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past show reviews How do you begin to talk about a miracle? We had so many questions and worries for so many months, NO government funding at all, or philanthropic grants, and no idea if anyone would show up for our first festival - and look at what happened! The passion that everyone involved has for the music, and for their community, is what carried us through. From the local sponsors and media support, to the number of people who traveled from far and wide to attend, to the pride of the fairgrounds staff and festival volunteers, to some of the greatest live music I’ve ever heard, I think we got the recipe right! I just hope someone remembers all the ingredients! I could write a book of all the wonderful things that
happened on June 30, 2007, but I’ll keep it manageable by listing just some of
my own personal highlights. I’ll let song titles and lyrics help tell the
story: Sun Gonna Shine On My Backdoor Someday The weather, despite frying my face and dome, was
spectacular. By alternating stages, the music kept flowing, and with the tents
and pavilion, people enjoyed moving in and out of the sun as they wished. Come On In My Kitchen Rave reviews for the food vendors, from the catering to
everything offered to the festival goers. Can I get some more stuffed shells or
a Chicken Caesar wrap? You Gotta Help Me, I Can’t Do It All By
Myself There were many, many comments about how friendly everyone
was, from the parking lot guys to all of the volunteers, to the stage and
production crew. We also had a great
number of our sponsors attend the event, and many expressed how pleased they
were to be associated with us. It’s a Long Old Road,
But I Know I’m Gonna Find The
End The number of people who took the time to travel from so far
away was mind-boggling. People came from I Wonder When I’ll
Get To Be Called A Man At 22 years of age, Dave Gross is a bluesman, hands down. He
has an expressive voice, an engaging, swinging, fluid guitar style, and the
wisdom to surround himself with top-notch band
members. He has shredded many
misconceptions about how many years you have to play, or where you have to be
from, or who you have to learn from to make your bones in the blues. Also, harp
maestro Dave Gruenling got several votes for the
“Coolest Guy of the Day” Award (just ahead of the Elvis Presley dude). I mean,
did you see those boots??!! The fact
that the entire band came back to jam with the Lomeo
Bros. on a cool, late night, several hours after their own performance, and
share the spotlight with Gina Sicilia, made them many
new friends in the Mohawk Valley. Turn Me Loose Fans got their first taste of the festival’s local flavor as
we unleashed Bernie Clarke & the Rhythm Sharks. After grabbing a quick beverage and bite to
eat, people settled in and truly enjoyed the performance, just like we hoped
they would. Don’t Want To Get
Caught Up In You, Baby How could you not get caught up in Roxanne Potvin? She has a special knack for both writing and
recognizing songs with great hooks that stick with you long after you’ve heard
them. With a million-dollar smile, and being so disarmingly charming and
down-to-earth, she won the hearts of hundreds with her presence and her music. Howlin’ For The Wolf Local axeman Jimmy Wolf got a huge
response from the crowd for an all-out assault with his guitar and vocals. I’ve never heard him any better than
that. Also, he had the best nickname of
the day in his band, “Whoopin’ Cough Johnny” on bass
guitar. O, Say, Can You See? Not through the teary eyes of many fans, as Jimmy Thackery closed his incredible set with one of the most
energized versions of our National Anthem many of us have ever seen and heard.
