The Long Road to the Emerald City Blues Festival

This blog was going to be a recap of the awesome time I had at this year’s ECBF, but the story of how I got there might be more informative for DJ’s and readers.

You might say I took the long road to DJ’ing in the northwest. About two years earlier I introduced myself by email to organizers on the west coast who suggested I buy myself a ticket west to DJ some house parties and see if I could get invited to DJ a weekly gig where I might catch the attention of someone who’d ask me to come back another time to do a monthly dance.

Portland seemed a particularly tough nut to crack when they explained I’d have to come out and do a 6 month DJ apprenticeship. It would mean 3 months watching a local DJ spin, followed by a month trading supervised 3 song mini-sets and then 2 more months playing 30 minute house party sets before graduating to DJ a full set at a weekly dance.

In fact, several people mentioned that DJ’ing large regional blues gigs in NYC, Philly and throughout the southeast, didn’t mean a thing to anyone west of the Mississippi if they hadn’t been there to experience it themselves.

Looking back now, I realize, at the time, I was the only person I knew DJ’ing acoustic and country blues in the east-- also, the growling trombones and weepy, wailing clarinets that make me melt. It seemed everyone else in the mid-Atlantic states was fixated on guitar heavy Chicago blues and the same dozen “standards.” One night a local event organizer told me, “Even though the DJ’s before me tonight played over half my songs, this was my best set ever.” He finished up with Nina Simone’s “Ain’t No Sunshine” and the statement, “If a song is good enough to hear once in a night, it’s good enough to hear 3 times.” So, maybe the west coast could be forgiven if they felt a bit superior about their taste in music at the time.

But I didn’t buy that plane ticket to play house parties or do an internship; instead I politely joked I’d just keep DJ’ing big gigs in the east until they had to call and invite me out on my terms. In the meantime, I experimented, researched, began editing songs to make them tighter, and continually met a growing number of dancers from the west coast at events who’d go home and tell their friends how much they enjoyed my sets.

In the end, I think my finally getting that phone call from the west some 2 years later came in some small part as the result of some luck.

Sadly, Heather Adams, who’d DJ’ed the blues room with me at ATLX, had to cancel DJ’ing last year’s Enter the Blues due to a death in her family. The organizers asked me if I could step up and take her prime time slot on Friday night as well as mine on Saturday. Also, another scheduled DJ had gotten annoyed he wasn’t offered Heather’s slot and called in sick at the last minute to stay home and dance, so I was given his time as well. In the end, that meant I got to play two solid 2+ hour sets that instructors Topher Howard and Brenda Russell and others greatly enjoyed.

So, I was particularly thrilled to be invited out to Seattle as a headline DJ alongside Steven "Dr Feelgood" Watkins, Tina "Sweet T" Davis and "Our Downtown" Julie Brown at this year’s ECBF. The truth is, had I come out earlier, I wouldn’t have been prepared to “trade ones”, alternating every other song on an equal footing with those other top notch DJ’s.

In the end ECBF was the most amazing dance weekend I’ve ever attended. All the music was incredible and the instructor lineup Brenda Russell and Barry Douglas, Steven and Virginie, Ogden and Amanda, and Topher Howard & Mike the Girl Legett was tremendous. Seattle is also arguably the most delightful city around. Even organizer Martin Beally, who’d like to keep up his reputation as a demanding hard-ass, was a wonderfully warm and personable host (on top of running a super efficient event).

In short, I’ll be taking a direct flight to ECBF next year and you all should as well.

Racism sends blues to the back of the bus

Jazz master Wynton Marsalis recently told CNN that blues has always been a marginalized form of music because of racism. “It came from who we didn't like. That's what it was -- it wasn't that we couldn't see it. It was who it came from, we did not like them.” He explained that blues music is in country, in jazz, in rock and roll but when its straight up blues, its been institutionally exploited for profit or flat out rejected by white recording companies and is therefore now rejected by the African American community as well.

Case in point... last night, I went to a Discovery Music series blues concert at the local Attucks Theatre in Norfolk, Virginia and was surprised when the MC told the roughly 40 people in the mostly empty theatre, “I’m glad to see so many more people coming out for events than we had last year.” It made me sad to see the historic black theatre so empty for a young musician, John Bigham (The soul of John Black), who mixes blues, soul, R&B and rap and who’s played with Dr. Dré, Eminem, Fishbone, Miles Davis, Everlast and Nikka Costa. Why were the few people in attendance 60 year old white men with pony tails and their wives? There were maybe 5 African Americans in the theatre.

It reminded me of the day I watched a blues concert in Norfolk and overheard a group of white men from the local Natchel Blues Network loudly celebrating having pushed “that black bitch” out of elected office in their organization and “who did she think she was anyway, thinking she could tell me anything about the blues?” Yup, a black blues singer worthy of membership in Safire, the Uppity Blues Woman for sure. I wrote a letter of complaint and cancelled my membership in the organization the next day.

