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| Robert Johnson: probably not accepting engagements this year |
Either that or "Coca-Cola"!
Later ...
H
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| Jimmy gets nervous this time of year... |
Shocked? Horrified? Well, it is the Blues after all.
UPDATE: 5:15PM
FINALLY! Damn Tbaytel and their rumoured wireless capabilities. Anyway. We're in. The place is crawling with more police than in past years but I'm sure there's still trouble to be had if one tries hard enough ... What? ... I mean - thank Heavens for the security and clean living of Canada!
Crowd arriving steady trickle. No music yet. Will keep you posted - I hope.
Best news so far - free Nacho chips.
Better - Mark Potvin is on. Granted he's about as bluesy (in the classic, two packs of smokes and a guitar named Lucille sense) as Glenn Miller but ...why are the Thunder Bay bands always the 'curtain jerkers?'
UPDATE 7:57PM
| Well that was awkward. You could tell something was up when the Community Auditorium's Bob Halvorsen did not have his usual happy smile on his usual happy face. And good reason. The announcement was made by Mark Potvin at 6:20PM that the second act of the opening evening of the 9th Annual Thunder Bay Blues Festival, Michael Burks could not make it across the border. Surely a tire issue. Who would ever think anything different? And it's not like this hasn't happened before, albeit infrequently. It was fortunate for Potvin that things worked out that way. His brand of quasi-Big Band blues was given the extended showcase it deserved rather than the usual curtain jerker spot reserved for Northwestern Ontario acts. And personally I've never found one hour to be quite enough time for an audience to settle in and discover a band's flow. The first evening represented a gathering of the clans as familiar faces were picked out, general foraging and grazing went on at the concession booths (Fox on the Run Beef on a Bun? Not only rhyme-worthy but tasty too). As always the weather cooperated with a gentle breeze breaking a heat that threatened to be intolerable. Then again, every one of the six Blues Festivals I have covered has had letter perfect weather. I suspect sacrifices are involved. I will investigate further and report back tomorrow. Saturday promises to be an extra-special day, beginning with my favourite of Thunder Bay Blues Bands - Slap Johnson and the Trowellers. They hit the stage at noon and Blues Traveler wraps it up in the headline spot. But be prepared to be blown away by Ana Popovic at 6:15, my pick for the artist that will be the show-stopper of 2010. Be there - aloha! UPDATE: 11:29PM Closing Thoughts on the First Day It is pleasantly coincidental that a very soft Irish mist of a summer's night just started to fall, leaving just enough time for a non-straggling Blues Fest patron to make it to bus, car and home; or to have found a safe and welcoming tavern at which to enjoy the Blues Walk. Tomorrow we will look at the Blues Walk on this blog. Tonight would have been ... well, fours of sleep is good for most men on occasion but no good for any man on all occasions. Tomorrow will be time enough for that jam-packed joyful madness.
It has always struck me, ever since the Blues Walk began at almost all the north side clubs and bars, as a sort of weird prissiness on the Blues Fest's part that the latter chooses to ignore the former. The truth of it, as I understand it, is that as Fest and Walk have always had different promoters, the Festians have looked at the Walkurgers as somehow poaching on the Holy Land. For instance, I heard more than one person ask another if Albert Cummings was playing after the Blues Fest closed and if so where? There was not a shred or hint of advertisement to be found anywhere on the Marina Park grounds to indicate the bookings of the private hospitality houses. This of course disregards the fact that those self-same businesses pay the taxes that go to renovate and hopefully not thoroughly muck up the stunning waterfront that God granted this area as a trade-off for winter, muskeg, flies and isolation. Yay water. Point being - and here we have evidence of the freedom of the blog as opposed to the newspaper - the Blues Festival needs to get its head out of its arse and realize that the Blues Walk makes the Blues Fest more attractive to ticket-buyers, not less. It's a perfect synergistic relationship to go from sun and sunset and rhapsody in pink outdoors to the tight rooms where all this Blues stuff was perfected in the first place. (You can't, or at least I can't put that thought in teh Chronicle-Journal. You put something in a newspaper, even a relatively mild criticism of an audaciously successful, well-run event and it becomes a political 'thing'. And I in no way want to hurt the Blues Festival.) I mentioned Albert Cummings. I also mentioned in an earlier posting that I liked the extended set. Well, the 41 year old guitarist and singer also got an extended set and he took full advantage. It was a brilliants et. To give you a sense of it, Cummings built to encores of Led Zeppelin's Rock and Roll, followed by Cummings' take on Stevie Ray Vaughan's version of Jimi Hendrix's Voodoo Child. He let the energy