windy day - so windy that the stage tent was literally lifting the stage.  I was the stage manager that day and helping the band get equipment onto the stage.

Randy had just finished work on his handmade bass guitar and he was showing it to me.  I was very impressed with the craftsmanship he poured into making the bass.  I told him I would have never had the patience to do something like that.  He said making it was more of a stress relief for him than anything.

He put the bass onto the tripod stand holder on stage and we went back to getting stuff on stage.  Suddenly, a major wind gust came up and caught the bass.  In a moment of slow motion, we all sort of stood there and watched the bass begin to fall forward.  At the last moment - and I don't know how I did it to this day - I reached for the neck of the bass and caught it about six inches before it hit the stage.

Randy had this look of horror on his face, then one of genuine relief.  He took the bass from me and said, "Whoa, man!  That was close!  I haven't even played a gig with it yet.  That would have surely broken the neck.  I owe you, man!" 

So every gig that I worked where Spatterdash played, or if I ran into them when they were playing out and around in the Quad Cities, Randy would always bring up the great save I made on his bass that day years ago. 

Not to make this about myself, but I went in and got checked because I'd been having some discomfort in my chest recently.  Had my heart checked out and I passed with flying colors. (Or as my doctor likes to say, "You know, for the shape you're in, you're in great shape.")  It was more muscle discomfort than anything. 

I vaguely remember Randy telling me one time that he'd had some heart problems, but talking with some people today they couldn't confirm that he actually had anything wrong with him up to this point.  At least anything that outwardly caused red flags to come up. 

Randy was a good guy, he was always fun to talk to and he was a good musician.  The visitation will be tomorrow, the funeral on Friday.

He was only 46.  Man, that's too young.  Then again, life is too short... 

Peter Gabriel - Still Growing Up - Live and Unwrapped

Peter Gabriel has been a noted world class musician for over 30 years.  His avant-garde visual effects, haunting lyrics and over-the-top world music has followed him since he co-founded Genesis in the early 70's, all the way through to the successful solo career he still enjoys today.

Peter Gabriel's first DVD - "Secret World Live" - from 1994 showcases a wonderful performance with good sound reproduction.  However, the picture is very grainy and is not the best concert footage I've seen. 

Gabriel's 2003 DVD "Growing Up Live" was a critically acclaimed documentary of his live show filmed in Milan, Italy.  While not quite the performance of his earlier DVD, the sound was even better and the picture quality was IMMENSELY better.  Performing with Gabriel on this DVD are The Blind Boys of Alabama who offer some great harmonizing on one track. 

Gabriel's new DVD - "Still Growing Up - Live and Unwrapped" takes us to his summer tour of 2004 when he played in the streets, town centers and amphitheaters across central Europe.  Backed by his longtime band of capable and solid musicians including Tony Levin, David Rhodes, Rachel Z, and Richard Evans, Gabriel continues to prove that he's among the elite of the musical visionaries on the scene today.

The DVD was released in late November of last year and I've seen some audio/video stores using it as a demonstration for two channel, as well as multi-channel sound.  The visuals are very good, the sound is impeccable, and the performance is stellar.  I'm not a big Peter Gabriel fan, but his last two live DVD's - I think - are better than his studio performances. 

"Still Growing Up - Live and Unwrapped" is a two disc set with the second disc basically the same as the first disc, only with some interspersed monologues from Gabriel, some funky image projections on Gabriel's head, and a disappointing lack of information or dialogue from his band. 

Still, the concert DVD is solid, but the visuals are a little choppy.  The shots of the band playing each song change from one venue to the next, which is rather tough to do, editing-wise (within the same song, you'll see Rachel Z's hair go from braids to a pony tail to a fall).  I'm also guessing there's some audio overdubbing that went on, especially with the song "Sledgehammer."

Overall, it's fun, it sounds good, it looks good.  Even if you're not a big Gabriel fan, it's a well produced DVD of a very good performance.  I like it a lot.  So much so that I'm using it as my live music DVD demo these days. 

Sally Weisenburg and Her Famous Sidemen

One of my more favorite groups - and people - to work with at events are Peoria's Sally Weisenburg and her Famous Sidemen.  Sally is a tall, sassy redhead with a great voice and a great stage personality.  And she's as nice off-stage as a person could be.

