Date: September 5, 2000

Edmonton Blues Festival!

We ended our month long north-west tour in Canada, playing first, a long-time blues stop in Calgary, - King Eddy Hotel, and then making our way up to Edmonton Alberta for a mega blues fest!

What a georgeous city it is, nestled among pine forrests with a big river running through it and who would've ever suspected such a fantastic festival could occur this far north on the map? These folks are totally hip to the blues, and put on one of the smoothest festivals we've ever played!

It was especially cool for me cuz it was like "old home week" with my California buddies taking the stage as we wound down! I can't remember playing to a crowd of dancers as large and energetic as this blues audience. By our second tune they were starting to fill the dance floor and by the end of the set it was packed, never to thin out for the rest of the festival. And the venue is set up in a bowl style, so the seats gradually rise behind each other allowing full vision for all those who preferred to kick back and enjoy their blues while the dancers boogied.

The James Harmon band followed us, playing that fine, west-coast, jumpin' and swingin' blues! I hadn't seen this configuration of James' band yet, but they were fantastic! And when the wild and crazy one came off stage and I complimented him on just that he said, "hey, I've had a great band for 25 years!" And I have to admit, he's right! In fact, two of his former band mates could be seen playing with the next act, the headliners, the Fabulous Thunderbirds. Yea, with James they were referred to as those "dangerous gentlemen" and trust me, Kid Ramos on guitar and Willie J. Campbell on bass are still too dangerous for words! Front man Kim Wilson is still at the helm of the T-Birds and with his red 'n black shiny jacket, was a splash of color fronting the men in black! Kid and Willie have some of the best stage-presences you are ever going to see! They are "too tough!" And I'll confess, Kid Ramos is one of my top guitar heros! Check out his solo albums and see what I mean! The first one, "Two Hands, One Heart" is a vertiable "bible" for anyone trying to study jump blues! And his latest, "West Coast House Party" has a whole crowd of special guests adept in the field ncluding Gatemouth Brown, Duke Robillard, and Janiva Magness! Meanwhile, there's one more reason why Kid is the perfect guitar player for the T-Birds... just like Jimmy Vaughn, his hair is perfect! Check ou the photos and you'll see what I'm talkin' about!