JULY JAMS…!!!

Mississippi Valley Blues Festival, Davenport, Iowa...

The Social event of the summer for me, I doubt I will top this festival for connecting with and jamming with the largest number of blues pals! The boys and I actually performed on Thursday, July 3rd, which was Blues Women day. On the big stage, we were followed by Deborah Coleman and Shemekia Copeland and it's not too often that all of us blues gals are on the same bill. But what I was most excited about was catching Janiva Magness, whose performance began on the tent stage just as ours wound down.

Did I mention it was really hot? Well, for me when the temperature is in the 90s and the humidity is the same, being a native of the dry desert west, I find it pretty intolerable! But I didn't seem to be alone with my opinions wet was pouring off of everybody. We hit the stage at about peak-heat time; around 5:00. Our fourth piece being, on this tour, by the way, the flying fingers of Roy Rodriques on organ. Yea, I am continuing my quest for that fourth member, and as of this time, Roy is a member of several alternating keyboard fellas. Let me digress for a moment...

When I first moved to Conn., I took a room in a farm house that Roy was renting, having met him through Paul Gabriel of Blue in the Face. We became fast friends, both being musicians, of course, but mostly for our mutual brand of really demented humor. Since then, Roy has remained one of my favorite people, and has often joined us for a local New England show. Hopefully some of the pix that A.J. has taken on this tour will begin to convey how crazy/funny Roy is. Needless to say, we laughed our heads off through this country's heartland.

Meanwhile, back in Davenport, I came off stage with the sweat sheeting off of me! I often describe this as jumping out of a swimming pool, and before you can drip dry, the water just sheets off of you. In fact, the press actually ran a photo of my dripping mug in the next days paper. So I immediately proceeded to the C.D. booth to sign, meet and greet. I could hear Janiva's band begin to play, and hoped I could get over to her bandstand in time to hear her. Well all the great folks at this festival (who are all volunteers, by the way) were hip to my desires and they actually escorted me to her stage, asap adding that Janiva wanted me to jump up and sit in!!

If you can picture a combination of E.C. Scott, Lou Ann Barton, and Wandea Jackson, you can picture Janiva Magness. Clad in a sexy, red, 50s style dress with matching red heels, Janiva struts the stage and belts out her brand of rockin' blues with the guts and soul of a true veteran of the music she is committed to. The immediate audience of about 500 were in the palm of her hands. Her top notch band has the look and sound of a group beamed onto the stage from the golden era of blues and rock 'n roll circa 1960. Guitarist George Friend, a master of style from deep blues to urban Rn'B, was tearing it up on his telecaster, playing through two cool old Fender amps. Generously he pulled off his Tele, handed it to me, and split his two amps between us. Then Janiva called off one of my favorites from her new C.D., the slow minor blues, "That's Why I'm Cryin'" . I guess she read my mind; either that or maybe it is no secret that the way to a guitar players heart is through a slow minor blues, but I could feel the band around me dig deep into the groove and my notes flew effortlessly, despite the strange guitar in my hands. George and I threw ideas back and forth, our smiles getting bigger by the second. Little did I know that the folks from Beale St. Caravan were getting this all on tape, so I'll have to figure out some way to access this radio show somewhere on the internet, no doubt.

Janiva and I hopped a golf cart and got escorted back to the Shell stage in time to hear the last of Deborah Coleman's set, and as usual, she and her band were kickin' some ass!! Then what a rare treat it was for Janiva, Deborah and I and our band mates to kick back together, hang out and listen to our "little sister", Shemekia Copeland, bring the whole event to a close. The next day I was slated to do a blues workshop at 2:00 in the afternoon with Janiva and her band. I wasn't sure what was gonna be required of me here, but Janiva had it all planned out, and she and I alternately did tunes, at a semi-acoustic volume, with her band backing us. The audience could ask questions, and there was a lot of great interaction. It was very cool to play all the stuff at a low volume and be a part of such an intimate, casual experience. By the way, if ya haven't picked it up yet, Janiva's new C.D. USE WHAT YOU GOT, is by far her best effort yet, and will not doubt be on everyone's list of top 10 releases of the year.

After the workshop, most of us head back to our rooms to cool off and chill a bit in anticipation of another great night of blues music and socializing!! The big acts that night would be Coco Montoya and John Mayall - a re-union, ya might say!! I just haven't seen or heard Coco enough this year, so we snuck in a little room time to catch up a bit before the big show. That evening Coco sang and played as well as I had ever heard him just in top form, as the audience crammed up to the stage, bodies pressing together like a solid molten mass, trying to get closer to Coco. I wonder if he felt like the Messiah for a time?

Coco called me up to jam and we did our old Albert Collins favorite, I GOT THAT FEELING. We spotted Janiva off to the side and Coco demanded "Get up here, girl!" so the set ended on a very high note, the stage energy now being triple-sized!! Unfortunately Coco had to split shortly after his performance and catch a plane to his next performance in Sedona, Arizona.