Jimmy has said that when he performs, he tries to put his senses on hold and
find the connection between his heart, his head, and his hands. Rather than
cranking out the same note-by-note set list every show like some jaded
veterans, it takes a special musician to be smart enough to figure out what
he’s feeling and have the skill to express it through his instrument. In a word: unforgettable. Do You Call That A Buddy? Al Nathan, Dan Porter, and Darryl Mattison
clearly enjoyed having old friend Mark Evangelos come
in from No Sorrow No More On the Severn Records website, bassist Michael “Mudcat” Ward writes of Sugar Ray & the Bluetones latest CD, “Have a seat and listen to the
far-reaching music on this disc. If you’re anything like us, you’ll find
yourself thoroughly transported, by blues-playing professionals, and finding
multiple joys in the journey.” It can’t be described any better. These guys are as good as it gets, and if
anyone thought blues was just a bunch of down-on-my-luck songs, this group
demolished that notion with groove, swing, backbeat, barrelhouse piano, some
serious honkin’ on the old tin sandwich, and one of
the sweetest voices in all of blues music. A festival highlight, to be sure. Feels Like Rain During a poignant rendition of John Hiatt’s “Feels Like Rain”, precipitation both started and then stopped, in
the same damn song! If Carl Weathersby didn’t already have everyone in the palm of his
hand, (his earlier crowd walk with a wireless guitar had the fans on their
feet) he surely did after witnessing that amazing turn of events. He closed
with an emotional version of “Hold On” a song of his that never got recorded,
as Hurricane Katrina hit a recording studio in Must Be Jelly, Baby,
‘Cause Jam Don’t Shake Like That The Lomeo Brothers finished things
up the day jamming with Dave Gross and friends. Despite the cool weather and
late hour, many diehards stayed to get one last dose of great blues music. But That Don’t Mean Nothin’ If I Feel Good All The Time Late in the afternoon, I had an elderly gentleman hobbling
with a cane approach me, and say, “I just had to tell you that I’ve been very
ill for the past year and a half, in and out of hospitals, struggling with my
health, and this is the best I’ve felt in all that time.” Wow! I can’t find the
words to describe how I felt right then, but that was all the confirmation I
needed that we had a successful event. - Brian Cornish,
Secretary Blues Society Gathers Food and Cash for
the Community Food Bank What a
night!! In the holiday spirit, everything clicked into place wonderfully well
as Mohawk Valley Blues Society members, fans, and musicians provided more than 15
boxes full of food donations and $71 in cash to the Community Food Bank, and 30
different musicians participated in the blues jam at the Devereux in downtown Host Seth Rochford and friends opened the evening, with the well-traveled
John “Johnny Shoes” Schuster switching off between guitar and harmonica. John offered a number of welcome surprises
during the evening, including the late, great William Clarke’s “Must Be Jelly”
and a “bluesified” version of Tom Waits’ spoken-word
piece “Frank’s Wild Years” During the
opening set, John and Seth were joined by John’s daughter, Emily Schuster. What
a revelation!! Emily can belt out a song like nobody’s business. She captivated the audience all night long
with Shemekia Copeland’s “Has Anybody Seen My Man?”, Maurice John Vaughan’s “I Want to Be Your Spy”, and
closed the evening with the B. B. King’s classic “The Thrill Is Gone” featuring
the “dueling keyboards” of Chip Lamson and guest. Thanks to
all the musicians that showed up to play.
I probably couldn’t remember them all if I tried! Among some
other highlights were: Adam Bishton of Sour Mash
performing “Early in the Morning”; Mick Mercury ringing in the holidays
with “Merry Christmas, Baby”; Steve Quennville - “Buzz Me, Baby”; Rick Bates -“Rock Me, Baby”; Bernie Clarke – “Shake Your Boogie”; Jimmy Wolff and Tom Townsley
adding some superb playing throughout the evening, and the guys from Midnight
Mike and the Big Notes, Bluestreak, and members of
Blueprints all adding to the excitement. A great night for a great cause that once
again demonstrated the tremendous depth of musical talent this area has to
offer. Brian
Cornish Secretary, The Nighthawks On Monday
evening, July 17, 2006 the Mohawk Valley Blues Society partnered with Utica
Monday Night’s “8 at 8” program to present veteran blues road warriors, The
Nighthawks. Mark Wenner
on vocals and harmonica, and Pete “Big Ragu” The group opened with the title cut from their
latest release, “Blue Moon In Your Eye.” Wenner and his bandmates then launched into a
raucous version of Junior Parker’s “Mystery Train.” With more than 30 years worth of playing
experience, Wenner had an ample songbook to draw
from, and selected many crowd favorites.
Among the tunes during their 80-minute set were “Thirty
Days” by Chuck Berry, “Just a Little Bit” by the vastly underappreciated Roy
Head, Johnny Cash’s “Big River”, the classic Jimmy Reed number “Honest I Do”,
“She’s Something Else”, written by Eddie Cochran and popularized by Elvis
Presley, and “You Can’t Judge a Book by Looking at the Cover” from Bo Diddley. A highlight
was Brian
Cornish Secretary, May 5th Little Charlie & the Nightcats Concert Review The Mohawk Valley
Blues Society added to its’ list of impressive shows with a great double bill
at the Hotel Utica last Friday night, May 5th.