Sally fronts the band - the Famous Sidemen.  The leader of the band is Sally's husband, Don Berbaum, who is as equally as nice and personable as Sally is.  They've been playing around the Midwest for a number of years and Sally has worked with the likes of Patrick Hazell, Bo Ramsey and has toured with the country group, The Ozone Ramblers.

A young Sally with The Ozone Ramblers, circa 1981.

Sally and the Sidemen's music can best be described as a combination of "jump blues" and "Texas swing".  They add some jazz and a little rock to make their sound one of the most unique in the Midwest. 

The dapper Don Berbaum on guitar (right)

Offstage, Don and Sally are the kind of people who you could just hang in the backyard with, have a few drinks and just chat about anything and everything for hours on end. They are genuine and genuinely wonderful people to work with. 

I was asked by Mark Holloway from Davenport One to come up with a list of bands I would like to work with at the events this summer.  It's been a long time since Sally, Don and the guys have been at one of our events. I think it's time to bring 'em back.

Patrick Hazell

The patriarch of traditional blues in the state of Iowa, I've known Patrick Hazell for nearly 30 years.  Pat's actually playing here in the Quad Cities tonight, over in Rock Island, but I didn't go see him.  I usually see him play a couple times a year, though.

I first met Pat when he was the leader of The Mother Blues Band, a sort of blues/boogie band from Eastern Iowa.  He agreed to play our annual Veber pasture party in 1977 and our friendship has endured ever since.  Actually, Pat Hazell and Mother Blues played our party in 1979, as well - finishing right before the rain hit.

Here's a picture of Pat Hazell and the Mother Blues Band from our party in July 1977.  Next to Pat is bass player Rick (Rico) Cicalo, who has played with the likes of Greg Brown, Bo Ramsey and Pieta Brown.

In fact, we've stayed good enough friends over the years that he was going to play at our wedding reception in 1995, but he had a last minute opportunity to book a trip to Russia to  play over there for three or four weeks.  Hey, I don't blame him!  I would have gone to Russia, too, instead of playing for our wedding reception in Newton, IA.   

Over the past few years, Pat has primarily performed as a one man band - playing piano, mouth harp and kick drum.  His style is more along the lines of traditional blues with some boogie woogie piano poured in at times.  He has a strong, raspy voice that resonates with every song he sings.  He plays traditional blues standards and also plays a number of his original songs, as well. 

Pat is also involved with the Hawkeye Valley Bell Project, a musical project in Burlington, Iowa that utilizes large church bells played in rhythmic patterns over a large area of the city.  He says there is nothing like it anywhere in the United States.  He's hoping to be able to do a number of bell project shows in towns across Iowa and Illinois. 

Pat also travels abroad annually bringing traditional blues to places across Russia and other parts of Europe.  He's also traveled to South America to play his music.  And he's in demand all across the Midwest, as well.

Pat has also taught blues and jazz courses at the local high school in his hometown of Washington, IA.  He also participates in "Bringing the Blues to School" programs across the area. 

Recently, Pat has occasionally performed with a reincarnation of the Mother Blues Band.  They perform for special events and a few club dates around the Eastern Iowa area.  It's usually a treat to see them play.

Patrick Hazell is a talented musician, an interesting person to talk with, and an all-around great guy.  You don't have to like the blues to like Pat Hazell.  His music is universal.

Jim the Mule

I'm in a quandary.  It's New Years Eve.  I have friends from Wicked Liz and the Bellyswirls playing at Kelly's in Davenport tonight that want me to come and see them play.  And I have friends from Jim the Mule, a great eclectic rock band, wanting me to come see them play at Rookies here in Davenport, as well.

The only problem - I don't do New Years Eve.  It's amateur night.  I can't tell you how many times in the past when I'd be out on New Years Eve at the bars in Newton and you'd see guys in there with their wives and you just KNEW they would rather be anywhere else than sitting at a bar waiting for midnight to roll around.  The women would all be talking at the table, the guys would be looking at their watches.  When midnight would roll around, they'd drink their champagne, hit the noise makers a couple of times, then look at their watches and hustle their wives out the door.  It was actually pretty funny to see.

Once again, I digress...

