At the end of the JammingOut at HOB jam Wednesday night, Fuzzy Rankins showed up and played with Lafayette Falkquay, both of them incredible lead guitarists. Here they are having a fun time with Fuzzy singing Stop Following Me Around. On stage with them are Billy Wear on drums, Kevin Cooper on bass and Justin Fools on harp. It was a great way to end the night.
San Diego Blues
JammingOut at HOB had a full house and one good set after another Wednesday night. It was a great night.
Returning for a third time to the jam was Willie Simmons, who got up to perform a song I’ll call Good Woman (not sure what the song is really called), and rocked the house. He was on stage with Jacinto Castaneda and Rich Giglio on guitars, Matt Casey on drums, Earl Pratt on bass and two sax players I don’t know.
In the next set, Kammie Thomas sang BB King’s cover song Thrill is Gone, with Jacinto Casteneda and Fuzzy Rankins on guitars, Kevin Cooper on bass, Reggie Ford on drums.
The night ended with Fuzzy Rankins and Lafayette Falkquay singing and playing guitars together, along with Kevin Cooper on bass, Timothy on drums, and the two sax players whose names I didn’t catch
San Diego Blues
Every jam has its own familiar faces and this week we had a good mix of regular JammingOut musicians who were back to jam together and have a good time. As one of the JammingOut hosts, Rosa Lea Schiavone, recently said, “everyone leaves their ego at the door” and its so true. It’s a great group of people and a lot of fun, and the jam runs from 7-11pm every Wednesday night.
In this video another one of our hosts and a guitar player, Doyle Thomas, got on stage and sang the cover song One Way Out. Playing with him are David Damaso and Mike (standing in back and not sure of his last name) on guitars, David Lewis on harmonica, Matt Casey on drums, Dino on trumpet and I didn’t catch who was playing the bass.
At the end of the night and last song, we were entertained by Kevin Cooper on bass, singing Mustang Sally – who was joined by Tony Peterson who amped it up even more, along with Lafayette and Mike on guitars, Dino on trumpet, and I can’t remember who the drummer is. Lots of fun for everyone!
San Diego Blues
As readers of this blog know by now, I’m a regular at the JammingOut at HOB (House of Blues Voodoo Stage in the Gaslamp) on Wednesday nights.
Last night Carrie Shannon, who I’ve never heard before, got up and sang a sassy ZZ Top cover song, Tush. On stage with her was Nicholas Butterfield and Junya Isogawa on guitars, Kevin Cooper on bass, David Lewis on harmonica and Edward Cleveland on drums.
Later Will Lovalot performed that great Freddie King song Big Legged Woman, along with David Damaso (and then Lafayette Falkquay) on guitars, Harmonica John (Frazer), Dino on trumpet, Kevin Cooper on bass and Michael Minor on drums.
San Diego Blues
I got to the blues jam late, but I still caught a few sets with musicians who have become regulars at the jam.
Here is Rich Giglio performing cover song Jump Jive An’ Wail, supported by Junya Isogawa on guitar, Victor Franklin on bass, David Lewis on harmonica and local newcomer to the jam, Jonathon Bachelor on drums, who says he’ll be back!
Next up on stage was Nicholas Butterfield playing guitar and singing cover song Fire, with Judd Austin on guitar, Lisa Viegas on drums, Kevin Cooper on bass.
And then they did cover song Freight Train.
San Diego Blues
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
Last night brought in a great crowd and another awesome mix of musicians at the JammingOut at HOB. We just kept the video going as the night got better and better, and we only caught the last 2 hours of the 4 hour jam! Most of these musicians have never played together, and often they don’t even know each other before going up on stage, so it isn’t always clean and smooth. But everyone has a good time!
Local bass player, Shaaron Schuemaker, was singing Sam Cooke’s cover song Bring It On Home to Me in this clip. She was joined by Jaz Jaszewski and Judd Austin on guitars, Steve Douglas on drums and Tom Safreed on harmonica, who was the recent winner of the BLUSD Spring Harpfest two weeks ago. Congrats to Tom!
