This week we have another good line up of blues jams and bands around town.
In addition… at the House of Blues, Lafayette Blues Band will be playing Thursday night 7-11 and the weekly Wednesday night jam is also happening there from 7-11. Hope to see you there!
I got to the jam late and heard that I’d missed some incredible blues singers, who had just gotten off the stage. That happens at this jam, where talented musicians and singers often show up and if you aren’t there to catch them….
But I wasn’t disappointed for long. Rich Giglio, a local San Diego guitarist and vocalist, went up with Ron Ordon on bass guitar, Jaz Jaszewski on guitar and Kevin Cooper (who usually plays bass) on drums. Here they are doing a Stevie Ray Vaughn cover song, Flood Down in Texas.
This week there is a good line up of blues all around the downtown area, and most of it is in the Gaslamp. Tiffany Jane is new to me, and I’m not really sure how to peg her blues sound, so I’m going with her blues/pop listing. She sounds more like Amy Winehouse or Norah Jones to me, so not quite sure that is really blues. Let me know what you think.
There is also a full week of jams to check out. Monday at SpeakEasy, Tuesday at Patrick’s, Wednesday at House of Blues free stage 7-11 (not on schedule since don’t offer discount), Thursday at Spaguetteria, and Saturday afternoon at SpeakEasy with young adults who are really talented and great blues musicians.
The JammingOut/BLUSD jam on Wednesday nights brings in new faces every week, and last night was no exception. Bryan Whelan (on guitar) and Mellie Frances (vocals) showed up and they performed cover song, Thrill is Gone, with Irakli Aladash on bass and Steve Douglas on drums.
It is another lite week for blues around downtown, but there is still blues every night. There is also the House of Blues jam on Wednesday from 7-11pm, which isn’t on the calendar.
As I mentioned last week, Jimmy Love’s is closed until the spring and will reopen under a new name. We won’t know until they reopen if blues bands will playing there again or not.
Croce’s moved to Bankers Hill (now Croce’s Park West at 5th and Olive), and this week Fuzzy Rankins’ band will be playing there on Wednesday (7-11) and Lady Dottie & the Diamonds will be there on Friday (8-midnight). I should be able to get them on the calendar next month, but for right now Croce’s is holding off on the calendar drink discount as they get re-established.
In addition to what is on the calendar here, there is always the BLUSD jam at House of Blues on Wednesdays from 7-11pm.
I will be away this week in Memphis (cold weather here I come) at the International Blues Challenge, cheering for our San Diego blues society’s (BLUSD) IBC champion, Fuzzy Rankins Blues Band. We all leave tomorrow, so you can catch Fuzzy tonight at the SpeakEasy before he goes. I will keep you posted on how they are doing during the week!
Every Wednesday night on the free stage at House of Blues is a good blues jam, hosted by JammingOut.net and BLUSD. Last night ended with members of the house band back up on stage doing the cover song Woke Up This Morning (Kevin Cooper on bass guitar, Lafayette Falkquay on lead guitar and Packy B on rhythm guitar) along with John Rokas on drums, who was visiting from Cleveland, OH.
There were a number of guitar players who showed up at the SpeakEasy blues jam Monday, and in this video they all jammed and did solos. From left to right, Jon Fai, Patrick Jarrell, Brandon Cerquedo and Fuzzy Rankins. Bob Prater was on bass and Bruce Hutcherson on drums.
Here is some video from Monday night’s blues jam at the Speakeasy. Fuzzy Rankins on lead guitar, Irakli Aladash on bass guitar and Patrick Jarrell on rhythm guitar, along with an out-of-town visitor, John Rokas, on drums.
Thanks to Irakli for sending me this clip.
We have another full week of blues around town. In addition to what’s on the calendar, Whitney Shay will be playing at the new Central Library (Park Blvd & J Street) this Wednesday 5:30-7:30.
And starting at 7pm that night is the Wednesday night BLUSD JammingOut on the free Voodoo Stage at House of Blues. As you can see from video I took last Wednesday, this jam brings in some great musicians.
There is also a youth jam on Saturday afternoon for kids under 22 years old at the Gaslamp SpeakEasy, which is always good. We are hoping to see more talented kids at this blues jam, so don’t miss it if you are downtown.