I've known the guys from Jim the Mule for about four years now.  They've played at a number of events I've worked at, including kicking off the inaugural River Roots Live fest last August here in Davenport.  (All the guys will admit they didn't bring their A-game that evening.)  Jim the Mule's brand of music is sort of deep seeded with blends of 70's and 80's rock, and some modernization thrown in for good measure.

Tom Swanson is the leader of the band and plays guitar and does most of the lead vocals.  He's got an interesting idea as to which direction he wants the music for the band to go.  I sort of like the "free form" style of his guitar work and it works very well within the group. 

Jason Gilliland (left) and Ryan Koning knew Tom from their days at St. Ambrose University and the first incarnation of Jim the Mule was formed about six years ago.  Jason played the bass while Ryan played drums.  Tom ended up leaving town for a while, but when he came back, Ryan and Jason got together with him and decided to put together a serious band.

Ryan Koning

They did a couple of projects and cut a CD, but just after that, Ryan left the group.  I remember Jim the Mule had a different drummer for awhile, but I can't remember much about him.    

Along about the end of 2002, Tom was jamming one night at a place and he got into a hot guitar dual with a guy by the name of Dan Videtich.  Dan was a short guy with a blazing guitar and had to look kind of funny playing next to Tom's big frame on stage.  Dan and Tom hit it off tremendously and Dan soon joined Jim the Mule as the second guitar player.

Dan Videtich

One of the local stores that I call on here in the Quad Cities, Planet Audio, had a new guy that started to work for them about four or five years ago by the name of Steve Merritt.  I saw some pictures of a nice drum kit that Steve had put up on the wall next to his desk.  I asked one time, "Whose drum kit?"

Steve said, "It's mine."

I said, "Do you know how to play those things?"

He said, "Oh, yeah."

Steve Merritt

Turns out that not too much after that, Steve hooked up with the guys from Jim the Mule and he became their permanent drummer.  In the meantime, Ryan had rejoined the group as a percussionist and the band was complete a little over two years ago.

Jim the Mule is one of those bands that when I first saw them play a few years ago, I thought, "Boy, these guys need some help."  I'm happy to say they've gotten a LOT better over the years and have garnered a great following in the Quad City area.  And they're fun to hang with.  We had a great time hanging out at the Bier Stube in the Village of East Davenport after the Thursday night of the Rib Fest this last year. 

But sorry guys, I ain't coming to hang out with you tonight...

BoDeans - Homebrewed DVD

I just picked up the BoDeans first DVD "Homebrewed - Live From the Pabst".  The first 7/8's of the DVD is the BoDeans performance from the Pabst Theater in Milwaukee from last New Year's Eve (2004).  The final part of the disc is part of their special performance this last August from the roof of the Pabst Theater celebrating their new studio release "Resolution". 

The BoDeans played the River Roots Live concert in Davenport this last August.  I had a chance to talk with Kurt Neumann of The BoDeans before the show.  The BoDeans had been embroiled in a longtime lawsuit with their former manager and "Resolution" was the first studio album they had in eight years.  The following Wednesday after their appearance in Davenport, they were scheduled to go back into court to face an appellate judge who threw out the original verdict that freed the BoDeans up from their contractual obligations with their former manager. 

Turned out that both parties came to an agreement about three months ago.  So, the DVD was just released and it appears the BoDeans are going to be out touring again beginning next week.

Kurt and Sammy at Summerfest in 2003.

By the way, I understand that drummer Kenny Aronoff will not be touring with the BoDeans, as he is currently touring with John Fogerty in Australia through December.  Former BoDeans drummer Kevin Leahy will be joining the band for their upcoming shows.  No word as to whether this is a permanent position for Leahy or not.

From what I see on the DVD so far, the video isn't that great, and the sound mix is a little less than desirable.  But if you're a big BoDeans fan, this is a must. 

B.B. King

As I said in an earlier post, Cindy and I won tickets to see B.B. King on December 16 here in Davenport.  We won them as door prizes as part of the kick off party for the annual membership drive for the River Music Experience.  I'd seen B.B. King three times already, and Cindy was going to be in Chicago with her sister all day Friday and coming home on Saturday night. 

I ended up giving the tickets to our good friends Scott and Marcia Schroeder as they had never seen B.B. King in person before. 

My Friday night was all planned out.  I had gotten a big T-Bone steak and was marinating it, I had a half dozen big mushrooms with the meat all dug out so I could do Italian sausage stuffed mushroom along with them.  The UNI Football team was playing on TV in the NCAA Division I-AA championships.  I had a garage full of beer, it was cold, I was hunkered down.

