There is bit more blues this week than we’ve had downtown for a while, and one reason is the reopening of the Kona Kai lounge after their Spring renovations. Missy Andersen will be back there on Wednesday and Gino & Jade are also back!!
I’ve also added the Coronado Ferry Landing to the calendar, since they play blues there periodically on Sunday afternoons. This week is Blue Frog Blues.
And of course we have the usual San Diego blues jams on Mondays (SpeakEasy), Tuesdays (Patrick’s) and Wednesdays at the House of Blues free stage. I’m also pleased that Patrick’s has mostly blues again this week, so it’s another great week of blues every single night.
If you have been following this blog for a while, you know I often go to the JammingOut at HOB. I can’t always get to the other jams around town, so I try to make it to this one as often as I can. It’s always good and often there are newcomers to the jam who rock the night. There were quite a few musicians there who I hadn’t seen before.
One of them was Maria Woodard, a jazz and Latin singer in San Diego, who got up and did a number of tunes. Here she is singing the Fats Domino song Kansas City. With her on stage was Rich Giglio and Doyle Thomas on guitars, Tom Safreed on harmonica, Dale Davis on bass and Steve Douglas on drums.
Nick Butterfield was back again, and he gave us an awesome performance of that great Creedence Clearwater Revival cover tune Born on the Bayou. He’s joined by Rich on guitar, Dale on bass, Dave Good on saxophone, Richie Strell playing the accordion, Reggie Ford on drums, and I’m not sure who was playing the harmonica. Enjoy!
Later, Harmonica John Frazer played and sang Steve Miller band cover song Your Cash Ain’t Nothing But Trash with Will Lovalot on guitar, Steve Welles on bass, and I believe it was Max on drums.
This is a pretty typical week for San Diego blues around town, although it is light at Humphrey’s Backstage on Shelter Island. But in another week, Kona Kai Lounge should be open again and hosting regular blues bands. Patrick’s has mostly blues this week, which means there is live blues music every day of the week. Enjoy!
It was a slow (always that way after a holiday weekend) but good jam night at Patrick’s Pub. Here is a clip of newcomer to the jam, Fred Lawson, on bass and singing You Better Pray. Great song and some great solos from Johnny Vernazza on guitar, Chuck Arcilla on sax, and Walter Gentry on sax – our beloved jam host, along with Matthew Burgher on drums.
Note: Video is a bit grainy and a few times out of focus, which happens when the lighting isn’t that good where the sax players stand. But still very worth watching.
Every Wednesday night, “JammingOut at HOB” hosts a blues jam that has developed a wonderful following in its first year, and this past Wednesday they celebrated their 1st anniversary downstairs at the House of Blues. It was a fun evening, and here are some videos I got – the lighting wasn’t great so its a bit dark and grainy, but most of it is good.
Here is Dona Aguinaldo, one of a number of wonderful female vocalists that night, who got up to sing Etta James’ cover At Last. Wow! I just wish the lighting had been better… On stage with her (and doing their own jamming solos) is Bob Sortillon (standing next to her) and Rich Giglio on guitars, Tom Safreed on harmonica, Dave Lindgren on bass, and Steve Douglas on drums. Bob, Rick and Dave also each sang some great songs, but the videos didn’t turn out.
Then Christine Gilardi performed Bonnie Rait’s cover song Love Me Like a Man. She rocks it with Somerset Barnard on guitar, Tom Safreed on harmonica, Yasha Susoeff on sax, Victor Franklin on bass and Michael Minor on drums.
Afterwards Victoria Wasserman got up with them and nailed it with that so familiar BB King (amongst others) cover song Stormy Monday.
Somerset Barnard, visiting from Brisbane Australia for a few weeks, got us up and dancing to another favorite, Got My Mojo Working.
And to end the evening we had Len Rainey, a favorite local bluesman, take the stage and sing, as only Len can do it, the cover song Kiddio. He’s joined by Doyle Thomas on guitar, Kevin Cooper on keyboards, Michael Minor on drums, David Lewis on harps – as well as Steve Lang. Again the video is a bit dark, even after lightening it up as much as I could.
The final song brought Lafayette Falkquay on the stage to join Len on bass, and they had a fun exchange as they performed Slow Down Baby together.
I only captured a bit of the evening. We also had a number of brass players (more sax, trumpet and trombone), and other performers who made it a special anniversary evening.
Next week the jam is back upstairs, but it starts 2 hours later at 9pm (for just this week).
San Diego Blues