A member of the audience, Greg Loving from Indianapolis, then got up to join the folks on stage to sing cover song Falsom Prison Blues, to the delight of his other colleagues from out of town and the rest of us. He was great!
New to the jam was Terry Padgett, who came in and sang cover songs Wish I Had a Nickle and Turn On Your Love Light, while playing guitar. He was joined by Shaaron on bass, Nicholas Butterfield on guitar, Dennis Bucko on harmonica, and Bert Hammer (visiting from Canada) on drums.
Then Nicholas took over and sang Bill Wither’s cover song Use Me.
This was followed by Doyle Thomas playing guitar and singing his favorite Stevie Ray Vaughn cover song Pride and Joy. He was joined by Junya Isogawa and Jacinto Castaneda on guitars, Fuzzy Rankins on bass (which is rare to see), and Jay Morris on drums.
And the night ended with Silky Sol (aka: Red Afro Queen) coming to the stage, along with Kevin Cooper on bass, Fuzzy Rankins and Mark Augustin (host of the 88.3 Jazz/blues jam now at Proud Mary’s earlier in the evening) on guitars, and Michael Minor on drums. They performed Jimmy Reed’s cover song Big Boss Man and then Aretha Franklin’s cover song Rock Steady. Unfortunately both videos got cut off at the end, particularly the last video – ran out of memory taking so many videos 😉
San Diego Blues
If you love blues, the Wednesday night jam at HOB downtown, hosted by JammingOut.net, the local blues society (BLUSD) and House of Blues, is one of the great jams around town.
Here we have Justin Fools on harmonica and singing cover song No Particular Place to Go, supported by Dave Keefer and Judd Austin on guitar, Dale Davis on bass and Lisa Viegas.
The evening ended with a little fun on stage as Lafayette Falkquay sings cover song Mustang Sally, along with Junya Isogawa and Rich Giglio on guitar, Kevin Cooper on bass and Billy Wear on drums.
San Diego Blues
It was one of those quiet nights all across the Gaslamp with the threat of rain. But while few people were out last night, the music still rocked. At the House of Blues, the weekly jam brought in an interesting mix of musicians and sounds, and I got lots of room to dance!
The night started off with members of the JammingOut’s “house band” (Lafayette Falkquay on vocals – without his infamous guitar this time, and Kevin Cooper on bass guitar) along with Steve Douglas on drums, Junya Isogawa on guitar, Nicholas Butterfield on guitar, and Donna Larsen joining Lafayette on vocals.
Next Nicolas Butterfield sang John Mayer’s cover song Gravity, which always moves me. Its a beautiful song. Barry Farrar replaced Steve on drums for this part of the evening.
And then we had some jazz when Paula Mandell got up to sing Billie Holiday’s cover song Fine & Mellow, which was such a treat. She has the voice for this song.
And last, Rebekah Ensley, gave us a beautiful acapella singing Kimbra’s cover Withdrawal.
Wednesdays are one of my favorite blues nights of the week and usually starts at the JammingOut (www.JammingOut.net) and BLUSD (www.blusd.org) blues jams on the free stage at House of Blues. Last night was a full house of musicians who got up to play throughout the evening and an audience of locals and visitors.
Christine Gilardi took the lead and rocked the house singing and playing guitar to the great Etta James cover song The Sky is Crying in this video. She is accompanied by Neil Jones on lead guitar, Junya Isogawa on guitar, Kevin Cooper on bass and Rene Wooley on drums.
We don’t hear reggae too often at this jam, but Rosalie Thomas showed up with her steel drums and delighted us with the UB40 cover song I Want to Make You Sweat. Also on stage was Michael Minor on drums, Kevin Cooper on bass (and vocals) and Ray Zvetina on guitar.