With great memories of our trip to the Blues Music Awards and performing at Simply The Blues in Fort Madison, IA., Eric Blume and I headed home to mix our live recordings. We laid them down in February along with engineer Adam Schlenker, keyboardist Graham Guest and bass player Chris Brzezicki at Blues on Whyte in Edmonton.
We’ve also been busy making travel arrangements for a trip to the South of France in late June where we’ll work with my dear friend Teeny Tucker, with whom I’ve also been discussing material for our concert at Carpentras, arranged by my friends Ray and Georges at BlueBridge Network and the possibility of reissuing her “First Class Woman” CD on Nite Owlz Records.
Fortunately, it was back to the stage and away from the telephone and computer world on Saturday night when we performed in my
hometown of Granville, Ohio, just east of Columbus.
The double bill was arranged by Granvillian high school student, Ben Thomas, who leads his own great band, Aces High, and taking place at Brew’s Too. The large music room normally adheres to a strict policy of 21 and over, but waived that this time at Ben’s request, so that friends and fans – all college and high school age – could attend this big double bill.
It was a packed house - lots of parents were there and all of the kids were extremely well-behaved; and they danced up a storm several times during Aces High’s set! It was very cool to see so many young folks really digging the blues. The entire band improves by leaps and bounds each time I hear them, overcoming personnel changes and keeping focused and motivated in moving forwards. It sure makes me feel like the future of the blues is a bright one, as B.B. King is known to note.
Next weekend, we’ll be in town for a show with recent Guitar Center King of The Blues regional semi-finalist “Hurricane” Jerry Loos at The High-Beck and a swingin’ concert at The Bar of Modern Art on Sunday night, before we prepare for a trip to Fort Myers Beach, Florida where we’ll play “A Taste of The Beach” and The Smokin’ Oyster Brewery.
