| "BLUES WITH A FEELING 2003" CLUB 77 - HAMILTON, ONTARIO - FEBRUARY 11, 2003 (CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE) |
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| Mark Neveu of Readers Caf� in Dunnville brought along Harry Manx, a former roadie of KBB, and now a successful roots-blues artist in his own right. Harry had just performed to sold-out crowds the two previous nights at Readers and played his original "Only Then Will Your House Be Blessed" and B.B. King's "The Thrill Is Gone", from his highly-praised Wise and Otherwise CD. Jackie Washington, one of only two remaining members of Hamilton's oldest (and probably largest) musical clan, played acoustic guitar and sang, and was enthusiastically applauded by the sold-out crowd. In fact, Club 77 was buzzing all night along, perhaps due to the reunion-like nature of "wakes", which is what I considered this event to be. It was a night for many musicians and fans to meet and greet again, after years of going their separate ways, to mourn the loss of a friend. Although Tim Gibbons, suffering from a broken leg, and Claude Desroches of the Little Red Blues Gang were unable to attend, their bassist, Bucky Buchanan, who had recorded with Richard, was there and performed with one of many all-star "pick-up" bands assembled for the night. Crowbar was at the top of their game, repeating a "dead-on" resurrection of their hit, "Oh, What a Feeling", performed in December at the Ronnie Hawkins Concert in Hamilton. Drummer Greg Zarky has formed a new band in Buffalo with Dan Sturner, erstwhile keyboardist with the John Stephan Band and former player with KBB, as well. John Stephan, a slide guitarist from Palmer, Alaska, is now based in the Seattle area, where he records with his own band as well as numerous other artists, including an excellent harmonica player by the name of Steve Bailey. Although I missed scheduled performances (which apparently and unfortunately were cancelled due to a lack of time) by Jamie Oakes, Gary Kendall, Harrison Kennedy, Brian Griffiths "and many more", despite being in attendance since 7:30 p.m., I did hear sets which included Sonny Del Rio and Neil Nikafor (two of the organizing committee members). Neil played bass in an exciting combo with Tom Wilson, Richard Bell, John Till, Dave Rave, and an unidentified drummer on a cover of The Beatles� "Slow Down", which was irresistible for dancing! (Tom might want to send those dress pants he was wearing off to a tailor, though�). Bob Segarini (The Dudes, Toronto All-Star Blues Band, Anger Brothers, etc.) sang a song, in that "built for the blues" deep voice of his, that was apparently called "Crippled Gary", a fictional old black character chronicling an equally fictional account of the birth of British blues. I believe he was accompanied by Jesse O'Brien on keys and Danny Lockwood on drums, but frankly I lost track of who was doing what with whom, after five straight hours of standing up. |