New Clapton Set Salutes Robert Johnson

[LS]

Roland said:

No problem. I wish I had more time because I usually don't have enough to get through everything when I find a few minutes to log in here.

He has me sold too. Which do you recommend starting with, Live At The Wetlands or Unclassified? The clips from both sound good to me.

Well I kinda keep pretty irregular hours...long on work and short on sleep ...but just got through the last major work hurdle (least for a while...please, please, please... ) so I just might have a shot now at keeping up with things a little better.

They both are good...but I'd go with Unclassified first- that one presents a broader scope of his music where Wetlands is a little on the 'jammier' side.

[Roland]

LS said:

Well I kinda keep pretty irregular hours...long on work and short on sleep ...but just got through the last major work hurdle (least for a while...please, please, please... ) so I just might have a shot now at keeping up with things a little better.

They both are good...but I'd go with Unclassified first- that one presents a broader scope of his music where Wetlands is a little on the 'jammier' side.

You did right by Albert Cummings so Unclassified it is then. I'll most likely get the other later, but one at a time is all my budget allows.

[snizz]

LS said:

...but just got through the last major work hurdle (least for a while...please, please, please... ) so I just might have a shot now at keeping up with things a little better.

High five, another fanfriggintastic job Red!

[LS]

snizz said:

High five, another fanfriggintastic job Red!

Back at ya snizz- oh king of 'improvise and adapt.' ;D Couldn't have pulled it off without the ace troops!!

[snizz]

LS said:

Back at ya snizz- oh king of 'improvise and adapt.' ;D Couldn't have pulled it off without the ace troops!!

What're you doing around here on a Saturday night?

[LS]

snizz said:

What're you doing around here on a Saturday night?

Just settin' in my rockin' chair...finished picking all the blue M&Ms out of the bag...ran out of things to do... ;D
Eh- just didn't feel much like goin' out...

[snizz]

LS said:

Just settin' in my rockin' chair...finished picking all the blue M&Ms out of the bag...ran out of things to do... ;D
Eh- just didn't feel much like goin' out...

C'mon. Unfunk!

Did you see the write up?

WITH THE BAND
Rafer Guzmán

Delta Blues Migrates To The Island For Festival
July 23, 2004

If you attended the final day of the sixth annual Riverhead Blues Festival, you could be forgiven for thinking you were somewhere along the Mississippi Delta. Along with some sizzling local blues acts, there was plenty of fried food, a Southern-style rainstorm and even a bar brawl - between two women, yet.

Born in small clubs and disreputable juke joints, the blues wasn't really made for festivals, even though that's increasingly where people hear the music. The blues often loses its raunchy edge when played on big stages under corporate banners. But not at Riverhead. Most bands got down and dirty, singing about drinking, fighting and, of course, sex. (Few strayed beyond the equivalent of a PG-13 rating - there were children present, after all.)

Early in the day, local stalwart Little Toby Walker played an amiably saucy set of originals and covers on the Main Stage near the Peconic River. His own tunes held up well against the vintage material: "Muleskinner Man" was an effective facsimile of an old blues narrative, and "Main St. Rag" did a fine job of re-imagining the footloose feel of Memphis in the 1920s. (You can catch Walker at 7:30 tonight at Nawlin's Grille, 44 Willis Ave., Mineola; 516-747-8488. Admission is free.)

On the small West Stage just across Peconic Avenue, The Defibrillators played a decidedly adult set: With their combined age totaling 320, according to singer Sonny Meadows, the six-piece band delivered tongue-in-cheek songs for the Act Two generation. Among the highlights was an ode to a new set of dentures and a ballad that provided a senior's perspective on heartbreak: "30 years of marriage, then you set yourself free/30 years of cholesterol couldn't do what you done to me."

One major surprise was The Pat Hunter Blues Experiment, which shook up the Vail-Leavitt Music Hall with a combination of Hunter's powerhouse vocals and the roadhouse keyboards of Danny Kean. Hunter, a Five Towns native, usually leads the funk/soul act MISbHAVIN, but here she charged through a set of rowdy blues that earned a standing ovation. Check out www.misbhavin.com for more information.

The Kerry Kearney Band (www .kerrykearney.com) deserves an award for best improvisation: When its first song on the main stage was interrupted by a sudden downpour, the band set up shop in the cramped back room of Club 91, a dive bar with wood paneling and Christmas lights thumbtacked to the low-hanging ceiling. With singers Sam "Bluzman" Taylor and Alexis P. Suter sitting in, Kearney's six-piece group raced through some truly raunchy tunes (one was titled "Love Me Down Here") with fleet-fingered skill and infectious energy.

At one point, a volunteer encouraged the crowd, "Imagine you're in a club in Chicago back in the late '50s." That wasn't hard, especially when two women started fighting in the aisles: One bopped the other in the forehead and received a face full of the other's drink in return. (Their menfolk exchanged words but mostly stayed out of it.) As Kearney and company wrapped up with Robert Johnson's "Sweet Home Chicago," the blues seemed very much alive in Riverhead.

Copyright © 2004, Newsday, Inc.

[LS]

Yeah...nice. And soooooo dang close ...it couldn't wait two stinkin' hours??

[snizz]

LS said:

Yeah...nice. And soooooo dang close ...it couldn't wait two stinkin' hours??

Improvise and adapt. ;D It worked out and wasn't near the challenge last year's weather was.