FAN: More Buddy Guy

I saw Buddy Guy again last night at a small venue outside of Philadelphia. It's the third time I've seen him in as many years. As always, he didn't disappoint. There were two opening acts which made the wait for Buddy a little painful, especially since I was burying Captain & Cokes right across the street.

Coming out first was Moreland & Arbuckle who bill themselves as a Roots/Blues band. They are a trio of vocals/harp, drums and bass/guitar. As fas as musicianship goes, the drummer and guitarist were average at best. The vocals/harp player was good but they really didn't have much stage presence. They only played a handful of songs but I did catch my leg keeping time as as the songs had decent riffs and harp solos. I may pickup some of their stuff today. I met the lead singer while he was selling his music and shirts during the Jimmie Vaughan set when I went to the facility and to buy yet another $2 bottle of water to try to hydrate myself. He seemed like a really nice guy and was excited to play where the Dog is today.....a blues festival near Baltimore.

Jimmie Vaughan came out next and overstayed his welcome if you ask me. When opening up for a legend, I don't think you should be playing what felt like an entire gig. You could tell some folks were there just to see him, but dare I say I was bored to death during his set. In fact, I can't think of one moment or solo to even relate to our loyal 40 readers...lol. I was hoping for some Fabulous Thunderbirds songs but if he played any I didn't recognize them. It sounded to me like mostly bad wedding music but as the Dog knows, I like "blues" blues the most, not doo-wop ish or psuedo blues. The make matters worse, he brought out a female singer whom he must be banging and let her sing about 6 songs. Again, I was not impressed. The act felt old and stale to me, yet he did get a standing ovation when done so maybe I am just missing the boat on Jimmie Vaughan.

Finally after two sets and two intermissions the main attraction came storming out and instantly infused energy into the sleepy crowd. As always he held the crowd's attention in the palm of his hand. From what I remember he played "19 Years Old" (and told the crowd in the middle of it "hey don't be mad at me I didn't write this song" which drew a big laugh), "Hootchie Cootchie Man", "Slippin In", "Fever", "Voodoo Chile", "Skin Deep", "Damn Right I Got The Blues", "Boom Boom" and pieces parts of others that got enveloped between other songs. I dig his other guitarist Rick Hall as well as I've noted here before. I was lucky enough to meet him once too in a hotel in Reading. Buddy's voice is as good as I've heard it and his playing continues to make grown men stand up and yell things. He's the master. All hail Buddy Guy.

FAN: Buddy Guy In Harrisburg

So I went to church on a Thursday night this week. For the second time in about a year I was fortunate enough to see living Blues legend Buddy Guy in concert. The logistics of the event sucked. I quit work at 3:30, drove to Harrisburg. Went to the G-Man for a mostly liquid dinner, walked to the concert, made the 2 hour drive back and finally wound down and got to bed after 1. Woke up at 5:45 to be in at 7 as I'm extremely busy at work. Was it worth it? God, yes. The man is 72......72....think about that....and you would think he's 50, he has that much energy. he played longer than when I saw him last time in Reading. I think he came on at 8:20 and played until slightly before 10.

I'll try to recap what happened but having 5 vodka tonics in less than 90 minutes sometimes changes perception. The ticket named nobody as an opening act so I was hoping Guy would take the stage at 7:30 but no such luck. Again, I only wanted to see Guy and get home. Instead, we were treated to "Indigenous". I texted Stilladog at exactly 7:32 with 'Who the F is Indigenous?'. i got my answer a few minutes later. A good band consisting of some Native Americans. After two songs I said to my frined how much they sounded like Stevie Ray Vaughn. When I looked them up on Wikipedia a short time ago - it mentions the influence of SRV in the opening paragraph. As it turns out, the band isn't really Indigenous any longer. It's one original member, Mato Ninj and a group of capable side musicians. Meh. Mato is completely badass. Voice and guitar. I will get some of his work to check out. I'm more interested now in the original lineup.

After a short intermission, The Damn Right Blues Band came out and started to jam to a standing ovation of maybe 500 people. The forum is on the smallish side and the top ends weren't sold it looked like. Buddy had a world class keys player with him last night who was very very impressive, Marty Sammon. Ric Hall also lit it up again on rhythm and took over twice on blistering solos. The drummer and the bassist are adequate. I don't think he had keys when I saw him last year.

From what I remember he ripped through Hootchie Cootchie Man, Boom Boom Boom Boom, She's 19 Years Old, Vodoo Chile, Damn Right I Got The Blues, Skin Deep, Fever.....more that I am forgetting. Memorable to me was picking a kid out of the audience who gave him a pick during the walk through and taking him up onstage. Usually he allows someone to strum a solo while he plays with the left hand. Nope. He took it off and let the kid jam. He was decent enough. he was 17. If Rio is reading this, Rio would eat him alive, but the kid was OK. He and Sammons played off each other for Fever and it was live art - no other way to describe it. During one quiet stretch as it seemed like he was taking requests, yours truly screamed out 'DAMN RIGHT BUDDY' and with that he ripped right into the song. Goosebumps. We were so close. Some of the solos were just sick. It's so much easier to get into concerts when you have great seats.