Since then I've concluded that blues here in southeast Virginia is controlled by those "good old boys". This year’s Virginia’s Blues at the Beach (sponsored by the Natchel Blues Network) listed 15 featured artists – 13 of them were white and all but one were male (no wonder they all sounded homogenously the same). Similarly, all the performers at the organization's Hampton Acoustic Blues Revival this year were white (again with one token female). Meanwhile the organization’s current favorite son is an African American artist whose new album “Wall Street Blues” features heavily produced, suburbanized (sanitized and safe) blues that fuses adult contemporary, Calypso, beach music, rockabilly and just enough boogie woogie to not be threatening or edgy.

Meanwhile, talented local African American blues artists like the Blues Empacts, and those with female performers like Jackie Scott and the Homewreckers, the MSG Acoustic Blues Trio, and the Black White Blues Bands, are left struggling for the same attention given to performers who look more like the promoters do.

I'd say Wynton described it perfectly, at least in southeast Virginia. Maybe its different elsewhere.

Blues Muse Recap

In the name of full disclosure I should start out by mentioning I’ve got a vested interest in Blues Muse since it was originally my baby in 2008 and the LAB organizers in Philadelphia have agreed if they should decide not to continue it, I can take it on the road; plus I’m one of the event DJ’s. So one could accuse me of being a bit biased when I say this year’s event again showed Philadelphia is the city that knows how to throw the east coast’s most awesome blues party.

Of course, the big story for east coast blues scenes for much of this year was NYC and DC simultaneously locking into blockbuster events on the Blues Muse weekend and being forced to split the pool of dancers. Thankfully, Philly organizers were able to shift the event two weeks later to October 16-18, which meant everyone came back together in the middle with the opportunity to share what they’d picked up two weeks earlier.

Once again this year’s lineup of muses was first rate. While last year’s event featured an all east coast lineup, host muses Carsie Blanton and Mike Legett this year brought in Boston’s Julie Brown and the Pacific Northwest’s Abby Kunnecke and Karissa Lightsmith. Rounding out the instructors were dude extradinaire Reuel Reis, and locals Jon Darvill, Stuart Collins & Jesse Young. Not only were the instructors from a wider range, but the organizers had California’s Cid Galicia join “the Mid-Atlantic Big 3” of Mike Marcotte, Corey Wright and I as DJ’s. Plus, Chicago’s Ruby Red stepped in to cover DJ’ing on Friday night for a while since the rest of us were caught in traffic or looking for parking.

In a nutshell, this year’s event was bigger, smoother, and better than last years debut success. The Ethical Society is an awesome venue for classes. Philly continually does late night food like no other place I’ve seen (although Atlanta’s crepes are pretty cool) and the locals are some of the most enthusiastic, friendly and best educated dancers around. Bringing in some of the best instruction from elsewhere in the country just helped put the cherry on top.

Nicely done once again Philadelphia!

Nina Simone Sings the Blues

Emusic now boasts 47 separate albums by Nina Simone, many of which offer alternate live recordings of her classic blues standards.

This month I’m particularly enjoying the 2006 remastered re-release of Nina Simone 1967 RCA debut album “Nina Simone Sings the Blues.” I’d tell you more, but that would deprive you the joy of discovering some great “new” recordings by one of my favorite artists.

Happy When I'm With You by Gordon Webster

For this month's review, we're staying in Manhattan. For those of you who aren’t NYC regulars or who haven’t heard Gordon Webster since Blues Till Dawn (or his Philly Lindy Love marathon late nights), his second CD release "Happy When I’m With You" is going to knock your socks off. For those of you who are, it's the Gordon "and Friends" you know and love captured live in your very own CD player!

Sure Gordon’s still grooving the piano like the dickens on numbers like “Uptown Sop” and his supporting musicians, like Rob Adkins on bass and Adrian Cunningham on sax and clarinet, are first rate and swinging equally hard. Also, Brianna Thomas is here on vocals, capturing much of the playful energy she packs into live performances on numbers like “All Right, Okay, You Win”, “All of Me”, and particularly “Summertime”, where her vocals and Gordon’s piano work dance together nicely (also listen as Jesse turns in some great muted trumpet work on that track). “September in the Rain”, “Sweet Lorraine”, and “Sometimes I’m happy” are also solid tracks with Brianna on vocals and which have a comfortable, laid back feel.

However, for me, the best work on the album are Gordon’s collaborations with trumpeter/vocalist Jesse Selengut. These 4 numbers brings out a whole new range of piano that those who aren’t familiar with Gordon’s recent work, won’t be aware of. The energetic version of “24 Robbers” packed the dance floor in Richmond with energy last weekend and “Long John” (now available free for a limited time at the link below) and “Bill Bailey” are equally packed with wonderful hard swinging performances by his all star side men. I particularly enjoyed the interplay of Jesse on vocals and Matt on trombone in “I'm Confessin That I Love You”.

There’s truly not a weak cut on this release, which, given the wide range of material, is a testament to Gordon’s abilities as a top notch band leader, above and beyond his great piano work. "Happy When I’m With You" is an appropriate title for this release because it’ll leave you tapping your foot and feeling just that way yourself.