The show started off with The Conrad Story Blues Band, hailing from
parts unknown. Sure, they say they’re from “ Featured
performers, Little Charlie & the Nightcats, took the stage to the enthusiastic applause of
blues fans from Brian
Cornish Secretary,
MVBS March 25th Jeremy Wallace Concert
Review In its’
first year of existence, the Mohawk Valley Blues Society set an impressive
standard by presenting five major shows to area music fans. On Saturday, March
25th, a new standard was set for what to expect at future MVBS sponsored
events. Headliner Jeremy Wallace and opening act Ken Allen performed at the
Devereux in downtown Warming up
the audience was MVBS member Ken Allen on guitar, along with Jim “no relation”
Allen on mandolin with some back-porch, finger-pickin’,
down-home, During a
brief intermission, fans listened to some of the songs submitted for the
upcoming Mohawk Valley Blues Society compilation CD, which will be available at
a CD release/benefit concert May 21st. Further details will be announced
shortly. Feature act
Jeremy Wallace is so distinct, he’s nearly indescribable. There are elements
that will remind many of Tom Waits’ voice, Bob Dylan’s lyrics, or Bruce
Springsteen’s ability to tap into the feelings of the common man. The
comparisons don’t do justice to seeing and hearing Wallace live.
Shortly into Wallace’s first set, during “Lickin’ My
Lips”, a handful of individuals created an impromptu dance floor. A few tunes
later, when Wallace ripped into his rollicking “Since You Left”, the Devereaux exploded with the energy of dozens of dancing,
clapping, stomping fans. Almost lost in the frenzy of that song are the lyrics:
“I'm on some broken down highway where nothin' good
has ever been/ Where the lovers lied and the children
cried and the poets don't have pens." Jeremy Wallace songs are filled with
such brilliant writing, and populated by broken cars, broken hearts, and broken
dreams, with ragged and roughshod characters who, while longing for days gone
by, still find reasons to hope for redemption. Wallace was
sure to play his more well-known tunes, such as “Johnny”, “$1.49”, and
“Stephanie’s Kitchen”, but may have demonstrated the range of his abilities
best with his versions of “St. James Infirmary”, and a take on “Statesboro
Blues” that is so far from a cover version that if I didn’t know better, I’d
think Wallace wrote it himself. Perhaps the highlight of the evening was when
Wallace asked the crowd if he could slow things down from a very frenetic pace,
and you could have heard a pin drop when he offered a riveting version of his
heart-wrenching song “ Wallace was engaging,
humorous, easily approachable, and provided the best damn $10.00 worth of
musical entertainment anyone ever spent. Listen to his music, and go see him
live. You can thank me later. Brian
Cornish, Secretary 03/08/06 Bernie Clark and the Rhythm
Sharks Last evening
at Poor Richard's Pub at the New Hartford Ramada Inn, the MVBS enjoyed one of
the most energetic jams we've ever had. Host band,
Bernie Clark and the Rhythm Sharks, started things off with a hopping set featuring
the interplay of Following
the Sharks set, several interesting and talented musicians joined forces for a
very entertaining jam. Steve Fonda on flute for " Upwards of
40 people enjoyed a great night of blues. Pass the word about the jams, every
second Wednesday, and join us at our shows featuring regional and national
acts. We also were
fortunate to have Matt Moran from the Rome Observer, and Life &Times of "All
the Blues That's Fit to Print" -Brian
Cornish, Secretary Blues With a
Feeling This review
was is from the Slow Food Dude column in Doubly Mad monthly issue written by
Orin Domenico owner of Cafe Domenico The blues,
our great American heritage, came to many of us white folks, the Dude included,
through a very circuitous route. The Dude was born and raised smack dab in the
middle of the great post-war blues explosion, when, from Memphis to Chicago,
immigrants from the Mississippi Delta were plugging in and changing the course
of American pop culture. Not that we could hear any of this great music in
Utica or Rome, where the airwaves were dominated by the likes of Perry Como and
Dinah Shore, soon to be followed by Bobby Vee and
Connie Francis. What it took for the blues to reach the hinterland was a German
promoter bringing American Blues greats like Muddy Waters, Howling Wolf, and
Sonny Boy Williamson to Europe, so that English boys like Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Eric Burdon and Eric Clapton could
hear them, emulate them and bring them back to us in a somewhat paler and safer
guise. The Dude,
who is part Sicilian Blood Hound, went to work way back when sniffing out who
McKinley Morganfield, Chester Burnett and the other cats were who got
songwriting credit on the Stones better than average covers of American blues.