Along about 3 p.m., Kristy Adams called me and asked me what I was doing.  I said, "Nothing." 

She said, "Randy's sick.  He went home from work today.  He can't go to the B.B. King show and I need a date.  Will you go with me?"

Man, it was like I was stuck between a rock and a hard place.  I really didn't want to go, but Kristy was literally pleading with me to go with her.  Finally, I relented and said, yes, I'd go.  She was happy and I told her I'd call her later.

We met up at a new bar in downtown Davenport called Below Brady (see map).  Actually, the bar had been there for years, and no one could remember the name of the old place, but it was pretty nice down there.  Cozy, not crowded.  They had a Yamaha baby grand piano in the place as I understand that someone comes in a couple three times a week and plays the piano. 

We had a few drinks and went to the River Center around 7:10.  Ellis Kell and his band opened up for B.B. King and they were playing by the time we got there.  Kristy's seats were up toward the front at one of the tables they had set up in kind of a night club fashion.  We found an usher to direct us to the seats and it turned out that we were about 25 feet from the front of the stage.   Nice seats. 

Ellis and his band did a nice job, as always.  Ellis said it was the third time he and the band had the pleasure to open for B.B. King. 

They finished about 7:45, and there was about a 25 minute wait for B.B. King's band to take the stage.  They came out, did a couple songs, then B.B. King came out.  80 years old, diabetes, two bad knees - B.B. don't stand no more.  But, boy - he sure doesn't sound like an 80 year old guy when he sings and plays that guitar.  He still can sing and his chops on the guitar are still those of when he was playing 40 years ago. 

His band was tight, the music was good, B.B. told stories and played off the audience.  He said that he had now played in 80 countries around the world and he said that his goal in 2006 was to play in some countries that he'd never been in before. 

He finished about 10 p.m., no encore.  He thanked the crowd, stood up and was helped off stage. 

It was a good show, I was pleasantly surprised at how well he played and sang. 

Now, before the show, Kristy told me that there might be a chance that we'd be able to get backstage after the show and meet B.B. King.  That story comes up next in Meeting the King.

The Ellis Kell Band

Longtime favorites in the Quad Cities, I've worked a number of events with The Ellis Kell Band over the years.  Ellis is the director of events for the River Music Experience and a fine guitar player, singer and songwriter.

Ellis started his band in 1989 and has had the same line up of John Burchette on bass, Rick Stoneking on keyboards, and Terry Hanson on drums for about the last ten years.  And the band added harp player, "Detroit" Larry Davison a few years back and they've been going strong ever since.   

Ellis has released two CD's - "Down to the Levee" and "Ellis Kell Band and Friends - 2000".  The band has won numerous local "Best of" and "People's Choice" awards and has been featured on the nationally syndicated radio shows "The House of Blues Radio Hour" and "The Red Rooster Lounge".

Ellis also writes a music column for the Rock Island Argus and Dispatch called "True Blue".  He has a good grasp of the local music scene - what there is of it - and it's pretty informative and educational, as well. 

The band is one of those bands who seems to just get better everytime I see them play.  They're opening for B.B. King next Friday night and I'm sure they'll do a great job. 

And the Winner Is...

Cindy and I went down to the annual membership drive kick-off event at the River Music Experience in downtown Davenport tonight.  We signed up for memberships to the R.M.E. - something that I really had been meaning to do, but never got around to it.

The door prize were two free tickets to the B.B. King concert coming up December 16 at the River Center in downtown Davenport.  Now, I've seen B.B. King three times in my life.  Yeah, the first couple of times it was great to see a living legend.  The third time I saw him, it was like, "Oh, yeah.  B.B. King.  Been there, done that."

Actually, the first time I saw B.B. King was here in Davenport in the early 80's at the Col Ballroom just west of downtown Davenport.  The Col used to host a number of rock and musical acts that would come through the Quad's long before The Mark of the Quad Cities was built in Moline.   And they it still hosts a number of medium nationally known acts from time to time.   