The CD is available for purchase online at:

http://www.gordonwebsterswings.com/

Guerilla Rebellion Underground Blues Supper 3

Each year Virginia Beach puts on a weekend of free Blues at Beach with about a dozen bands on a small outdoor stage sponsored by Budweiser. It’s gone from being a magnet for drunks and the local homeless to a decent event, even if the majority of bands all look and sound the same-- drummer, electric guitar, bass player, and a pudgy 50-something year old guy in a Hawaiian shirt and a big floppy hat. If you’re lucky you’ll get a harmonica player or maybe some boogie woogie piano. It’s definitely a tourist safe, Magaritaville mix of family friendly blues but when the local blues dancers tacked on 2 DJ'ed late nights for $25, the weekend turned into a good excuse to invite dance friends into town for a cheap weekend.

One year dancer Ellen Stantschew from Germany popped in between Herrang Dance Camp and a DJ tour of eastern U.S. cities to DJ the blues late nights and unfortunately was treated less than well by some of the locals. The final straw came with us laughingly walking out of an atrociously bad dinner at Uroma's Restaurant (which, not surprisingly folded soon after) and heading back to our place for Chinese take out over discussions about DJ'ing. Thus was jokingly born the Guerilla Underground Blues Summit (GUBS).

The next year the price of the late night dances jumped to $45 and 8 of my out of town DJ friends came down for the weekend, shared music, danced, enjoyed a lovely dinner prepared by Megan Adair and others, and again got crapped on by the local organizer. So, we jokingly referred to it as "The Son of GUBS" weekend. The following summer, during VBLX we upped the bar for our dinner party by bringing live music and we had 24 guests.

Heading into this year's Blues at the Beach/Dirt Cheap Blues weekend, we were surprised by phone calls and emails from as far away as Boston, Tennessee and Oregon asking if we were throwing another dinner party. I seized on the support to guilt Patty into letting me do another party. Around the same time, Duane Grover suggested GRUBS would be a better acronym for a dinner party and, with that, the even more tongue in cheek, Guerilla Rebellion Underground Blues Supper 3 was conceived.

We spent the month before preparing the menu, inviting guests and cleaning. I have to admit, I had absolutely no idea how many people to expect. We had a solid RSVP for 12 with another 10 probable and 10 more probably nots so I figured 25 and cooked for 40 so there would be leftovers. What I didn't realize was, between my house guests and I, we had 5 of the top Blues DJ's on the east coast lined up playing music for us that night-- even more importantly, everybody else in town knew it.

So, we got the 12, and the 10 probablies, and the other 10 probably nots and then we realized we were going to be looking at a very full house. At 11 o'clock, when the party was supposed to wind down, the dancing was still going full tilt. A group that had just arrived was in the kitchen making deviled eggs and another was starting some baking. Meanwhile, Corey Wright plugged in as DJ to keep the party rolling for those who weren't attending the late night.

Around 1 a.m. Patty and I were sitting on our front steps as Benny Goodman's Vibraphone Blues poured out the windows into the street (and unbeknownst to us, a ukelele jam band playing on the back patio). I smiled at my bemused but overwhelmed wife and said, "Tonight, we're THOSE neighbors, the bad ones. We're going to get the cops called on us for blasting music that was recorded over 60 years ago."

A little later another group we didn't know parked at the end of the long row of cars lining the street and walked to our door. Patty introduced us as the hosts but, to our surprise, they just shrugged and walked in (by our guess as guests 63-65). Patty smiled and said, "they were carrying dancer shoe bags; I guess they're okay."

Around 2 a.m. with the absynthe bottles emptying out things started to wind down and, to our total amazement, by 2:45 a.m. the 20 or so remaining stragglers had finished cleaning up and hauling out the trash and remnants of the previous 8 hours of celebration out before heading over to the late night for closing 2 hours.


It was a magical evening, far exceeding anything Patty and I could have ever imagined (or willingly planned for). We're not sure of everyone who was here or everything that happened. I do know we set a record for the biggest 3 layer cuddle couch of all time. So, incredible amounts of love to everyone who made the evening such a once in a lifetime happening... until next year.

Live at Mona's by Mona's Hot Four

This month’s great find is Live at Mona’s, an album recorded this past winter at NYC’s club of that name on Avenue B between 13th and 14th

Listeners may not recognize the group Mona’s Hot Four by name but dancers will know pianist Gordon Webster, bassist Cassidy Holden, & clarinetist Dennis Lichtman from their solid work with NYC’s Cangelosi Cards. Add Nick Russo on Banjo and guitar and numbers like Temptation Rag are blistering freilachs of musical goodness. Much of the sound here is a more straight forward, fast paced trad jazz that’ll get your bal feet tapping. Most songs are too long for dancing (in the 5-7 minute range), but the performances are musical gems by an assemble that is tight and playing off each other perfectly

Vocalist Tamar Korn adds some of her folksy feel on versions of When You’re Smiling, Puttin’ On the Ritz, and Moonglow. Dan Levinson of the Nighthawks drops in to add clarinet on a few tracks and Jesse Selengut and Rob Adkins of Tin Pan add a great gritty blues feel to Ballin’ the Jack and Tishomingo Blues. You can expect to hear those two cuts when I DJ at upcoming blues gigs.

You can pick up your copy here:
http://losmusicosviajeros.net/mona/purchase.html