What he found changed his life forever. The blues gets in your blood, gives you
a way of seeing through or getting under the pasteurized Wonder Bread world thats being sold to you as the
real thing. Blues opens the door to colorful language and genuine feeling; they
don't pretend life is all smiley-face happy but celebrate it just the same. As the Dude
has deepened with age, like a fine wine (or ripened, like a chunk of old
cheese) he's turned more to jazz as his mainstay, but, as the song says, he'll
never get out of the blues alive. So when Rob Bishton,
Neil Beswick and some other fellow afficionados started the Mohawk Valley Blues Society, less tah a year ago, the Dude was delighted. I figured they'd
find some local interest, but never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined
how far the MVBS would come in such a short time. On Friday, November 4th, at
the Hotel Utica, they sponsored their fifth, most ambitious and most wildly
successful concert event yet. Duke Robillard, guitar,
and Jerry Portnoy, harp, each among the top
contemporary masters on his instrument, combined forces for two long sets
before a very appreciative sellout audience. The Hotel was easily the best
venue yet and the dance floor up front near the band was a great improvement.
So, a big thanks is due to all the MVBS members and Orin Domenico Friday night, November 4, 2005 will likely be remembered as a
watershed date for the fledgling Mohawk Valley Blues Society. Partnering with
the venerable Opening the show were area favorites Mick Mercury and the Meteors. Mick and the guys were in fine form,
with hyperactive Big Al “Pops” Cancelino stomping the
stage like a man possessed, blowing his harp and trading vocals with Mick. The
band set the pace for the rest of the evening by filling up the dance floor
with their closing number, the Slim Harpo boogie “Hip
Shake”. Next up was
the incomparable Duke Robillard. Many of us have seen
and heard all of the latest hot-stuff blues guitar artists over the past 10-20
years. Well, Duke has been doing it for damn near 40 years, and from his
opening numbers, he reminded us that it’s not how many notes you can play
quickly, it’s playing the right note at the right time that counts. As the
saying goes, you don’t call someone a good author just because they type fast.
As sweet and pure a guitar tone as you will ever hear, Duke covered the
spectrum from jazz inflected tunes, to shuffles, to back-in the-alley blues, to
roll up the rug boogies. Duke’s band included saxophone, keyboard, and the
always crowd-pleasing stand-up bass, and their top-notch musicianship perfectly
complemented his understated brilliance on guitar. Billy Boy Arnold has called
Duke “the greatest living blues guitarist”, and later in the evening, we heard
Jerry Portnoy himself say of Duke, “Believe me, I’ve
played with them all, and he’s THE MAN!” After Friday night, do any of us dare
argue? Joining Duke
for the final set of the night was a true master, Jerry Portnoy.
After settling in with the band for one song, he then got the crowd dancing
with “the Harmonica National Anthem”, Little Walter’s “Juke”. During the course
of his set, he covered Horace Silver’s “Doodlin’”,
which allowed the entire band to be showcased on this jazzy tune. Some of the
standouts of his set were the tongue-in cheek “Charge It”, a unique and
diversified cover of “Misty”, and a return to Little Walter for “Blues with a
Feeling”. Jerry had the dance floor crowded all night, and when I turned
around, the rest of the crowd was tapping their feet, wiggling in their seats
as well. The show reached its’ peak when Jerry stepped out front of the band
and the monitors for his tour-de-force “Blues in a Dream”, which brought the
crowd to their feet for a prolonged standing ovation. Jerry Portnoy
made the harmonica squeak, sing, growl, and cluck like a chicken. If you had
told me he could make it walk down to the corner and pick up a bottle of
bourbon, I’d have believed you. For their encore, Duke and Jerry ripped into
Elmore James’ “I Love My Baby”. Elmore may love his baby, but not as much as we
loved listening to these two gentlemen. If Duke Robillard
and Jerry Portnoy aren’t in a class by themselves,
then it certainly doesn’t take long for roll call. If you were
there, tell your friends. If you missed it, bring your friends with you next
time. I would expect that the synergy of the MVBS and KAC working together will
reap future success as well. Get on board and join us, ‘cause
now that this train is rolling, it ain’t stopping
anytime soon! -Brian
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