I came over with a co-worker friend of mine, Kurt Nyffeller, and a couple three buddies of his that he played with in a band in Iowa City.  The wait between the warm-up band and B.B. King seemed to be unusually long and one of the guys, Kevin Murphy, said out of the blue, "Where be B.B.?"  We were drunk enough that we all thought it was pretty funny and we began to chant, "Where be B.B.?  Where be B.B.?" 

Can't beat sophomoric fun when you're drinking.  In fact, I still chuckle about that - "Where be B.B.?"

Once again, I digress from the matter at hand...

We were only down to the R.M.E. for about an hour this evening and as we were leaving, Kristy Adams saw us and said, "What if you guys win the tickets?"

I said, "Give 'em to someone else."

Cindy said, "Hold it!  I'LL take the tickets if we win."

I'm sitting at home watching TV around 9:30 this evening and Kristy's husband, Randy, calls me up.  He said, "Guess what."

I said, "It's snowing?"

He said, "No more than that."

I said, "What?"

Randy said, "You won."

We won the friggin' tickets to go see B.B. King.  Except I really don't want to go.  So Cindy said that she'd take the tickets and go with someone.  I said, "Hold it.  Isn't the 16th the day you and (her sister) Anita are going to Chicago for the day?"

Cindy stopped for a second and thought.  She finally said, "Well, yeah.  But Anita and I can still go."

I said, "It starts at 7:30.  You guys are not going to be back for the show if you're going to Chicago, for God's sake, Cindy." 

She kind of got that look of "Yeah, you're right" on her face.

So now I don't know what to do.  You should never look a gift horse in the mouth, but I'm sorry - I'm just not fired up to see B.B. King all that much. 

But, I'm sure I'll probably end up going...

Wicked Liz and the Bellyswirls DVD Release Party

I was asked to host the DVD release party for Wicked Liz and the Bellyswirls last night.  I've worked with these guys (and gal) for - geez, I don't know how long it's been.  We joked that we've worked events together for 27 years, but it's more along the lines of five years now. 

The event was held at Rookies in Davenport and there was a pretty good sized crowd on hand for the evening.  Dan Videtich and Ryan Koning from Jim the Mule were on hand to support their friends.   There was an interesting age mix at Rookies, too.  Of course, there were the 20-something's who were out partying on a Saturday night, the 30 year-olds and friends of the band, plus there was a pretty good sized crowd of middle aged people - 40 and 50 year olds - on hand, too.  There was a contingent of people down from Dubuque, some people from Cedar Rapids, it was a pretty diverse crowd.  And that's the hallmark of the band - they appeal to such a wide variance of people. 

The band had a unveiling of their DVD, "Live at Circa 21", as part of a free beer and free pizza party before they took the stage.  It's pretty regular that a band has a CD release party, but this has to be the first DVD release that a local Quad City band has ever done. 

Actually, Dale Fisher of Jettson came back to the Quad Cities from his home in the San Fernando Valley north of Los Angeles and opened for the band.  He and his buddy, Tim, played some of Dale's songs for about an hour.  Dale told me that Jettson's CD "Fast Food" was just named the runner up independent rock album at the L.A. Music Awards held recently in Los Angeles.

Leo, Bob and Greg took the stage around 10:15 and jumped right into "Bellyswirl" off of their first CD.  Now, about a month ago, I was listening to a sports talk radio show in Chicago and one of the songs they played as a "bumper" coming out of the commercial was "Bellyswirl".  Except, at the time, I couldn't remember who did the song or where I heard it before (I'd probably heard it 15 times in the past, not to mention on the CD).  So after the first break, I went up to Leo and I said, "Leo, who wrote the first song you guys did?"

He said, "Bellyswirl?  That's one of ours."

I proceeded to tell him that I'd heard it as bumper music on a sports talk show in Chicago - couldn't remember if it was the Score or on ESPN 1000.  He was blown away.  I said, "Man, I KNEW I'd heard that song a bunch before, but I couldn't, for the life of me, remember where I'd heard it.  When you hit the opening riff, I thought, 'Holy shit!  That's the SONG!!' " 

Of course, I can't forget to say that Liz was her usual charming self with complete command of the stage and the crowd.  Her voice sounded great, as always.   Her husband, Brad, was on hand, too and it's always good to shoot the shit with him. 

It was a fun night and it's always good to see these guys play. 

BoDeans

My cousin, John Wehrle, turned me on to the BoDeans a number of years ago when he was living up in Milwaukee.  The BoDeans are from the Milwaukee area and are a local and regional musical phenomenon. 