drop in the last two minutes of the Hendrix number, which was a shame. The audience relaxed and therefore did not thunder him off the stage as they would have done ... two minutes previously. He impressed the hell out of me. And the way the audience perked for the two songs mentioned does make me wonder if Thunder Bay's secret desire is to have an outdoor rock concert of 5-6,000 per night with acts of equivalent marquee appeal to those offered by the Blues. However, Thunder Bay knows it can't afford twelve huge rock acts, so let's all love the Blues. Always wondered that. (Don't talk to me about the Dead Man's Tour at the Fort or the Casino - those are breaks between shopping mall openings.) The headliner, Robert Randolph, was okay. If you liked his version of Prince meets Robert Johnson while Jesus plays bass, then you were really happy. Not my thing, but I applaud the execution. Which makes me sound like a Republican Governor. So on that note - Aloha! DAY TWO - Power Restored! 1:12PM Update It figures. I left the Blues Fest last night about 10:30PM. At 10:36 the power went out. But not to fear - a combination of Thunder Bay Hydro and the guts n' glory Auditorium crew put in a new transformer. Onwards. The Trowelers did their usual solid set in the curtain jerker spot and now is the intermission before Big walter Smith. Hoping to get an interview with Ana Popovic. And I highly recommend the Healthy Eating booth run by the George Jeffrey Children's Centre - so nice to have food that won't give you a heart attack! Speaking of ... beer time. Later! Updated: 2:52 PM (working model of tomorrow's column...) Blues Festival Saturday, July 10 2010 B y: Hubert O’Hearn The Thunder Bay Blues Festival had briefly threatened to become the Blues Festival Unplugged Festival when a transformer blew out at 10:38PM. Thanks to the hard work of a nine man crew pulled together by Thunder Bay Hydro and the assistance of the Thunder Bay Community Auditorium crack technicians, all systems were back up and running at 8:10AM Saturday. And Robert Randolph wasn’t all that great anyway. One of the wonderful benefits of the waterfront site is that many, many more than 15,000 ticketbuyers are entertained annually. One tends to forget about what a musician friend of mine fondly calls the ‘gate crashers’ - those who live and work in the surrounding area. The former lake bed that forms the hills of the former city of Port Arthur also makes for a giant concert bowl effect. And even allowing for the usual cranky letter that appears annually from Dennis the Menace’s neighbour harping on about those darn kids and their wackety-wackety music ... for a lot of people it is a blessing. I spent part of the afternoon sat in a lovely arbor in the back corner of the St. Joseph’s Hospital lot, with patients and staff enjoying the sound of Big Walter Smith rolling like a big warm wave up Red River Road. These patients are the people who have taken God’s best Sunday punch, been knocked down but don’t quit, don’t give up and will rise to fight again. They are the Blues in person and in wheelchair. And they happily send their thanks to all involved in giving them a little break from rehab to just sit back, relax and remind themselves of happy days to come. Update: 4:47 PM
Musically, the day experienced a solid build from long-time festival favouritesThe Trowellers followed by Big Walter Smith. Then came the first big pleasant surprise of the weekend in the person of Joanne Shaw Taylor on guitar and vocals. As one experienced musician said to me, “Any one can play fast, but you really have the goods if you can play fast and still hear all the notes.” It was definitely a positive sign when other musicians and off-duty techs poked their way out of show trailers to catch Taylor’s set. UPDATE: 6:26PM
Following the latest travel glitch causing a last-second audible changing the booking order, the audience were treated - truly treated - by Ana Popovic. Here as last night, the change meant a longer set and more of a chance for both audience to understand and work with one another. Popovic is the Bomb. Being a bombshell too doesn’t hurt, but her skills bear analysis. It’s the unfortunate fate for every white female blues singer to be compared to Janis Joplin. It’s extraordinarily unfair, but Popovic can carry the test further than virtually anyone else. Her voice has Janis’s growl and howl but she also has an upper range with a slightly sweet, grrrrrl appeal to it. Given her Belgrade origins, I listened for any accent waver and picked up none. Popovic is as likely to have been born in Bethesda as Belgrade for all the difference it would have made. Saturday’s headliner was Blues Traveler, which explained the arrival of a packed audience even earlier than usual. And those who arrived early were treated by Joanne Shaw Talyor and Ana Popovic - acts of the Festival so far. And isn’t it nice that they’re both Eurpean women? Blues got legs. Aloha! UPDATE: Day Two Summary - 12:15 AM Sunday All Blues Festivals, indeed all festivals, indeed all great communal events become a narrative in some way in order to attain and retain memorable status. Today was an incredibly special day for me, and here again, this isn't a Chronicle piece - this is a blog piece. It meant so much to me last year, when I renewed my daily Blues Fest coverage in order for Kimberly to experience it. As I've written before, it was rotten timing that we met when I was coming off my peak in theatre and entertainment writing. So at least I could share the whole joy of the Blues Festival with her. This year, as I imagine readers know (if not, right click HERE.) Kimberly is recovering from a burst brain aneurysm suffered in February. Therefore, Amanda who is Kimberly's 21 year old daughter whom I truly love as my own for reasons which shall become obvious, got first dibs on my second VIP Pass. I think she discovered something she loves today. I'd mentioned that it would be a nice idea to bring along a camera. We'd send in any good shots to the newspaper and wouldn't it be cool if they ran one? Nice. Maybe get $25 out of the deal, or whatever the Chronicle paysfor freelance pictures. So the first shots were of my friend Hugh Hamilton's band The Trowelers. He'll like that description, by the way. But he hates being written about, so don't tell him. But the first photographs from the very nice Nikon camera she borrowed from her boyfriend Ty were taken from a respectful distance. There were a few. One I thought was particularly nice but you would categorize them as snapshots. Time goes on, bands come on. We've found the best spot on the whole grounds. A picnic bench behind the bushes under the trees stage right, very close to the VIP tent and its refreshments. It was lovely and cool on a skin blistering hot day. (Now forget I told you this - I don't need you horning in on my spot! But do visit.) And Hugh at with us and we looked over some shots Amanda had taken of Jimmy Thackery.. These were better and I showed her what angles I thought worked and what to avoid. Hugh - bless his dear, kind heart - told her she could go up in the tech tower and shoot from there. No telephoto lens however. Alas - but! - the encouragement for bravery was there. Our VIP passes were not All Access. We did not have backstage access. Well, after Amanda had first tested the waters by going through the gate into the immediate downstage area, she then figured, 'oh what the hell' and went right backstage. Where she successfully took shots of Ana Popovic, Jimmyu Thackery and others. And then - oh yes - these truly amusing older ladies we were sat with on the picnic bench - it came as quite a shock to the adult daughter of one of them that dear old Mom used to do mushrooms and freak out in the rose bushes that sat in front of the hospital in a small B.C. town - another of the not-so-extensively-personal ladies got a tip that the Stanley Cup had arrived and Patrick Sharpe of the Black Hawks was going to make a surprise visit with it on stage. Any. Minute. Now. News! Now Amanda's pumped. There was no time to call Sandy Krasowski from the paper either. We had no way of downloading the pictures to my laptop and emailing them to the Chronicle. Shit. Okay, I told Amanda, you take the shot, I'll get a hold of the night editor and we'll run down to the newspaper, give them the picture and bang there you are front page. Slam dunk picture right? The two biggest things happening in town on Saturday from a happy news point of view were the Cup and the Blues and here they are together for your enjoyment. Amanda does her end. By now she's fearless and also firing off the kind of rapid fire shots you need in order to grab the golden moment. She took not one or two, but 10 or 15 really plausible front page cover pictures. And I think I know a little bit about newspapers by now. I do my end. I finally track down someone at the paper at about 10:10PM - last minute but not after last minute - tell them that we have the pic, we'll be right there, open the door -(it was loud, I'm not positive who, so I won't risk being wrong and speculating on who said the following) - and the response is ... ... oh that's okay. We'll put a line in your column about it. Well, it was close to absolute deadline. And Amanda was undeterred in her ambition. But back to the beautiful bits. So I'd also mentioned, fairly early on, 'By the way, if you have any really good shots, send them to the bands. They do buy them.' While I went up to the hospital to visit dear Kimberly, Amanda worked the backstage area like a seasoned pro. By the end of it Bob Halvorsen was giving Amanda his card because Bob wanted a particular backstage shot of he, his daughter, Sharpe and the Stanley Cup, Ana Popovic wanted copies of her pictures and ... they all must have liked Amanda because there's also some nice snaps of Amanda smiling with the band taken by the bass player. Does the reader have the slightest inkling that as I write this I have tears in my eyes? Seeing my dear daughter get turned on by journalism - even if this is a five minute wonder (which I strongly doubt) - well ... I had the atom bomb of parental pride. Most of the readers I suspect are parents already and were from birth. So therefore, you've had those moments stretched out over years. Figure skating medals. School choir placement in the Festival. First dinner made. But when you've had the desire for such a moment to come along pent up inside like a thoroughbred