King of the Blues
3.9.06
Monterey
County Herald :: By Beth Peerless
Is all this rain and freezing weather getting you, well,
wet and cold? Are you beginning to dream of summer on the Central Coast,
with at least a fair bet that better weather will prevail?
Memorial
Day, the holiday weekend that kicks off the summer season, always has
lots of events and activities to choose from, but I'd say this is the
year to attend the 14th Annual Santa Cruz Blues Festival at the beautiful
Aptos Village Park.
The official
release of the lineup is here now and it's awesome. The biggest name
for the May 27-28 bash is blues legend B.B. King, on what is being considered
his last worldwide tour.
He tops
the Saturday, May 27 lineup, with Roomful of Blues, Coco Montoya, Rod
Piazza and the Mighty Flyers and Mighty Mike Schermer providing a fine
lead-up to the spectacular finale.
Sunday
has a couple bands headlining that are quite certainly influenced by
the blues, but most don't consider them blues acts.
Los Lobos
takes the top spot on Sunday, May 28, with John Hiatt a close runner-up.
North Mississippi
All-Stars, Dave Alvin & The Guilty Men and The Boneshakers round
out the dazzling package for the two-day festival.
The Santa
Cruz Blues Festival is a whole’nother deal from the annual blues
party in Monterey.
It's held
in a grassy bowl surrounded by a gorgeous backdrop of evergreen trees.
It's all for one and one for all, meaning there's one big stage for
all the acts. It's compact in comparison, but always a high-octane level
of intensity and quality.
Festival
promoter Bill Welch and crew know the music scene inside and out. All
are seasoned music industry professionals, and Welch books music into
Moe's Alley year round.
Know that
your ticket is buying the best. Tickets are on sale now online at www.santacruz
bluesfestival.com, and beginning March 17, available through Moe's Alley
and at Streetlight Records in Santa Cruz and San Jose.
Find more
information at the Web site and by calling the festival hotline at 479-9814.
Sons of
Champlin were up to the task of breaking in a few new songs from its
recent release, "Hip Lil' Dreams" at The Catalyst Saturday
night.
The title
cut was one of those gems, and it is like the name says, a journey into
the depths of one's consciousness.
The arrangement
had several levels, one being the underlying rock riff that has heavy
bass drum and guitar, and the vocal harmonies suggesting an ominous
portent.
But the
song's writer Bill Champlin has a way of floating a lighter vibe on
top of the rock tune's heavy message of a love going down the drain.
The live
version sounded great, with guitarist Carmen Grillo giving it added
life with his cool solo.
The album
was a project in the making for more than two years, so many of the
new songs were last played by the band back in the early stages of recording.
While hanging
out with the guys before the show, keyboardist/vibraphonist Geoff Palmer
told me the band had only enough time to work up a couple songs for
performance.
That was
fine, as lots of fans do still want to hear the older tunes like "Dream
On," "For Joy," "Maybe," "Freedom"
and "Get High."
The Sons
are a funky dance band, but the players' chops are the main event.
Two Tower
of Power alumni were supplying the horns. Mic Gillette swung between
tuba and trumpet effortlessly. That's a mind-blower in itself.
Personally,
I was stoked to have the chance to connect with guest saxophonist Skip
Mesquite, who was a founding member of Tower of Power and a former neighbor
of mine in the East Bay suburb of Castro Valley.
On top
of being one of the great songwriters/musicians of our times, Champlin
was his usual charming self.