stxrus
02-15-2003, 02:07 PM
now that i have some time here is my observations of the STX Blues Festival. this was put on in conjunction with the Legendary Blues Cruise.
opening at 3:30pm on the nose (a rarity here in the west indies) was a local scratch band "Stanley & the Ten Sleepless Knights". with a mixture of calypso, quelbe, & just fun music they wowed the early arrivals from the blues cruise. not technically a blues band, but their west african rhythms had a bluesy feel.
Rev Bill C wirtz was the MC and did a few numbers between sets as the changeouts were going on.
Safire, the Uppity Blues Women came on next and even though the lead singer was a bit under the weather (rummer has it that she fell head first into a bottle of rum) and had basically no voice shee (and the band) put on a killer show. sounding somewhat like Koko Taylor they belted out some cool female (sided) blues. they did comment that it was hard to be blue when the water and sky are both blue and the temps are in the mid 80s.
next up was L'il Ed and the BelAirs. DAMN!! these guys have been here before but not like this. somebody somewher lit a fire under these guys asses. great guitar licks, hard driving lines and a rhythm section that was tighter than a 12 year old.
Jimmy Thackery & the Drivers came out and just kicked some proverbial ass. with only a drummer, bass, and sax player they put up a wall of sound that even got the jaded ones attention. someone of the name of Tom Mooney (Moody?) sat in for one tune and added a nice second to Jimmy.
the next to last act (and my perenial favorite was Taj Mahal. as last time he was here, he brought the Hula Blues Band. 3 uke players, a standup bass, a lap steel player, and a dude from the cape verde islands (the ONLY non hawaiian except Taj) that played pan flute, picollo, flute, Bb clarinet, tenor sax, alto sax, and a small curved soprano sax. what a tight and together group of musicians!!
TAj began by telling the crown about his caribbean (st. kitts) and stateside (s. carolina) roots. the 1st 2 tunes were more polynesian in feel and a coulpe of idiots began to shout "play some blues". Taj blew them off and did a west african thing that had a bluesy groove to it. the rest of the set was typical Taj Mahal blues with some cool runnings from the newest album.
(an aside) for Taj's set we were about 5' from the stage. close enough to hear the direct music, not the mix. unfortunately some of the vocals were not as clear because we were so close. but all of the instruments were THERE.
Because of time constraints ther ewere no encores because the ship had to get its passengers back onboard so the could depart before midnight. port authority rules.
the headliner was Tyrone Davis & the Platinum Band. we did not catch him because my car is dyinga dn i didn't want to get stranded late at night.
folks that stayed said Tyrone was ill and was not up to par. the band was tits on but Tyrone just wasn't on. bummer.
tota numbers: just under 1000 from the ship. they represented europe, se asia, s. america, africa (n & s), canada, america, & the caribbean. locals and tourists from stx plus those from, stt, stj, nevis, puerto rico, grenada, stv, & jamaica made for aprox 1200 in ticket sales. tickets went for $10.00.
charlie campbell (local promoter) is in negotiations for next year. please keep a positive thought for next year. a bigger & better St. Croix (international??) Blues Festival.
i know this may seem pretty silly to a bunch of you that get good music on a regular basis. here in paradox these sort of things are few & far between. maybe this is a dawning of a new era. STX as a blues mecca. what a dream.
thanks for reading this tome.
peace
:stxrus
steve
opening at 3:30pm on the nose (a rarity here in the west indies) was a local scratch band "Stanley & the Ten Sleepless Knights". with a mixture of calypso, quelbe, & just fun music they wowed the early arrivals from the blues cruise. not technically a blues band, but their west african rhythms had a bluesy feel.
Rev Bill C wirtz was the MC and did a few numbers between sets as the changeouts were going on.
Safire, the Uppity Blues Women came on next and even though the lead singer was a bit under the weather (rummer has it that she fell head first into a bottle of rum) and had basically no voice shee (and the band) put on a killer show. sounding somewhat like Koko Taylor they belted out some cool female (sided) blues. they did comment that it was hard to be blue when the water and sky are both blue and the temps are in the mid 80s.
next up was L'il Ed and the BelAirs. DAMN!! these guys have been here before but not like this. somebody somewher lit a fire under these guys asses. great guitar licks, hard driving lines and a rhythm section that was tighter than a 12 year old.
Jimmy Thackery & the Drivers came out and just kicked some proverbial ass. with only a drummer, bass, and sax player they put up a wall of sound that even got the jaded ones attention. someone of the name of Tom Mooney (Moody?) sat in for one tune and added a nice second to Jimmy.
the next to last act (and my perenial favorite was Taj Mahal. as last time he was here, he brought the Hula Blues Band. 3 uke players, a standup bass, a lap steel player, and a dude from the cape verde islands (the ONLY non hawaiian except Taj) that played pan flute, picollo, flute, Bb clarinet, tenor sax, alto sax, and a small curved soprano sax. what a tight and together group of musicians!!
TAj began by telling the crown about his caribbean (st. kitts) and stateside (s. carolina) roots. the 1st 2 tunes were more polynesian in feel and a coulpe of idiots began to shout "play some blues". Taj blew them off and did a west african thing that had a bluesy groove to it. the rest of the set was typical Taj Mahal blues with some cool runnings from the newest album.
(an aside) for Taj's set we were about 5' from the stage. close enough to hear the direct music, not the mix. unfortunately some of the vocals were not as clear because we were so close. but all of the instruments were THERE.
Because of time constraints ther ewere no encores because the ship had to get its passengers back onboard so the could depart before midnight. port authority rules.
the headliner was Tyrone Davis & the Platinum Band. we did not catch him because my car is dyinga dn i didn't want to get stranded late at night.
folks that stayed said Tyrone was ill and was not up to par. the band was tits on but Tyrone just wasn't on. bummer.
tota numbers: just under 1000 from the ship. they represented europe, se asia, s. america, africa (n & s), canada, america, & the caribbean. locals and tourists from stx plus those from, stt, stj, nevis, puerto rico, grenada, stv, & jamaica made for aprox 1200 in ticket sales. tickets went for $10.00.
charlie campbell (local promoter) is in negotiations for next year. please keep a positive thought for next year. a bigger & better St. Croix (international??) Blues Festival.
i know this may seem pretty silly to a bunch of you that get good music on a regular basis. here in paradox these sort of things are few & far between. maybe this is a dawning of a new era. STX as a blues mecca. what a dream.
thanks for reading this tome.
peace
:stxrus
steve