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.
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