John's latest C.D., NO DAYS OFF, is a live one, and represents pretty identically his current show. Mayall is energized these days by the addition of keyboard player extraordinare, Tom Canning, the superlative blues/rock chops of Buddy Whittington, and the ever present and always-in -the -pocket grooves of long time drummer Joe Yuele and bassist Hank Van Sickle. And yes, John invited me up on stage to jam, making me this festival's number on musical "whore"!! But seriosly, folks, the camaraderie I felt with all of the other blues mates, and my old mentor John Mayall, for two days in Davenprt, will keep my soul satisfied for some time.

CHICAGO

Usually we play the club Legend's when is Chicago, and I usually end up at the Kingston Mines to jam in the after hours, but this time we played for two nights at the Mines, July 10 and 11, and it was a blast!! The club is bigger than I recalled, and I found out that they have actually expanded. Thursdays they do a simulcast over the air with a local radio station which I am sure is something else that can be accessed on line. Friday night was made special by a guest appearance from Shun, Koko Taylor's guitarist, and we had a feisty guitar dual.

FOX VALLEY BLUES FESTIVAL

Sat. July 12 was a full moon as we made our way up to Wisconsin for the Fox Valley Blues Festival, where we would share the fun with our pals, Jimmy Thackery and the Drivers. The headliner that day was to be the Reverend Horton Heat. I was so happy to see the two Jimmys and Mark and Ken... ya know, like a little kid at a birthday party!! We blasted through our set, which felt great. I am so loving the way audiences are embracing Roy's keyboard thang!!

So I'm sittin' in the merch booth, selling my C.D.'s after the set, and what do I see on the table? A brand new Blues Review Magazine with Jimmy Thackery's mug on the cover!! Congratulations Jimmy... ya know you are a monster!! Of course I joined Jimmy on stage after my sales, and we did our thang!! As the set drew to a close, we began packing up our gear, and the promoter comes up and says that maybe we should hold off and leave it up there for a bit as it seemed the Reverend had not yet arrived. He was back at the motel, and the promoter had gone to pick him up; I thought gee, this guys is really going for the "star treatment" thing. But what was really happening was that the Reverend hadn't felt well all day and was trying to get it together to perform. As he arrived at the festival site he began to go into a seizure and paramedics had to be called, and they ended up rushing him to the hospital!! Apparently this is not the first time this has happened to him, and this can't be a good sign. But we didn't get too much time to worry about now, as it was decided that the new headlining act would be the combined efforts of Jimmy and my bands together, performing a mega jam!! Meanwhile a full moon had begun to rise over the festival site and aside from a small core group of Horton Heat fans who were really pissed off that he wasn't playing and had to be thrown off of the grounds, the audience bellied up to the stage in a full moon trance and it was a beautiful thing!!

PITTSBURGH BLUES AND BREWS

What a cool festival!! Of course this is always subjective, and July 19th was a gorgeous clear day; hot but with low humidity. So I felt great for our set, and we had a full arena for our set. The big stage is set between two old brick buildings; the brewery itself and the bottling factory. Above the stage runs a giant pipe through which the beer moves to be bottled, and many performers through out the day are hoping for a small leak! Behind the stage run the train tracks, and timing was on our side as A.J. blew his train whistle at the start of Chicago Line, and then the actual train came through for the duration of the tune!! Very cool, and totally enjoyed by the fans. It was one of those sets where I really felt a connection with the crowd and a highlight was a guest appearance by local blues star Jill West. First she added harmony vocals to Half Caf Decaf, and then did her own up-tempo rendition of Sugar Coated Love.

Next up was Charlie Musselwhite. What a sweet and soulful presence Charlie always has! And now that his current band, featuring L.A. hot shot Kirk Fletcher on guitar, is back to playin' nothin' but the blues Charlie really shines on both powerful vocals and harp. Have ya ever noticed how photogenic he is with those great eyebrows? A.J. clicked away and we couldn't find a bad shot in the bunch. The headliner on our day was Lonnie Brooks, and as always, he and his band, featuring one of his sons, Wayne Baker, was full of fun, fire, and top-notch showmanship. Lonnie has a smile that melts a gal's heart, and Wayne says he's really got to keep an eye on dad, cuz he's such a magnet!! (I guess that's why mom encouraged all of her sons to take up guitar and the road with their pop!)

At the close of Lonnie's set, it was obvious that the audience wouldn't let him go, so Lonnie pulled out some chairs, invited me on stage, and we proceeded to play an acoustic mini-set for the crowd; improvising harmonies and call and response vocals. It was such a blast, and Lonnie continued to hold court like a preacher, and I think the pictures will speak louder that the words.