The BoDeans are really two guys, Kurt Neumann (pictured at left), and Sammy Llanas (pictured below).  They met in high school in suburban Waukesha in the mid 70's and formed the BoDeans in 1983.  Bassist Bob Griffin joined the band in 1985 just in time for their 1986 debut CD, Love and Hope and Sex and Dreams, which is still one of the most underrated rock albums put out in the last 25 years. Over the years they've had a number of drummers play with them, most recently former John Mellencamp drummer, Kenny Aronoff, was playing with the band. 

We've seen the BoDeans at Summerfest at the Marcus Amphitheater six or seven times.  Actually, the last time we saw them in 2003, we were a little disappointed in the show and ended up leaving early.

Shoot ahead to 2005 - The River Roots Live two day festival was going to take place in Davenport and I was hired by Kristy Adams from the River Music Experience to do the announcements and to help out with stage production.  Initially, the headliner was supposed to be Johnny Winter.  But I was on the road one evening about two months before the show and I got a call from Kristy.  "This has been the worst day of my life," she exclaimed.  Turned out that Johnny Winter had to cancel due to slow rehabilitation from carpel tunnel surgery.  She was in a bind.

She said, "OK, here's two bands we can get.  We can get Robert Cray, or we can get someone that I know you'll flip out when I tell you."

I asked, "OK, who?"

She said, "The BoDeans." 

I said, "Well, Robert Cray would be great to see, but it would be cool to work with The BoDeans." 

So, they ended up getting the BoDeans.

For about 8 years, the BoDeans - read: Sammy and Kurt - had been in a major legal battle with their former manager, Mark McCraw, who maintained that he held all copyrights to The BoDeans song titles.   A judgment against McCraw was thrown out in appeal in the summer of 2005 and Kurt and Sammy were scheduled to go back to court to seek to overturn the appeal just after they played in Davenport.  Kurt was quoted in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that if the courts didn't reverse the appeal, the show in Davenport may be their last show as the BoDeans. 

So, it was going to be an interesting evening - this could very well be the last time we see Kurt and Sammy as the BoDeans. 

Now, my cousin's girl friend, Bonnie, is a HUGE BoDeans fan.  She says that Sammy makes her "moist".  She and John were coming up from St. Louis for the show and she was kidding me for weeks in advance that I had to get her backstage to meet Sammy.  I told her that I wasn't quite in charge of the backstage proceedings as I usually am with other events I work for the city of Davenport, but I'd see what I could do.

The BoDeans arrive on Friday evening and are milling around the backstage area.  I usually don't like to bother the musicians if I don't know them, but I did go up to Sammy and shake his hand and tell him that I really liked his music.  He was reserved and quiet, thanked me in shy-type manner and that was that. 

During Edgar Winter's set, I noticed Sammy was just kind of hanging around the backstage area and I thought, "OK, maybe I can make Bonnie's night."  So I go out in front of the stage and I get Bonnie's attention.  She comes over and I said, "Come with me."  And I take her backstage. 

Now, mind you, I'm am committing the number one sin in backstage, pre-show etiquette - taking a fan to meet a performer without asking them first if it's OK if I bring someone back.  Sammy is still standing there and I take Bonnie up to introduce her to him.

I said, "Sammy, this is a very good friend of mine and she has seen you a number of times and she wanted to come back to say 'hello'." 

Sammy kind of gave me this 'pained' look on his face and Bonnie - to my absolute horror - instead of shaking his hand or just standing there, she went up to him and said, "Oh, I've got to just give you a hug."  She tried to hug Sammy and he jumped back like she had 20,000 volts going through her body!  Oh, I was mortified.  First of all, I just committed the ultimate backstage infraction for bringing her back - which was very unprofessional on my part - and then she exacerbated it by trying to molest him!  It was actually kind of funny.  But I felt really bad. 

I apologized to Sammy about it after the show and he was pretty neutral about it.  But I could tell that he didn't like it at the time.  Oh well...

On the other hand, I was standing by the stage waiting for the equipment to get set up for The BoDeans and Kurt Neumann walks up.  We start talking about things, how nice the night was, how their show a couple nights prior in Oshkosh had gone (they had a severe thunderstorm come through in the middle of their show), and then I said, "You know, I really hope things go well for you next week in court." 