left too long in the gate, when it then occurs it is a volcanic eruption of parental love and general glory in the fact that among mammals humans are one of the few that maintain social relationships with their children past adolescence. Look, I don't know if this is going to be a life-long great hobby for Amanda - doing local entertainment photography - or hey, maybe she's Annie Leibovitz v.2. Regardless, and even if every act tomorrow gets busted at the border, this has been my favourite Blues Festival. I'll post a link to the photos when I have one. She's got talent and she learned bloody quick. On another note, it occurs to me that this last update is exactly the proof of my point about modern journalism. Regardless of the bit about not running the picture, some version of the above is an example of the kind of journalism I think a local paper needs. Is that immodest? I guess it has to be. But I have back-up. 90% of the papers in Canada would not run that kind of experiential story. Make that 95%. The percentage would be a whisker higher in the U.S. But in the UK? What? Why are you asking? If It's not personal it's boring. I think The Walleye gets it. I was incredibly impressed by its first issue. It certainly beat the unholy hell out of any other entertainment tabloid in Thunder Bay's history. But I digress. as usual. More tomorrow and thanks for listening. P,S. Blues Traveler played a Charlie Daniels and a Cheap Trick song. But they did them very well! Onwards! Blues Fest Sunday 7-11-10 By: Hubert O’Hearn Because of an incredibly weak wifi signal at Marina Park mixed with intermittent showers, thsi column is being written in a (cough) porta-potty. Adversity as well as necessity are the mothers of invention. But, we have much to cover. Awards specifically - our traditional year-end gongs, trophies and plaques. All of them are imaginary, but that way the recipients can imagine them any way they want. Onwards! Entertainer of the Year - Candye Kane. What a delightful set she performed on Sunday afternoon. I'm specifically citing her as Entertainer of the Year because along with her massive voice and songwriting skills, she delivered an inspirational message that was fun. A survivor of many blows to her life - rough upbringing, divorce, cancer - she told the crowd to draw their strength from within, and have a helluva good time while doing it. Plus she played piano with her boobs. You play piano with your boobs, you get an award. Instrumentalist of the Year - Such a tough call, but I have to put Albert Cummings from Friday night in here somewhere and he absolutely tore up the place. All of a sudden no one cared about Michael Burks' 'travel difficulties.' Best Artist Promo - Nick Moss and the Flip Tops. Besides being an outstanding opening act for Sunday, Moss delivered a great promo introducing his song Tear it Down. He ripped the weird culture of North America in building up Michael Phelps, Britney Spears, Miley Cyrus etc. to sky-high hype levels - then destroying them as soon as they slip up (or relax in Phelps' case). The Show Stopper Award - Ana Popovic. You mark my words, the Blues guitar and singing ace is going to be pone the biggest Blues acts in the world any minute now. Her guest number with Blues Traveler alone earns her the Show Stopper trophy. The 'I didn't know that was a Blues song' award - I want you to Want Me by Cheap Trick? Really? REALLY? Oh what the heck, Blues Traveler did a great job with it anyway. Food of the Year - Again,a close call given all the excellently prepared variety, but I'm going with the Simpson Meat and Deli hot sausages. As big as a billy club and perfectly spiced. Chief Wiggum Award - Our thanks go out to all police and security personnel for their rigid upholding of the laws against smoking, both cigarettes and marijuana. Praise be for such a clean venue, free of cancer and uncontrollable giggling. Man of the Year - I've written a lot about Bob Halvorsen of the Thunder Bay Community Auditorium over the years. Sometimes Bob likes what I write, and sometimes not. But the man is to be admired and I always have. He has real guts in his booking decisions and he's never been afraid to seek advice. Frankly, no one has done more for the entertainment industry in this city than Bob and someday I'd like to see Beverly Street renamed Halvorsen Way. What is the Halvorsen way? Guts, risk, professionalism and he always gives credit where it is due. I look forward to the unveiling of the statue (perhaps an Iwo Jima type sculpture - Bob in blue jeans surrounded by the tech crew). City of the Year - Thunder Bay. I was on the bus when out the side door could be seen a couple of older people huffing along, hauling along fold-up chairs. The bus driver stopped, asked if they were going to the Festival and they said yes. he told them to hop on. They were tourists and don't you think they're going to tell all their friends back home about this kind and helpful city? Two thumbs up Thunder Bay! And a final note. I want to thank everyone who made this particular Blues Fest so great because it made an old journalist proud to see our daughter Amanda become a professional photographer. This Festival will always be special to me for that. Aloha! |