I see he's at Jersey's House Of Blues in June. Maybe I'll go again? I didn't stop smiling the entire concert as he adds his own humor into the set. Wow. I just can't say enough good things about seeing him live. Pictures below are from my phone.

Buddy Walks The Crowd

Buddy is so close I could reach out and touch him

Mato Nanji of Indigenous

Religious Experience

Friday night, March 28th 2008, 10:30 PM, I had a religious experience. I went on a blues ride with a master. The master. From the day I started to really appreciate The Blues - one name has summed everything up for me for what style I like to listen to - Buddy Guy. From all the clips I've watched on YouTube to the over 100 songs of his I have on my iPod - it is nothing compared to seeing the man live. He literally had the crowd in the palm of his hands for 70 minutes straight. When he was in his falsetto, you could hear a pin drop in a place that had 750 crazy blues fans in it. When he growled and played a lick to the crowd's appreciation the yells and positive feedback were deafening. The man was born to entertain. I could watch him for 7 hours let alone 70 minutes. He had so much material that he wanted to play that he literally would stop songs in the middle only to call up another classic to start. He started to play "Fever" and I don't think he got the response he wanted from the opening chords so he stopped the band and asked the crowd if they wanted to hear it or not. I guess he didn't like that response either because he said "then I bet you'll like this...." and he went into a superb rendition of "Hootchie Cootchie Man". He also paid tribute to some of his favorites by naming them and playing snippets of their material - most notably "Voodoo Chile" by Hendrix along with some Clapton and John Lee Hooker. I can't say enough good things about the concert - especially when he took his signature stroll through the crowd as he played and flirted with the audience. While on his walk he even left the room only to reappear through another door - taking his walking solo to the hallways. Insane. Also making the trip notable for me was hooking up with my childhood, high school, college, post college...friend of a lifetime whom I hadn't seen in over two years. We got all caught up over Grey Goose and Patron....and Hooters, which we could walk to from our hotel. I also got to meet two of the stars from the Berks County Jazz Festival - first, when we came back from our nightcap - Buddy Guy's guitarist Ric Hall was standing outside of a bass workshop talking to a hotel employee. Side note: How weird is it to have a workshop thats going on at 12:30 AM? Anyway - I walked right up to Ric who was super friendly and shook his hand and told him how good I thought he played for the show. He was so nice and very appreciative. I would pay to just watch Ric and Buddy's Damn Right Blues Band as they are super tight. I found this clip of Ric and Buddy online. It's funny as the person who's filming can't find Ric during his solo as he can't believe it's not Buddy playing. Then as we were paying for breakfast this morning, Brian Bromberg was standing in the entrance gettnig ready to go in. We caught the beginning of his set before we went to the Buddy Guy show and he was literally playing 10 feet from where we were sitting. He was up for a Grammy this year against Herbie Hancock who eventually won. He is an outstanding bass player. Very rhythmic. Incredible fingers. Anyway - I also shook his hand and told him I enjoyed his show. Again, he was very friendly and appreciative. As I got my things to go to my car and walked back past the restaurant - he (Bromberg) was at a table eating and unless the rest of his people were at the buffet, he was by himself. How cool would it have been to go back in and chat him up? He was telling a story during his set of a party last week where he was with Hancock. I bet he has some great stories. It's weird to hear him jam like he does because he looks like a 50 year old college physics professor. Anyway - I had a superb time and I'm going to start watching for more blues shows by the legends and take them in while I can.

Damn Right I Got The Blues

I've seen Eddie Van Halen. I've seen Jimmy Paige. I've seen Steve Vai. I've seen Kenny Wayne Shepherd. I've seen Joe Satriani. On March 28th I'm going to see the Grand Daddy of them all....Buddy Guy. Buddy Guy was Jimmi Hendrix before Jimmi Hendrix was. Though I was always a Zeppelin fan and appreciated other rock acts rooted in the Blues, it wasn't until the weekend The Baltimore Ravens opened their new stadium against the Pittsburgh Steelers in September of 1998 that I got a full dose of the "real" Blues...courtesy of Still A Dog. I was also introduced to Cognac that same weekend. Come to think of it, I believe I was also introduced to the future Mrs. Dog on that trip. My iPod is currently filled with acts I have to explain to some of my friends - Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, James Cotton, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Willie Dixon, Pinetop Perkins & Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown to name a few. Dog sent me mixes on CD to give me a variety of things to listen to so I could start collecting what I liked...and I liked the early electric guitar work.....a lot. I have over 80 tracks by Guy and I love every one of them. Now, I get to check him out at a small venue which is everyone's dream with an artist they like. He'll be at the Sheraton in Reading and the rows of seats only go from A-Z. Since my glass is half full, I can tell you I'm in the 22nd row. I can't wait.

My Scorecard has Buddy Guy Ahead

Was checking out some Blues clips today on YouTube and came across this gem.

I saw this once before but I don't think I appreciated and liked the Blues as much as when I saw this the first time. While all of the guitarists are good, I like Buddy Guy's solo the best in this clip. Jimmy Vaughn's is kind of weird and choppy to me. Maybe it's just me, but I think I enjoyed all the solos more than his. Bonnie owns on the slide! What does The Dog think?