Kurt, matter of factly, said, "Well, I appreciate that.  I really do.  We were shocked when the earlier decision was overturned by the appellate court and if we can't get the appeal reversed, we can't fight this any longer.  We're out of money.  We've had two lawsuits in the past few years and we just don't have the money or the will to fight any longer."

I asked, "Two lawsuits?  What was the other lawsuit?"

He said, "The company who make Sam Adams Beer (Boston Brewing Company) made a bottled tea about six or seven years ago and called it 'BoDeans Tea' or something like that.  We had people coming up and asking us about our tea, and we didn't know what they were talking about.  So while we had a lawsuit against our ex-manager for copyright and trademark rights, we all sued the beer company for trademark infringement.  We won.  They don't make the tea any more." 

As Sammy was reserved and close to the chest, Kurt was outgoing, personable and self-effacing.  He saw me before he went on stage and said, "Well, let's go out and see if we can screw this up one last time!"  And he winked at me as we both laughed.

It was a good show, and I'm happy to say it wasn't their last.  They settled with their old manager out of court and they'll continue to be The BoDeans for many years to come.

Wicked Liz and the Bellyswirls

Wicked Liz and the Bellyswirls is one of the premier bands - if not THE premier band - in the Quad Cities today.  They're good musicians, good entertainers, full of energy, they have great stage presence and are fun to watch.  And they've all become pretty good friends of mine along the way.

The band consists of Liz Treiber - the "Wicked Liz" of Wicked Liz and the Bellyswirls - on vocals.  The Kelly brothers of Leo on guitar and Bob on bass stand with Liz on the stage, and Greg Hipskind anchors the group on drums.   

I think the first time I worked an event with them was at a Street Festival in, I believe, the summer of 2001.  I don't think they'd been together for long.  They were a little ragged, but you could tell there was some potential.  And the way Liz worked the crowd with her saucy, yet sweet, nature really told me this band had a chance to grow.

The next year, I noticed that a lot of younger girls would stand up in front and watch Liz.  I'm not talking about teenaged girls, but grade school girls.  I thought, "What in the hell is going on here?"  Then it hit me - Liz really appealed to these girls.  She talked to them from the stage, she encouraged them to come up front, she encouraged them to get into music.  I'm thinking, "Jesus, if these guys get any better and more people come to hear them, it's going to be a madhouse at these things."

Jump ahead to Street Fest 2004 in downtown Davenport.  I had been lobbying for Wicked Liz and the Bellyswirls to play the headline spot on the Saturday night billing, but Mark Holloway, the Director of Events for Davenport One, was new to the job and was getting a lot of input from other sources as well.  One of those people was Ellis Kell who convinced Mark to put his band in the headline spot.  Nothing against Ellis' band - they're very good in their own right - but the crowd on Saturday night for Street Fest is much younger and Wicked Liz would have held them longer. 

As a compromise, Mark stuck Wicked Liz in the 7:30-9:30 time slot.  The place was PACKED!  Liz and the boys did a great job and had the place rockin'.  When they went off the stage, the crowd went, too.  The object for festivals is to have entertainment that holds the crowd.  Ellis and his band did a great job - probably the best I'd heard them play to date - but he didn't hold the young crowd.

About 11 p.m., Mark Holloway came up to me and said, "You were right.  We should have had Wicked Liz on at 10 p.m." 

So, they headlined for the Street Fest in 2005.  Here's a picture I took from behind Greg with Liz looking out over the crowd.  I think they did a very good job in holding the crowd that night, as you can well see...

At Rib Fest 2005, I had my dream line-up for the Thursday night show - Spatterdash opening up, Jim the Mule coming next, and Wicked Liz playing the headline spot.  Since school at the area colleges was just back in session, we billed it as a "College Night" and we were expecting a big crowd.  We weren't expecting rain.  We shut down Jim the Mule around 9:30 and there were more people on the stage than in the crowd and Wicked Liz didn't get to play.  But I did get this shot with some wet members of Wicked Liz with The Bear.

Bob Kelly has asked me to come host their DVD release party coming up at Rookies here in Davenport on November 26.  Their good friend from L.A., Dale Fisher, will be opening up doing some of his Jettson songs and will be playing with them on stage, as well.  It should be a great time.